#its her martyr complex

[majorpepperidge]

My hand is cramping and its nearly midnight (after starting this at 7-ish) BUT I STILL LIKE HOW IT TURNED OUT (after fussing over minor details for the last hour)

[elfcollector]

purely delusional veilguard posting but just thinkin bout inquisitor ahvir and how badly she wants children and

harding: i'm surprised thom didn't insist on coming with you, ahv. ahvir, laughing: oh, he tried! we argued for days about it. but i made him promise to stay home with enansyl. harding: she must be....three, now? ahvir: in about a month. she's getting so big so fast. every day i look at her and just about cry with how quick she's growing. harding: we'll get you home to them soon.

[zeezeepearl]

ok im going to #seriouspost for a second here. I don't think Harry Potter is a manifesto. I think it was a flawed passion project that millennials latched onto because of the fantasy of sticking it to their mean teachers and arbitrarily categorizing themselves (hogwarts houses; it's the thinking millennial's astrology). I think the fact that the series got popular when and how it did was very much a product of its time.

I don't think Harry Potter is the biggest symbol of JKR's bigotry. I think the most flagrant sign of that was how she responded to critics. I watched her become radicalized in real time. I watched how she doubled down on her racism when she was called out for the ways she promoted her tragically mid fantastic beasts movies. I watched her chase marginalized teenagers with a double digit follower count off of twitter for daring to criticize her thought process, and no one with any kind of power standing against her because she was the one who was paying them. This isn't to say Harry Potter is without flaws. This is to say she really didn't give a shit about that. Getting rich and powerful is a hell of a drug, and she had enough sycophants that she had no reason to care about what her critics were saying.

She was convinced that she was a martyr; a voice for the unheard; a leader for the ages, so of course her detractors were the bad guys. And I think we should take this to heart. We should see this as an example of how easy it is to get radicalized; if you think of yourself as a paragon of virtue, you are going to think that whatever you see as good and right is an objective fact. Most people don't know this, but the majority of terfs start out as trans allies. You are not immune to propaganda! You are not immune to falling into dangerous ideologies!!!

This is why the most important thing you can do as an activist is to listen. Do NOT think you're above being wrong; do NOT develop a god complex; do NOT form an identity out of being right all the time. Involve yourselves in the groups you claim to speak for. Listen to trans women; share resources that help trans women; familiarize yourself with the diversity of experiences that trans people have and the struggles they face.

No, none of you are as bad as JKR because you don't have her money or her power. You will likely never have the capacity for harm she does. But check yourselves. Do not affirm yourselves into thinking you always have the moral high ground. Watch yourselves; humble yourselves; check yourselves for signs of cult behavior and internalized prejudice. You are always learning. You will always be learning. Do not allow yourselves to get a power trip from brushing off marginalized voices.

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 Israeli occupation airstrikes targeted Khan Yunis, in the south of Gaza, leaving several casualties among paramedics and civil defense teams. The Palestinian Red Crescent says occupation forces continue to target ambulance and civil defense crews in the latest of Israel's crimes.]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚨 💥PARAMEDICS AND JOURNALISTS TARGETED ON 97TH DAY OF ISRAELI GENOCIDE💥

Israeli Occupation Forces ramped up their bombing and shelling of the Gaza Strip Thursday, killing dozens and targeting journalists and paramedics on the 97th day of the Israeli genocide of Palestinians.

In the south of the Gaza Strip, six Palestinian civilians were killed and many more wounded east of Khan Yunis, as a result of bombing raids by Israeli jets.

Also in the South of Gaza, occupation aircraft bombarded the home of the Bassam Abu Namous family on al-Samasma Street, west of Khan Yunis, killing seven civilians and wounding 25 others.

Occupation helicopters also fired sporadically into Khan Yunis, killing 19 over the previous day, due to Israeli bombardment.

IOF soldiers also continue to bomb and shell various residential homes in the Qaizan al-Najjar neighborhood in the south of Khan Yunis.

In Gaza City, IOF warplanes targeted the home of journalist Mohammed al-Thalathiini, killing the reporter and bringing the death toll among journalists in Israel's genocide to 112 since October 7th.

Israeli forces also targeted the al-Bureij, al-Maghazi, al-Nuseirat and the al-Mughraqa Camps area in central Gaza with heavy artillery fire and bombing raids.

In addition to these crimes, a Palestinian youth was seriously wounded as a result of targeting by an Israeli missile fired from a drone on al-Bahr Street in Rafah, southern Gaza.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the north of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, the Abu Hatab family home was targeted by the Israeli occupation, killing six and wounding several others.

A multitude of wounded Palestinian civilians were also rushed to al-Shifa Medical Complex in the west of Gaza City, with three citizens killed from the Machi family, in the vicinity of the now defunct and destroyed Gaza International Airport that once existed in the enclave's capital.

In central Gaza, six Palestinians, including four from ambulance crews, were slaughtered when occupation jets targeted and bombed an ambulance on Salah al-Din Street, adjacent to the al-Maghazi Refugee Camp.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), the Israeli occupation "deliberately targets" its ambulance crews, even when coordinating with International partners, with the PRCS warning against the targeting of the few remaining medical centers in the area.

A Palestinian residential home was also targeted near the entrance to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the Deir al-Balah area, resulting in the deaths of 12 civilians including journalist Ahmed Badir.

While in central Gaza, in the al-Maghazi Refugee Camp area, at least 17 civilians were murdered in strikes by occupation munitions, while Israeli forces also heavily bombed and shelled the al-Bureij and Nuseirat Camp residential areas.

In addition, Wafaa al-Bass, a recently freed prisoner held by the occupation, was killed in her home in the north of the Gaza Strip.

Since the beginning of Israel's genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip began on October 7th, 2023, in excess of 23'357 Palestinians have been killed, with an additional 59'410 wounded in Israeli war crimes.

#source1

#source2

#videosource1

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[u-name-it-i-ship-it]

james developing a savior complex due to all his friends having traumatic experiences and him being pretty privileged in life and now he only feels useful when he's helping someone through something

and he needs to feel useful he needs it makes him feel like he's contributing something to the friendship and he needs to feel like he is

this combined with remus's martyr complex and him never wanting to talk about his issues leads to a lot of frustration and insecurity for james. does remus not trust him enough?? but its not about him it never was

he was always in love with lily but he truly falls in LOVE when they have a heart to heart and she opens up to him about her sister and about snape and her family he feels like he's helping her and supporting her through it

and he doesn't really say anything about himself because he doesn't think he has any issues or trauma

but one day remus won't talk to him about whats wrong again but he can see somethings wrong he can see it so clearly and he's on patrol with lily and he just breaks down

and shes like "james. you know you have value outside of supporting others right?? people don't only like you because you're there for them?"

and he's like oh. because no he doesn't know and that's the first time anyone has told him that,, the first time he was the one that needed help and not him giving it

and lilys like baby... we have a lot of work to do

[sillysiluriforme]

What are the effects the user gets from using these two new miraculous

Miracle exposure symptoms depend on a lot of thing and one major factor is the way the holder perceives their miraculous ! Marinette doesn’t see the glamour in being a holder like her friends do so her symptoms tend to manifest more.

Marinette after using the bear, the kwami of intimidation, for enough time would likely be much more irritable. She might experience a loss in empathy and an increase in lethargy. She might get a little rough. She probably wouldn’t enjoy its powers much anyway. She feels heavy with it. Too slow. Too spooky.

The lamb, aka the kwami of sacrifice, brings out Adrien’s martyr complex. He’d eventually start losing most of his self preservation instincts. He might get a little clingy ! Adrien is very prone to clinical lycanthropy so he might develop some separation anxiety? Restlessness ect. Maybe eat grass.

[anthurak]

So as a bit of a more in-depth followup to this post:

You know that trope we see weirdly regularly in ‘next generation’ sequels where the kid/teen heroes of the original series for some reason routinely become fairly shitty/dysfunctional parents to their own kids? Even to the point of sometimes repeating the same mistakes of their own parents.

I can’t help but feel like this is something that RWBY is doing a fair bit of subtle commentary on, especially with Team STRQ gradually being more and more revealed to a be an almost hilariously dysfunctional hot fucking mess of a family who somehow ALL massively fucked up raising Yang and Ruby.

I’ve brought this up a few times now in other posts, but I think it’s very easy to read Team STRQ as having been the heroic protagonists of their own fantasy adventure story back during their time at Beacon and afterwards as a professional hunter team.

Specifically, a much more standard, trope-y, ‘played straight’ fantasy adventure story in contrast to RWBY’s much more subversive, deconstructionist interrogation of its fantasy tropes and archetypes.

Or put another way; Team STRQ’s story was ‘played straight’ right up until the final proverbial credits rolled and all the underlying issues and character baggage that were always glossed over and pushed to the side because a ‘typical fantasy adventure’ story with its simplistic morality doesn’t want to deal with it. And neither do the characters.

Which of course leads to such things as Summer’s ever-growing martyr complex, Raven’s and Qrow’s self-esteem issues, Tai’s potential repression of abandonment issues via abrasive behavior, and of course EVERYTHING with Ozpin and his followers being ignored.

Team STRQ may have beaten the bad guys and saved the day, but they never addressed any of the real underlying problems. With others, or themselves.

Which leads to, among other things, the now STRQ family being a case of the aforementioned ‘fantasy adventure hero(s) growing up into dysfunctional parents to the next generation’ trope dialed up to eleven.

We pick up twenty or so years after all of Team STRQ’s big, exciting adventures to find that everything has gone to shit for them. Taiyang the (I’m assuming) previously boisterous, fun-loving jokester of the team has become a jaded, withdrawn, nearly broken man and an abusively neglectful father. Qrow the (again assuming) the recovering social recluse who learned true familial affection and connection from his team now fully believes that his semblance makes him a danger to his loved ones and in large part tried to distance himself. Raven the former edgy rival turned fiercely loyal defender of her new family has completely vanished, cutting all ties with her new family. And Summer the unfailingly optimistic and driven heroic leader, heroine and core of her team has also completely vanished and is presumed DEAD.

And the two daughters of our team of heroes have an upbringing the more resembles that of a couple of orphans, being forced to effectively raise themselves with all four of their parents/parent-figures being entirely consumed by all of their respective unresolved baggage and trauma.

Oh and it turns out there was a way, way BIGGER villain than any that Team STRQ dealt with and the seemingly wise mentor to all of them is a way bigger fuckup than anyone could have ever thought.

And the aforementioned daughters and their friends and the rest of their generation are the ones who have to actually deal with it, and all the fuckups of their parents.

Again, RWBY is a story that essentially skips the standard, trope-y, ‘by the books’ first entry in a fantasy series and goes right to the super subversive, deconstructionist sequel.

[lorhaghanima]

how much the audience of hotd hates alicent hightower will never not be surprising for me.

she IS the complex character you all wish for. she loves her children deeply (she literally puts her life in danger repeatedly because of them, what about sacrifice?), but she hates everything they are: targaryen, royalty, results of her parenting mistakes, proof that she was never enough even though she did everything expected (what about duty?) of her, viseris' unwanted children (but ones he FORCED her to bear), the only thing left of marital rape.

she loves rhaenyra since they are childhood sweethearts, and both mothers, and both women in the world that will always be cruel towards them (everywhere in the world they hurt little girls), but she can't help but hate her: she is everything she could never have - a beloved daughter (you were always his favourite, but otto did nothing but use her), a woman who has right to pick her own partners, who has loving and lovable children, who are not looking so targaryen-ish (having nothing of her, and everything of their father, who neglected them nevertheless), a power to be who she wants and to protect herself (dragon). and rhaenyra does everything she wants and nothing she has to do, alicent rules and sits in the council and takes care of a dying husband and STILL it's not enough and taken for granted.

she hates and loves her father. she hates and loves criston. she hates and loves her grandchildren.

she is poisonous and she is poisoned. she is a saint, she is a martyr, and she is a villain and abuser and destroyer. she is queen and she has everything to do with how her children turned out to be, she is their root, she is their core. and at the same time she has no control of anything that has happened to her - she did not pick her father, her friendship or its end with rhaenyra, her marriage, her children. there's no way all of this could've turned out to be happy. she is sansa that never was saved from joffrey (broken, hopeless, betrayed by her own family). she is cersei if jaime died during roberts rebellion (powerless, lonely, forced to have children that are never truly yours). she is lyanna that stays alive after giving birth to jon (realising there's no such thing as love, that your only goal in the world is to bear children, and if they do not fulfill some stupid prophecy - they are not wanted by their own fathers). she is elia who lives (a mother of abandoned children, a living woman, but your husband prefers a ghost). she is daenerys that never got her dragon (just a shadow of a husband that died and you feel equally relieved and terrified by it). she is any woman in this world that isnt empowered by some magic, or superpower, or prophecy, or even men. she is as powerless as power hungry, as broken as whole, as doomed by the narrative as she could be.

and what you call her is "bitch", or "terrible mother", or "whore", or " stupid".

[housemdork]

house md rewatch: 2x08, "the mistake"

catholic chase isn't just a character feature anymore - it's its own major subplot.

2x08 is so solid all around. the format is unique, in the vein of "three stories," and it says even more about chase and house's relationship than we've seen so far, in my opinion. their respective portrayals of one another show the complexities, toxicity, and underlying love (yes, i think that's here) between them. i'm going to forgo a lot of plot-specific comments because i REALLY want to capitalize on a certain analogy that i think is the most compelling bit of the episode (grad school close-reading brain Activated).

first and foremost, chase is being catholic again. how saint jude, patron saint of lost causes of him. i'll be showing my hand as someone who was raised Catholic Lite (my family has never been super religious); i know a lot of the sacramental lingo, too, because i just got through teaching at a catholic university!

catholics have a sacrament called "reconciliation," or a kid's first confessional to a priest - i did mine when i was 8. returning to confession is typical practice in the religion because there are always things for which to ask forgiveness. it's a very private affair (whatever is said is supposed to be utterly confidential) and supposed to be organic, but stacy's practice reconciliation with chase is anything but.

much like a kid (maybe a catholic kid, around age 8?) would rehearse lies to their parents, stacy coaches chase in preparation for his disciplinary hearing. he's repeatedly reprimanded for adding sincerity and self-flagellation where it would weaken his case, and in the same breath chastised for being a shitty liar. the whole "first reconciliation" affair is highly ritualistic; you have to memorize the act of contrition, introduce yourself to the priest in a very precise way, and it's very intimdating as a kid.

even visually, this shot is organized like a confessional booth - which are intimidating in their own right. the doors divide priest (stacy) and sinner (chase) from one another, with the subtle space in between the go-between through which chase confesses. there's even a lectern-equivalent over chase's shoulder.

also interesting to note (not just in this analogy) is that stacy isn't wearing the crucifix that mark gave her.

as the tale that chase spins for stacy unravels, we see that chase became increasingly desperate and self-serving (in character of him from the vogler arc). at the near climax, he reveals to cameron and foreman that he plans on assisting the patient, kayla, and her brother, sam, in securing her a black market liver. this is, clearly, insane, despite chase's insistence that house would do something similar. foreman reiterates the underlying problem chase is experiencing: "this isn't gonna be your salvation."

this is becoming increasingly apparent to chase, especially as, in real time, the number of people ushering him along this sacramental journey is expanding - stacy, cuddy, and house are all involved in the interrogation now. he can't find a pragmatic way out of this predicament, just like he can't keep dancing around his fundamental (catholic) guilt over his error eventually killing kayla.

the next version of events he tells is the martyr's version. in chase's last-ditch fiction, he describes how he marched into kayla's hospital room to stop her from pursuing the black market organ, even as sam protests against it. he undoes an earlier mote of selfishness - telling a superfluous story about his tonsils to comfort patient hospital anxiety - by sharing about his deceased father (a new revelation to the audience!). it's this faux honesty, this nobility, that chase wants as his final testimony. noble, guilty, sacrificing, all in one.

yet the final version, the one nearest the truth, concealing everything but chase's reason for lying, is the most pitiful one yet: after kayla has died, chase confesses his error to same, who lashes out. chase bears the brunt of guilt; he feels he's been adequately punished...

so why does he keep looking at house at every turn?

chase wants to fall on his noble sword and get things over with - he says as much to stacy when he has the option of pushing the hearing date up. however, at every junction, he's downplayed the role house had in diagnosing and treating the patient. he's also afraid of house hearing all this self-sacrificing farce because he knows that he won't buy it. in this moment, stacy has lost her position as allegorical priest; house now embodies the role, sans the privacy of the confessional booth and the screen.

and, like clockwork, house clocks chase's real goal here: absolution. he wants to get through this pseudo-catholic-sacrament as intact as possible without showing any real vulnerability. when house takes chase aside, he says that, "you want him [sam] to sue you." oh, the catholic suffering of it all.

house does away with the ceremony and ritual of the confession. he confesses (!!!) to chase that he figured his father had passed away, and that rowan asked him to keep it to himself. this obviously pains chase, but, since it's house, and since no one can convince me that house isn't mean to be chase's Not Dad, he looks to him instead for a way forward. he's confessed; what should he do now?

nope - house only outlines his 2 options (tell the whole truth, or keep lying) and pledges that he won't say anything. the decision is entirely up to chase. this is a pretty non-deific (or not CATHOLIC, i should say) moment for house, refusing to intervene when a situation sorta calls for it. he's neither benevolent nor malicious, and we've seen him be both. maybe that's why he pays for his lack of a decision when the diagnostics department enters The Foreman Era.

so, in conclusion, this episode was an exercise in chase's catholicism, namely the sacrament called reconciliation/confession, that house subverts by not being the deific, unmerciful god who chase has come to expect in his life.

meanwhile, in wilson land:

hands not quite folded in prayer, divided by the walls of a non-confessional? discussing illicit sexual affairs? drawing admissions from house about his illicit affair? their dumb little game being vaguely penetrative? house's ball(s) being in wilson's metaphorical court? who's to say. i'm just a grad student.

[velvetseahorse]

Krittika, Jyestha, Rohini, and Hasta in silent hill

In the 2006 film Silent Hill, Christabella is the cult leader portrayed an Ardra ☉ and a Rohini ☽ actress. Ardra, ruled by Rudra the storm god is a fierce, emotional, and often destructive force of purification. Its energy tears through illusions, but when shadowed or distorted, Ardra can become fanatical, self-righteous, and brutally dogmatic. Christabella embodies this shadow; she believes she’s “cleansing” the town, when in reality, she is projecting the town’s collective guilt onto a child. Her Rohini Moon adds another layer. Rohini is a lunar nakshatra in Taurus, directly opposite Jyestha in Scorpio Alessa’s Moon placement. Rohini is emotional, nurturing, spiritual, and sensuous, but when corrupted, it can become jealous, controlling, and obsessed with image or purity. Christabella’s Rohini Moon explains her maternal manipulation and fixation on “purity.” She positions herself as the town’s spiritual mother, yet is willing to sacrifice children in pursuit of moral and spiritual dominance. Rohini’s territorial nature around belonging and exclusion is reflected in her ruthless treatment of Alessa.

The polarity between Ardra (the chaotic purifier) and Rohini (the possessive nurturer) fuels Christabella’s false saint/martyr complex.

Dahlia (Alessa’s Mother) played by Krittika ☉ actress. Krittika is ruled by Agni, the fire god it’s purifying, cutting, sharp, and can represent burning away falsehood or karma. In the film, Dahlia is portrayed as a victim of her sister Christabella’s cult. Krittika’s dharma is separation for purification and Dahlia experiences this karmically: her daughter is burned alive, separated from her, and made into a vessel of karmic retribution. Dahlia is spiritually and emotionally seared cut off from her daughter, isolated by grief. While Krittika represents cleansing by fire, but in her case, this fire was stolen and used by others (Christabella’s cult burns her daughter in her name.) Krittika’s higher nature is truth through purification, but its shadow is guilt, pain, and involuntary sacrifice. Dahlia is left smoldering not active like Christabella, not healed like Rose but haunted, burned, and silenced .

Alessa is Played by Actress with Hasta ☉, Jyestha ☽. Many folk witches are seen as being “of the hand” using craft, healing, or hidden skills and Alessa is accused of being a witch by Christabella’s cult. Hasta is clever,symbolized by the hand, and can be known for working behind the scenes.Alessa becomes a hidden force, operating from within the town’s dreamlike dimension to punish those who harmed her. Hasta can also be playful and innocent, which reflects Alessa’s core innocence before being brutalized (as well as her monsters she has created from her childish imagination) while Jyestha is associated with eldership, psychic strength, and a form of sexual humiliation (Indra being cursed to be covered in a thousand vaginas) in the film it is implied that Alessa was SA by an janitor which is christabella motivation for burning her. Jyestha can be nakshatra of the outcast woman, powerful yet feared, Alessa is literally called a witch, sexually abused, sacrificed, and fragmented. Jyestha, they’re often seen as “too much” or dangerous by society and Alessa is heavily bullied by her peers for not having a “father” and being a bit eccentric.

Rose Da Silva who is Sharon adoptive mother is portrayed by a Rohini ☽. As mentioned before Rohini is a moon nakshatra and is associated with maternal, emotionally sensitive, nurturing, and spiritual energy. Rose takes her child, Sharon (Alessa “innocence”), to Silent Hill in an act of deeply emotional, protective motherhood but this act also tears the family apart.Rohini is known for attachment, especially to children and ideals of purity and safety. Rose literally dives into the fog to protect her daughter’s innocence unknowingly sacrificing her own reality in the process.Her journey through Silent Hill is symbolically a passage through the Moon into psychological, womb-space, and karmic death/rebirth

Both Rose and Christabella are Rohini Moons yet they show opposite sides of lunar emotion: Rose = unconditional, intuitive maternal love and Christabella = possessive, controlling “righteous” motherhood while Dahlia, as a Krittika Sun, is the one who has been cut, both literally and symbolically. She’s the mother whose passion for her daughter was turned against her. Krittika is also about karma by fire Dahlia’s punishment is tied to her inability to protect Alessa.

Moon nakshatras can relate to cults not just because of belief, but because of their emotional intensity, need for belonging, and symbolic connection to nurturing spiritual power that can lead to cult like behavior especially in Ketu-ruled realms like Silent Hill, often becomes distorted into persecution or obsession. (Ketu is the south node of the moon) Christabella, an Rohini woman, believes she is righteous and pure, but her emotional insecurity and hunger for power make her viciously exclusionary. Alessa, as a Hasta child, represents creation of illusions and even spiritual sensitivity she is punished for being too intuitive, too wounded, too different.The cult’s dynamic is a reflection of the dark shadow of feminine archetypes: when maternal energy (Rohini) is twisted, it becomes controlling; when intuitive energy (Jyestha) is feared, it is burned.

(Part two explores the Ketu connections and will be up soon!)

[garadinervi]

Aarati Akkapeddi, Rituals of Recursion, (website, letterpress, performance), 2024

Exhibition: Aarati Akkapeddi: 'Rituals of Recursion', Curated by Chaitanya Harshita Nedunuri Kahn, Spill 180, Brooklyn, NY, January 11-25, 2025

Group Exhibition: The Space Between Words: Other Ways of Reading, Curated by Camilo Otero, Center for Book Arts, New York, NY, June 5 – August 30, 2025

«I developed a computer program that allows me to translate text into Kolam designs. Kolam (in Tamil) or Muggu (Telugu) is a traditional art form from South India. Kolams are auspicious drawings on the floor (usually at the threshold of the home) using rice flour. Kolams are traditionally made by women and created before sunrise. They comprise mathematically complex patterns that feature continuous intertwined lines. To encode text into Kolam designs, I first translate each character into eight-digit binary codes (made from only 0s and 1s). I then use an algorithm to map this translation onto a diamond-shaped matrix of dots. The algorithm moves top to bottom and left to right, drawing loops on each dot that correspond with either 0 or 1 according to the binary code translation of the text. The algorithm connects these loops, making sure to never connect loops associated with "0" to those associated with "1". The center of the matrix contains blank padding space, allowing the entire pattern to be distributed evenly on the matrix, preserving the perfect square/diamond shape. I started working with kolams because I wanted to translate my grandmother's name, Swarajyalaxmi, into a kolam as part of a reclamation of a mourning ritual after her passing in 2022. My family mourned my grandmother by invoking three generations following a patriarchal line (my grandmother, her mother-in-law, and her mother-in-law's mother-in-law). In contrast, I worked matrilineally, creating three kolams representing Swarajyalaxmi, Kameswaramma (her mother), and Rajyalaxmi (her grandmother). I draw the kolams signifying their names while simultaneously playing audio from an interview with her a month before she passed away at age 101. The audio shows how my grandmother's name signifies independence in the colonial context, and the interview also highlights her resilience in the face of patriarchal oppressions such as being married at age twelve. In this series, I expand on this work by incorporating letterpress printed works created using a set of 3D-printed kolam monotype blocks. There are kolams for my grandmother, her mother, and her grandmother but I also include letterpress prints that extend the process beyond familial connections. There are kolams commissioned by friends honoring their loved ones, kolams honoring martyrs, specific places, and some that feature messages of resilience and resistance. In these works, I see the act of translation as a ritual of reverence. invited all to spend time with each kolam and decode its meaning using kolam.codes. On this website, visitors could also encrypt new kolams.»

At Center for Book Arts

At Spill 180

Performance at Spill 180

At Spill 180

«In addition to the artwork, the Spill 180 exhibition also featured a "reading nook" with a zine of Telugu poetry curated by The Telugu Archive (Sai Priya Kodidala). The poems touch on themes of patriarchy, resistance, and the ways women have shared histories through mediums outside of traditional academia (i.e. song, clothing, kolam/muggulu). Sai Priya Kodidala is an independent writer and researcher from Hyderabad, India focusing on the intersection of Telugu literature, politics, history and art. The Telugu Archive traces the rich socio-political history of resistance, civil rights and revolutionary politics. You can view the zine online here.»

Reading Nook at Spill 180

[maxdibert]

Lily. Is she just a popular Petunia? On the surface they’re two sisters that could hardly be more different, the elder unattractive, dull and untalented and the younger beautiful, vivacious and magical. But they both chose domineering upper class bullies. They’re both concerned with social respectability. They both place themselves in physical danger for their sons. And while I can’t see Lily shoving a child in a cupboard, she also seems to operate within the framework that violence is acceptable if she can justify to herself the victim deserves it. Lily gets called a Mary Sue a lot and I get why but I think JKR put just enough in there to make the case that that she’s as grey as her chosen company lol

This take on Lily as a “popular Petunia” gains even more depth when we consider their working-class backgrounds and how each ultimately chooses a partner who offers social mobility—though in questionable ways. Petunia finds security and an upward social shift by marrying Vernon, a man who embodies traditional middle-class respectability with all its rigid, judgmental values. Lily, on the other hand, ends up with James Potter, who, by magical standards, is akin to a wealthy, privileged elite. James’s status, confidence, and the power that comes with his family’s legacy mark a clear jump for Lily in the wizarding social hierarchy, just as Petunia’s life with Vernon marks a leap into conventional middle-class security in the Muggle world.

Both sisters align themselves with men who embody aspects of control and social status within their respective worlds, suggesting they value security and social respectability—even if it means overlooking or accepting certain flaws. Petunia tolerates Vernon’s small-mindedness and cruelty, while Lily accepts James despite his past as a bully and privileged figure. Yet Lily’s decision is often portrayed in a highly idealized way, with Rowling rarely delving into her motivations or background beyond her role as Harry’s mother. This lack of context is perhaps one of the biggest issues with Lily’s character: she’s preserved as an almost saintly maternal figure, untouchable and morally pure, which can feel one-dimensional and even hypocritical, especially when we learn about her past friendship with Snape. Rowling’s reluctance to explore Lily’s complexity leaves her moral standing somewhat hollow, given that she rejects Snape for his darker choices while forgiving James for his own troubling traits.

In the end, both Lily and Petunia are driven by a desire for social respectability and stability, but their different worlds shape those ambitions in distinct ways. By elevating Lily to an untouchable status as Harry’s “perfect” mother, Rowling misses the chance to flesh out the complexities that make her choices relatable, instead framing her as a near-flawless martyr. This leaves her character feeling almost like a “Mary Sue” figure, unable to reconcile the murkiness of her past or the double standards within her relationships.

[presidentdisastraofgallifrey]

Gallifrey Relisten Lists: Series 1

Romana, Destroyer of Worlds

Her backup plan if negotiating fails is to blow up the entire planet of Gryben and everyone (the Time Lords trapped) on it. Initially she wanted to lower the barrier and give some people a chance to run, but she doesn't argue when Brax vetoes this (Weapon of Choice)

Insists that they stop the theft of the timeonic fusion device from its testing despite knowing what will happen, allowing Minyos to be destroyed without even trying to find a way to save it (The Inquiry)

Romana is Suicidal

Plan A involves waltzing into a charged situation and offering herself to the terrorists in exchange for diffusing the timeonic fusion device. And, yes, this is a trick, but it's a very risky one and still counts because the first idea that came into her head involved her own potential death (Weapon of Choice)

Plan B involves having Brax blow up the entire planet to prevent the device going off, with her on it to prevent a war starting about it (Weapon of Choice)

Plan C involves sitting there and waiting for said device to detonate a few feet away without trying to diffuse it, betting that it's actually a bluff and will never go off (Weapon of Choice)

Says "all of us are willing to die to defend our beliefs" as if it's a pure truth of the universe (Weapon of Choice)

Casually refers to both herself and Napenthe as martyrs (Weapon of Choice)

Is faced with a "robot" attempting to kill her and just completely forgets to run away in favor of asking it questions about its anomalous behavior (Square One)

Runs off completely alone to confront Brax about his alleged dangerous criminal behavior, refusing to allow someone to come along and protect her (The Inquiry)

Later that same day, demands to accompany Brax to fight servitors (though they didn't then know who they'd have to fight then) and stop the theft, again risking her life (The Inquiry)

Parks her tardis in front of a speeding train to frighten Andred-Torvald into telling her the truth, and I truly don't think she knew if she would go through with it if this plan failed (A Blind Eye)

Leela is Smarter than the Time Lords

She's the only one paying enough attention to notice the Monan spy in the Free Time movement (Weapon of Choice)

Memorizes door codes after being told by K9 once (Square One)

Workes out the logical person to be in the robot costume very quickly (Square One)

Annoys and needles Narvin into very nearly giving away information he doesn't want to (The Inquiry)

Honorable mention: despite drowning in grief and betrayal, is the only one to walk away from that train in a dignified and adult manner in a story where Romana nearly kills a bunch of people and meets with a known criminal, Torvald tries to break the timeline on purpose, Andred commits identity fraud, and every just generally behaves badly (A Blind Eye)

Everyone is Autistic

Romana relies on her emotional support Braxiatel to help her regulate her emotions and initial reactions. I don't think she realizes they're doing this, but he clearly does and has clearly done it often enough before to be unconcerned about whether she'll listen (Weapon of Choice)

I'm not going to record every instance of this because it's (far too) constant, but Leela processes complex concepts through familiar metaphor, which is why Romana automatically explains things to her like that (Weapon of Choice)

Despite knowing the plan and understanding subterfuge, it takes Leela a moment to process that K-9 has shifted from his usual self to the evil persona he's playing (Weapon of Choice)

Leela assumes a new situation will work the same as it has in the past and she doesn't need to think through the logistics, thus assuming that Torvald will pay for the meat she grabs (Weapon of Choice)

None of them can lie worth a damn when put on the spot (Weapon of Choice, but also just...all of it)

Leela takes a long time to understand space sex work euphemisms despite understanding the concept of space sex work (Square One)

Leela struggles (again) to get in character despite understanding why she should lie (Square One)

Narvin...uh...*gestures vaguely to Narvin's entire deal and all attempts at diplomacy* (Square One, but also always)

Leela doesn't understand why she should follow inquiry protocols when they're redundant, such as introducing herself (The Inquiry)

Narvin decides never to trust Brax because "he disagreed with me once"

Even when openly contemptuous of a person, Narvin is awkward and uncomfortable when dealing with emotions, his or theirs (The Inquiry)

Romana, Leela, and Narvin all stick very strictly to their own moral codes and get very upset when something or someone doesn't match up (The Inquiry, but also always)

Romana telling the conductor that she's President of Gallifrey is such an autistic mannerism. My guess is it's a holdover from when she didn't understand that aliens wouldn't get it that became an inside joke with herself (A Blind Eye)

Narvin is so incredibly proud that Andred found no conspiracy, that he runs a squeaky clean...black ops spy agency. Do you think he understands that he is literally the only CIA agent this determined to follow the rules? (A Blind Eye)

Leela's "we must protect even those who disgust us" is along the same lines (A Blind Eye)

[hearts-hunger]

this show is giving me a headache

pros:

future days, fucking FINALLY.

joel and tommy coparenting ellie we love to see it

the space capsule scene (and most of the museum flashback) was perfect. exactly like the game, and absolutely perfect. pedro and bella did a super job with that. 10/10 wouldn't change a thing.

joel celebrating her bithdays with her was nice to see, and i liked the father/daughter bonding time. it felt authentic and warm.

the joel and his dad flashback was interesting? i'm not 100% sold on it but it presents an intriguing character dynamic. i don't know. file that one under "ehh, okay, i don't hate it."

"say goodnight to uncle grumpy" shut uppppp it's too cute

now the cons. where to begin. and let me say i don't even vehemently hate these things, because i'm simply too bored and annoyed with the show to really care anymore. but, let's see if i can organize my thoughts somewhat.

this is the tamest one, and the most confusing, but was i smoking crack or did the part at the museum where it was supposed to be the "liars" spray paint just end up being a stump in the middle of the forest? genuinely paused it and couldn't see anything of significance there. am i crazy?

also, homophobe joel? am i tripping? weird choice there. and apparently the reason ellie moved out is because she wanted to be having sex and smoking weed and be a rebellious teen, not because she felt this growing rift of ontological mistrust between her and joel.

that's actually my problem with the whole episode (and the show i guess), that it reframes ellie's anger with joel about her purpose in life and how he robbed her of that. instead, we get this cheaper version where she's just angsting too hard.

cutting out the hospital scene was a HUGE mistake. ellie's anger and grief, joel's regret now that the lie is out but also his steadfastness in knowing it was the right thing to do? no. instead it got shoehorned into the porch scene and cheapened.

speaking of, the porch scene was such a mess i don't even know what to say about it. i guess it's not going to be the stab-in-the-heart finale to ellie's revenge journey? it's also not about the fireflies, really, it's about joel lying and how that manifested in the gail thing.

oh, side note on gail, you're telling me we lost the hotel bloater for that shit? for ellie to be a selfish little bastard freak who inflicted suffering on gail for no reason other than to get back at joel? great. that's just what i wanted, more ellie mischaracterization.

anyway, back to the porch scene. in the game, ellie is not so much angry about joel lying as she is angry that he took away her purpose, made her immunity into nothing. show ellie is only mad about the lying, as evidenced by the eugene/gail thing. if they had said even one line about "maybe if the fireflies had made a cure we could have saved eugene" that would have tied it back narratively to joel's betrayal with regard to the fireflies. but no, it's just lying in general she's not enthusiastic about. it has nothing to do with her deep-seated vaguely suicidal failed martyr's complex she has going on, and that's such a crucial part of ellie that to get rid of it makes her a petulant little baby.

they've drawn everything else out timeline wise for no reason, but they make joel and ellie's estrangement last for a few months. that combined with it being slap in the middle of the "gameplay" takes away its emotional punch. it's also very heavy handed with the crying and the passing down the mantle of fatherhood and "because you're selfish" "because i love you" blah blah blah. stop fucking spoon-feeding your audience like i am BEGGING at this point.

same thing with the moths. you don't have to spell everything out, you subtlety-phobic bottom of the barrel writers guild rejects!! trust your audience and let them figure something out for once! let them speculate! let them work through it!!

whatever joel said - that "and i'm gonna live with it every day because you're gonna reject me" or whatever the fuck was SO STUPID. i can't explain how disgusting and pathetic self pity looks on joel. not to mention the fact that his fears of that are totally unfounded because ellie forgives him immediately after. emotional tension absolutely wasted, if indeed you had any to begin with.

the fact is, it's just clunky and poorly done compared to the game. the writing is poor. it's rushed in some places and drawn out for no reason in others. it misunderstands the characters. it just fumbles basically everything, things that are fucking gift-wrapped for them in the game just begging to be put on the screen. the show is just flat out worse than the game, and i'm really kinda over it.

as always come yell at me on @ellies-miller if u dare

[familyagrestefanblog]

Though, let me clarify something here: Nathalie is just as guilty in how this turned out, in a couple of things her blame significantly outweighs Marinette's. This is important.

But im right now bothered by Marinette more because while the narrative claims Nathalie is good now, the story has also never shied away from properly acknowledging that she's AT MINIMUM a morally grey character.

Marinette on the other hand is consistently glorified, praised, and martyr-ed for absolutely EVERYTHING she does no matter how much it hurts others and harms the story in the long run as long as they end up smiling at her. Her feelings and validation are put first and it is treated as a fundamental truth that Maribug is the greatest girlboss goddess of all time who is always entitled to support, control, and power because it's HER and she says so and if she doesn't get it she's being bullied and oppressed and must make sure she gets what she wants.

This is not the same, and its what consistently turns Maribug's characters into such a moral threat since the retooling of season 4 that makes her involvement alot worse than the involvement of other characters.

Nathalie absolutely is a major problem in this now forwards, but Marinette's long established entitlement to play god and prioritise her feelings over morality whenever she doesn't like something and just hope for the best is the main problem. And this isn't new.

And no, I don't see how gaslighting Adrien now believing that the 14 years of abuse he experienced weren't real and HE is the problem in everything cause HE got it wrong because MARIBUG lovingly says so and teaches him what to truly feel and think is a loving thing to do (as we see at the very end of season 5, Marinette's lies fucked Adrien UP)

This once again just feels like Marinette doesn't want to have a fucking conversation so she's taking the fucked up route that's nicest to HER if she gets through with it.

So she learned nothing. She's still doing what she claimed to have been sorry for and she's still making herself out to be the most generous and caring goddess over it because she has complex human feelings (like everyone else) and Marinette is so spoiled by the narrative that she still takes that as her being right she's just "misunderstood" and not catered to enough.

This is, as always, what it comes down to. The problem is always the same. Marinette may genuinely start out with good and caring intentions, but her execution always ends up priorizing protecting herself and making sure SHE is okay first and foremost.

The problem is Marinette's goddess framing and that she can't be just wrong about something anymore without a giant fuss being made about it that overshadows the actual victims and stops the necessary steps from being taken to just get over the moral problem because the show refuses to not always have Marinette be validated in some way which muddles the morality.

[guess-that-ship]

S14 Round 1

Dueling Inferiority Complexes

[This description was modified to remove author commentary and potentially identifying information.]

Character A is an accidental hero with the fate of all humanity riding on her shoulders. She lacks the talent expected of someone in her position, and is keenly aware of all of her failings and the fact that other people could do better, but circumstances left her the only one capable of taking on this role.

Character B was supposed to have the role that A currently has. He's of fairly low standing within his society, and this was going to be his chance to make a name for himself, but now all he can do is watch while some incompetent nobody screw it all up.

When A and B first met, they were enemies, and B verbally tore into A for all her failings and for taking the role that was meant to be his. Since then they've worked alongside each other more often than not, and B even ended up back on A's side permanently. He's teaching her some of the skills she lacks, and she's coaxing him out of his grumpy shell so she can properly befriend him.

2nd and 3rd

cw: discussions of self-harming tendencies, implied suicide

2nd and 3rd met during a very dark time in 3rd's life. In fact, it was 2nd reaching out--both literally and metaphorically, by being her friend--that saved 3rd's life, something that 3rd has never forgotten. Because of this, the two of them are extremely close, and 3rd can even get a bit obsessive over 2nd at times. She learned how to cook just because 2nd can't cook but loves to eat (3rd's cooking is now her favorite, of course), and 2nd's safety is her top priority. This has actually caused conflict between the two of them, particularly when 2nd's survivor's guilt-driven martyr complex was at its worst, as 2nd was destroying herself in an effort to save everyone and 3rd was doing everything in her power to stop her. Still, even when that drove the two of them apart for a while, they placed the utmost trust in each other and longed for the day they could be reunited.