#jewish alec

[rotzaprachim]

a minyan of favourite characters who i know, deeply and truly, are jews 

[nerdsandthelike]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Leverage Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer, Original Female Character/Original Female Character Characters: Alec Hardison, Parker (Leverage), Eliot Spencer (Leverage), Original Female Character(s) Additional Tags: Post-Leverage Season/Series 05, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Not Leverage: Redemption Compliant, POV Alternating, Jewish Alec Hardison, Jewish Holidays, Rosh HaShana | Jewish New Year, Pesach | Passover, Holiday Traditions, Coparenting, Teenagers, lovingly embarassing parents, Meeting the Parents, Parker (Leverage) is still autistic, Domestic Fluff Series: Part 2 of the Megan AU Summary:

“Anyway, why are you asking about Passover?” Hardison asked. “Not that I don’t appreciate the interest, but-“ Megan was blushing. And Parker wasn’t the only one who noticed. Eliot and Hardison stared at her too. “Lexi is Jewish,” she said finally. “Who?” Parker asked. “Lexi, you know, you met her. That one time,” she said, slowing down her words and raising the pitch. Significant but embarrassing information. “You broke down her door.”

Parker, Eliot, and Megan celebrate the Jewish holidays with Hardison. And Megan decides that Pesach is a good time for her parents to properly meet her new girlfriend.

I’ve been working on this follow-up to my “Eliot has a teenage daughter AU” literally since I finished the original, but with my amazing @fandomtrumpshate beta and Jewish sensitivity reader, I have finally finished it! So happy very belated Pesach from me and Alec Hardison!

[aleswiftgron]

For the people who keep making weird tiktoks about how Cassie like incest bc she's used the trope

(first of all, have you really read all the books right?? Because it never seems like she's using it in a romanticizing it way, but in a way of showing a power abuse and violence)

I just want to say that she's CAREFUL AS FUCK when picking the couple right

Because thanks to TLH we kind of have an idea about the family tree.

The Blackthorns and Jace's Herondale line, are related, Tessa being their great great grandma i think??, Also the Lightwoods are there too

She really said: i'm not going to stay here and be acused of SHIT,

Alec, is paired with a 400 y/o indonesian warlock, safe✅

Julian and Emma's line are not intertwined, safe✅

The Fairchilds never mixed with the main families, so Jace and Clary, safe✅

Mark, he is half faerie, so he mixes with a faerie prince, and a mexican girl, he really said, not in LA, safe✅

Simon's a jewish mundane, Isabelle a Lightwood, safe✅

Diana and Gywn (the hunter), safe✅

Aline Penhallow, and Helen Blackthorn, Aline is not really one of the mains, safe✅

As for new possible couples:

Kit and Ty, Blackthorn and Herondale, yes, buuuuuut, its the LOST Herondale line😌, safe✅

Dru and Ash, well he is a prince of faerie and son os Sebastian Morgenstern/Fairchild, safe✅

She really brought back Jem from the (practically/mentally gone inmortal state) dead, Jem and Tessa, safe✅

I mean practically everyone is mostly related, the Blackthorns and Jace have the same great great grandma, and Jace and Emma are kinda related because of Cordelia, and the Lightwoods were cousins with the Herondales in TLH sooo she really thought about it

[fortunelowtier]

I still 100% unironically wholeheartedly believe that this scuffed ass reality tv show from 2007 where CBS stranded 40 children in the middle of the NM desert a la Lord of the Flies is one of the most genuinely fascinating pieces of TV I've ever watched just because of how ABSURD it is on every level

-Their society is a bizarre Communism/Democracy hybrid whose entire economy is based on the barter system

-There is a set class system everyone is sorted into against their will who each get paid more or less money depending on how high or low they are on the ladder, and at the end of each episode they must compete in competitions to decide who gets to be at the top, with the "strongest" being able to get the esteemed title of "upper class"

-Every time they would complete a challenge, at the very end they were given a choice of 2 things that could be added to the town, to which the leaders of the teams would vote on which to get (For example, in one episode they had to choose between fresh produce or 50 pizzas). One of these things was letters from the children's parents, implying that the adults on site were receiving the mail from these kid's parents and deliberately withholding it from them

-In one episode the district leaders of each of the 4 teams (the classes) go out and find a chest full of buffalo nickels (the town's currency), they bring the chest to the town and naturally, this creates unprecedented inflation near instantly, as there's now a mass amount of currency that suddenly appeared in the economy

-Their entire society existed in relative stability until the moment religion was introduced in the form of various religious texts (Bibles, the Quran, etc), after which the town immediately started to go to shit. The Jewish kids and Christian kids were at each other's throats about which religion was """better""" (because they're children who had religion forced upon them at a young age before they were able to think for themselves but that's an entire can of worms I won't open), while the 1 (one) Hindu kid was trying to keep the peace

-At one point the kids start to crave meat, as their food up to that point was mostly canned goods and various produce, so one of the """eldest""" members of the group, (I say """eldest""" because he was still only like 14 or 15) who had worked as a butchers apprentice, took one of their chickens and lead the kids into the desert to where he then taught them how to decapitate, pluck, drain, and cook a chicken.

-One of the kids later did a Reddit AMA about his experience on the show, where he then disclosed various things that happened outside of the camera such as, but not limited to: Oil burns, a kid drinking bleach, scorpions, venomous snakes, an outbreak of herpes, the lack of showers, the lack of multiple toilets (up until I believe a few weeks in they only had one outhouse), etc etc etc

-The parents of these kids allegedly had to sign a 22 page waiver that was basically CBS going "If ur kids get hurt you can't sue us", specifically noting "acts of god" in the contract of things that they weren't to be held accountable for

-At the end of every week, the 4 leaders got together to choose which person would receive that week's "gold star", a star made out of 20,000 USD of solid gold (around 30k after adjusting for inflation), an unfathomable amount of money to give to kids who likely had no concept as to how much money 20 grand was

-The town used for Bonanza City is actually a ghost town/film set located just 20 miles from Santa Fe used as a filming location for movies like A Million Ways to Die In the West (2014) and The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981). The reason I bring this up is because it's the same film set in which 14 years later, Alec Baldwin would accidentally discharge a firearm on the set of Rust, resulting in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins

To anyone asking where to watch this, I genuinely don't know. All of the 13 episodes used to be available on YouTube by someone who re-uploaded them in 2010, but the channel was terminated last year. I've heard that there are a few Google Drive folders floating around that have the raw MP4 files and you could watch them that way but you'd probably have to go digging for it

[yourfaveisqueerandreligious]

alec hardison from leverage is jewish (canon) and pansexual (headcanon)

submitted by anon

[nicejewishcharactershowdown]

REMINDER -- NICE in Nice Jewish Character Showdown is not an evaluation of personality, but in quality of representation! Who do you see yourself in more?

[disventurecamptakes]

realized I never sent in my ideas for the Disventure Camp characters’ last names… so here:

My last names for the cast + my headcanons: (i’ll be leaving some out bc i like their last name or their last name is strictly canon as in they’re called their last name basically every single episode)

Aiden Cadena ; i hc him as half latino half white

Ally Glitch

Alec Mustafa ; i hc him as half black half japanese half turkish

Connor Manfred ; i hc him as jewish/white

Ashley McGrawl

Dan Evans

Ellie Han ; i hc her as half asian half white

Drew Leblanc

Gabby Kowalska

Fiore Lombardi ; i hc her as a quarter asian 3/4s italian/white

Hunter Wang ; i hc him as half asian half white

Jake Sun ; I hc him as asian

Jeon Yul ; i hc him a quarter latino 3/4s asian

Karol Jones ; i hc her half black half white

Kai Cortez ; i hc him half latino half black half indigenous half asian

Maggy O’Connor

Lill Chow ; i hc her as half asian half white

Nick Burton — Idk if they still had Milton for Nick’s but if they did, Milton works for me too

Miriam Fletcher

Riya Varma

Oliver Navarro-Phan ; i hc him as half latino half asian half black

Tess Kurosawa ; I hc her as a quarter asian 3/4s white

Rosa Maria Hernandez

Tom Noi ; i hc him as half asian half white

Will Hemingway — last name just struck something in me. a polite & jumpy guy needs a polite last name

i WILL say that I think Derek Johnson is half asian half latino + Trevor McGregor is half asian half black

+ Kristal Mclean is 3/4s latina and a quarter asian bc I hc Chris Mclean as half white and half asian👍🏼

U don’t need to agree w my headcanons or last names, but i thought i would give my take on this💜

.

[bookishjules]

you made the owie situation so much worse because max 100% would have chosen izzy as his suggenes 😭 i’m reading qoaad right now and i miss sizzy so much. cassie really missed the mark by not having them be more involved in the plot and politics, especially because simon had his whole downworlder and shadowhunter equality advocate arc in tftsa. not that i’m saying they didn’t have any opinions on the cohort, i just wish simon and isabelle had more vocal moments in the book and it’s council meetings, especially considering that simon is jewish!!! and the registery hits very very close to home if you get what i mean. i’m surprise that simon didn’t have a moment during a council meeting or any scene where he mentioned how close the actions the cohort wanted were to nazis. izzy was kinda just a babysitter for most of the times she was mentioned, i miss her badassery BUT i do understand that this book is from emma and the blackthorns’ povs and they’re closer to clace and malec… let’s hope simon works more with the new academy and we see him and izzy be mentors to dru (izzy trainer era would be elite)

okay i'm so glad someone else saw my vision... even if it hurts. i just can't help but imagine that in the universe where max lives, he gets closer to izzy into his teen years. i think izzy would spend more time with him when she's trying not to think about simon, bc both of her other brothers are in happy committed relationships, and then after the events of tfsa, he would get closer with simon through her bc of comics and anime etcetc and that would pull them tighter. plus, izzy isn't protective older brother like alec, and she isn't idolized like jace. she's a lot more .. accessible i guess is what i'm saying. as a sibling. she also ends up having a lot less responsibility than jace and alec, as you said, so it makes sense for him to go to her when he needs someone to talk to, or to her and simon's place when he needs a comfortable place to relax. ... anyway i have a lot more thoughts on this but it is not the point of this ask at all lol

i am also reading qoaad rn!! and i know exactly what you mean. i've thought similarly with simon. like he blazed through the sa in a very political manner, and yet we don't see him speaking up against the wrongs being committed here? and with something of this magnitude, and with his perspective.. there's no way he wouldn't feel a responsibility to speak up, especially now that they're all adult shadowhunters and are able to sit in on those meetings and have the voice they didn't always have access to as teens.

so basically yes i fully agree with everything you said <3 and i also really really really hope for more sizzy involvement in twp. i may have my hopes up too high (i.e. they exist), but just the knowledge that there will be a scene with simon at the pandemonium feels like it could imply a tilt in that direction. and i really think it's only fair o7

plus i mean.. not to go back to the max thing. but IF all of what i said above did happen, there's a world where sizzy would be more familiar with ty and dru bc they bracket max's age and would likely have ended up being friends, just by the nature of how involved clary is with emma, and emma potentially expressing worry about the kids not having friends their age etcetc you see where i'm going. so it just feels.. right. yk?

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

There's been talk about another hostage deal. I don't refer to that much, because so much of it is happening behind the scenes, is not being reported on, or is deliberately lied about to put pressure on one of the factors in the equation, I don't see a point in talking about it unless there's confirmation that there is a deal. That's what I did before, that's what I'll continue to do.

There's more than enough proof that Hamas used the hospitals in Gaza as bases for their terrorist activity, I've written about it multiple times, and yet the lie that Hamas did no such thing is SO big, and SO many people and organizations, which are considered reputable, were complicit in covering for Hamas' crimes, that every additional piece of evidence matters. Now we have the confession of a Gaza hospital director, who admits that he not only collaborated with Hamas' terrorist usage of his hospital, he actually joined Hamas, and was a member of this terrorist organization himself. He also testifies that Hamas used hospitals, because it considered them safe places (meaning, they knew the IDF is NOT going to attack there).

I mentioned in my daily post yesterday, that the Houthis' attempt at blockading Israel has become a threat to global economy. Today, the US has accordingly announced an international coalition of 10 countries so far (officially, it's reported that some countries will participate anonymously) to combat this terrorist threat from Yemen, funded by Iran. There's at least one Arab country that officially joined this coalition, Bahrain (one of the Arab countries that Israel has peace with). This reminds me once again of the First Gulf War. World order in regards to Iran is taking shape in front of our eyes. This is important stuff, with consequences much bigger and longer lasting than the war in Gaza, though very much connected to it (even if we won't feel them immediately).

Another drone from Lebanon infiltrated Israel's north today, it was intercepted by the IDF. I'll also take this opportunity for a reminder that rocket fire into Israel continues, even if I don't mention it in every update post. In the last 24 hours, many rockets were fired into Tel Aviv and central Israel.

A Hamas money launderer, in charge of transferring money from Iran and other countries to Hamas, money which fuels the organization's terrorist activities and fighting, has been killed in Gaza.

Actor Alec Baldwin was stopped by anti-Israel protesters, when he happened to pass by them in NYC. They demanded he condemn Israel, because apparently if you're a celebrity, you HAVE to have an opinion about every political subject in the world, and it's okay to harass you about it in your private time. That's not bullying if you're famous. But what's even more infuriating, is that the protesters implied Baldwin wouldn't condemn the Jewish state, because he works in Hollywood, meaning they repeated the age old antisemitic trope that Jews control the American film industry. These are the same people who make it unsafe for Jews to leave council meetings that discuss the war, without police protection. At what point do we call out this violent, bullying behavior, harming regular people, as an illegitimate form of protesting?

These are Amiram Cooper, Yoram Metzger and Chaim Perry. All of them are in their 80's.

They've been kidnapped by Hamas, which released a vid of them in captivity. The vid has not been published in Israeli media, as seems to have been the general policy when it comes to this part of Hamas' psychological warfare. I heard the familiy members (who obviously were shown the vid) of two of these kidnapped men. Both relatives said that all three men (who are from the same community) don't look like themselves, that they lost a lot of weight and seem to be in a bad shape.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[ty-bayonet-betteridge]

taylor is a bisexual jewish trans woman. brian is a trans man who overcompensates by performing toxic masculinity. alec is bisexual but also traumagenically aspec. lisa is transfem and aroace. aisha is bisexual and nonbinary. rachel is butch and bisexual but aromantic and she has no strong ties to the concept of gender. wildbow is a coward for failing to recognize these basic facts of the universe

[hockstetters-overbite]

We need to talk about gun rights

This usually isn't the type of content I like to post and this has been said time and time again but I feel like I have to bring something to the table because of recent events in my life

Of course i'll put trigger warnings for those who don't wish to view this type of content from me

TW: Mention of school shooter threats

Hello, as you all know my name is Alec, I'm 17, Jewish, and I'm a Junior in Highschool. I have a little sister who's only three years younger than me and who is in MIDDLE SCHOOL.

Last night she had to tell me that her school had gotten a shooting threat, Of course I immediately contacted our mother to suggest that we both stay home today because I could not in my right mind have my sister dropped off at school when the notion of a threat looms right over her in an environment she should be safe in. I didn't feel safe enough to go to school today either.

I've been in a lockdown before where the threat was somebody with a weapon of an unspecified type and it was one of the most horrific things I've ever had to experience in my entire life and I'd wish that type of fear and panic to nobody on this Earth. Not even my worst enemy.

Nothing is worse than having to sit in a classroom and fear for your life and your friend's lives because of somebody else. A substitute didn't have a lock to lock the door and couldn't find the bolo stick to put into the floor by the door.

After we were allowed out I had asked him if everything went okay and that's when he had told me that. He had stood in front of the door and was completely ready to lose his life for the kids he was in charge of.

I've had to teach my best friend where every available exit in the school was his freshman year because in the event that something does occur I want him to have a chance of getting out.

I have lost experiences such as homecoming and valuable time in school because I was too afraid to show up because of these threats.

Adults and Students, especially young ones, alike shouldn't have to worry about getting killed in an environment where they're supposed to be safe and learn in! Everyone should have a right to feel and be safe in their schools. One day I hope laws will come down harder on gun laws so kids don't have to memorize exits in their schools, to always keep it in the back of their heads that they might not go home that day and especially so no parent has to lose their child to something so horrific.

If you would like to help prevent gun violence I'd recommend donating to Sandy Hook Promise, i'll leave a link below. Thank you all for listening.

[eretzyisrael]

Thousands of Nazis worked in Egypt

A BBC programme has been exploring the little-known subject of the Nazis who came to live and work in Egypt after the end of WWII. The segment at the start (14 minutes long ) has an interview with a former far-right supporter called Frank Gelli, and another with Vivyan Kinross, author of the book Nazis on the Nile. (With thanks: Alec)

Johann Von Leers ran Nasser’s anti-Jewish campaign and remained an unrepentant antisemite

Gelli belonged to a far-right group in Italy, and was sent in 1964 to Egypt to deliver greetings to Johann von Leers aka Omar Amin. Von Leers was a member of the SS who arrived in Egypt in 1956 and converted to Islam. He masterminded Egyptian president Nasser’s antisemitic campaign. He had written 20 books and was responsible for anti-Jewish radio broadcasts.

Von Leers opened the door to Gelli in his pyjamas. He reminded the Italian of an elfin with wrinkles. Still an unrepentant antisemite, he told Gelli ‘the Pope looks like a Jew’ and ‘Hitler had got it right’ when he murdered six million Jews in the Holocaust. Von Leers was worried about Mossad shipping him to Israel. (Mossad had captured and tried Adolph Eichmann in 1961). Von Leers died a year after Gelli’s visit. Gelli is today an Anglican priest.

Nasser and the Nazis had shared interests. Thousands of Nazis had escaped Germany through ratlines and were recruited to bolster Egypt’s security and defence following its disastrous defeat by Israel in 1948.

The programme mentions the dramatic decline in Egypt’s Jewish population but does not make a direct connection with the Nazis in Egypt.

How Nazis in Egypt helped ‘persuade’ Jews to leave

[lycanpunk666]

From the prompt of @nosuchthingasdeadlanguages … All the DCAS characters and my headcanons for them. For the sake of ease, in order: Gender and sexuality headcanons (Tis the season and also tumblr marked this post as mature for some fucking reason), general headcanons, and post-canon.

Repost since tumblr genuinely appears to be acting strange about it.

Jake: Cis gay guy. I think he’s into pop punk, and I think that he went to therapy once the show’s over. Possibly more than that depending on how the season ends. Christ this guy needs it.

Alec: Cis Aro ace-spec guy. To elaborate on this, I think that it took him awhile to find out since he kind of just thought that he had something mentally wrong with him and got together with his ex wife because of societal pressures. They were good friends, it’s just that everyone kept saying how they should be a couple, so one day he asked her out. He still isn’t sure how to feel about finding out he’s aromantic, especially since he’s not fully asexual. But he’s working through his issues. Post-canon, he and Connor become close friends and briefly live together.

Fiore: She’s 8, too early to tell anything. I think her family’s Catholic, as implied by the nature of some of the things they’ve allegedly said to her, and the fact that she was sent to a boarding school with nuns pre-All Stars. Post-canon, she probably goes back to that boarding school and just seethes. I feel like she’s gonna grow into a very unhappy teenager and an even unhappier woman. But she IS going to be absolutely terrifying and incredibly skilled in whatever job she picks.

Ashley: Cishet ally. She’s musclier than her sprite shows. No way she’s a farmer and she’s THAT skinny, that woman has abs that could shatter steel. Post-canon she works on putting up some better boundaries with Jake and also becomes friends with Tess.

Tom: Cis gay guy. He’s a really dorky dancer and really likes 80s pop. Also, he’s entirely driven by a gnawing desire to do good for the world, or at least know that he’s helping people directly. It’s not just a need, it’s genuinely a calling, and he’s doing what he believes is best for himself and for the world. Also, he was a skilled prodigy with a bunch of practical skills it took for spy work, which had to do with why he was out in the field at such a young age. Post-canon, he tries and fails to join the FBI (due to his terrible reputation it’s really hard to get hired for anything but cop stuff). He might eventually get to be a detective, though. Hopefully.

Ellie: Cis bisexual but uses any pronouns. She’s punk, and her favorite artist is Joan Jett. Post-canon she kind of has a really dismal future, so I think they live with Gabby as they manage to scrape by with her help and go to fashion school.

Gabby: Trans lesbian! In season 1, she was in the middle of getting a job as a forest ranger. By all stars, she got the job. Post-canon, she lives with Ellie, but their relationship is slightly strained.

Miriam: Cishet ally. She’s Jewish, indicated mostly by her name being a common Hebrew name, but honestly I just really like thinking about it. Post-canon she still has Jake living with her and has not worked up the courage to tell him to get his own damn apartment.

Grett: Cis bisexual. It took her ages to figure it out, though, and she’s still working through some internalized homophobia and biphobia. She’s definitely not perfectly okay but she’s doing better than she was. Also, she can play multiple instruments, including the piano, violin, and flute. Post-canon she continues working on that professional self-help stuff that was mentioned in All Stars.

Tess: Cis polyamorous bisexual. She’s a burnt out gifted kid- like legitimately went to a school for gifted students in her early years due to her talents in reading, writing, linguistics, and art. Post-canon, she dates Ally. They’ve got loads of chemistry, it works.

Ally: Trans polyamorous bisexual. Idk she’s got tgirl energy yknow? This is based on nothing. Anyway she’s got crazy good analytical skills, she was the top of her class in math and literature. She tends to apply it with video games but she’s really good at applying her knowledge. Also she’s autistic. Post-canon, she and Tess date, AND Ally goes to therapy so she can work on her terror around how people perceive her!

Hunter: Cis polyamorous bisexual. He’s not a very good student but he IS very smart. He LOVES puzzles, his favorite kind are 3D ones like wooden puzzles or rubix cubes. Awful social skills though. Post-canon he doesn’t really go to therapy but he does genuinely try to put in more effort into listening and understanding other people.

Yul: Cis and bi-curious. Or “Is there any way to be bisexual without being a part of the lgbt community. Because I don’t want to be a part of it.” God this dude has so many issues, I just wish he had more depth. Not necessarily to make him sympathetic, I just wish he was more than a bigoted bowling pin to knock down. So I think he’s just very squeamish. He goes out of his way to avoid things if they make him even a little bit uncomfortable (which goes poorly considering he’s on Disventure camp). Cough hack cough also DC’s writing for his homophobia was clumsy and not well thought out.

Connor: Cishet ally. But I feel like a reading of him being transhet is a wonderful take that has a fun direction for his worries about growing old. I think he grew up somewhere similar to Hollywood, or generally somewhere where your prime years are glorified and you’re told your life is essentially over once you grow old. He and Alec live together for a bit as I said post-canon, and Connor adopts a kid. He sort of wants a wife still, but he’s accepted the possibility that that might not happen.

Riya: Cishet, but I don’t think she’s homophobic actually (unless I’m misremembering something or missed something). She’s just a dick lmfao she doesn’t care if you’re gay. I feel like she actually really likes American food but doesn’t eat it often because it’s often greasy, and ruins her pores. Post-canon I have… no clue what she’s doing. Ngl i doubt her career was affected by what she’s done in All Stars, it might even have been enhanced by it.

Lake: Cis lesbian. I really really like her but I don’t know how season 2 ends yet, but I do think that she gets a bit wild with the wigs she gets (in terms of styles and colors). She gets really creative with them. Post-canon I’m not quite sure, she just continues to make serious bank with her books since she’s already a popular author.

James: Cis gay or bisexual, I’m not sure which so I might actually say he’s Achillean. He was very skilled academically, and he’s done with college and has a degree in business. I’m not actually sure what he’d do with it, he makes decent money being an influencer. (Why,,, tiktok though. James my beloved you can do better) Post-canon I have no idea, I need to see more of season 2 to say for sure but I do know that he and Aiden are endgame.

Aiden: Trans gay guy. He’s pretty average ngl I have nothing much to say about him. But I do think that he’s almost always trying to do the right thing, but “the right thing” is just what he perceives as such. Not necessarily what’s actually good for everyone else. He can get so stuck in his own beliefs that it can cause him to make snap perceptions of others and I think that this specific idea can get real complex quick. Black and white morality. Because when things get GREY then it gets COMPLICATED and DIFFICULT. It’s so much easier to see someone do something bad and just accept that they’re a bad person. He could be so interesting if you think about it like this guys I do not understand why the DC fandom loves him so much as is. Post-canon he lives with James. Idk what else he’d do.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Alec Schemmel

Last fall, Massachusetts Institute of Technology president Sally Kornbluth tapped a group of Jewish faculty members to advise the school on a new initiative meant to combat campus anti-Semitism. The participants were "hopeful," they said in an email to fellow MIT staff, that the move would help them "more effectively influence the decision making to reduce the tensions on campus."

Shortly thereafter, in January, an announcement from MIT chancellor Melissa Nobles dashed those hopes.

The school's "Standing Together Against Hate" (STAH) initiative, Nobles said, would include four panels: one on anti-Semitism, one on "campus freedom of expression," one on Islamophobia, and one on "anti-Palestinian racism." Omitted from the speaker series was any talk on racism or hatred targeting Israelis and Zionists.

MIT's hand-picked speakers also prompted concern. Islamophobia panelist Dalia Mogahed in the wake of Oct. 7 endorsed Hamas terrorism as an act of lawful "resistance" and suggested that Israelis are "savages" who "kill babies" and "bomb hospitals." Free speech panelist Erwin Chemerinsky, meanwhile, serves as the dean of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, which was sued in November over "unchecked" campus anti-Semitism.

For the Jewish faculty members, Nobles's announcement came as a surprise—not because MIT declined to take their advice on panel topics and speakers, but because the school failed to seek out their advice altogether. The members responded by disbanding their advisory group.

"As our group was originally conceived in the framework of STAH, we want to emphasize that we had no input to the published program and/or reviewed it before its announcement," the advisory group members said in their February email. "As a result, we recently informed President Kornbluth that we would disband the advisory group."

Kornbluth has since vowed to reassess MIT's policies on "harassment, bullying, intimidation and discrimination." She also launched the "Standing Together Against Hate" initiative in November, which MIT leaders said would help "bring our community together" by addressing anti-Semitism and other "tension between some groups and individuals."

Instead, the initiative created tension between Kornbluth and Jewish faculty members, calling into question the embattled president's pledge to combat anti-Semitism. For the MIT Israel Alliance, a campus group formed in the wake of Oct. 7 to protect Jewish students, Kornbluth's freezing out of the advisory committee marks a "missed opportunity … to tackle the very real and disturbing heightened antisemitism on campus."

[ckerouac]

What I Read: July

Back with another busy month of books. Sitting in waiting rooms and poolside really adds up.

Fiction

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

4.5/5 || It sucked me in, devoured it in two pool afternoons.

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position. Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the lines between magic, science, and fraud are never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath.

The Rom-commers by Katherine Center

4.24/5 || I really enjoyed this story, but the narrator definitely has a distinct style that you’ll either vibe with or it’ll drive you up a wall. I wanted to snatch all the ‘what? WHAT?’ type repeated questions from the author and put them on a high shelf out of her reach. But the story was really fun.

Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies—good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates—The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god! But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone—much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script—it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will convince him that love stories matter—even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it.

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

4/5 || Unsettling and great. Apparently Argentinian horror is something I’m loving this year.

His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the "Transition." Now, eating human meat--"special meat"--is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing. Then one day he's given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he's aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost--and what might still be saved.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré

4/5 || A classic of the genre for a reason. Carré can do in 200 pages what takes other authors twice as long.

In the shadow of the newly erected Berlin Wall, Alec Leamas watches as his last agent is shot dead by East German sentries. For Leamas, the head of Berlin Station, the Cold War is over. As he faces the prospect of retirement or worse--a desk job--Control offers him a unique opportunity for revenge. Assuming the guise of an embittered and dissolute ex-agent, Leamas is set up to trap Mundt, the deputy director of the East German Intelligence Service--with himself as the bait. In the background is George Smiley, ready to make the game play out just as Control wants.

Husband Material by Alexis Hall

3/5 || I loved the first book, and this one was… fine. Completely lacking in the charm of the first book for me. I was so disappointed.

In Boyfriend Material, Luc and Oliver met, pretended to fall in love, fell in love for real, dealt with heartbreak and disappointment and family and friends…and somehow figured out a way to make it work. Now it seems like everyone around them is getting married, and Luc’s feeling the social pressure to propose. But it’ll take more than four weddings, a funeral, and a bowl full of special curry to get these two from I don’t know what I’m doing to I do. Good thing Oliver is such perfect Husband Material.

Funny Story by Emily Henry

3/5 || I think I need to accept that I find the plots of Henry’s books more interesting than her execution of said plots.

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it… right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra. Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. But it’s all just for show because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex… right?

A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen

3/5 || Norse magic was interesting, main character acted dumber than a box of rocks on too many occasions. Not opposed to reading the second book, but I’ll be surprised if I remember read book 1 when it comes out.

Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back. Freya's dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region's jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son, Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: She possesses a drop of a goddess's blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. It was foretold such a magic would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate.

Big In Sweden by Sally Franson

2.5/5 || You know those fanfics that have a great set up but you quickly realize is written by someone who feels compelled to overexplain everything to prove they have the correct opinions and are aware of how ‘problematic’ everything is? Yeah.

Paulie Johansson has never put much stock in the idea of family: she has her long-term boyfriend Declan and beloved best friend Jemma, and that's more than enough for her. Yet one night on a lark, she lets Jemma convince her to audition for Sverige och Mig, a show on Swedish television where Swedish-Americans compete to win the ultimate prize: a reunion with their Swedish relatives. Much to her shock, her drunken submission video wins her a spot on the show, and against Declan's advice Paulie decides to go for it. Grappling with long-held notions of family, friendship, and love--not to mention her feelings for the distractingly handsome Swedish cameraman who's been assigned to follow her around--Paulie starts to reconsider her past and rethink what she wants for the future.

Nonfiction

King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild

5/5 || You think you know how bad the Belgian destruction of the Congo was. Yeah, it’s even worse. Once I picked this up, I couldn’t put it down.

In the 1880s, as the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium seized for himself the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River. Carrying out a genocidal plundering of the Congo, he looted its rubber, brutalized its people, and ultimately slashed its population by ten million--all the while shrewdly cultivating his reputation as a great humanitarian. Heroic efforts to expose these crimes eventually led to the first great human rights movement of the twentieth century, in which everyone from Mark Twain to the Archbishop of Canterbury participated. King Leopold's Ghost is the haunting account of a megalomaniac of monstrous proportions, a man as cunning, charming, and cruel as any of the great Shakespearean villains. It is also the deeply moving portrait of those who fought Leopold: a brave handful of missionaries, travelers, and young idealists who went to Africa for work or adventure and unexpectedly found themselves witnesses to a holocaust.

The Far Land: 200 Years of Murder, Mania, and Mutiny in the South Pacific by Brandon Presser

3.25/5 || Very readable as a travelogue, but takes a lot of liberties in the history presented as fact that can’t be known for certain.

Told through vivid historical and personal narrative, The Far Land goes beyond the infamous mutiny on the Bounty, offering an unprecedented glimpse at life on the fringes of civilization, and how, perhaps, it's not so different from our own. In 2018, Brandon Presser rode the freighter to live among its present-day families; two clans bound by circumstance and secrets. While on the island, he pieced together Pitcairn's full story: an operatic saga that holds all who have visited in its mortal clutch--even the author.

[yulsbabymama]

Disventure Camp Headcanons Part 1

AIDEN

Half Argentinian Half French Canadian

Had a huge TOP phase in middle school

Only child

Super good singer but hates hearing his voice

ALEC

Afro-Turkish and Japanese

Diagnosed w Autism when he was a child

Smokes

Started drinking shortly after he got married; relapsed after his separation w his ex

Has an older sister by 7 years

ALLY

Transgirl; came out to her grandfather and he was the only supporter she had

Definitely had obsessive love disorder when meeting Hunter the first time

Super fucking bad at dancing

Likes K-pop (Fromis_9, Stray Kids, Billlie, P1harmony, Enhypen, Stayc, aespa, ITZY)

ASHLEY

Country music defender

will actually die on the Country Music hill

like she's from Texas but she's FROM TEXAS ykwim

Transgirl; realized she was a girl at a young age and transitioned w a supporting family

Would probably roll her eyes at u if u assume she loved AppleJack when she was younger

I mean, she did

but not as much as ppl assume

CONNOR

Jewish

Despite having a booming business, he still doesn't understand technology

but he WAS a boss at programming his MySpace page

"programming is my passion" college dude

Nickelback liker

I'm so sorry

DAN

He and his sister shared a bedroom until she moved out

Actually convinced her to come back home bc he missed her

like

crying on his knees

"PLEASE COME HOME IT'S SO MISERABLE WITHOUT U THERE I MISS U"

blasting a radio to her favorite songs

did i mention he loves his sister

Pokemon kid

Oh, he's also autistic

DEREK

Half Filipino and half Columbian

Transguy; was an unhappy "girl" growing up and would refuse to listen to anyone who didn't call "her" by Derek

Facebook user

only to troll, tho

He tried trolling on Twitter too but Trevor had to pry the phone out of his hands

Secretly likes Trevor

and by secretly I mean he angry-cried while writing drafted emails of his confession

Barely cries or anything like that, emotionally, but angry-crying is his #1 basically

Is not a registered gun owner

DREW

Other than the notebook, he has a communication device

Adopted

Video games hurt his eyes

so do mobile games

Honestly i think he just needs glasses

likes dogs :)

ELLIE

Half Irish and Half Singaporean

Transgirl; came out in her last year of junior high

Middle child w two sisters

While struggling w her identity, she was a Pick Me girl to fit in #sad!

she ended up giving up on fitting in #gogirl

Malay's her first language

Mom passed when she was little

tolerates cats

FIORE

3/4th Italian 1/4th Chinese

hates horror movies

not bc she's scared of them or anything

she just thinks they suck

forced into a ton of shit to become normal

girlscouts, ballet, soccer, etc

she hated everything

but she can make a good cookie deal

GABBY

Has an unhealthy obsession w watching drag shows

she doesn't understand any of the lingo

she just thinks the outfits r pretty

LPS kid

also watches too much animal documentaries

will actually sit down and say "im bored, time to watch a 6 hour doc on cheetahs"

she just cray cray like that #loveher

unhealthy addiction to stickers

GRETT

Transgirl #slay

was a Toddlers & Tiaras kid

passenger princess

forces Yul to drive her places

they have almost broken up 5 times bc of this

she also genuinely forgot to tell him she was #trans

u should've seen the look on his face

when

..

yeah

#hedidnotcare

that's ooc but idc

she's bi :3

HUNTER

Half Chinese Half White

Dad left after his youngest sister was born

Lived in China until he was 8

He has autism

Christian btw

like pslam bunch-of-numbers in his bio

can quickly change languages like that

will talk to u in english then will answer his phone in cantonese

texts like a millennial

:/ sorry

smokes

the killers, staind, blink-182, and r.e.m fan

plays the guitar

JAKE

Half Korean Half Japanese

cannot speak those languages fluently, tho

sorry

he and his brother wrestled a lot

his brother would always win

anyways he was a theater kid

but quit bc of some drama

haha. get it ?

one of those gays who cries to mitski & ricky montgomery

but only listens to them when he needs to cry

which is often

JAMES

has been in cringe compilations before

imagine if i just ended this w just that hc

would that be funny

anyways

one of those middle schoolers who was violently supportive of the lgbtq+

like everyone knew he liked boys

except him

loves his younger sister

like a lot

they r bffies

will call her in the middle of the night randomly

"i just posted a new tiktok, go like it."

JENSEN

genuinely have nothing for him

like

can i just say he's dreamed of men shirtless before and end it at that

um so yeah