#just dump on a whole nations history like that

[maybe-its-just-cringetown-love]

Tone deaf, 'a state of death and destruction' bruh we know the administration is the one making these decisions, but now you want to villainise a whole state. You are not helping the situation

A reminder. It's a state of death and destruction.

[emilybeemartin]

Just to tie in my two themes this month----

Additional notes, because poll options apparently limit their characters:

Frodo finds great peace in watching the tides rise and fall throughout each day. He attends all the ranger programs on birds and seashells and fills pages with sketches and poetry.

Sam meticulously selects postcards in the gift shop for each of his friends and spends a whole morning writing and addressing them. He also buys Junior Ranger hats for his kids and a variety of Appalachian jams for Rosie.

Park rangers launch a Missing Person search for Aragorn when they realize his car's been parked at Avalanche Creek for three days. The search runs for almost a week before he comes strolling out the opposite side of the park, supporting one of the SAR techs who twisted an ankle during the search.

Legolas is first drawn to Olympic for the towering, mossy temperate rainforests, but the ground goes out from under him when he steps onto Second Beach for the first time. He spends an entire day watching the light and tides shift on the sea stacks, and he leaves feeling both full and hollow, like a bell that's just been rung.

Mammoth is only Gimli's first stop on a cavern tour, followed by Jewel and Wind Caves and Carlsbad Caverns. Wind Cave is his favorite for the unusual formations. He makes an obnoxious tween boy cry in Carlsbad for breaking off a speleothem.

Boromir is on a tour of military parks. He asks so many questions to the intern working the info station at Fort Sumter the kid has to go find the park historian. His favorite site is Vicksburg because that place was buckwild, though he silently judges one of the reenactors for his clumsy handling of a black powder rifle.

Merry also makes stops in Jurassic and Dinosaur National Monuments. He watches every park video, takes selfies in front of all the fossil exhibits, and earns his Junior Ranger badge at each one. He buys a keychain for Pippin.

Pippin actually gets four citations, mostly for trying to stick his hands in mud pots. He doesn't mean anything by it---he's just so delighted and curious about the bizarre landscape. He winds up with several thermal burns and dumps a king's ransom in the donation box on his last day.

Gandalf gets dinged by rangers for not paying the $5 fee for Trunk Bay, but he acts senile until they eventually decide to drop it. He gets postcards from everyone and responds to none of them.

Faramir and Eowyn are traveling together and do many of the same hikes and rides, but they do have some different preferences off-trail. Eowyn drags Faramir to a rodeo and the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson Hole, and he goads her into Ranger Shelton Johnson's living history programs on the Buffalo Soldiers in Yosemite.

Eomer is bike-packing on his sport cruiser motorcycle. He goes to Roosevelt south unit for the wild horse herds but ends up spending half a day watching a prairie dog town. He takes 400 photos of them, mostly blurry, and texts them to Eowyn.

[kriegertops]

This is a very long one:

I was going down a tumblr rabbit hole and came across and old Binoe page that had A LOT of Krashlyn content from 2019-late 2022. And I came away with a few observations:

1) Ali and Ash were deeply in love. The pics, videos, events, comments to each other, just their sheer history together is overwhelming, and they looked happy, affectionate and just in sync thruout. This idea that Ash was in an unhappy marriage is ridiculous. Bc nothing she ever posted indicated anything close to that.

2) The early Sloane months were adorable, and their captured family moments were so cute and loving. They absolutely doted on that child. She was the center of their world, and they documented so much of her cuteness, and it reminded me of how fun Ash was during this time, and I *briefly* remembered why I liked her back then.

3) I hadn’t realized that makeup artist Alex had been with them for so long- I thought she was new once they got to NY. But no- she was there on their wedding day and before. Also, forgot how close both A’s were to all the Gotham girls when they first got to the team, and how tight Midge was with the whole family.

4) I was reminded of how much soccer connected them, and how it dominated their lives.

I eventually had to stop scrolling bc I got sad seeing how they used to be.

So what in the heck happened?

1) I think Ash was not at all prepared for retirement. She didn’t really line anything up that would be sustainable employment, and not having that identity as an athlete was overwhelming. I’m guessing she had some mild/severe bouts of depression, and despite having an adorable family, she realized it wasn’t fulfilling her. That probably led her to be mean and resentful of Ali, which progressed into outright anger, and bc she’s at her core a narcissist, she blamed Ali for her own sorry situation.

2) there’s been so much talk of, how did Ali not know things were so bad? Well, after all those YEARS together, Ali probably assumed they would work it out. Even after ash moved out, she might have still had visions of repairing her family. Trust me, no mom willing concedes 50% of their time with their kids without a hard core fight. I think Ali was willing to do the work- she just couldn’t give it everything bc she was trying to f’ing retire.

3) those women had a TIGHT group of friends. For years, very formative years. Megan loved Ash. They were effusive abt their friendship. Reliving all their posts back and forth again signified how telling it is that almost NONE of their friend group publicly supported ash. National teammates, club teammates, outside soccer friends (makeup Alex), preschool families- they all gave her the heisman. They didn’t engage in SM, didn’t post pics, really just dumped her like a bad habit. Divorces happen in friend groups- it can be kinda awkward, but they’re grown adults who can make their own choices. And they all very clearly chose a side. And you wouldn’t do that as a friend unless what you saw was behavior so egregious and abhorrent that you couldn’t in good faith support it. And that’s exactly what happened. Ash recently posted something abt friends who chose her over optics, clearly indicating anger at those old friends. Her and Pinoe were at the same event this week, yet no public pics or any indication they interacted. I’m assuming they did, but in the past we’d see evidence of it. She goes on and on abt her new friend group, but it has to hurt a lot that she lost her old tribe. And people that know both her and Sophia- like a Glennon or Foudy, have given the couple no play at all.

4) While I have absolutely ZERO empathy for Ash, I do think she’s gotten herself into a situation that has lots of complications and might not end the way she expects. How do two self involved love bombers stay together once the newness wears off and they are in the mundane realities of everyday life? Ash has 17+ years left of raising kids. And once the kids are doing events and activities, she won’t be able to bail for a week at a time. And eventually she’s going to need to find work. Courts don’t like parents who don’t pull their weight. I think they got caught up in their infatuation, are bonded over their us vs them mentality right now, and once their feelings come back down to earth, it will be a different reality for them. I don’t really care- I don’t wish them any luck. I just think they have an uphill battle.

And my last musing after all this was about how much deep respect and awe I have for Ali. She was served a complete shit burger in the middle of her retirement season. When she should have been riding high, enjoying her last professional soccer games as a player, she was thrown into the worst chaos a person can be in. I will detest Ashlyn forever for putting her in this situation, and not having the maturity to wait it out with Sophia, and let her former wife have her moment. I think back to that Pinoe game where she and Sophia paraded around and my blood completely boils for Ali. I don’t know what happened between them, but the intentional cruelty and vindictiveness Ash showed is so disgusting, it defies logic. I am so thrilled that Ali has moved on, is thriving and has shed this dead weight from her being. I can’t imagine what she’s gone thru, but to see her unbothered and smiling now is just wonderful. I wish nothing but happy things for her!

Okay, I think that’s it! Thanks for reading my dissertation 🤣

Thank you for this anon!!! I appreciate the time you took to write this cause damn this is long😂🔥 I agree though with your thoughts on the situation and honestly the more we find out the more obvious it becomes that Ashlyn is nothing but a narcissistic cheater and Ali’s a warrior and queen who deserves happiness!

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

This originally was for PoR and Radiant Dawn. That Aquatic Laguz anon had my mind running a mile a minute for a solid few days. So one of the Dragon Laguz, specifically the Blue Tribe's leader, didn't appreciate Ashunera flooding the world she created. He dumped into the rising sea in a desperate attempt to save the Laguz and Beorc drowning. I came up with a description, that huh, might be counted as body horror?

"As the great dragon flew through the waters, he embraced each life that still drew breath. Wrapping his body around the survivors, he paid not to the screaming currents that cut his scales. He stood fast as falling debris shredded his wings, instead grateful the fragile mortals were kept safe under his shadow. Roiling waves turned crimson as the Goddess's Wrath fractured the world, drowning great nations and bearing down on the waters."

He lost his wings, and most of his scales, essentially turning into an eastern style dragon. The blood loss caused him to hibernate for a century, and ended up giving anything that was exposed to it the ability to survive in the ocean. When he woke up, he found a budded civilization and quickly realized he accidentally created a few new races. The Laguz had turned into more sea faring races: Whales, sharks, squids, basically all the larger aquatic species. They mostly lived in the deeper parts of the ocean, while the Beorc gained webbed hands and feet, gills, and some scales on their back. They lived in the shallower waters, where they could tell night from day. Neither really knew the other existed because of this. And were somewhat struggling because of their limited habitat.

So what does this extremely sympathetic and protective dragon do? Raise them of course! He establishes himself as ruler, and starts trying to integrate the two races. That proves difficult... Tensions are high, trade deals are taking forever, and he really wishes Ashunera was here to help. Very conveniently, the "Branded" starts being born around this time. Blue Dragon Dad realizes they can safely exist in both the dark trenches and the lighter corals. If his faith was wavering, it sure isn't now. Dragon Dad thinks this is Ashunera's apology, basically "Sorry I flooded the world, here's someone who can thrive in it." The Branded of the sea aren't called Branded, they're called something else, but I haven't come up with a name yet. Help.

So while the Beorc and Laguz of the surface are tearing each other apart, the ones in the sea are just chilling. Now, the whole "Laguz losing their powers" does cause some issues and tensions. Leading to some abandoning their kids despite Dragon Dad saying to welcome them. Thankfully, Whales are very intelligent and empathetic beings who will gladly adopt the tiny baby left in the open sea. The Hierarchy of the sea looks like this: Dragons, Whales, Beorc, Sharks, "Branded", and then everything else.

Dragon Dad moved his power to a pearl(aka Dragon Stone), so he can mingle with his followers kids better, and hand that power to his descendants if necessary. He can control the currents, which are important in connecting the various kingdoms. Grow coral reefs, restore old ruins, control most types of magic, and teach everyone about the (outdated) history of the world.

Whales are similar to Herons, only because they have power similar to Galdr. Whale Songs control the waves, restore coral, ward off harm, can communicate across nations, and can function similarly to Galdr, just deeper. Because of their duties, using their songs to help balance the ocean, escorting people between the lighter and darker waters, taking care of orphaned kids, regardless of race, and healing any damage that still lingers from Ashunera, they rank second. Despite the fact they strictly adhere to pacifist ways.(Unless you threaten their kids.)

"Branded" are basically mermaids. Their tails are completely random, regardless of which Laguz variant they descend from. Oh, and they can go on land if you combine Whale Songs with Dragon Dad's magic. But that doesn't happen very often. They connect the upper and lower parts of the seas, delivering different resources when needed, carrying messages, and just making sure everything runs smoothly. They're decently strong, but are relatively rare, and often need guidance on how to use any abilities inherited by their parents.

Aquatic Laguz anon, have fun with this.

These guys are also in the seas of our world because the DM really liked the idea. So thank you!

- 🔮

👀

[loominggaia]

Had any military leader in Gaia made bold, seemingly crazy ventures against their enemy that worked surprisingly well? Like for example Hannibal’s crossing of the alps, managing to drag a massive army and war elephants through massive icy mountains just to kick romes ass?

What a fun question!

Once when Zareen Empire and Mogdir Kingdom were at war, Zareen sent a giant bronze statue to Mogdir Capital as a peace offering. And when I say "giant", I really mean colossal! It would be the tallest, most impressive structure in Mogdir Kingdom.

Mogdir accepted it, but little did they know, this was a trick. Once it was brought to the capital city, the statue emitted a huge plume of toxic smog that covered the Arcadian Forest for weeks, enraging the local nymphs and prompting them to attack Mogdiri settlements.

In Mogdir's moment of weakness, Zareen was able to move in and do some real damage. The smog itself caused a lot of damage to soil, crops, and people for years to come. The mountain range separating the two kingdoms blocked the smog from drifting back into Zareenite territory, so they were largely shielded from the consequences.

But don't worry, Mogdir Kingdom got revenge centuries later when they agreed to release a thousand Zareenite prisoners of war. Zareen took the prisoners back into their homeland...only to find out that they had all been infected with lycanthropy. This began a wave of plague and chaos that took decades for Zareen to get under control.

There was also the time Etios Nation got so mad at Matuzu, they started a campaign to dump all the nation's sewage into the river that flows into Matuzu's Central Lake. This was incredibly expensive and inconvenient for Etios, and quite frankly...insane. But the nation's people were totally on board to #shitonmatuzu, and it didn't take long before Central Lake became a biohazard and Matuzu was forced to work out some kind of deal with Etios, granting them a big chunk of land that they still own to this day. Since then, local nymphs have prevented Etios from pulling this maneuver again, citing ecological damage. But for that brief moment in history, the Etiosi could tell Matuzu to "eat shit" and mean it!

Last but not least: the Seelie Court once had a territory dispute with the Unseelie Court (what else is new?) They were fighting over an island that sat right on the border. This island was abundant with resources, so it was valuable to them both. Queen Titania of the Seelie suggested that they break the island in half and divide the resources evenly, but Overlord Morgause was like, "FUCK U HO, EITHER I GET IT OR NO ONE DOES!" and just blew up the whole island. As in, fully wiped it off the map. Morgause didn't get any of its resources...but the important thing is, neither did Titania. B) Also thousands of innocent islanders died, but we don't talk about that...

*

Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

Read the Series

[emblemxeno]

I distinctly remember that guy saying he hangs around blogs like yours and teavee’s (even when directly asked to stop because he was harassing people) because he “even agrees with your takes about Fates!”

I mean, it’s no secret that he’ll say anything to cover himself, and the fact that he’s now trying to pick at liking Fates now is a bold-faced lie. Classic overcompensating. Nobody cares about his desperation for the Scarlet Soulsucker to be right, nor his obsession with Engage being bad, so he’s just going for the next thing. And I’m not really sure who he’s kidding, because at most it just proves that he’s a bit of a bully to kick an already disrespected group of people, and considering he already has an extensive harassment history… we already knew that he’s a bit of a bully.

I know that doesn’t mean it’s not frustrating for you, though. I respect the patience you’ve held so far. He must be very unfulfilled in his regular life to try to get attention this way, and that makes me feel a little sorry for him — but not more sorry than I feel for you for having to deal with his insecurities when you didn’t ask or want to. I sincerely hope he finds a better outlet for his emotions someday. As for you, I hope that you continue to take him with a grain of salt. Your ability to consider multiple angles and different opinions when observing a story makes you a strong critical thinker. Any attempt from him to say otherwise is just him trying to deflect his own issues onto you.

People love to flip the script when it's beneficial, because they have no solid stance on anything beyond feeling personally attacked for daring to dislike what he links his online identity with. It's sad as you say, and thanks for the kind words on my patience.

But man. Maaaaaan. Even when I'm playing other games that aren't Fates, I still get a fucking "Fates liker, he must smell and think stupidly" stigma attached to me. All cuz 3H is treated as a sacred cow among certain sects of its fandom and daring to criticize the game's extensive faults for its sloppy execution in its video game narrative-which lots of FE fans and casual gaming fans agree with-means apparently my own interests must be scrutinized as compensation.

3H is utterly surface level and filled with fluff and bloat with its storytelling, and fails to significantly connect its worldbuilding with the gameplay, beyond a few hidden skills. That's a common opinion, people just don't realize because it usually taks the form of "why doesn't Faerghus have snow in its maps," "why are so many maps repeated" "why does Garreg Mach not change with seasons" "why don't each nation have different outfits or classes to differ them," "why isn't there more unique music for each faction," etc. 3H thrives off dumping information relentlessly on the player, hence why Tomas tells you explicitly to go to the fucking library to read more lore. That's what I make fun of, cuz it's the devs being proud of sending the player to stand around and read history books for 10 goddamn minutes. And things like supports, where most of the signifcant character growth take place, take 4x as much work as they did in past games to obtain for roughly the same quality reward.

That's just how I feel, and getting attacked and laughed at by weirdos on a whole other site for an opinion I share on my own fucking blog? That proves that person has no damn life beyond posting "gotchas" against people who can't respond cuz they don't know he's posting about them, and having his internet buddies stroke his ego afterwards. He's the Ben Shapiro of Fire Emblem/3H discourse.

[ask-ozai]

Iroh once claimed that before Zuko, his father, grandfather and great-grandfather all searched for the Avatar.

I know about Sozin's search, but could you please tell us more about your own and Azulon's searches?

They're state secrets and no one has ever known too many details about the expeditions, but that's Zuko's problem now. And since he just caused an hyperinflation, probably he is too busy to even notice if people start talking about it.

Firelord Azulon was the same age as Zuko when he left to find the Avatar, fourteen, but he was very different from Zuko. At fourteen, my father had already fought and won four Agni Kais, and he never knelt and begged for mercy like a coward. He was the pride and future of the Fire Nation, trained and educated from his earliest age to be the perfect Firelord.

His quest to capture the Avatar led him to the most logical place to start, the Northern Water Tribe, where he was greeted with fear and apprehension given Sozin's recent history with the airbenders. But my father had the gift of persuasion and charisma, much needed in his role as Firelord and world conqueror. They reached a non-aggression agreement with the Chief, which lasted until the last day of my father's life and is the reason why the war barely affected the Northern Water Tribe in a hundred years. My father knew that they couldn't conquer his natural enemies until they conquered the Earth Kingdom first, so he gave them a false sense of security. Better to keep them out of the war for the moment.

He met my mother on that trip, Ilah.

Now, unfortunately, I never knew exactly the circumstances of how they met, nor much about my mother at all. The mere reminder of her existence (and absence) was enough to ignite my father's ire for whole days. No one was allowed to talk about my mother when I was a child. Neither the court, nor the servants, and much less me. The little I know is from Iroh, but he didn't talk much about her either. She was a complete taboo.

But yes, my father fell in love with my mother on that trip and returned home quickly to tell his father that he had found the perfect bride for himself. Sozin refused, for some unknown reason (other than that he simply didn't like women very much, I guess), so my father had no choice but to challenge him to an Agni Kai to fulfill his will to marry. Iroh says that Sozin was dead for two minutes when my father threw him a lightning and won the Agni Kai. Sozin must have been proud. When the healers managed to restart his heart, of course.

I don't have much more to say, because my father's trips were rather brief and sporadic. He and my mother married two years later, when he was sixteen, and remained married for fifty years until my mother's death when I was born.

Once my father organized another search, with Lo and Li in charge this time, who went to look for the Avatar in Omashu, hearing that King Bumi had once been friends with him. It is said that Lo had an affair with him and there is even talk of a secret bastard that they had to hide, but nothing was ever confirmed.

My search for the Avatar was a different matter. I was sixteen years old, and the time had come to show my father my value. Evil tongues will tell you that it was just an excuse to get rid of me, but they were Iroh supporters so their opinion don't count.

I took a ship, a small crew, and Zhao and Michi (the only companions I had even a modicum of confidence in) and we went to search for the Avatar. We traveled throughout the Earth Kingdom for two very long years. We had some adventures, naturally, but nothing worth mentioning until we infiltrated Ba Sing Se pretending to be circus performers. I can't give many details about what happened there, because Michi, Zhao and I swore an oath of silence. And as useless as Zuko is, he can still put Michi in a dungeon. Especially now that her daughter dumped him. And that wouldn't be convenient for anyone.

Let's just say the previous Earth King died under suspicious circumstances.

[yukinojou]

1989: thought dump

I've heard about 1989 the musical, but it's playing in theatres far from Warsaw and I've been frankly busy this past year with funerals and health crises. Now I've finally seen a live proshot (whee, guess who recorded it too) and this is nowhere near a review, these are absolutely random thoughts:

first impression: this is so very Hamilton

second impression: damn, this is in dialogue with Hamilton at the same time it's in dialogue with Mickiewicz, five gallons of national mythos and three layers of recent history and hello LMM you could have done so much more with women

(third part of this thought was seeing Aleksander Kwaśniewski's entrance and losing my shit laughing because of COURSE he nicks his entrance from a shiny American musical because that's exactly his style)

more musical should have spooky a capella folk songs

This is stuff from my childhood and just before; I was watching with my mother and she says all the period details were spot on, especially the song about how everyone has the same stuff in their home because it's all there is in the shops.

(my family had some different stuff, but I had the advantage of three grandparents allowed to travel including one actually allowed to go west and the fourth one was a doctor who got art from her patients)

so so much dialogue with our recent history too and the Women's Strike and the sheer tangible anger of women who won't be putting up with this shit anymore

I'm sure I'm missing like half the hiphop references but this is so much a crew musical, no clear leads but each person getting their due, and the lyrics are fantastic and rich and I need to watch three more times and someone needs to put them up on whatever the Polish equivalent of Genius is just so I can read all the annotations

honestly the hiphop thing works because it's Polish hiphop with its poetry and wild swings and melancholy and anger, and because the events of 1980 to 1989 created the deprivation and shock that gave birth to Polish hiphop

it especially works in the Nobel prize scene where it's so very meta on the way men put words in women's mouths

the actors are just *chef's kiss* and the proshot really picked up on all the emoting, the Teatr TV crew really know their stuff

gods, the whole thing with the black market meat that thaws and leaves bloodstains on the hands of the woman who is dying and the shirt of the man left behind, and I remember that from childhood, the way black market butchered meat would just bleed everywhere

In conclusion, I suspect I feel the way Black theatre kids felt watching Hamilton for the first time, and I need this one on DVD.

[thinkingimages]

Yasuzo Nojima, photography (1931)

“Faustus: ‘Stay, Mephistopheles, and tell me, what good will my soul do thy lord?” Mephistopheles: ‘Enlarge his kingdom.'”

– Christopher Marlowe, Dr.Faustus

“In his book on poor cities of the South, Jeremy Seabrook chronicles the relentless calendar of disaster in Klong Toey, Bangkok’s port slum sandwiched between docks, chemical factories and expressways. In 1989 a chemical explosion poisoned hundreds of residents; two years later a chemical warehouse exploded and left 5,500 residents homeless – many of whom would later die from mysterious illnesses. Fire destroyed 63 homes in 1992, 460 homes in 1993 (also the year of another chemical explosion), and several hundred more in 1994. Thousands of other slums, including some in rich countries, have similar histories to Klong Toey. They suffer from the ‘garbage dump syndrome’: the concentration of toxic industrial activities like metal plating, dyeing, rendering, tanning, battery recycling, casting, vehicle repair, chemical manufacture, and so on, which middle classes would never tolerate in their own districts.

The world usually pays attention to such fatal admixtures of poverty and toxic industry only when they explode with mass casualties; 1984 was the annus horribilus. In February a gasoline pipeline exploded in Cubatao, Sao Paulo’s ‘Pollution Valley’, and burned more than 500 people to death in an adjacent favela. Eight months later a Pemex liquefied natural gas plant exploded like an atomic bomb in Mexico City’s San Juanico district, killing as many 2,000 poor residents (no accurate count of mortality was ever established).

Less than three weeks after the Mexico City holocaust, the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, released its infamous cloud of deadly methyl isocynate; according to a 2004 study by Amnesty International, 7,000 to 10,000 people perished immediately and another 15,000 died in subsequent years from related illnesses and cancers.”  

– Mike Davis, 2005, Socialist Review

“Yes. As I often tell my students, the way in which you describe a problem, the language and aesthetics that you use to describe the politics of a particular problem, will absolutely effect the type of solution that resolves. { } Ontologically, they’re already guilty of being criminal whether or not they’ve actually engaged in any criminal behavior at all. I think the figure of innocence (our emphasis on and circulation of it) then obscures the fact that the counterpart to the innocent figure is the person who is guilty of a “status crime” for just being alive in Gaza, for instance.” 

– Mimi Thi Nguyen, in conversation with Leopold Lambert

“However, and this is an immense paradox, the great founding books of communities, the Old Testament, the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Chansons de Geste, the Islandic Sagas, the Aeneid,or the African epics, were all books about exile and often about errantry.”

– Edouard Glissant

Exile in antiquity was an exile without deprivation, says Glissant. And this is because it was a voyage from a culture, rather than from a *nation*. The stigma of national identity is the child of Western imperialism, really.

“The conquered or visited peoples are thus forced into a long and painful quest after an identity whose first task will be opposition to the denaturing process introduced by the conqueror. A tragic variation of a search for identity. For more than two centuries whole populations have had to assert their identity in opposition to the processes of identification or annihilation triggered by these invaders.”

– Edouard Glissant

....

[whichwoods]

So I was thinking and my brain came up with something. In LSTS are there edits and fan fiction of members of the royal family? Like do Luke and Aemond have separate fan bases and then when they get married the fan bases have their fair share of union and war (we can never escape toxic fans)?

anon i am kissing you on the forehead for this ask. 💕 i did some research for this and on ao3 there's like just over 600 rpf fics for the british royal family so on the fanfic route i'll say...kind of? like they're out there but that's not a big cause for concern, most are about older members of the family or are just crossovers with like spy series or works of fiction where meetings would make sense

as for EDITS and all other things social media i have a whole slew of thoughts on this. it's an entire thesis paper's worth but i'll try to condense some below 🥲

getting this out of the way, i don't think lsts aemond OR luke are very active on social media. (perhaps i'm projecting)

i actually think aemond has zero non-private accounts, though people will sometimes see him comment on his family's posts and others here and there. it's usually just a couple nice words or emojis on one of helaena's posts of her kids or something like a video going around of a little kid claiming their first dragon (this is actually good for public opinion of him lol)

luke i could see him having a few public-facing accounts, though he mostly uses his private ones that only, like, the green and black siblings and maybe three of his friends have access to. on his public accounts he does the occasional cute family/friend photo dump (these are rare and people are always greedy for them), posts for family philanthropy stuff, videos of arrax, and he'll come out of left field sometimes with a video or long-ass caption explaining a very niche scientific concept in draconology or a high valyrian history lesson (cue the "wait i forgot he's smart" comments - from his family, not the people of westeros)

that being said the royal family of westeros - all noble houses at that - have several official accounts where they're all regularly posted and some office worker is writing up captions about the official going-ons in their lives, so they're still SEEN

they're also both dragged for interviews at least a few times a year by various outlets (a lot of material for edits and other fan content are scraped from these). luke i can picture being made to do something like one of vogue's "get ready with me" videos (which are usually a hit; despite how much he hates doing them luke is very charming and has a talent for picking stories to tell about the family that won't cause outcry but are also more human and engaging than most that westeros gets to hear).

i also think it'd be funny if luke and aemond, or any of the kids, did something kind of like "drunk histories" (except NOT that bc being drunk on television is a big no-no for royals, more like abridged or uncensored histories?) where they're actually allowed to make jokes, and most of the nation finds out aemond actually has a personality and can laugh from watching him discuss aegon the conqueror with luke 🥲 (maybe this also gets them a small pool of "truthers")

lucky for them their social media history sort of works in their favor when it's time for a shot-gun wedding. a lot of people assume they've been dating for years and just kept it quiet 😭

that being said, aemond is one of the most handsome, eligible bachelors in westeros and teenagers will be teenagers, so there is some mourning that takes place when the wedding is announced. luke is also considered gorgeous and some alpha-incels who're fixated on him probably have a couple things to say, too. for normal people, though, it's a lot of joke-y posts like "that should be ME!!!" while still ultimately wishing them well

(also there's like five of the aforementioned lucemond truthers frothing at the mouth posting "I TOLD YOU!!!1111!!!!11!!!")

i'm sorry this is messy truthfully i could talk so much more about this!! 😭 i'll end on the note that this definitely changes when they start their family :)

[dayseternal-blog]

saw that you saw Hamilton for the first time and couldn't help but wonder what your favorite song/s were? or maybe some songs that you would like to learn all the lyrics to?

:DDDD They toured here, and I got to see them live last, last Friday!! It was wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course all the songs are great. Right now (subject to daily changes), my faves in order, and I'll link to yt in case you want to listen, too, right now haha:

"Dear Theodosia" - The way they are singing to their babies!!! AHHHHHHHHH. I could die. It's SO soft. and SO heartwarming. omg. I just. love love love this. the line: "You will come of age with our young nation." and "If we lay a strong enough foundation, we'll pass it on to you. We'll give the world to you, and you'll blow us all away." Seriously, is there anything more important than this 😭😭 And finding out that the original actor for Aaron Burr was praying for his yet unborn daughter when it wasn't his part to sing, and that by the end of the run, he had prayed around 500 times for her ugh 💓

"The Story of Tonight (Reprise)" - idk, no real explanation, it's just a funny, touching song. The line: "Raise a glass to freedom, something you will never see again." and John Lauren's "What are you trying to hide, Burr?" is so funny. Also, Alexander Hamilton's "Oh, shit" when he finds out that Aaron Burr is having an affair with a married woman. Just a feel-good song. Out of context, I now see that those lines don't sound funny or feel good.

"Guns and Ships" - My favorite character is the Marquis de Lafayette. I was so enthralled by the actor's charisma, I read the entire Wikipedia article on Lafayette and have been info-dumping this guy's whole life story on anyone who is a captive audience for me. Which has happened 4 times already. Did you know he was only 18-19 years old when he snuck away to America against King Louis XVI's orders because he was so sympathetic to the American cause and hungry for war glory? Did you know he was a war hero by the time he was 24? Did you know this? And Hamilton was like about the same age as him. Also did you know Lafayette picked up English fluently within a year of his travel to America? Shall I keep going? I can tell you more!

"It's Quiet Uptown" - This song gives me really emotions, I cry.

"Satisfied" - "From your sister who's always by your side." Anyone else has a loving eldest sister who's the wittiest, funniest, smartest, most charismatic in the family? 🙋🏻‍♀️ Honestly, Angelica Schuyler does NO wrong, and I am convinced based on the info in this musical that she did nothing wrong her entire life haha. Facts. Did you know she and her husband organized to help Lafayette escape from Austrian prison? (Which succeeded, except Lafayette got lost and recaptured).

"Helpless" - This song was my top fave after watching the musical. The actress sings so well. I love how absolutely gone she is in love with him, and that's basically how I aspire to write my NaruHina fics haha. This line: "I'm trying not to cry cuz there's nothing that your mind can't do." Just, the absolute faith she has in him!!! The admiration she has for his intelligence and the belief she has in his worth and capability!!! I love it.

"A Winter's Ball" - This song is very short. It also does the best job at showing that these guys were like. 19-20 years old. College age bros forreal.

"What'd I Miss" - Undeniably Thomas Jefferson has the most charisma of any character in the musical. I love the jazziness of this song, too.

"Non-Stop" - whoever said that this song is the entire musical crammed in 6 minutes is so right.

"Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story" - Since this idea is basically the theme/lesson of the musical, it left an impact on me at the live show. Also, yeah, I'm a sucker for recording generational history and making sure that the sacrifices of the past aren't forgotten.

"Cabinet Battle #1" - This rap song convinces me I would've learned better in AP Gov if this musical had been around 13 years ago.

"The Election of 1800" - Hamilton's drag of Aaron Burr is such a burn. Ouch.

"Cabinet Battle #2" - These lines: "We signed a treaty with a king whose head is now in a basket. Would you like to take it out and ask it? 'Should we honor our treaty, King Louis’ head?' 'Uh… do whatever you want, I’m super dead.'" lol, point made.

Oops, I spent like over an hour writing this post and listening to the songs. Please anon, come back and tell me your favorite songs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[likorys-shimenawa]

[This ain't discord, format your text properly.]

Are you done trying to trauma-dump on people to emotionaly manipulate them into siding with you?

Cause I can go on about how perfectly Israel is mirroring Nazi Germany and then I will tell you what will happen in real life when Israel looses (spoiler: 'Polish concentration camps' actually existed, though only after the war - you get 1 guess about who was put in them). Because Israel will loose, not matter how confident they are now, just like Nazis lost no matter how pretty their propaganda looked.

You know, the reality and not philosophical hemming and hawwing on tumblr dot com where you can make up whatever imaginary solutions you want and just tell people they should figure them out themselves?

Cause for someone telling me to 'answer' you sure don't seem to offer any actual solutions beside empty platitudes of 'let's all just get along uWu'.

So first let's set the context, which is that we should discuss actual people who fled to Israel and those born there- so not, let's say, American who went there to colonize themselves a vacation home - what was it, 200k of them now? I'm gonna go off on a limb and say they should fuck off right back to where they came from, because if you can afford to cross half the world you ain't [I'm generalizing, bcause I'm told to adress 8 million people and I ain't writing a master's thesis on why occupier does not have the same rights as victims of their occupation.]

I'm gonna quote something that's pretty much nor PC from my mom.

Never in my life did I hear about 'Jewish country' until WWI where UK and US threw Jewish people into middle east like you would kick out your child when they start questioning your confederate flad on the mantle.

It's gonna sound very shitty, but there is a reason new countries kinda stopped happening. Cause they involve war, coloniztion, mass-murder and opression.

You know my country, Poland? The one that was cut apart during WWI and WWII while the world watched

Go far back enough in history and we should own Ukraine. Whole ass country should be our land. Try to suggest it to UN and you would be called insane, yet here is Israel, advertising just how they're gonna colonize other countries and nobody gives a flying fuck because 'oooh oil so shiny gotta steal it all'.

[We owned Russian capital for hot second too, I would pay to see you try and tell Putin he should give it to us.]

In other words my solution is to STOP TRYING TO CREATE A NEW COUNTRY TROUGH VIOLENCE.

Especially if all your 'right' comes from the same book that says child-murder is correct consequene of calling some dude bald.

In perfect world, after WWII Jews would've came and simply moved into the land and LIVED WITH PEOPLE ALREADY THERE. You know, how actual people escaping war do? Assimilation, etc?

That's not what they were send there to do though. US and UK very intentionally send them to overtake their EXISTING COLONY so they can wash their hands of any slaughter that will happen there.

While also funding them so the shiny new military comples is on their beck and call and middle east is too busy with Israel to look at weakened Europe and have any weaird~ ideas~.

That's the reality. That Jewish people traumatized by WWII got the boot and were send to take over a british colony.

Add in some good old Nazism nationalism sorry, zionism and right now we have an extremist religious state which is carrying out a religious holy war genocide.

So now that we know reality of the situation, I can answer:

Israel should suffer massive sanctions and be demilitirized so they can no longer carry out a genocide.

People in power responsible for orders to bomb schools and hospitals, to leave infants to slow, agonizing deaths, who ordered tanks to fire at homes full of people, who ordered to target journalist, who spread propaganda, who threw children into ovens and who robbed graves and stole organs from corpses, who 'arrested' children for throwing stones and held them without trials for a decade - all should be put to Norynberg Trials 2 Why the fuck is there a second one. I also mean Paletinian people who killed innocents, even if they did do during resistance to occupation.

What little of Palestinian people survived should be given back their homes, their land and be paid restitutions for the genocide they are suffering. Not in last 100 days, but last 75 years. I also mean all Palestinians - Jewish, Muslim, Christian (or did Israel kill all of them by now?), atheist, every single one.

Memorials should be created to comemorate crimes of Israel the same way Auschwitz was turned into a museum.

THEN peopole already living in Israel can find places to live in the massive amount of land that no longer belongs to anyone because they died in the genocide. If they live in places that have rightful owner they can be funded a new home - take US blood money and I think you can build a few thousand houses for that.

ENTIRE region should become ONE country to minimalize conflicts and recieve support and oversight from competent organizations to help it gouvern itself. I have no clue what that country should be - what I do know is that trying to force a Nazi-land to exist next to Nazis-victims-land is gonna end horribly.

Institutions will be put in place to keep oversight and prevent discrimination and revenge.

Antisemitsm that's been festering alive and well since WWII should be adressed worldwide so Jews don't feel the need to have a massive military bunker to flee to.

Incompetent and horrified and emotionally drained and still lightyears away from the suffering actual victims of genocide are going trough and and haunted by history I see repear before my eyes, this is my answer.

Because I'm a civilian who has no clue about running a country. So this is my amatour basic as all fuck answer, since you're begging for it.

I also openly admit this is a shitty answer that asks a ton of people to show immense amount of good will and requires more justice to be served than will ever realistically happen. It gives some people way more than they deserve and some way less they are owed.

It's because it's a nightmre of a situation and there is no 'good' solution left on the table once a genocide starts. So all I have is this shitty answer that's probably also a pipe-dream, because there is no way to find a solution to 25 thousand people dead.

Now that you got me to write this all out, I'm gonna adress the actual thing you said:

I'm not gonna adress the way you imply there is no Palestinian Jews or the way you're claiming that every single Jew alive somehow has claim to random spot on Earth, no matter whe they spend their life. I'm not nearly knowledgable enough to make , though I will say solid fuck you for the former.

I am gonna say, again, that you don't get to pick and choose what point in history you want to go back to (and especially not 2k years). You don't get to wave a historic myth and say 'this means I can take your home'.

People actively living in occupied land will always have more claim to it that colonizer.

[If anyone sees something I should be corrected on, pls do it. I'm exhausted and there is only so much information you can take in when it's said between photos of mutilated children, robbed graves and bombed hospitals.]

When South Africa dismantled apartheid, it did not end with the expulsion of all white South Africans. They became part of the new South Africa, just without the criminal discriminatory oligarchic powers the apartheid goverment had. When Bolivia recognized its indigenous heritage and became a plurinational state, it did not mean that people of European descent were expelled in masse. It meant the recognition of the previously discriminated indigenous and mestizo people of Bolivia and the beginning of a path of integration and revalidation.

What I mean is that it's ridiculous to think that decolonization inherently means mass suffering and relocation, that's what colonization does. Decolonization is recognizing the crimes of colonization, but more importantly, material, political and social steps to give power and self-determination to the exploited native people who were victims of colonialism and imperialism.

In multicultural societies, you don't go like in that Peter Griffin meme with a skin tone chart and saying 'well, you go back to Europe, you go back to Africa, you stay here'. You build a new society on the paradigm of dignity for exploited people and equality under the law. People are acting like this is some sort of fantastic utopia instead of real initiatives that were done in living memory, with successes and failures, as all such initiatives have. One must ask why are some so insistent that multicultural societies can't thrive, especially when for most of history, societies were indeed like that. Consider why you think like that.

[pixilator]

Update : February 26th, 2024 [WAS SUPPOSED TO POST THIS EARLIER THIS YEAR UGHHHH I FORGOTTTT]

everything underneath the read more is the old update

Welcome to the sixth update! I was supposed to post this on December 4th in 2023, but I had it sitting in my drafts until now... and before I picked it up again, it was half as long-winded as it is now.

–

>age rating, genre, &c

-So in the first post I ever made I had no idea what the age rating was going to be, mostly because I didn't know at the time what topics I'd be writing in the story. I've decided it'll be 15+ [Teen Plus]. Mild profanity, moderate violence, and suggestive themes.

I don't like swearing in my work and the violence will be generally fantasy violence, slapstick, and any genuinely graphic violence will either be alluded to, shrouded, or off-screen. Suggestive themes is only there for tobacco use, mild alcohol use, and one of the characters having a penchant for telling dirty jokes. I do know for a fact there will be serious psychological aspects and potential mental trauma, although I don't know how well I'll be able to write it.

-Okay, final version: the genre is action-adventure/fantasy with mystery elements. The main centrepiece is an adventure, learning to survive, with fight scenes featuring both the everyday and the supernatural. There's definitely mysteries to solve but they're really more for character growth rather than being the whole point of the story.

>worldbuilding

-Since the previous update in March 2023, the military schooling system has been fleshed out fully now, and the culture is interlocked with the civilians of the area it originates from. On the topic of cultures and inculcation, Mayhem has a certain learned quirk that gets her into trouble sometimes.

-I also have a history of the nation she comes from. Depending on whether or not there's a good reason to info-dump it, for now it'll remain just notes for me to keep in mind while I write.

-SSW 1: The history of SSW1, the inner workings of it, and how it affects the world are generally finished -- for now, at least. It'll be the biggest mystery. SSW2 and SSW3 are mysteries as well, but they're to be revealed quite early, I would think? This one is supposed to be a sort of looming threat in the background sort of making things feel wrong. I hope I can pull it off well.

-SSW 2: I'd say this was connected to our main characters, but every one of them are, so it's really no surprise. Although I will say this one has two side plots involved. One's a more active threat than the other.

-SSW 3: I've had to kill my darling yet again. It had too much padding, so I cut out a lot of it in between March 2023 and now. Basically I've made it more similar to 2 in that they're mirrors of each other. They're sort of hidden within the world itself.

I had written "3’s previous overhaul was pretty extensive" in the March 2023 update -- but I didn't say what it was though, which is silly of me. So for the sake of helping me remember, and making sure I'm keeping track of things properly:

I'd switched its influences on February 21st of 2023, based on a backup file of a skit I'd updated to reflect the new changes. I began wondering if I should change it December 24th of 2022, based on my archived Discord channel. I had two different influences that started to clash and I didn't want to lob the two together, and by March 19th of 2023 I'd updated the worldbuilding documents. Although I liked both of them, I had to stick to one. So I chose the one that had more clear effect on the story. I had even changed one of the character's real names because of it. One of the names below is a stand-in. I won't tell which though! :]

-SSW 4: ...I can't remember for the life of me what this one was supposed to be or if I was simply spitballing ideas, but it's sitting here in the update template listed as "d". Let's say that I am quietly removing this one until I can remember what it originally had been... ;__;

–

>characters

-I want to add another girl to the group, that way I will have balanced genders in the group. I even have a proper name for her now, Nephele. It would go with two themes I have in mind, but I can't see her having much of a use in the long run. I can't have a useless character, everything must push the plot forward or develop the characters in some way. But five characters seems to be the limit for what the story needs. I'm wondering what to do with Dragon, though. Technically he is the sixth character, but I forget he exists most of the time. He doesn't quite fit with the world, and I'm not sure how to implement him without changing many aspects about SSW2. I think I should put him on the backburner again.

-Since there are other people in Mayhem's culture going on the same rite of passage, and competition is celebrated, I'm sure there could be another group that she might want to race against. I think it would be really fun to see how their personalities bounce off one another.

-I changed Hestia's family dynamics a little and streamlined her weapons and belongings. One of her belongings is a thing of interest...

-I lied when I said Pepper's backstory was done, I had changed it twice between March 2023 and now. A few of the plot points just weren't sitting quite well with me. I also changed his reason for tagging along -- he's rather self interested, to say the least.

-Now writing Flavius' demeanor. I think he may be my favourite one to write so far. He's probably the most practical and efficient of the lot and really likes to call out stupidity.

-Trying to figure out how Mayhem will be travelling throughout the world. I wonder what type of truck she'd use? Perhaps there could be convenient places a warrior and her friends could stay at in their travels. If there are other people on their quests too, surely there must be something.

>references

-Currently drawing a real reference for Mayhem! I've finished the front view, the side view, and now am working on the back view. Even though the previous reference is good, it doesn't have everything I need, and I'm going to need this newer one for keeping things consistent.

–

>MAYHEM:

Her backstory is finished. [I haven't felt the need to change it in several months now!]

Her personality is finished. [Same as above!]

Her design is finished. [When I was drawing the reference, I removed a few of her chains, various little details, and made her more purple rather than blue. Technically she's supposed to be the blue one of the group but lately I've been seeing her as more purple.]

Relationships are a little more detailed than they were before.

–

>HESTIA

Her backstory is finished. [I haven't felt the need to change it.]

Her personality is finished. [I changed a few things.]

Her design is finished. [Although I did change her glasses.]

Relationships are a little more detailed than they were before.

–

>FLAVIUS

Half of his backstory is fleshed out.

Half of his personality is written down.

His design is finished. [Added a little bit of lace and embroidery, but other than that...]

Relationships are still rather basic.

–

>PEPPER

His backstory is finished. [I'm FINALLY happy with it. I think I'm going to keep this version. Now watch as I make myself a liar again later.]

His personality is finished. [I haven't felt the need to change it lately!]

His design is finished. [Two outfits, couldn't choose. Otherwise, design is finished. His hair style is bothering me again though...]

Relationships are still rather basic.

–

>ADRIAN

Currently no backstory as of yet.

His personality is still rather basic but I'm happy with the result so far.

His design is on paper. [He's supposed to be the purple one but lately I've been seeing him as blue.]

Need to create relationships.

–

>DRAGON

...Really not sure what to do with him. I don't really have a use for him.

–

>spreadsheets

-Mayhem’s spreadsheet is generally finished, although I want to put more detail in the relationships.

-Hestia’s spreadsheet is generally finished, although I want to put more detail in the relationships.

-Flavius’ spreadsheet has half the personality, half the backstory, and all of the general information done.

-Pepper’s spreadsheet is generally finished, although I want to put more detail in the relationships.

-Adrian’s spreadsheet has no backstory, but a basic personality. Currently has no relationships or stats.

–

>main plot

-I got rid of the previous draft. It was. Not Good. So I'm rewriting a new script -- I have four pages now.

>side plot

-Mayhem's sideplot: Ties into her backstory, worldbuilding, items.

-Hestia's sideplot: Ties into her backstory, worldbuilding, items, relationships.

-Flavius' sideplot: Currently thinking.

-Pepper's sideplot: Basic idea, ties into his backstory.

-Adrian's sideplot: Currently thinking.

>romantic subplot

-Well, I thought I was gonna make one... but for now, it's a definite no. Somehow I feel as though it's just not right, at least right now. Maybe once everything falls into place. I'll be cutting this section out of the update template.

–

>actual work

-I really want to get characterization and set up the world early, so at first I'm just throwing the reader into the midst of things with no prior history and no info-dumping. I've got a really bad case of hijacking characters for exposition when they really shouldn't be doing that at the moment.

-FINALLY found the perfect art style! I've already posted one of the pictures. It's a bust of Mayhem. Although that picture took ~4-6ish hours, now that I've actually figured out what I'm doing it's been an overall breeze drawing the rest of the group. The art style doesn't have that 80's feeling I want but that's okay, it's pretty and simple. It's almost got a 90's feeling. I think that's a lot more fitting for the vision I have.

-I'm still on the fence whether or not I'm going to do this in digital. Now that I know what I'm going to be using as an art style, I have to make sure I'm able to make panels and release pages in time.

-- TRADITIONAL ART WAY --

-I have some gel pens. If the sparkling ones look nice when scanned, they'll probably be a part of the style. Watercolour with gel pen seems to be the best technique so far. I have a picture using Mayhem as the guinea pig, this was back in October 2023. Lately I also drew Miku and Sailor Moon. My white gel pen isn't playing nice with the colours though, so I've had to resort to chalk.

-Coloured pencils. I don't know. I really want to use them, and I've practiced with them, but I don't think I'm using them correctly. Maybe if I were to use them for backgrounds, but other than that until I learn how to use them properly I'm going to have to pass on them as a potential colouring candidate for a while.

-Otherwise, if colouring it happens to be too time consuming, I'll just have it as black and white.

-- DIGITAL ART WAY --

-With the newest art style I've cut down on a lot of textures, shade, lighting, and completely axed the no-line look for sake of saving time.

--

This one's actually rather long this time and it took me a while to write it. Thanks for reading this far!

Pixilator

[atombonniebaby]

The procrastinationary info dump you didn't ask for 🤣

I'm big into dark history, folklore and a good ghost story. So naturally one of my OCs occasionally rattles off a spooky story and loves to mess with Mac 😂

Try to weave my favorite topics in where I can and draw connections between Scotland (where my OCs are from) and the world of Fallout 4! (or just general Scotland/America parallels)

I used to do tours wearing my samulet (Supernatural fans will know 😉) and my Fallout 4 pocket watch 🤫

Plague was one of my favorite topics of choice to delve into (made someone faint once talking about that 🤭) I did my research. (I'm talking autistic hyperfocus level research 😂)

That is why I am 100% sure Duncan MacCready has a mutated strain of the Bubonic Plague (the blue flu and Dunc's disease are simply the bubonic and pneumonic/septicemic variants of the black death...)

The nightingales, brought in by Sim Settelments 2, has given me a whole story arc for MacBeth down the line ❤️

The other time I got too descriptive was talking about thumb-screws and Witchcraft trials... I had a bracelet that clacked and if I demonstrated the technique just right it added a good sound effect describing what happens when those things got tightened around yer digits (🤢)

I still find it hilarious that being a redhead was a signifier that someone might be a witch in Scotland and Ireland.

(being left handed, talking to yourself, having moles or birth marks are a few more...basically of you were different to the 'norm' you wanted to keep a low profile...superstition, rivalry and misunderstanding could often lead to someone being accused)

One thing I loved finding out, is the real Old State House has the Unicorn and Lion sitting on its exterior, proclamations being read from the balcony. It's a lot like the Mercat Cross I used to start my tours from. (Unicorn is Scotland's national animal FYI 🤫)

We've also got a statue of Abraham Lincoln in one of our graveyards to commemorate the Scots who fought in the American Civil War

And of course MacCready is very likely a Scottish name (Mac being 'son of')

[tenaciouspostfun]

the new group s Bernarda's Daughter

3

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Bernarda's Daughters.

The New Group.

By Robert M Massimi.Published 15 minutes ago • 3 min readCommentLike

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Robert Massimi.

"Bernarda's Daughters" at The Romulus Linney Theatre is based off of Lorca's "House of Bernarda". The stories premise is based on a family of girls living in a Flatbush apartment (somehow is owned by them). The five sisters are mourning the passing of their father (a big womanizer and deadbeat).

In the book it is more clearly stated about each of their lives; the personal loses of their youth, the dreams that each one had growing up. The book also brings out how the girls were expected to exceed their ancestors. From Haitian ancestry, the girls clearly should have had an easier chance at being more successful than the past generations. The father has left a property in Haiti, the Flatbush apartment and the seemed comfortable to grow as they saw fit.

In the play that I saw last night, however, it is completely different in its approach on many levels, all of which were both dreadful and confusing to the audience. For starters, the scenic design was the biggest head scratch-er of the evening. The entire set was meshed in like you would see at a child's gym-bore. And like the kids party centers the visuals were blurred for the audience members. It is unclear as to why Carlos J. Soto would set the stage the way he did, meshing in the actors and giving some of the audience fits trying to see what's going on during the performance (not that you were missing much).

In the writing of this modern rendition by Diane Exavier we get a mish mosh of some of the things that concern the girls... the gentrification of Flatbush, Brooklyn; the person that is mentally ill who was just shot by police; the father who sold the family assets to his "Jew lawyer"... but don't worry, one of the daughters is going to sleep with him, marry him for the property! The construction that goes on day after day- really bad for the girls because they never leave the air conditioned apartment because it's too dangerous to go out because of crime on the streets and in their minds, discrimination by the cops.

The direction here is as bad a the writing. Dominique Rider has the woman in a whirlwind of movements and actions; most of it is geared towards ghetto phrases and actions. Most of the time we cannot hear the actors saying their lines. A really big detriment here is the sudden outbursts in certain scenes that are not believable nor felt by the audience.

Nothing in this play is worth noting as possitive. The acting is fair at best, we never really feel anything for the woman, we're never moved by the performers. When the woman tee-off on the cops, "whitey" who is moving into the area (only the Jews are spared here in their rants against just about everyone, maybe because Elliott and Bernstein are Artistic and Executive directors) it is not from within but superficial. Confusing is how they go about a history lesson of how Jews were only allowed in finance because of antisemitism. I'm sure most people in poor areas know that tid bit! But then again, the whole play is confusing. What drives the girls? One is a revolutionary who has never been to a protest; one wants a family but is willing to dump the man she loves for a lawyer who can give back her apartment. Of all the sisters we walk away from the show knowing nothing about them

In today's equity, inclusion, many shows both on and off Broadway are being produced that shouldn't be," Bernarda's Daughters " is one of those plays!

Romulus Linney, The New Group, National Black Theatre, off Broadway, Tony Awards, www.swmnimbus.org, www.broadwayworld.com, Mann About Town, Hamilton, Sweeney Todd, Some Like it Hot, A Beautiful Noise, Life of Pi, Six, Lion King.

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About the Creator

Robert M Massimi.

I have been writing on theater since 1982. A graduate from Manhattan College B.S. A member of Alpha Sigma Lambda, which recognizes excellence in both English and Science. I have produced 12 shows on and off Broadway. I've seen over700 shows

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[1968bullittmustang]

Here's the original 6-23-2024 essay from the NYT

Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld

Dr. Sonnenfeld is the president of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute.

Recent headlines suggest that our nation’s business leaders are embracing the presidential candidate Donald Trump. His campaign would have you believe that our nation’s top chief executives are returning to support Mr. Trump for president, touting declarations of support from some prominent financiers like Steve Schwarzman and David Sacks.

That is far from the truth. They didn’t flock to him before, and they certainly aren’t flocking to him now. Mr. Trump continues to suffer from the lowest level of corporate support in the history of the Republican Party.

I know this because I work with roughly 1,000 chief executives a year, running a school for them, which I started 35 years ago, and I speak with business leaders almost every day. Our surveys show that 60 to 70 percent of them are registered Republicans.

The reality is that the top corporate leaders working today, like many Americans, aren’t entirely comfortable with either Mr. Trump or President Biden. But they largely like — or at least can tolerate — one of them. They truly fear the other.

If you want the most telling data point on corporate America’s lack of enthusiasm for Mr. Trump, look where they are investing their money. Not a single Fortune 100 chief executive has donated to the candidate so far this year, which indicates a major break from overwhelming business and executive support for Republican presidential candidates dating back over a century, to the days of Taft and stretching through Coolidge and the Bushes, all of whom had dozens of major company heads donating to their campaigns.

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Mr. Trump secured the White House partly by tapping into the anticorporate, populist messaging of Bernie Sanders, who was then a candidate, a move that Mr. Trump discussed with me when I met him in 2015. The strategy might have won voters but did little to enhance Mr. Trump’s image with the business community. And while a number of chief executives tried to work with Mr. Trump as they would with any incumbent president and many celebrated his move to cut the corporate tax rate, wariness persisted.

Here's an update from Fortune that is really worth the read -

It's under a paywall, but if you have Firefox you can read it in 3 easy steps.

Open the above link in Firefox. (I only use desktop, but it might work on mobile too I don't know)

Click the little icon for Toggle Reader View at the end of the URL address line. (It looks like a tiny piece of paper with writing on it)

Click the reload button, so that the whole story loads.

Many times this will strip out photos and charts, but it didn't seem to this time. This works on almost all paywalls. And if it doesn't work the first time, just wait for a Firefox update, it almost certainly will after that.

Fortune 500 wants nothing to do with fraudster rapist with six bankruptcies shilling bibles in bed with Putin.