#letter to fellow abuse survivors

[whumpthemusical]

Whump: The Musical Prompts!!

As stated before, this challenge will run from March 1- March 31, 2024. All fandoms are welcome to participate despite it being prompts based off of musicals. Once again, all types of media are allowed. This challenge has the standard "choose one for the day" style, but feel free to do all three prompts if that's what you want to do!! All types of whump are allowed, but please be respectful to your fellow audience members and properly tag it!! Some of these prompts are sensitive, so make sure you warn your readers correctly! There will be an ao3 collection and an FAQ post coming soon, so if you have any further questions or comments about this challenge, feel free to drop me a line. Happy writing, my beautiful ingénues, and enjoy the show :)))

The prompts will be listed under the cut for those who have difficulty reading fonts!!

Cats- Sabotage • Second Chances • "I Can Dream Of The Old Days."

Wicked- Mob Mentality • Propaganda • "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished."

Jesus Christ Superstar- Whipping • Betrayal • "Then I Was Inspired, Now I'm Sad And Tired."

Les Mis- Survivor's Guilt • Failure • "Drink With Me To Days Gone By."

Heathers- Poison • Reluctant Whumper • "Wanna fight for me?"

Newsies- Chronic Pain • Exploitation • "Let 'Em Laugh In My Face, I Don't Care."

The Last Five Years- Infidelity • Gaslighting • "I Will Not Lose Because You Can't WIn."

Hadestown- Deals • Doomed Narrative • "Doubt Comes In."

Sweeney Todd- False Imprisonment • Razors • "Have You Decided It's Safer In Cages?"

Rent- Substance Abuse • Poverty • "Feels Too Much Damn Like Home."

Bare: A Pop Opera- Outing • Religious Trauma • "Please, See Me."

Waitress- Unplanned Pregnancy • Abuse • "She Is Broken And Won't Ask For Help."

Tick Tick Boom- Atychiphobia • Working To Exhaustion • "Is This Real Life?"

Dear Evan Hansen- Deception • Broken Bone • "Words Fail."

West Side Story- Star-Crossed Lovers • Prejudices • "A Boy Who Kills Cannot Love."

Come From Away- Stranded • Aftermath • "Blankets And Bedding And Maybe Some Food."

Spring Awakening- Withheld Information • Suicide  • "I Don't Scream, Though I Know It's Wrong."

Hamilton- Hurricane  • Dueling • "I Will Kill Your Friends And Family To Remind You Of My Love."

Falsettos- Sickness • Identity Issues • "Death Is Not A Friend."

Into The Woods- Blame • Lost • "Nothing But A Vast Midnight."

The Great Comet- Abduction • Letters • "Did You Love That Bad Man?"

In The Heights- Grief • Homesickness • "I Know That I'm Letting You Down."

Be More Chill- Mind Manipulation • Panic Attack • "Everything About Me Makes Me Want To Die."

Moulin Rouge- Class Differences • Sex Work • "Come What May."

Chicago- Cold Blood • Trial • "He Had It Coming."

Six- Execution • Trauma Bonding • "Playtime's Over."

Ride The Cyclone- Unexpected Tragedy • Forgotten Whumpee • "I Hear The Anguish Of The Street."

The Rocky Horror Show- Obsession • Wrong Place, Wrong Time • "I've Seen Blue Skies Through The Tears."

Nerdy Prudes Must Die- Bullying • Ritual • "Who Will Pray For You?"

Jekyll And Hyde- Duality • Good Vs Evil • "If I Die, You'll Die."

Phantom Of The Opera- Disfiguration • Shunned • "My Power Over You Grows Stronger Yet."

[matan4il]

Amin al-Husseini docu: part 7

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Last

Translator's notes:

-> Auschwitz as a camp was huge, bigger than most cities. It was built in parts. The initial, concentration camp was built close to (and was named after) the Polish town of Oświ��cim, called in German Auschwitz. It was later expanded, too. The extermination camp, centered around the gas chambers, was built in 1942, and by that point, the entire camp's area was so big, that this part was closer to (and named after) the Polish town of Brzezinka, called in German Birkenau. The concentration camp part was nicknamed Auschwitz I, the extermination camp part was Auschwitz II, Auschwitz-Birkenau, or just Birkenau. There was also an area known as Auschwitz III, where the factories using (mostly Jewish) slaves were.

-> The Sonderkommando were Jews who had been forced by the Nazis to operate the gas chambers. They were often selected based on being less able to communicate the horrors they'd seen to other Jewish slaves in the camp, for example many of the Sonderkommando were Greek Jews (while most European Jews were Ashkenazim, who shared the common Jewish language of Yiddish, the majority of Greek Jews were Sephardim, and spoke the Jewish language of Ladino. Thus, communication between the two groups was harder). Even when the Sonderkommando were physically capable of going on with their work, the Nazis would routinely exterminate them, to wipe out the witnesses of this industrialized genocide. My wonderful colleague, who you see interviewed in this docu, Professor Gideon Greif, in addition to writing one of the most comprehensive books about Auschwitz, also recorded the testimonies of the last surviving Sonderkommando, and published them in an emotionally difficult to read, but really important book, titled We Wept Without Tears. The photograph of Shaul Chazan, one of the last sonderkommando, is from a 1993 trip to Auschwitz, where Prof. Greif recorded a few of the testimonies, as they were being given in the place they were about. This docu has now been translated into English. The book was also the basis for the Oscar-winning film, Son of Saul.

-> The Capo was a camp slave, who was appointed by the Nazis to "supervise" a group of other camp slaves. In Nazi camps where regular criminals were incarcerated together with non-criminal groups, such as Jews, the Capos were often the former, because a part of the idea behind using the Capos was to implement a "divide and rule" system, meaning the less empathy the Capo had for those under his "supervision," the better. Some Capos did what the Nazis told them to out of fear, some enjoyed their new status and were abusive to their fellow camp slaves, and some Capos tried to use the position in order to help, even save, other slaves. I'm detailing this, because there's a misconception that all Capos were traitors.

-> Dieter Wisliceny was directly responsible for the murder of over 106,000 Jews from Slovakia and Greece alone (and he helped Eichmann with the extermination of over 500,000 Hungarian Jews, too). He was arrested by the Americans and NOT put on trial at Nuremberg. Wisliceny was eventually brought to justice by Czechoslovakia, which demanded his extradition.

-> I hope it's okay to add something personal, because the docu briefly shows a translation of a letter written by the Mufti to the Romanian Foreign Minister. My great uncle is Jewish Romanian author and Holocaust survivor, Norman Manea. He wrote about a part of what my family's been through because of the collaboration between the Nazis and the Romanians, as the Jews from eastern Romania were exiled to Transnistria by the hundreds of thousands to die there, in his memoir (which was translated into English), The Hooligan's Return. I have pictures of starved Jewish kids in Transnistria, their bodies look like skeletons everywhere, except their swollen bellies (a now known symptom of starvation). I don't bring these pictures to the museum, unless I have reason to believe I may have Holocaust deniers in the group, the pics are that terrible to me. Among the rescue attempts of Jews, the Mufti stopped a plan to save 80,000 Jews from Romania, and 5,000 Romanian Jewish kids exiled to Transnistria. I can't explain how I feel about that. He never paid for his crimes, they're not even recognized, but then the anti-Israel crowd screams that this is all about "the occupation," even though the State of Israel didn't even exist during WWII, when the Mufti sentenced to death a part of my people, a part of my community, and maybe even a part of my family.

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

[ninja-muse]

Last month I clearly posted my wrap-up a day too early because I ended up DNFing a book that same day and therefore starting another. I don't think that'll happen again, but I'm making sure to schedule this for the first just to be sure.

Anyway, this was an all right month of reading—some greats, some simple okays—and a very good month for not acquiring books. Only one ARC came home with me, I offloaded three, and I'm almost certainly not going to buy any books in the last day of the month, but I still have 12 hours. That might change, in which case this post will also and you'll never know what I originally typed. Yeah, that worked well. Darn used bookstores!

You already know how much I liked The Briar Club. My other top reads were A Desolation Called Peace (anyone surprised?), Wandering Stars (outside my wheelhouse but good), and Nicked, which is also out in the summer and was my solo ARC haul of the month. If anyone thinks "gay medieval heist novel" sounds like a good time, they should pick that up. Also, anyone who likes cats and picture books needs to pick up Floof.

And my lows might as well start with my DNF from last month, I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons. I was really hoping it would pick up and I could push through, but it was just the wrong sort of silly for me. (I ended up going home without a book, then binging Most Ardently over the next couple days after my Libby hold came early.)

I also found The Deerfield Massacre to be odd—less rigorous than I'd have liked, a little wobbly on its thesis, doing a poor job of balancing "this must have sucked for the survivors" with Indigenous perspectives and an awareness that the Europeans were, in fact, colonizers. And A Letter to the Luminous Deep sounded so good, but I found it slow and couldn't quite connect to the characters or world.

I don't know how May is going to go, in terms of reading, so this book might end up being my review of the month, but I'm enjoying it so am going to rec it now: Evelina! Frances Burney was one of Austen's favourite authors and I can absolutely see why, and how she influenced her. If you like Austen's novels, you should 110% pick this up, because it's got romantic troubles, a highly embarrassing family, a number of awkward balls and parties, and all manner of drama. Why hasn't this been adapted? It should have been years ago.

Lastly in bookish and/or life news, my store's latest Indie Bookstore Day party was a rousing success and I don't think my legs have recovered yet from all the walking. My ability to socialize almost certainly hasn't. (It's been three days.) Thank goodness for book lovers and my fellow booksellers. Couldn't have done it without all of them.

Click through to see everything I read this month, in the rough order of how glad I was to have read them.

A Desolation Called Peace - Arkady Martine

The war with the aliens is not going well and Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass are called on to help. Which won’t be easy, but it’s harder because politics.

8.5/10

🏳️‍🌈 main characters (bisexual, sapphic), 🏳️‍🌈 author

library book

Wandering Stars - Tommy Orange

150 years in the life of a Cheyenne family, before and after the events of There, There.

8/10

largely Cheyenne cast, 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (multisexual, nonbinary), Cheyenne-Arapaho author

warning: genocide, alcoholism, addiction, drug use, self-harm

library book

The Briar Club - Kate Quinn

A new boarder moves into Briarwood house in Washington, D.C. in 1950, upending the dull day-to-day. Four years later, someone dies. Out in July.

8.5/10

🏳️‍🌈 POV character (bisexual), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary character (sapphic), Black secondary and minor characters

warning: domestic abuse, murder, race riot

reading copy

Nicked - M.T. Anderson Brother Nicephorus accompanies the saint hunter Tyun and his piratical crew on a mission to, erm, liberate the bones of St. Nicholas. Out in July.

8.5/10

🏳️‍🌈 protagonist (Achillean), major 🏳️‍🌈 character (Achillean), major Central Asian character, Muslim secondary characters

reading copy

Nanny Ogg’s Cookbook - Terry Pratchett with Stephen Briggs and Paul Kidby (illustrator)

A collection of Nanny Ogg’s recipes and thoughts.

7.5/10

gifted/off my TBR shelves

Most Ardently - Gabe Cole Novoa

Oliver Bennett yearns to live on his own terms, under his real name, and kiss boys. Unfortunately, the first boy in question, one Fitzwilliam Darcy, might like him as Oliver but hates his “other self”.

6.5/10

🏳️‍🌈 main character (trans man), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (gay, bisexual women), 🏳️‍🌈 author

warning: deadnaming, misgendering

library ebook

Slippery Creatures - KJ Charles

When various threatening men appear in Will Darling’s bookshop seeking information he doesn’t have, Will turns to the first helpful person he meets—an aristocrat named Kim.

6.5/10

🏳️‍🌈 protagonists (bisexual man, achillean), Black Welsh secondary character

library ebook

A Letter to the Luminous Deep - Sylvie Cathrall

In 1002, E. and Henerey begin a correspondence. In 1003, her sister and his brother begin to piece together what might have happened to them.

6.5/10

POV character with anxiety disorder, 🏳️‍🌈 POV characters (lesbian, bi man), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (sapphic, achillean), brown-skinned secondary character

reading copy

Hansel and Gretel - Neil Gaiman with Lorenzo Mattotti (illustrator)

An illustrated retelling.

7/10

off my TBR shelves

The Deerfield Massacre - James L. Swanson

The story of an infamous raid in 1704 New England, and the way it’s been mythologized since.

5/10

warning: racism, violence, murder, murder of children

library book

Picture Books

The Pie Reports - Hayley Lowe

Noor and Granddad love pie, but there’s an ocean between them, so they meet every week to eat pie on video chat. Then one day, Granddad doesn’t log on—he’s having a blue day.

🇨🇦

Floof - Heidi McKinnon

A day in the life of Floof the cat.

DNF

I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons - Peter S. Beagle

Robert doesn’t want to be the country’s dragon exterminator on the best of days, but then Princess Cerise meets Prince Reginald. Out in May.

Currently reading

Evelina - Frances Burney

Evelina travels to London and learns that the only thing more distressing than suitors is her newly discovered family. Inspired Austen.

off my TBR shelves

The Demon of Unrest - Erik Larson

The story of the six months leading up to the American Civil War.

warning: racism, slavery

reading copy

Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century - Richard Taruskin

A history of early written European music, in its social and political contexts.

The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle

Victorian detective stories

disabled POV character (limb injury), occasional Indian secondary characters

warning: racism, colonialism

Monthly total: 10 + 2 Yearly total: 42 Queer books: 5 Authors of colour: 2 Books by women: 4 Authors outside the binary: 0 Canadian authors: 0 Classics: 0 Off the TBR shelves: 2 Books hauled: 4 ARCs acquired: 1 ARCs unhauled: 4 DNFs: 1

January February March

[stories-and-chaos]

Tarnished pt 23

[Helluva Boss AU where Blitzø’s childhood theft from Stolas’ palace is discovered and major consequences ensue for everyone involved.]

[Part 23/?? Word Count: 1857]

[CW: Drug abuse, addiction, gaslighting]

—————

Two weeks later, Blitzo sent another letter. It was thinner than the first. Barb gave it the same treatment, ‘RETURN TO SENDER’. The next one was even thinner, probably just one page in the envelope.

After she had that one sent back, he started sending postcards. Mostly they were generic landscape images from across the Rings. But not being in an envelope meant she saw snippets of the text on the blank side. Barb let Fizz know that Blitzo was sending mail, but never the content.

She didn’t mean to read any of them, but checking the address meant seeing what was written. There was a theme of ‘sorry, please talk to me, let me explain, I’m sorry, text, call, so sorry,’ in his scribbled handwriting. Knowing their dad’s account of events, her brother’s repeated requests for forgiveness just infuriated Barb.

She saw there were a few that mentioned her and their mom. Blitzo was asking if Fizz knew where they were. You’d know if you’d stuck around, traitor, she thought bitterly as she sent the postcards to be shredded. 

The frequent reminders of Blitzo’s existence kept her off balance. And Fizzarolli was spending more time in Lust. He kept denying any emotional attachment to Asmodeus but Barb saw the difference in how he talked about the Sin.  His absence left her somewhat at loose ends in her downtime.

The other survivors from their circus had scattered; few wanted to stay in Greed with all the established gangs and corruption. Barb, not wanting to be alone constantly, found other demons that shared her interests. One of those interests being drug use was incidental. 

After seven months, the postcards arrived less frequently. Barb didn’t really notice; she had access to stronger stuff and was getting fucked up on a regular basis. Fizz was paying her enough that she could afford it… for now. But as the next pageant got closer, she started missing more days.

At first it didn’t matter too much. Her friend was off being Ozzie’s boy toy. The PR team was finally filtering the mail somewhat. And just before the pageant, Blitzo sent a card saying, ‘I’ll leave you alone Fizz. You know where to find me. I’m sorry.’ That was one less stressor; Barb celebrated with a weekend long bender.

She managed to be clean for a few days before and after the clown pageant. She was able to function as Fizz’s security the whole time. Once again, he won. Once again, Mammon immediately signed him on with a year long contract.

This year though, the king of Greed had some things to talk about concerning Fizzarolli’s assistant. Whisking him behind closed doors for the rigamarole of the contract was the perfect moment to plant seeds of doubt about Barb in his mind.

“Y’know Fizzy, that assistant o’ yours…I know she’s your friend but she’s been slacking big time,” he said as they signed and initialed pages. “I’d hate for someone from your past to take advantage of you, yah?” Mammon had a look of intense concern as he finished his portion of the contract.

“I-I’ll talk to her, Mammon sir.” Fizz was already worried about Barb. He knew she’d gotten hooked on painkillers after the fire. She’d been sober for years but he could see the signs popping up. And if Mammon noticed, things were getting worse.

“Good boy Fizzy! ‘Cause we’re gonna be real busy again and we don’t need c**ts coasting off your success.”

The day after the pageant saw Fizz in Lust again, working with Ozzie on updating the Fizzies. Asmodeus took him out for lunch again. He’d told Mammon before the contest that he’d need the whole day with the winner for their work, preventing his fellow Sin from interrupting anything.

After lunch, Ozzie sprung an offer on Fizz. “I’d like you to work at my lounge club, Froggie. Get you some experience outside the Greed Ring and away from all those creeps.”

Fizz waved a dismissive hand. “Psh, I’ve always had creeps around, it’s not that big a deal. Besides, Barb’s got my back.”

“Yeeeeeeaaaah, about that,” Asmodeus said slowly.

“Oh not you too Oz! Mammon was just bitching to me last night about her!”

“Hey, I’m just saying…she’s having a bad time lately. I’m not gonna pry, but if even Mam has picked up on it? Your girl needs help.” Ozzie cupped Fizz’s cheek. “Look, I know she’s important to you. You’re basically family right?” Fizz nodded. “So I want to help. And moving you both out of Greed is a good way to start.”

Fizz sighed. “Yeah, she’s never really liked it there anyway. I can’t make her do anything though.”

“You know me babe; I ain’t about forcing anyone. Unless she’s in deep shit, too deep to handle or putting herself in danger? you gotta let her make her choices.” He leaned back in their private booth. “I’m serious about working at my lounge though. You’d make a great M.C. Fizzy-frog.”

Fizz agreed to perform at Ozzie’s, with the frequent scheduling starting in a few weeks. He had prior commitments with Mammon to take care of first. Doing nightly shows at the lounge would mean moving to Lust.

Before that, he wanted to talk with Barb. The first chance he got was almost a week later, after they were done at Mammon’s for the day. Fizz had to steal himself to talk to his friend so he went to her apartment after hyping himself up via a phone call with Asmodeus.

Barb, meanwhile, had taken a hit of her current drug of choice as soon as she got home. It was the first big high she’d had in the past two weeks. When Fizz showed up at her door unannounced, she could feel the drugs hitting her system. Although he looked serious and she was trying to focus on what he said, the chemical filter in her veins meant she really only caught a few words. Kind of like those snippets of Blitzo’s postcards.

“Barb, I know you’ve got a problem. You’ve been using drugs again, I can tell. We need to get you help, but we can’t do it here. Asmodeus offered me a gig, I’ll need to move to Lust. Please, come with me. I can’t stand seeing you destroy yourself. We’ll get away from all this shit in Greed. Get you some fucking help.”

Barb tried to string together what he was saying. What truly stuck with her was he was moving. Leaving for Lust and Asmodeus. Away from her. She growled angrily. “Urrrgh! Fine, go fuck off with your royal sugar daddy! I don’t need you!” She pushed him away from her. Her intoxication meant she didn’t have much control of her strength. Her push knocked him against the wall; if he hadn’t hit it with his prosthetic arm, it would have left bruises.

She stomped to the door and yanked it open. “Get the fuck out Fizz. The other imp looked stricken so she pushed him again. This one sent him into the hallway. Barb slammed the door shut, locked it and  put the chain on. He had a spare key, but even his extendable arms would struggle with the chain. She pressed her back against the door and slid down it as Fizz knocked desperately. He kept saying her name but she didn’t respond. She just curled up, silent and crying.

Eventually, he was gone. Her sense of time was completely distorted. Maybe it had been an hour, maybe just a couple minutes. She just wanted to forget about everything again. Fortunately, past Barb had picked up a baggie full of little friends from her dealer that were very good at helping her forget.

A few days later, she’d come down enough to realize she had to go work. That many pill-shaped friends weren’t cheap. But when she got to Mammon’s main offices, her keycard didn’t work. Barb tried multiple times, flipping the card in different directions but she continued to get error sounds. She was ready to punch the scanner when the door opened smoothly.

The shark demon that stepped out towered over Barb. “What do you want?” No politeness, just blunt demanding attitude.

“I want to get to work. Why isn’t my keycard working?” She waved the offending piece of plastic in front of the shark’s snout.

His concentric ringed eyes focused on the card, reading her name. “Barb Buckzo. Yeah, your position’s been…terminated.” He gave her a leering grin and flicked the card. His claw hit with enough force to send it spinning out of her hand and down the street.

“The fuck d’you mean, ‘terminated’? I’m Fizz’s  assistant and bodyguard!”

“Not no more. You haven’t been here for a week. Mr. Fizzarolii and Lord Mammon don’t need some lazy ass coasting on her buddy’s success.” He straightened up to his full height. The shark crossed his arms and continued to match her glaring look. “So you’re out, shoulda got a termination letter in yer mail.” 

Her jaw dropped. Those assholes! “I wanna talk to Fizz. Right now!” She tried to push past the beefy shark, but he outweighed her and Fizz combined. 

“Mr. Fizzarolli is busy. Lord Mammon is free for the next ten minutes if you wanna talk to him.” Barb growled, a rumbling hiss coming from her chest. “Thought so.” The shark went back inside and the door slid shut behind him.

Barb stood there, chest heaving. She had mostly come down from her high and there was no drugged filter between her and her emotions. After a few minutes of glaring at the locked doors, she started hurling nearby rocks at the building. Her aim was still good from all those years in the circus. But those doors were designed to withstand bullets; a valid concern with all the turf wars likely to pop up in this Ring.

All the rocks in Hell wouldn’t do much to the structure. Barb didn’t care; if anything it made her madder. She kept hurling the same rocks over and over, screaming obscenities all the while. Until she threw one that ricocheted back, hitting her directly on her circus brand and knocking her on her butt.

She sat there, dazed. The pain on her forehead belatedly hit and she rubbed the spot to find ichor welling from the scratch. “Fine. FINE, YOU HEAR ME! YOU CAN GO FUCK YOURSELVES! HAVE FUN BEING A PAMPERED WHORE FIZZ! YOU’RE JUST LIKE THAT TRAITOR BLITZO!” Barb turned away, rubbing her upper arms with both hands as she tried to keep the anger in the forefront. She flipped of the building as she walked home.

Not that the studio apartment would be home much longer. She was behind on rent and her landlord was ready to kick her out. Checking her mail, she found the termination letter; included was her severance check. Not enough to back pay everything. But enough to find somewhere else. Something cheaper and closer to the drug dens she was visiting more often. 

Within two days, she was gone, ghosting everyone in her life.

—————

<<First <Prev Next>

[misfitwashere]

Why under no circumstances should Pete Hegseth be entrusted with the U.S. military 

But will Senate Republicans do their duty?

ROBERT REICH

DEC 8

Friends,

Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, scurried among Senate offices this past week trying to reassure senators that reports of his wild drinking, sexual harassment, and other improprieties were just media smears. 

He even had his mother (whose own years-old letter disapproving of her son’s sexually abusive behavior went public this week) call senators to make Hegseth’s case. 

Finally, Hegseth promised senators that if he got the position, he wouldn’t drink at all — as if someone with a drinking problem saying I can stop anytime was credible.

At the moment, Hegseth’s fate seems to rest with Iowa Republican Senator Jodi Ernst, a military veteran who has spent much of her time as a lawmaker working on improving how sexual attacks are reported and prosecuted within the ranks. 

Yesterday, Ernst told a largely GOP audience that she needs to hear more from Hegseth before she decides whether to support him. “I am a survivor of sexual assault,” she said. “I’ve worked very heavily on sexual assault measures within the military. So I’d like to hear a lot more about that.”

Ernst’s unwillingness to support Hegseth outright has prompted a fierce pressure campaign from the right, with some even threatening to primary her when she is up for reelection in 2026. 

There are issues beyond sexual assault that are also deeply troubling about Hegseth. 

I want to bring to your attention Jason Wilson’s excellent column from TheGuardian, most of which I’ve reproduced below. It is alarmingly consistent with my post last week about how Trump’s efforts to use the U.S. military domestically could foment a second American civil war. 

*** 

Hegseth has written in a book [An American Crusade] that he could imagine a scenario in which the US armed forces would be used violently in American domestic politics…. 

He wrote that in the event of a Democratic election victory in the US there would be a “national divorce” in which “The military and police … will be forced to make a choice” and “Yes, there will be some form of civil war.”

Hegseth’s 2020 book exhorts conservatives to undertake “an AMERICAN CRUSADE”, to “mock, humiliate, intimidate, and crush our leftist opponents”, to “attack first” in response to a left he identifies with “sedition,” and he writes that the book “lays out the strategy we must employ in order to defeat America’s internal enemies.”

Hegseth’s rhetoric about perceived “internal” or “domestic enemies,” along with media reports highlighting his tattoo of the crusader motto “Deus Vult,” may ring alarm bells for those concerned by Donald Trump’s repeated threats to unleash the US military, which Hegseth would directly control, on those he has described as “the enemy within.”….

Hegseth paints an apocalyptic picture of American politics, and encourages his fellow rightwingers to see their opponents as an existential threat.

At various points in that book, he describes leftists, progressives and Democrats as “enemies” of freedom, the US constitution and America, and counts Israel among the “international allies” who can help defeat such “domestic enemies.”

Addressing his conservative audience in a chapter of American Crusade entitled Make the Crusade Great Again, he writes: “Whether you like it or not, you are an ‘infidel’ – an unbeliever – according to the false religion of leftism.” He added: “You can submit now or later; or you can fight.”

Later in the book, he writes: “Build the wall. Raise tariffs. Learn English. Buy American. Fight back.”

Elsewhere in American Crusade, he writes: “The hour is late for America. Beyond political success, her fate relies on exorcising the leftist specter dominating education, religion, and culture – a 360-degree holy war for the righteous cause of human freedom.”

In fighting, Hegseth wrote: “Our weapon is American nationalism,” adding: “The Left has tried … to intimidate us into thinking that nationalism is a relic of a bygone era.”

Hegseth has followed his own advice in this respect: his tattoos include the words “We the People,” quoted from the Constitution, and a “stylized American flag with its bottom stripe replaced by an AR-15 assault rifle” according to Snopes.com reporting.

In relation to the media, “almost all” politicians, and credentialed experts, Hegseth advises readers to “Disdain, despise, detest, distrust – pick your d-words. But all of this must lead to action.”… 

Hegseth explicitly rejects democracy in American Crusade, characterizing it as a leftist demand: “For leftists, calls for ‘democracy’ represent a complete rejection of our system. Watch how often they use the word,” adding: “They hate America, so they hate the Constitution and want to quickly amass 51 percent of the votes to change it.”

He explicitly supports forms of election-rigging through gerrymandering. Fair electoral boundaries, he writes, amount to “Playing nice to placate the so-called middle,” which “has been a losing strategy for patriots for decades.” Since “the other side is stacked with enemies of freedom,” Hegseth argues, “Republican legislatures should draw congressional lines that advantage pro-freedom candidates – and screw Democrats.”…

In considering the prospect of Trump’s defeat in 2020, Hegseth claims that a Biden victory will shatter the US and lead to civil war.

In the first chapter, Our American Crusade, he claims: “The fate of freedom is what is at stake in the 2020 election. The immediate years that follow will, once and for all, determine whether the American experiment in human freedom – the America of our founding – will die, get a national divorce based on irreconcilable cultural and political divisions, or return to its founding principles.”

Later in the book he defines a national divorce as “irreconcilable differences between the Left and the Right in America leading to perpetual conflict that cannot be resolved through the political process.”… 

For Hegseth, such a move would necessarily involve violence. Hegseth writes: “The military and police, both bastions of freedom-loving patriots, will be forced to make a choice. It will not be good. Yes, there will be some form of civil war.”

Hegseth concedes: “It’s a horrific scenario that nobody wants but would be difficult to avoid.”

Additionally, he writes: “If America is split, freedom will no longer have an army.”

The end of the US military – which he elsewhere calls “the only powerful, pro-freedom, pro-Christian, pro-Israel army in the world” – will in turn mean that “Communist China will rise – and rule the globe. Europe will formally surrender. Islamists will get nuclear weapons and seek to wipe America and Israel off the map.”

Victory, however, will mean the defeat of the allied forces of “globalism”, “socialism”, “secularism”, “environmentalism”, “Islamism”, “genderism” and “leftism”, according to Hegseth.

Hegseth expresses an unstinting loyalty to Trump.

At one point in the book, he describes a conversation between the two after Trump, at Hegseth’s urging, in 2019 pardoned three service members who had been charged or convicted with alleged war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Hegseth’s account, Trump called him ahead of the pardon, and the call “ended with a compliment to me that I’ll never forget and might put on my tombstone: ‘You’re a fucking warrior, Pete. A fucking warrior.’ I thanked him for his courage, and he hung up.” …

Hegseth leaves his readers with the promise: “See you on the battlefield. Together, with God’s help, we will save America. Deus vult!”

***

[sleepingfancies]

Prithee, tell me which one of your OCs haunts your mind most today?

AUAUHGHGHGHG i've been sucked back into dragon age hell and i've been thinking about my Rowena Trevelyan all day . major inquisition + trespasser dlc spoilers and an extremely long ramble under the cut im so so sorry beloved mutual </3

she was just a KID like.... Rowena was permitted to go to the conclave as a budding apprentice mage. as an OBSERVER she didn't even get a vote. she was wandering around during a break when she happened upon the ritual . it was like an academic field trip for her, a chance for her to see the politics behind the scene and nothing more. and within hours her mentor and everyone she knew was killed in the blast and she was the sole survivor. and then she became surrounded by people she didn't know and handed responsibility and divinity she never asked for and had no clue how to handle !!!!!!!!!!!!

and this is AFTER she was essentially abandoned by her Trevelyan family for being a mage in the first place. 5 generations of non-mages and her parents thought they were safe for sure and then they had Her. a recessive gene last seen a century ago resurfacing . they threw her in the circle at the first opportunity. she sent letters for the first few years - they never answered. her family became her mentor and her fellow mage children. she learned young that the Maker didn't want her, that her magic was a mistake. her family would've loved her just fine if she hadn't been a mage.

so she's just so ANGRY about it all deep down. everyone she knows is killed and these strangers have the NERVE to call HER - a mage, a mistake, an affront to the Maker - the Herald of Andraste. one cataclysmic event and suddenly everyone thinks she's not only special for her magic, but a gift from the Maker. and how dare they!!! how dare they respect her and beg for her help now after so many years of neglect and lies and abuse!!

the first thing Cassandra does is question whether she believes in the Maker. and what is she supposed to say? "He believes my existence is a mistake, so I believe He exists as a tyrant" is what comes to her mind. but she grew up around templars and learned not to speak her mind around people she couldn't 100% trust. so she holds her tongue and says she isn't sure what to believe anymore. it's not entirely a lie, and it placates Cassandra: the person who could most easily decide she was more of a liability than a blessing.

as time passes in Haven, Solas becomes her new mentor; a surprise to both of them, really. but he knows more about spirits and the Fade than she was ever taught - she doesn't even know how to use the mark on her hand. He teaches her how to close the rifts, how to navigate the Fade in her dreams, how to learn all that spirits have to offer. She looks up to him. between him and Dorian and Vivienne, she has finally found similar company. Dorian never questions her caution about believing in the Maker. Vivienne never judges her for not knowing much about the world outside the circle. Solas is helping her grow and learn.

the other companions help, too. she latches onto Blackwall - he's like the father she never had. Iron Bull and the Chargers take her in and give her social sanctuary. Sera agrees not to call her the Herald, and knows exactly how to make her laugh. Cole helps her process her former mentor's death and her separation from her friends at the wycome circle. Varric won't let her overwork herself, he knows she didn't want any of this. for awhile, things seem okay.

and then Corypheus comes. Haven is destroyed. she's lost in the wilderness with cracked ribs and a broken leg and she's freezing to death. she doesn't even remember how the advisors found her, or where. "we saw our hero fall, and rise again" Mother Giselle says. if people didn't believe Rowena was sent by the Maker before, they do now. she doesn't believe it herself. she hates it. she's angry at them all

then comes Skyhold. a throne, judgment over prisoners, occupying Crestwood, deals with Starkhaven and the Antivan Crows and Kal-Sharok, "Inquisitor," traversing the Fade physically, the Chantry asking after her companions as Divine candidates, all of it. Every decision that should be brokered between entire countries comes down to one barely-in-her-20s apprentice mage who didn't even know what Val Royeaux looked like 6 months ago.

the bubbly attitude she tried to keep up starts to crack. her parents write her a letter asking if she could set aside some of the Inquisition's coin to cover their legal fees after they had a property feud with the Selbach family. she never writes back. "get to the point," she tells Morrigan, something she never would have said before all of this. the judgments come down harsher. the executions get a little too easy to carry out. she closes the rifts more aggressively than before.

and then Corypheus is beaten. the Breach is sealed. for one brief moment, the thought crosses her mind: 'I can finally leave.' she can go back to the wycome circle and hug her old friends, tell them what happened. she can go see the world she never could before. the mark on her hand can stop making people bow to her even when she begs them not to. she did what the Inquisition set out to do. it's over. it's done.

and then they never let her go.

even as her new friends scatter to the wind, dusting their hands off, their moral obligation fulfilled, Rowena sits on the Inquisition throne and feels herself rotting. Solas abandoning her without so much as a goodbye after Corypheus fell stung, but a part of her expected it, too. she caught on quickly that he wasn't the type of person to linger once he felt his role was done. so that was fine. she made peace with that. but the others? Sera, Blackwall, Vivienne, all of them? one by one, they left with an urgency that felt like a dagger to the heart. only Dorian admitted he lingered for the sake of her friendship, but even he was called away eventually.

and then another glimmer of hope: Orlais and Ferelden disagree on the Inquisition's future. for the sake of her advisors, Rowena puts on her old bubbly attitude, claims the Inquisition isn't going anywhere. deep down she rattles the bars and begs Bann Teagan to demand the Inquisition be dissolved. she has one more chance to be free of this. to be someone - though she has no idea WHO anymore - outside of the Inquisitor.

and then the mark flares up. the Qunari have reached the end of their patience with the Inquisition. they dont realize how badly Rowena wants to agree with them. and then the breadcrumbs lead back to Solas. and Solas wants to end the world.

she can do nothing but break down. one more thing she'll be expected to stop. another ambiguous number of years she'll be expected to spend on it. another problem she's not qualified to solve. she's so angry and so sad and so sick of it all, and for the first time in her life she misses the stupid teenager she used to be in wycome whose most pressing issue was figuring out how to frame a templar for her petty thefts.

she doesn't remember having her arm amputated, or her advisors even coming to that decision. being without the mark feels odd, but not unpleasant. as if a nagging splinter has finally been removed from under her skin. Varric promises he'll find someone who can make her a prosthetic. she doesn't care one way or the other. at long last, what made her "special" is finally gone. the world has given her permission to close this chapter of her life for good.

Bann Teagan gets what he wants. Rowena dissolves the Inquisition. finally, at last, she can tell everyone involved to go home. she can figure out who she is. maybe she'll go to Rivain, Varric always said he heard it was lovely there. when the world collapses she'll be hundreds of miles away. maybe she'll be vaporized, maybe slow radiation-like sickness will claim her life, maybe a demon will finally best her. she doesn't really care.

and then her advisors won't let her leave. the Inquisition's dissolution was only a preventative measure, Josephine says. we can operate against Solas without risking his spies infiltrating our ranks, Cullen says. Rowena doesn't have it in her to argue anymore. she doesn't want this. she wants to be anywhere but here. she thought she was free. "okay," she says blankly instead. "that sounds like a good idea."

ten years tick by. Rowena is in her 30s now. she still has no idea what Rivain looks like. Dorian and Vivienne and Blackwall have kept in touch. the others, not so much. she hasn't heard from Cole or Iron Bull at all since they left. she doesn't try to put on that bubbly facade anymore. she's too angry and tired and bitter to bother. no one asks if she's alright anymore. they know she isn't. whatever soul searching she intended to do before won't happen now; this is who she is after all this time. a young woman with a stern brow and stress-induced grey hairs, a prosthetic arm, and no patience for small talk.

she doesn't think about that kid she was before the conclave exploded. that person might as well be a stranger. she can never go back, and there is no future where she isn't the Inquisitor. the only chapter of her life that ever really closed was the one where she thought escape was still possible.

Varric tells her he found someone called "Rook." he thinks they'll be perfect to fight back against Solas. Rowena believes him. she tells him to wish them the best of luck. but she knows she won't be able to stay out of the fray forever. and by now, she doesn't want to. her resentment has festered for a decade. Solas robbed her of her last chance to have a life as Rowena Trevelyan - not as the Inquisitor, not as the Herald, not as anything else. his plans aside, his abandonment of her aside, that robbery is the real betrayal that she could never let go of. and at this point, she never will.

[tears-of-amber]

My letter to my younger self. Yes, that is my name I was called growing up.

I think it’s important to share when you’re healing if you can, just as it is important to share when you are struggling. And you know what? Healing is a struggle, and a never ending journey that is SO worth it every step forward that you take. I had terrible nightmares last night about my dad. And also a general feeling of being abused by myself and people like my dad from my past. You don’t have to forgive anyone but yourself to move forward, fellow survivors. I’ve found I can accept what happened as fact without being ok with it. I can acknowledge what happened without forgiving the evil man that my father was and is to this day. I can move forward simply by picking up the pieces of myself. And challenging beliefs that were engraved in my heart as self destructive behaviors or faulty “coping” mechanisms. If you feel you are so disgusting because of what someone did to you, I have felt this way often. But others actions do not define you. It can hurt you but it IS NOT you. End of story.

-Velvet (Riley) Rose 🌹

[disco-cola]

I just found an article from August 2014 where a German holocaust survivor who migrated to the USA in 1954 named Edith Bell was interviewed (so just at the time of operation protective edge where gaza was attacked and over 2000+ Palestinians, among them 526 children, were killed within 2 months) and she said then, 10 fucking years ago already, that Israel is committing genocide, that she and a group of fellow holocaust survivors wrote an open letter to the New York Times straight up calling it a genocide publicly too, that Israel is exploiting the pain of survivors like her to abuse power and kill innocent people, that she doesn’t want her taxes to go fund this, that AIPAC does not represent jewish American citizens like her and that the USA and Israel alike need to be held accountable for their occupation and slaughter. At the time, Angela Merkel was still the chancellor of Germany and she also kept repeating Israel’s „right to defend itself“ during operation protective edge, and since Edith Bell was originally from Germany, they asked her about her feelings towards that stance as well and she emphasized that Palestinians in Gaza do not have an Army or Air Force or Navy or any types of weapons that could be compared to what Israel is using, so it cannot be self defense. She criticized that Gazans got displaced from their houses into tents and were left without medical aid, electricity, food and water. That it’s been a decade-long siege. She used to live in Israel after World War 2 but left. She compared the way she and her family were treated in Nazi Germany to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. This was 10 years ago. It’s the EXACT SAME AS TODAY. Never EVER!!! let anybody tell you this started on October fucking 7

[starrbar]

You know what? I'm tired of wearing the "pro-fiction" label like a Scarlet Letter, as if I'M the freak of society that needs to warn people of my existence, and not the people who relentlessly hunt down random artists for lines on paper and constantly lie about what they're really arguing about because they KNOW they're wrong. Respecting people's sexualities should be the norm. I would have thought a bunch of young queer people would fucking know that.

From now on, I'm not dignifying this "shipping discourse" with its watered down jargon. There's no "antis" or "proshippers" or whatever the fuck. If you're a BULLY who takes their hatred for the injustices of the world out on small marginalized creators, get the fuck away from me.

YOU'RE the one who's ruining fandom spaces and making innocent people feel unsafe. YOU'RE the one with a screw loose. YOU'RE the one who's a danger to kids. Go take some time to figure out why you think it's righteous and justified to tell people to kill themselves, EVER; to call entire clusters of queer people pedophiles and groomers; to echo the exact rhetoric of fundamentalist Christians and fear-mongering bigots in everything you say.

"Antishippers" are just the newest rebranding of the "Violent videogames will turn kids into mass murderers" and "Harry Potter / D&D will lead to devil worship and demon possession" crowds. You're the same. You've just somehow managed to convince yourself that you're different because you package your horrible behavior in leftist wrapping.

But you're just bullies, and I want nothing to do with you, and it's time people realized that they don't want anything to do with you either. Wake the fuck up and realize who you're really fighting for. Because it's not marginalized people, it's not abuse survivors, and it's certainly not children. Fuck off.

I'm not "pro-fiction." I'm a normal fucking person with a job, a loving family and husband, the best dog ever, and a bunch of stories to create. You can either be a fellow regular person back at me or you can eat my dust.

[tiredcath]

Zukka Fic Recs

after atla came back into pop culture i found myself falling back in love with zukka which resulted in me reading (almost) every zukka fic on ao3 and here are my favorites

Transference by The_Quatermasters (146k)

In a modern AU, Zuko has to deal with settling in a new school after expulsion, dealing with an angry ex and an abusive father. Maybe his new found friendships and growing closeness with Sokka will help him make it through. 

Borderlines by The_Quatermasters (73k)

Three years after the war, the work still isn't quite done and the Gaang is scattered across the continents in their efforts to help the world recover. When Aang and Katara pay visit to the Fire Nation where Zuko is Fire Lord and Sokka acts as Ambassador for the Water Tribe, sparks fly between the siblings over Sokka's life choices.

Ashes Inside When You Finish Your Song by Muncaster (47k)

Sokka writes lyrics for his sister’s band. Zuko plays piano and is unnecessarily nice. Fellas, is it gay to write love songs about your friend and his golden eyes?

(AKA, a modern band AU featuring The Gaang, crappy software equipment, homoerotic lyrics, and the realization that maybe, if you think about a guy every night before you sleep, you just might be in love with him.)

sirens & sleepless nights by Satirrian (54k)

Life can be pretty hard living in a city under a totalitarian regime. Between adhering to the ridiculous curfew, keeping himself from being gunned down by a passing patrolman, and paying his unnecessary tolls to the state for, say, breathing, Sokka has his hands full just getting to work. Add aiding a resistance group on top of that, and Sokka should really be getting paid for this.

Then, one night, Sokka finds an injured patrolman collapsed in the street, who tells him with blood on his lips, “If the patrol finds me, I’m dead.”

 Real Slow by surveycorpsjean (21k)

“I see.” Zuko closes the scroll. “Is the Water Tribe sending a replacement?”

“Uh yeah,” Sokka gestures to himself dramatically. “You’re looking at him.”

 First by HoneyBadgerMole (20k)

Zuko has been nurturing a crush on the jock in his AP Psych class but he has been too scared to talk to him until they get paired up for a project.

the benefits of getting a flat tire by LesbeanLatte (64k)

Zuko makes an impromptu decision to run away from home after a disturbing conversation with Azula. Unfortunately, some plans are better when they're actually, well, planned. Zuko isn't counting on getting a flat tire almost as soon as he's far enough away from the city to really be in the middle of nowhere.

Sokka is immediately taken with the stranger he and his friends find stranded on the side of the road during an afternoon joy ride. However, he has no idea what he's getting involved with and a kind attempt to help a fellow teen in need turns into a massive coverup for a missing person who just so happens to be the son of the mayor of Ba Sing Se.

Azula was just trying to help her big brother - in her own way - by telling him things she thought he deserved to know. Now the situation has gotten wildly out of control. Did she enjoy seeing Zuko upset and afraid? Of course. Had she intended to endanger his life? Not necessarily, but of course, her idiot brother overreacted to everything and that's what happened and now she doesn't know how to stop the chain of events she's indirectly put in place like dominoes.

Operation Leverage by snowandfire (50k)

Sokka's instincts are onto something great. Zuko just wants to serve tea and brood in peace. Ironically, Toph is the only one who can see what's really going on.

 The Stingray by Smediterranea (24k)

“You’re not carrying me.”

“I don’t mind,” the lifeguard says easily.

“I can just hop over.”

“On sand?”

Zuko will never admit it, but being carried feels pretty nice. The lifeguard sets him down and eyes him warily.

“Are you really all by yourself?” he asks in a worried tone. “No friends in town you can call to check on you?”

“No,” Zuko confirms. Tears are forming again with alarming speed; his foot throbs painfully with every passing second.

“What kind of burrito do you want?”

“You don’t have to —“ Zuko repeats.

“I’m getting al pastor. You like al pastor?”

 AU: Zuko falls for Sokka, the super hot lifeguard who helps him after an unfortunate encounter with a stingray.

 it's the illusion of separation by argentoswan (110k)

Sokka takes a job washing dishes at the new tea shop in town. It's a great gig, until he finds out his only coworker is his old high school bully. Sokka really should quit, but he also really needs to afford rent.

Also, Zuko is kind of hot now.

 People like to think war means something by trying_to_spell_both_our_names_at_once (21k)

Sokka was the first to leave.

Somehow that hurt the most. . . . Not long after Zuko becomes Firelord, forces gather in the South and next thing he knows he's thrown into a civil war with almost no one by his side. Maybe healing is longer and more complicated than it needs to be, but with the right people by your side it is always possible.

 a way that will destroy you by anothermistakemade (14k)

In the wake of Ozai's death, Zuko begins to fall apart. Sokka will do everything in his power to make sure that doesn't happen.

-

or, zuko might be losing his mind, but he also might just be really sad & traumatized

 Those Who Favor Fire by CSHfic, VSfic (30k)

After a failed attempt on his life, Sokka fakes his death, dons a disguise, and infiltrates the would-be assassin's ranks in an attempt to bring them down from the inside.

Zuko learns of his husband's tragic death, mourns, and vows revenge.

 Words Mean More at Night by DaisytheDoodleDog (28k)

Even ten years after the end of the war, rebellions rise and risk the balance of the nations. Sokka was willing to do anything to protect his people, which is perhaps why he's leading an army against the rebellion, attacking only as a last result. But Sokka's unwinding, it's taking a toll on him, and the only thing keeping him grounded are the letter Zuko and him exchange late in the night when no one can see the messenger hawks. But as they say, nothing's fair in love and war.

another word for wanting by eurydicees (23k)

Sokka begins to dream of his soulmate when he's eleven years old, and it just gets harder from there. Or, 125 moments soulmates share, and none of them come easy.

(In which your dreams are your soulmate's memories, and Sokka dreams of an all-consuming fire, growing and eating at his soulmate until it burns up the connection between their souls. In which they find love anyways.)

 It Has Only Just Begun by Kirazalea (39k)

There is a bitter triumph in crashing when you should be soaring

Zuko had now chosen the path his uncle had been trying so hard to show him; he had someone who believed in him, who maybe loved him; he was travelling with the Avatar and they apparently had a plan to end the war. By all accounts, Zuko should be smiling.

But Uncle was gone (captured by Azula, and Zuko didn't think she would kill him, but he didn’t, couldn’t, know for sure). The Avatar was barely breathing (he could still die at any second and there was nothing any of them could do about it). Azula had conquered the last Earth Kingdom stronghold (all those innocent people who were now at her mercy). It seemed like, for every step Zuko took forward, the world sent him back three more.

But he was determined to push forward anyways. He needed to make his uncle proud, even if it was the last thing he ever did.

aka: zuko joins the gaang at the end of season 2

 Nightmares and Reveries by HisMomoness (20k)

Zuko doesn't sleep because when he does, he's haunted by nightmares. Sokka worms his way into a job and makes it his mission to get Zuko to relax. Lots of head pets and one vacation to the South Pole later, Zuko might just be getting the hang of it.

Cue pining, some fluff, and eventual romance.

 The One Who Stopped Time by ohhihoney (66k)

All hope was lost to Zuko until one day, his uncle asked a random person at the Jasmine Dragon to tutor his nephew. Gritting his teeth and embarrassed beyond the point of no return, Zuko gave the blue eyed boy his number.

Little did Zuko know how much Sokka would change his world.

 Rubbed Off Stars by ohhihoney (2k)

Sokka wasn't going to just sit and watch the boy at the back of the bus cry while trying to rub off pride flags off his cheeks.

--------------

WIP

Ozymandias, King of Kings by Think_of_a_Wonderful_Thought (168k)

After that fateful Agni Kai, Ozai makes a different call. Branded as a traitor and banished to a prison camp, Zuko learns how cruel the Fire Nation can be to its citizens. Three years, a water tribe raid, and an unexpected meeting with a gang of over-enthusiastic idealistic children puts Zuko back in the spotlight. The revolution is coming and it wants another poster boy, but Zuko is not willing to lend his face to the cause.

 Another Brother by AvocadoLove (312k)

It was a mission of revenge. There weren't supposed to be any survivors, but Chief Hakoda couldn't bring himself to kill the Fire Nation boy. Against his better judgment, he brought him home. A Zuko joins the Water Tribe story.

--------------

BONUS : zuko x jet

Something to Hold Onto by Wildgoosery (122k)

Since the day the walls of Ba Sing Se fell, the Freedom Fighters have struggled to protect what remains of the city and its people. Jet and his second command, a mysterious boy named Li, have spent the summer piecing together an army, hoping for a chance to take the city back for good. But Li is also Zuko, and the time for that secret is quickly running out. Soon, he'll have to decide exactly who he is, what cause he's going to fight for, and where his heart lies.

[rahleeyah]

About the 500th episode now that I've seen it I'm surprised that it was actually a good storyline because with all the speculation about It I really was very on the fence on the whole thing but I still have 2 major things that I think make this episode a bit of a wasted potential. The storyline was important and relevant, but it really didn't need to be the choice for this amazing milestone for television. Yesterday was pretty emotional seeing on twitter and other media all the ways the show has impacted so many people, survivors of sexual abuse and other heavy stories, how the show was a pioneer on talking about this taboo themes and showing victims that their voices matter and Mariska herself being such a role model both as a kick ass actress that has been the face of a succesful show for more than 2 decades and still is even when she is now older and that's not common on TV and as an activist, her commitment to this important causes. So I really would have appreciated this to be a celebration yes of Olivia Benson as a character but more on her journey and accomplishments, of the SVU squad, their mission and on the victims that have been impacted positively by their work. Even fans suggested months ago the perfect title "And these are their stories" 23 letters for 23 seasons as WL likes. It's just that realistically this is the Last major milestone the show is probably gonna achieve and that would've been more satisfactory. But about the storyline itself the other thing is I really feel this had potential and would've been well suited for a double episode feature, even if It was not back to back. It could have been handled as the Rob Miller storyline, first the focus on the case of this man that Nick is interested of being cleared up and exonerated, you have that and you introduce Burton, plant the seeds about Liv reconnecting with him but let us remind more Liv's current context, her constant stress with her new chief, with the changes in her life and squad, a hint of Elliot even if he's not on screen so the moment of her going to the hotel and having sex with Burton is less OOC than it seemed. Then in next episode or several episodes later then drop Burton's shady reputation and the rest of the downfall but in the end even if It ended on a somewhat conclusion for Liv it's such an important storyline that the end landed a little bit flat, I think it would have been benefitial to see her truly closing the chapter. Let us see her willing to return to therapy but now not hiding the truth, let us see her coming at peace with her mom's role, like when she visited her grave after Sonya's downfall or her simply looking at her picture with Serena at peace, show her at least offering the fellow victims support in a more clear way siding with them, let her approach Nick and their last Interaction being one of comfort and friendship but on screen. I know this was implied but as someone who experienced this kind of issue when I was younger I really feel it was important to not be subtle on the closure part and it was necessary that they delivered a bigger resolution to the storyline for Olivia's journey and the audience members who could feel related to her, otherwise it's understandable that many felt this whole thing would just retraumatize Liv. But to be fair credit is due to what they did accomplish on the limited time they had, Mariska's acting was phenomenal and her scene with Aidan was really top notch, great dialogue and a good insight on this important and not so commonly represented un media kind of predatory conduct. Thank you Leah for sharing your impressions, it was really useful and it opened my mind on seeing this on a more positive note that maybe I would've been able to initially.

so this is the thing about speculation. speculation had some people so twisted up they were physically sick before they saw the episode. speculation genuinely hurt some people, bc narratives were spun out of thin air that were devastating and led people down dark paths.

now. was the episode itself brutal? yes. but it was not what it was made out to be by the speculation. it ended on a note of hope. it brought closure to an issue that liv has been avoiding dealing with for forty years. it hurt, but lancing a wound hurts. it is still necessary for the healing to begin.

speculation hurts without healing, especially bc like. fandom takes tidbits and spins so many amazing narratives. but those narratives come out generally after the episode is in the can; the episode is done already, no matter what fandom has to say about it. we can talk all day long about what they could have done, or what cool ideas fandom came up with, but fandom isn't in the room. there are a handful of people in the room, working out ideas together. fandom is vast, of course fandom is going to come up with so many more and varied ideas. there's a lot more of us than there are of them.

they have a certain amount of time to tell a story. do i wish they spent more of it on the characters than on the case of the week? yes.

but like also. they can only tell one story. fandom can tell thousands. so that is where we come in. we take the story we have been given, we pick it apart, we expand on it, we transform it, we make it ours.

yes, they could have done things differently - so if we want something different, let's make it.

i don't know that i would have wanted the burton storyline to be longer. i liked this set up. keep it contained, limit his exposure to liv and his importance to the narrative. and they spent the 500th episode focused on her in a way that i thought was really powerful. was about liv the woman. not the superhero, not the warrior, not the mom, not the cop, just who she is as a woman, her heart, her history, her hopes, her relationships. i found that a really moving tribute, the dedication just to her.

[traumasurvivorshelpingsurvivors]

trigger warning for self harm

how do i get my bf to accept that i sometimes become angry? for context, this only happens every two months maybe, then i am very irritable for a few hours, everything annoys me, i curse about everything and... am not very catious with things, like, today i was looking for a letter and it was at the bottom of a pile of sheets and i just pulled it out and the pile of (my) sheets (on my desk) became a pool, and i just didn't bother. but my boyfriend gets really stressed by this. he will stop answering me, if i ask him something and at some point (like that letter point) he will yell at me to stop.

but i don't want to stop, i just want to be angry, irrationally angry. for no other reason than that it feels right at that moment. and he will be so annoying (in my anyways pissed state) to me, that i will either leave the room or force myself to calm down because he really is unbearable (for me, in my angry mindset) when he is stressed. i sometimes harm myself, to put my anger somewhere (this is the only time that i still harm myself) but i hate that because... it reminds me of my childhood where my parents forced me to swallow all emotions and i just want to be angry, just for a while, because it feels good and i want to be free of expressing my emotions, even if they are irrational (i would bother more if it would happen more often but well, every two months, whatever). but i can't with him around.

and when i talk to him afterwards, he just says he can't bear me being angry (he didn't have an abusive childhood or anything) because i am usually exceptionally calm. and i get that, but why am i the only who has to swallow her emotions and why can't he just leave the room or anything?

how do i get him to just accept that i have the right to be angry? he doesn't has to comfort me, if that doesn't feel right for him, but just to stop forcing me to swallow my anger (or put it against myself).

btw, i would never ever let him see that i harmed myself because i don't want him to feel guilty or more stressed.

Hey there,

You are allowed to feel your feelings and express them. Especially as someone who has been forced to suppress their emotions, it can feel incredibly freeing and cathartic to express emotions. You absolutely have the right to be angry. There is undoubtedly a lot for you to be angry about.

At the same time, it is difficult to remain calm when someone around you is angry. So we have to look at real, material solutions.

Talk about this when you're both feeling calm and regulated. You're right that it's not fair for either of you to have to suppress your emotions. Your emotions are valid, and his emotions are valid as well. Be open and curious when asking about his thoughts and feelings. Make him feel heard. Ask him what he feels when you're expressing anger. Ask him if he has thoughts about why you might be doing what you're doing.

Then you can respond with your perspective and work from there. Maybe a solution is for him, or you, to leave when you need to express anger. Maybe he needs to learn more about trauma responses and trauma in general. Anger can be a really important emotion for trauma survivors. Repressing emotions isn't healthy, for anyone.

I think it's important to communicate that this is part of the process for you and that he doesn't have to do anything he's not comfortable with. Tell him you're willing to compromise, but that you're going to express your anger. Your boundaries are important and you're allowed to communicate them. You deserve time and space to process your trauma and heal.

Edit: Here's a post by a fellow mod about the validity of anger in recovery!

Wishing you the best!

- Misa

[angelicamerlinbarnes]

TUA HUNGER GAMES AU:

(please understand that by AU, I mean they share an incredibly small amount of things in common with the original source material which I barely remember BUT the “story” takes place in the setting of the books/films) (not to be misleading or anything :p)

(BEWARE: abuse, murder, human experimentation, etc.)

(If you can handle watching Umbrella Academy AND The Hunger Games, this will be fine for you.)

(Katniss) Allison doesn’t want to be here, but she wasn’t just gonna let Ray be taken from her by a stupid punishment meant for her great-grandparents. She resolves to win the Games for Ray, so she can make it back to him and they can start their lives together in a better place. But when she wins, her life is changed in ways she never could’ve anticipated.

(Peeta) Luther won a few years ago. He’s Allison’s age, but lives up in Victor’s Village, hiding from the rest of the District. She’s the only one who’s seen him in years, as she brings him food and supplies from town as one of her jobs. She’s fallen in love with him, and he with her, and when she goes to the Games, Luther begins to work with Ray to find and aid the rebellion, hoping to bring her home alive.

(Gale) Ray has understood the tragedy of the Games far better than most others since he was very little. He was chosen when he was twelve, but his sister volunteered for him and died in the last rounds of the Games. He’s been dreaming of running away ever since, writing his pamphlets and letters in hopes of stirring up a revolution, and when Luther approaches him for help, he thinks it might just finally work. He just hopes he doesn’t lose Allison, who he’s been planning on marrying since the day he met her, now that she’s volunteered for him too. Too many people love him, he thinks, and too much.

(Rue) Claire is a young girl Allison makes friends with during her Games, taking on a motherly role to her. Claire is struck down by another tribute, Patrick, and Allison killed him, but not before Claire is already too far gone. Allison holds her as she dies and joins the revolution, eventually, in her name.

(Prim) Vanya fell in love with Sissy a long time ago. Her husband died in the coal mines, and Vanya has been a nanny and second mother to her adopted son Harlan ever since. When Harlan is chosen, Vanya volunteers in his place, knowing she’ll die. Imagine her surprise when Allison saves her with a scheme about sisterly love.

(Johanna) Lila was one of the younger victors, known for seeming meek and eventually murdering over half her fellow tributes to win. She went mad with grief and rage after the Games, and only Diego, her beloved brother who she volunteered for, could calm her. Eudora is her lover, though they keep it exceptionally quiet, and she’s incredibly close with Five, though they’ll never be self-sacrificial for one another, as it breaks their agreement to respect each other as warriors. Lila’s ready to murder Reginald for what he did to her family - but first she wants to murder the Handler, who’s kept her on a leash for years by threatening Diego’s life.

(Finnick) Eudora is a victor, and the capital’s darling. She’s quite daring and charming, and seeks to help and mentor every tribute she can, not just those from her District. She, Diego, and Lila, a victor she mentored and later her lover, were childhood friends and were all possible contenders for the Games, though Diego never participated despite being Reaped twice because both Eudora and Lila volunteered for him. She considers Diego a brother, and ensures he is safe when his rebellion threatens his life. She is the hero of the revolution, and eventually takes over as President of Umbrellacademy (Panem) after the war is won.

(Snow) Reginald is the President of Umbrellacademy, and is hated by every District. Five has tried multiple times to kill him, but Reginald has escaped his murderous clutches every time. With each attempt, Reginald has locked Five away in a pitch-black room deep beneath the ground for days or weeks on end with only food and water as signs of life. Because of this, Five is distrusting and angry and doesn’t show loyalty to those if he can help it, yet is terrified of being alone. (Five is, however, the one who executes Reginald in the end. Because he goddamn deserves to.)

(Coin / Dr. Gaul) The Handler runs the Commission (District 13), a former District bombed into nothing in the first war. Five became her ally when he won, but soon realized she held nothing but contempt for the people of the Districts just like Reginald, and escaped from her. She keeps a tight grasp on Lila, who she knows was Five’s ally and friend, and works even harder towards her goal of taking over Umbrellacademy and ruling the lands for herself. In the end, Lila kills her when she gives her an ultimatum: choose unfathomable power and riches and kill Five, or choose Five and die by his side. Lila gives her a sad look and plunges her sword into the Handler’s heart wordlessly, gathering Five to her chest.

(Haymitch) Five has been bitter and angry since his victory, which occurred in the first quarter quell. His District chose him overwhelmingly, voting for him to be in the Games because he offered to give up his life for their children by being the tribute, knowing he could win. The trouble came when his fellow tribute Dolores, an unwanted, became his ally and friend, eventually sacrificing herself for him. One of her snakes bit him and the venom made him ageless, so he’s looked thirteen for forty-five years. He helps run the resistance, eventually leading it as the war worsens and they lose more and more people. Because of Dolores, he does not allow anyone to get too close to him, but is kind and loyal to anyone he does choose to hold his favor - Lila, Diego, Klaus, Allison, Luther, Vanya, and Ben. Though he’s gone mad from his traumatic experiences and time alone, he’s still one of Umbrellacademy’s most treasured citizens, and lives celebrated as a war hero by every survivor comes the war’s end.

(Effie) Klaus travelled to the Capitol when he was seventeen after his lover Dave volunteered for him in District 12. Horrified, Klaus followed him as a stowaway on the train, earning Five’s respect and protection. When Dave died, Klaus was devastated, and turned to drinking and partying to drown his woes. He works for the resistance with Five, but keeps his persona so bubbly and aloof nobody would ever suspect him of being even nearly as smart as he is. He’s found ways to manipulate the Capitol’s scientific brilliance for his own tributes’ advantage, once he won his right to be an escort for his District following Dave’s death. He used this knowledge to save one of his tributes, Ben, whom he formed so strong an attachment to they became near-lovers, partners in all but the physical. Klaus faked his death during training and preserved his spirit in the body of a mockingjay, who he keeps as a pet. He is dangerous, but vulnerable - for all his brilliance, Klaus is prone to emotional attachments, and finds himself making careless mistakes when the lives of his loved ones are threatened.

(Cinna) Diego is the fashion designer for District 12, having come to the Capitol with his sister Eudora after she won her Games. They’re both from District 4, but he instead chooses to work for 12, entranced by the District’s escort Klaus from their first meeting. The two fall deeply in love, but only acknowledge it in coded conversations and never touch if they can help it, knowing that to take any risk in revealing their feelings for each other would result in one or both of them being killed by the Capitol as an example. Diego has another sister in Lila, who volunteered for him when he was Reaped a second time, and protects both of them with his life. He is close to Five, who he works with closely when training tributes, and immediately recognizes Allison as the face of their rebellion, risking his life for her in the hopes that she will lead them to a better world where he can finally hold Klaus in his arms.

(Cato) Leonard is a tribute in Allison’s Games. He tries to kill Vanya, which prompts Allison to kill him towards the end of the Games. Though he had very little chance originally due to being from the incredibly poor District 8, he grew in danger with every tribute dead, and was well-known for his manipulative charm that won him many sponsors. Allison’s hatred of him does not stop him from showing himself as a prominent victim in her many traumatic dreams.

Hazel and Cha-Cha are peacekeepers, both of whom have wavering loyalties to the Capitol. Hazel is on the fence because he fell in love with a District 12 marketplace vendor, Agnes, and Cha-Cha has been in touch with the Commission for years, hoping to bring the rebellion to the forefront and finally make a safe home with Hazel that isn’t so structured and merciless. This is made difficult by the fact that the Handler has complete control over them, threatening Agnes’ life if they don’t cooperate, and they’ll both do anything to save her - Hazel because he loves her, and Cha-Cha because she loves Hazel.

Agnes is a woman from District 12 who sells tributes lucky charms. She gave Allison her wolf, and Five his snake, and Klaus his mockingjay, and continues to help her people in whatever way she can, offering them bread and treats in secret whenever she manages to scrounge some from Hazel and Cha-Cha. She’s a prominent figure in the black market, but dies when District 12 is bombed, prompting Hazel and Cha-Cha to begin infiltrating the Peacekeepers from the inside despite the overwhelming risks.

(Lucy Gray) Dolores was Five’s ally and friend in his Games, one who shared his emblem of snakes. She learned to control them and change their venom’s property with herbs, granting Five agelessness when she had one bite him just before dying in his arms, having sacrificed herself so he could win. Her death cemented Five’s hatred of the Games and Capitol and his belief of attachments as weaknesses, and he often hallucinates her and speaks with her phantom when he’s locked away from the world, leading her to be known as a sore subject with Five and his greatest weakness. (That is, until his new family comes along and gives him something to fight for.)

(Mockingjay) Ben was a tribute in one of Klaus’ first Games as an escort, and he fell in deep platonic love with him. The two remained bonded throughout the years, as Klaus saved Ben by faking his death and keeping him in the body of a mockingjay until their victory in the second war, and Ben stayed by Klaus’ side for all that time as his beloved pet. Klaus would receive the names of marks from Five and give Ben poison to kill them with, having found a way to alter the venom in Ben’s talons from records of Dolores and Five’s Games, and a couple of vague and shallow conversations between himself and the latter. When Ben returns to his human form, Klaus tugs him into his arms and thanks him for all he’s done, never leaving his side again.

[ninbinary]

DnD Character Backstory Datapoints - Example 1: Human Orphan Lives Dangerously

Hey, thank you to @kursed-curtain (who tumblr will not let me "@", good application u got here) for reblogging my DnD Character Backstory Datapoints suggestion :) (It goes without saying you could ideas like this for non-RPG character or story generation too, and could add more dice representing different things!)

In thanks, I decided to type up an example of me using it to create a (reallly overly-in-depth -- this is gonna be a long post!) character backstory idea from thin air.

(Let me know if you guys out there like this, and I'll do it again sometime! Also let me know if you use this datapoints-system to create a chararacter (or feel free to use this character backstory), and let me know how it goes!)

A) Human character, Younger (d2 + 1 periods)

(I'll refer to the character as "Character", and I'm not doing anything to bake Character Class in to the story (though I'll talk about that at the end), to try to make this as "generic" as possible!)

A0) number of time periods:

d6 roll of 4 = d2 roll of 2; +1 = 3 time periods.

A1) First Time Period:

d12 = 10 [10/12 Danger]

d10 = 6 [6/10 City]

d8 = 1 [1/10 Species Diversity]

That's an Extremely dangerous time, in a Relatively Urbanized area, with only 1 kind of species. Given that its the First time period for a started-adventuring-younger character, I think my overall summary would be:

"Abandoned Orphan in a Medium-Sized Exclusively-Human City"; they spend their early years with a few slightly-older orphans living in alleys and stealing food.

(Alternatively, other interesting ways you could interpret this: if your gameworld has "bad guy countries / city-states" near your "generally friendly demihuman species", you could do these dice as "orphan human in a [bad guy species] city")

A2) Second Time Period:

d12 = 11 [11/12 Danger]

d10 = 3 [3/10 City]

d8 = 3 [3/10 Species Diversity]

Wow, it's somehow gotten MORE dangerous for poor Human Character; but its also only half as Urban, and they're finally around a few more species of Demihuman. How would moving OUT of the city be MORE dangerous? Well, 'city invaded' is always an option, but because of the other two dice, here's how I'd turn these dice into a story point:

"Character's youth life of petty crime / cutpurse-ing for basic necessities finally ends in trouble so serious that they flee the city / their orphan-gang / the only home and family they've known, and join up with a travelling caravan." Depending on how "dark" you want the character to be, you could take it any number of ways; but let's say you want a Shit-Life-but-Charitable character and go with: one of their pickpocketting sorties goes bad, and as the pack scatters, Character and a close friend get caught in a blind alley by a city guardsman. Character is at the top of a ladder while Friend is scrambling up, but the guardsman is closing in, sword drawn, so Character throws a brick and kills the guardsman. Friend gets away, but before Character escapes, the next wave of guard sees their dead comrade and gets a good look at Character.

Character makes arrangements ASAP to sign on as a caravan guard, calling in favors to get semi-respectable looking leathers (and maybe the dead guards' sword) and a forged letter-of-reference from their gang's fence. Within a nervewracking 24 hours of lying low, Character's friends have managed to sign them on to a caravan, and one last sprint through the city's allies and undermaintained warehouses later, Character is all set. The next morning they're marching out the city gate with a 4-wagon, 15-individual caravan, run by a halfling merchant, taking fancier fabricks and fashionable metalworked jewelry to the more rural human/halfling backcountry outside of the city.

(So, here all the Danger is about the transition TO this period of Less-City, More-Species-Diversity time period). Let's see how it wraps up with Third Time Period:

A3) Third Time Period:

d12 = 10 [10/12 Danger]

d10 = 9 [9/10 City]

d8 = 2 [2/8 Species Diversity]

Oh dear; danger DOES seem to follow poor Character around! We're back to a Lot of danger, in an EVEN BIGGER CITY, around only a Few different species. How should this conclude Character's pre-Adventure story?

Well, since its so dramatic (STILL Danger, BIGGER City!), its going to end with such a bang, you'd probably want to think about where Campaign's going to begin.

(One way to read the Danger is by saying, "the caravan was raided and the survivors were taken prisoner", but how does that result in such a high City number (while the Species Diversity stays pretty low)? For example, if City stayed low, you could have Character be prisoner of a small bandit camp operating out of a wooded area.)

Well (and if this fits with the campaign setting), we could read it this way:

"the Caravan was raided by marauders from Underground-living [Species X], which hasn't been active in this area for decades..." The survivors were taken back through Species X's New Outpost in this region, and then a select few (including Character) were sent to the capital for one of the following unsavory ends (Ritual Sacrifice, or Gladitorial Combat, or Being Eaten at a Feast Celebrating the New Outpost, etc).

Fortunately for Character, one of the Species X jailors becomes sympathetic because.. they take pity on Characters' youth; or because of the Character's brazen tenacity defending a fellow prisoner from the head jailor's abuse [hey, tying back to their killed-a-guardsman moment], or something; and arranges for Character to be smuggled out of Species X City into the surrounding countryside.

(Another Alternative Idea, had One Dice Gone a Different Way: maybe if Species Diversity was higher, the Species X City could have enough different kinds of folks walking around that you could think about letting Sympathetic Jailor take on Character as a servant, apprentice or even adopted child -- albeit temporarily, or else they'd never be a player-character meeting up with the party. But it would definitely be interesting to see what a Human Orphan from the Mean Streets of [Medium-Sized Human City] would be like after spending their formative years as Adoptive Mindflayer Dad's protege).

Anyway, Wrapup:

Now a long way away from their 'home' city and probably home country (remember, they were captured by Species X nearby, but then moved days (or weeks) travel underground to Species X Huge City), Character finds their way to [wherever the Party starts], and will hopefully have a much less dangerous life just killing monsters and collecting treasure.

Character would definitely have a lot of street-smarts, might have a "I will survive no matter what" mentality, a healthy disrespect for law-and-order, probably standoffish about friendships but a deep loyalty to those they get close to (many of these being Great traits for an adventuring party!).

There's a lot of ways to tweak this outline to make them more "dark and moody" or give them different responses to their travails (if you wanted to make them more of a "mad dog", or utterly ruthless), and there's also room for plot hooks (who were their parents? What happened to their Orphan Gang back home? Does [their original city] have enough intra-city communication that their guardsman-killing will haunt them (for example, make the guardsman they killed someone with connections or seniority, so there's someone with a big axe to grind about eventually getting the guardsman's killer)? Did they grow close to some of their fellow Caravan people and did any of them survive the attack?)

Also if you have a specific character class in mind you can tweak bits of this -- Rogue or Warrior types fit perfectly, but a more Wizard-y character class could certainly fit too: you could play up their burgeoning powers, and have power flare-ups central to Character's 2 dramatic acts -- when they killed the Guardsman in Second Time Period, and have it be the reason that Sympathetic Jailor helped them in Third Time Period.

Thanks for reading all this, anyone who made it all the way through, and let me know what you think! (And no thanks to Tumblr, whose Text Popup stopped letting me type certain letters -- I wrote the actual Character Creation thing in a textfile cuz it was so long, but I then had to compose the incidental comments / intro in a textfile too then copy-paste-format it into this tumblr window >:P)

[a-room-of-my-own]

A bit of reading : orwomen.()scot/did-you-know/?fbclid=IwAR0H7TqxQNqemZcAGFtvR_HLkbkxmZ4FY6srcgrULWxGPyWuc6QPTmDQfVI

Did you know…

…that 80-95% of people who say they are trans choose to have no medical treatment at all – no surgery, no drugs, not even therapy? Transwomen are just male people who subjectively believe that they are female. That’s it. That is all that’s required.

Despite some commentators describing an “epidemic of violence against trans people“, transwomen are no more likely to be murdered than anyone else, and the best data available shows it’s half as likely. In Scotland, zero have been killed. In fact, transwomen are almost twice as likely to be the perpetrator of a murder than to be murdered in the UK, which is not surprising since a male pattern of violence is retained regardless of any transition or cross-dressing.

The 48% of trans youth have attempted suicide statistic is nonsense too. It was based on just 27 trans people (aged 26 and under), from a self-selecting online survey – which made the data worthless. Yet that hasn’t stopped the TIE Campaign peddling similar in Scottish schools (or is it 27%, they seem confused?), contrary to Samaritans advice on avoiding attributing the cause to any one incident. The NHS Gender Identity Development Service actually says “suicide is extremely rare” and rates of self-harm, distress and suicide ideation are similar to other children seen by CAMHS.

Did you know that 1 in 50 males in prison now self-id as trans according to Ministry of Justice figures? If it is so dangerous to be trans why do so many choose to come out when in jail?

Were you aware that 95% of prisoners are men, and 5% women? That most women in prison are there for financial crime, and most men are in for violent offending. Did you know that men commit 98% of sex offences? That 48% of transwomen prisoners are sex offenders (compared to less than 20% in the general male estate) and would swamp the female estate if they all transferred.

What makes these convicted sex offenders, who were born male, women? Why should female prisoners be locked up with rapists if they say “I am a woman”? Are you willing to be in a prison cell with a male rapist on that basis? And if not, do you think other women should be? Are you aware that women have already been sexually assaulted and raped, in several countries, because of this policy?

Did you know that Scotland already has a policy significantly more liberal than England’s, stating that transgender prisoners must normally be housed according to the “social gender” with which they self-identify? And that this policy was brought in by a senior prison officer, himself now a convicted sex offender? A policy put in place without even talking to women’s groups or considering that there would be any impact on female prisoners at all. Despite warnings of abuse, including from former women’s prison governor Rhona Hotchkiss, the promised policy review has not been forthcoming.

What about women’s refuges, have you considered what it could do to a woman fleeing male violence to encounter a male in that refuge? Read why the CEO of a domestic violence charity, Karen Ingala Smith, considers it imperative that refuges remain women-only, and her speech at the Scottish Parliament.

Did you know that a woman was asked to leave a shelter because, as a rape survivor, she couldn’t sleep in the same room as a strange male, regardless of how he identified? Are you aware that a man used self-id to access a women’s shelter where he sexually assaulted vulnerable women? Are you aware that a rape relief shelter in Canada lost all public funding for insisting they remain women-only, and had a dead rat nailed to their door?

Are you aware that the Scottish Government imposes a transwomen inclusive policy on Scottish Women’s Aid as a condition of funding and that Rape Crisis Scotland refused to guarantee a female counsellor for a traumatised teenager? We know from private meetings that they erroneously believe they cannot provide a single-sex service due to a lack of ‘case law’, despite having previously done so for many years. Did you know there is a male manager of a rape crisis centre, who failed to disclose his sex at interview, and which still claims to be women-led?

Are you aware that despite less than half of changing rooms in swimming pools and sports centres being mixed sex, 90% of sexual assaults have happened in them? Yet mixed-sex, ‘gender-neutral’ facilities are constantly pushed, including in schools – contrary to law and building regulations requiring separate sex provision – when it would be more responsible to increase third space unisex provision for the comfort of those who need it.

That’s before you even get into the issue of how to keep out predatory men who aren’t trans, if you say that any man who ‘identifies as a woman’ can use communal changing/showering areas at will. A man exposing himself in a park commits a crime. A man doing so in a women’s changing room, where you’re also naked, who need not have even told staff he identifies as a woman, may no longer be committing an offence.

Did you know that the Scottish Government funded LGBT Youth Scotland, a spin-off group from Stonewall, to write guidance for schools that breaches children’s rights in at least eleven ways? This includes the unscientific belief in gender identity, which even the Justice Minister is at a loss to define, the promotion of harmful breast binding and the removal of all single-sex spaces and sports. No-one should be surprised at this as Stonewall have long campaigned for the removal of women’s rights, although single issue political pressure groups should have been no-where near schoolchildren.

It took the Government until June 2019 to commit to replacing this guidance, having privately received advice that it was “not legal“. Yet, this new legally compliant guidance is seven months overdue and the Education Minister is refusing to withdraw LGBTYS’s guidance in the interim.

Why should we accept smear tests from any male who feels they have a womanly gender identity – what does that even mean (let’s ask the Justice Minister again)? And yes, it is happening. A rape survivor who wanted a woman to carry out her breast screening found her letter used as an example in hospital trans guidance as ‘unacceptable’ and ‘highly discriminatory’. And a woman in a psychiatric ward who was terrified at being locked in a ward with an “extremely male-bodied” fellow patient was regarded as a transphobic bigot. The truth is that women in mixed-sex hospital wards, particularly psych, have very real reasons to fear men.

Did you know that 35 clinicians have resigned from the Tavistock (children’s gender clinic in London) over their failings, including the Governor? Who later wrote a damning account of the abject failure to heed evidence that their affirmation-only policy is harmful to children, especially to the huge influx in girls who may suffer other complex problems, such as trauma, autism, a history of sexual abuse or discomfort with their developing sexuality. A staggering 48% of children referred to Tavistock have ASD traits, and a BBC Newsnight investigation revealed significant numbers of children seeking transition treatment based on their family’s homophobia.

Are you aware that studies show that puberty blockers result in 100% of children progressing to cross-sex hormones – whereas, if left unmedicated, the Tavistocks’s own research shows over 90%, if supported by counselling, are happy with their sex once they emerge from puberty. Did you know hormone blockers may cause sterility, a large decrease in IQ, bone density loss, and more? An investigation by the Health Review Authority concluded that blockers are really the start of irreversible physical transition and recommended that “Researchers and clinical staff should…avoid referring to puberty suppression as providing a ‘breathing space’, to avoid risk of misunderstanding.” This led to a major overhaul of the NHS UK website which no longer considers blockers to be fully reversible and confirms long-term effects are unknown.

The young person’s gender clinic at Sandyford, Glasgow has recently withdrawn their information booklet and we trust it will be similarly updated. Do you think all the government funded trans organisations will be scrupulous in updating their information too – including LGBT Youth guidance in Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Trans/NHS guidance, and Stonewall advice, among many more, including of course the already deemed “not legal” school guidance by LGBT Youth?

Are you aware that the number of children referred to Sandyford is rising at a faster rate than the rest of the UK? Yet they don’t actually know how many girls have been referred as children can select what sex they want recorded on medical records – although unofficially, clinicians report similar concerns as elsewhere about the huge proportional rise in young girls seeking to transition. Did you know that bias, and not evidence, dominates the WPATH transgender standard of care followed in Scotland? And it is woefully out-of-date considering the fundamental change in patient make up since it was written in 2011.

Read the speech given by Dr David Bell at the Scottish Parliament and consider why, if his report about issues at the Tavistock prompted the Director to resign, was it not enough for the Health Minister, Jeane Freeman, to instigate an enquiry into identical practices at Sandyford? Perhaps the Government will listen to the outcome of a Judicial Review that is being sought by Keira Bell, a detransitioning woman, who wants to protect other troubled young girls from similar treatment.

Are you aware that women with our views are threatened with violence, rape and death, almost as an everyday occurrence? We are told TERF is not a slur, but I challenge you to find any instances of it being used without abuse or threats attached to it. Do you think it’s in any way acceptable for lesbians to be on the receiving end of these menaces for asserting, or even just trying to be proud of, their right to be same-sex attracted? Do you really think there’s such a thing as a lesbian with a penis?

All that hate is from transactivists, and is aimed at women with our views. I challenge you to find anything remotely equivalent from here, from our recorded talks, or indeed anywhere else. This is NOT a case of two sides as bad as each other. And it’s notable that the hate is not aimed at genuinely transphobic, aggressive men. It’s aimed at women. It’s aimed at us.

And JK Rowling. Read the tweets she posted and look at the replies. Read the essay further explaining her thoughts and ask how anyone could possibly think she deserved such atrocious abuse, or how transactivists thought it in any way acceptable to post penis images in retaliation (don’t worry, it’s been edited!) on a child’s thread about Ickabog art.

Did you know women can be, and often are, fired for believing sex is real, that humans cannot change sex, and women and girls are entitled to privacy when undressing or otherwise vulnerable? And yet poll, after poll, after poll, after poll show that this is the majority view, by at least 80%. You may well wonder why then, is the Scottish Government proposing to bring in Hate Crime legislation that would see even JK Rowling imprisoned for up to seven years for expressing views deemed abusive by transactivists, yet affords women no such protection in law, based on their sex.

Innate gender identity is a belief system. There’s no evidence one exists. If our Government cannot even define it, then it should not be presented as fact to our children. It should not over-ride women’s hard fought for rights.

Do you know that the very word ‘woman’ will change definition, if the trans lobby succeed? If we can’t define what a woman is, how can we accurately capture data? How can we record male violence, the pay gap, our representation in government, business, finance, law, media…anywhere? Police Scotland already record incidences on the basis of gender identity, but can’t seem to recall when, or why that happened, and the census looks to be going the same way, despite the importance of recognising sex being shown quite dramatically by COVID-19.

An influential lobby loudly insisting that they won’t be erased (when trans organisations are heavily state funded and train all major businesses, branches of government, school teachers, universities and NHS boards) are actively campaigning to erase the very definition of what a woman is – best archive it, just in case! Have you noticed how easy it is to define a woman when we’re being aborted, subjected to FGM, married off, denied the vote, raped, murdered, paid less, represented less in every single sector of government and industry, expected to perform most of the world’s unpaid labour, and constituting 71% of the world’s modern slaves? The only places that seem unsure on what a woman is are the places feminism was starting to make inroads. It’s almost like there must be some sort of a connection, isn’t it?

We don’t have any fear, resentment or hatred for trans people. We agree there should be protection in law against discrimination and violence. We just don’t agree that our rights need to be railroaded over in the process. We don’t agree that male people should access women’s spaces, or benefit from women’s provision, at will, without our consent. Our name is WOMEN and our rights matter.

Don’t you agree…?

[resonanteye]

via http://resonanteye.net/originals-will-be-for-sale-nov-15/

Originals will be for sale, Nov 15

Two are spoken for.

All the local galleries are full of artists that they were showing last year, my kickstarter to get full scale prints made did not get funded (really bad timing). I’ll eventually be releasing a small art book containing all of these, I hope. I had wanted to show them as a group but I do not think I’ll be able to do that. so,

here are the originals I’ll be selling. There will be a second post with purchase links on the day, and you’ll be able to message me to purchase as well. Full sized prints will eventually be available but I don’t have a date for that.

Paintings from Quarantine, a series, 2020

all are watercolor paintings. charging by size and scope…

  12×16″ are 150$

18×24″ are 500$

22×30″ are 900$

36×50″ are 1500$

shipping to US/CAN included: all will be rolled for shipping, unframed. I’ll ship any country, but will have to calculate for anywhere but US/CAN. rush shipping on request at cost.

no. 1 – Milan (quarantine paintings, 2020) watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″ dedicated for Dr. Marcelo Natali 1963-3/25/20 “We certainly weren’t prepared to face such a situation. Especially those of our generation, that of the post-antibiotic era, who grew up thinking that a pill against the disease was enough.”

no. 2 – Northwestern United States (quarantine paintings, 2020) watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″ dedicated for Dr. Stephen M. Schwartz (January 1, 1942 – March 17, 2020) “There is no way to summarize a person as complex as Steve, but I’ll say this: I have never met a person with a finer mind, a greater passion for ideas, or who had a greater love for science,” Dr. Chuck Murry “This beer virus I call it — they call it a coronavirus, I call it a beer virus — how do you like that?” Rep. Don Young

no. 3 – Iran (quarantine paintings, 2020) watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″ dedicated for Dr. Shirin Rouhani (unknown- 3/19/20) “She treated patients at Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran while receiving IV therapy, because there were not enough doctors. Hospitals are faced with a lack of protective gear including medical gowns, N95 masks, gloves, and disinfectants.” -Javad Tavakoli ” Tell medècin sans frontiers that we do not need hospitals established by foreigners”. -Health Minister, Alireza Vahhabzadeh.

no. 17 (final) – New Orleans, LA, USA⁣ (quarantine paintings, 2020)⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣ watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣ ⁣ dedicated for Ronald Lewis⁣ 7/17/1951-3/20/2020⁣ ⁣ “Right here in the Ninth Ward was where our people chased the American dream.”⁣ ~ Ronald Lewis⁣ ⁣ “The federal government rose to the challenge and this is a great success story and I think that that’s really what needs to be told.”⁣ ~Jared Kutchner

no. 4 – Rikers Island, New York (quarantine paintings, 2020) watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″ dedicated to Michael Tyson, 53 “Incredible anxiety and fear. You cannot implement effective social distancing in a room that sleeps forty men. You cannot implement effective social distancing when those forty men are using two or three sinks and one of them may be broken. You cannot implement effective social distancing when the staff interacts with all of them and has to touch all of them in the course of a day. They know that better than I know that. So when I was talking to them, I was sort of feebly saying, “We want to try to encourage people to be even more diligent about hand-washing, etc., etc.” They were, like, “O.K., we don’t have our own cleaning supplies.” They can’t wipe down their own surfaces. They have to wait for someone to come in and do that for them.” “The largest category of people in city jails are those awaiting trial — people who have not been charged but not convicted. In the ordinary course of events, getting someone in this position out of jail requires an application made in court before a judge.” -Dr. Bedard New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday that the state had found a way to counteract price gouging on hand sanitizer amid the COVID-19 outbreak: by deploying cheap prison labor. Incarcerated people will be producing the disinfectant… “This is a superior product to products now on the market,” Cuomo said in a briefing, adding that the state’s sanitizer has a “very nice floral bouquet” that includes hints of lilac, tulip, and hydrangea.

  no. 5 – Los Angeles, Mercy⁣ (quarantine paintings, 2020)⁣ ⁣ watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″⁣ ⁣ dedicated for Francisco Garcia⁣ ⁣ “There’s a very limited supply, it’s a scary situation. Just going to work, driving to work, you’re worried you’re going to get something. It’s changing by the hour and by the day.” S. Beltran, ER nurse . ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ “This week the State Department has facilitated the transportation of nearly 17.8 tons of donated medical supplies to the Chinese people, including masks, gowns, gauze, respirators, and other vital materials.” -Mike Pompeo, Feb 7 2020

⁣no. 6 – Wuhan (quarantine paintings, 2020)⁣ watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″⁣ ⁣ dedicated for Dr. Li Wenliang (1986-2/7/2020) “I think there should be more than one voice in a healthy society, and I don’t approve of using public power for excessive interference.” -Dr. Li Wenliang “Now, the Democrats are politicising the coronavirus… this is their new hoax.” -Donald Trump “Trump has botched the response to coronavirus pandemic…classifying deliberations makes it harder for health experts in government without security clearances to be in key meetings. This is unprecedented, unnecessary, and damages our ability to respond to the pandemic.” -Gregg Gonsalves, a Yale epidemiologist “You, Dr. Li Wenliang, have been making false comments on the Internet, and will sign a letter of admonishment.” -Police from the Wuhan Public Security Bureau, Jan 3 2020

no. 7 – Madrid (quarantine paintings, 2020)⁣ ⁣ watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″⁣ ⁣ dedicated for Dr. Isabel Munoz ( 1961 -3/24/2020) “Her only obsession was not to infect anybody.” -Jesus Munoz “Even if we all get sick, I’d rather die than kill the country.” -Glenn Beck

⁣no. 8 – Johannesburg⁣ ⁣⁣ (quarantine paintings, 2020)⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ dedicated for Simon⁣ (unknown)⁣⁣ ⁣ ⁣ “They put us here and now we are close to one another. This is why we will be vulnerable to catching Corona. Our government has failed us,” Simon, homeless man moved by police to stadium from the street.⁣ ⁣ “The lockdown has caused problems, but it is a necessary thing that South Africa had to do,” -Maider Mavi, Mozambique Health Ministry. “Anyone showing symptoms who goes to a state hospital will have their COVID-19 test for free.” ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ “The goal here is to keep Covid out of this community,” says Sasha Lalla, a leader at COSUP, a city-supported substance abuse program.⁣ ⁣ “I think then we will be seeing a situation where people with compromised immune systems are not just at risk of Covid-19, they are at risk of death. We have a responsibility to keep our most vulnerable safe,” he said. “One case here, it would be like wildfire.”

no. 9 – New York City⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ (quarantine paintings, 2020)⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ dedicated for Father Antonio Checo⁣ May 6, 1952-April 1, 2020 ⁣ “Words cannot describe the sadness and hurt as well as the frustrations that this pandemic has brought about to our daily lives here and across the city…Effective today, all Episcopal churches have been ordered closed until May 17, 2020…we as your clergy are still accessible via phone as your pastors in these times. And since we cannot gather as a community until May, we want to begin to periodically send you the weekly bible readings as that you can use for private prayer worship.⁣ …take an hour each day to pray these prayers remembering those who have died because of this pandemic, as well as those who are sick and those “essential” workers on the frontlines who ensure we as citizens have access to life sustaining resources for day to day living. We ask for the blessing of peace and hope to you all, and that all are safe in this time of uncertainty and anxiety.”⁣ Rev. Antonio Checo and Rev. Jason Moskal, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church⁣ ⁣ ⁣ “We brought in 13 machines that basically kill every virus in the place, and uh, if somebody walks through the door it’s like, it kills everything on them. If they sneeze, it shoots it down at like 100 mph. It’ll neutralize it in split seconds. We have the most sterile building in, I don’t know, all of America.”⁣ -Rodney Howard-Browne, River Tampa Bay Megachurch

no. 10 – Tokyo ⁣⁣⁣ (quarantine paintings, 2020)⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ dedicated for Ken Shimura (20 February 1950 – 29 March 2020) “I never feared getting an infection myself,” he said, because he knows “how infection control should be done.” But aboard the Diamond Princess, “I was so scared of getting COVID-19.” “The cruise ship was completely inadequate in terms of the infection control.” -Kentaro Iwata, who has dealt with infectious outbreaks, including Ebola, cholera and SARS, for more than 20 years. “I’m choosing not to do it.” -donald trump, on masks

no. 12 – Washington, DC⁣⁣ (quarantine paintings, 2020)⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″⁣ ⁣ ⁣ dedicated for ⁣⁣ Rabbi Romi Cohn⁣⁣ Holocaust survivor⁣⁣ March 10, 1929-March 24, 2020⁣ ⁣ “The crisis caused by the coronavirus may be the time to consider a universal basic wage.”⁣⁣ -Pope Francis ⁣ ⁣ “God will shield us from all harm and sickness. We are not afraid. We are called by God to stand against the Antichrist creeping into America’s borders.”⁣⁣ -Tony Spell3

no. 15 – Paris⁣ (quarantine paintings, 2020)⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ dedicated for⁣⁣⁣ Dr. John F. Murray⁣ pulmonologist⁣ June 8, 1927 – March 24, 2020⁣ ⁣ “In all his dealings in the ICU, John treated every person with respect and held them to high standards, whether it was the intern just starting in the ICU or the fellow who was a much more senior trainee, or the nurses or the therapists. Everybody had something to offer and was treated as a member of this team.”⁣ -Courtney Broaddus⁣ ⁣ “You have to do what’s best for your business.”⁣ -Wayne Hoffman

“Audience Participation, London” 22×30″, watercolor

Houston has its Time 22×30″, watercolor

Calling in the Forces, Sunflowers 22×30″ watercolor

Skating in New York City watercolor, 22×30″

The Observers (Germany) watercolor on arches, 12×16″

  no. 13 – Atlanta⁣ (quarantine paintings, 2020)⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ dedicated for⁣ Rushia Johnson Stephens⁣ music teacher⁣ 1954-2020⁣ ⁣ “Given our population density, high rate of asthma, and various underlying health conditions found within our city’s populations, I am issuing a Stay at Home Order for Atlantans.”⁣ -Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms⁣ ⁣ ⁣ “adding a public option to Obamacare is the best way to lower costs and cover everyone. 160 million people like their private insurance.”⁣ -Joe Biden

SOLD:

no. 11 – The Bronx⁣ (quarantine paintings, 2020)⁣ ⁣ watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″⁣ ⁣ dedicated for⁣ Rakkhon Kim, a member of Branch 36 in New York City⁣ 1970-March 25,2020⁣ ⁣ “It is not an exaggeration to say that our men and women in the Postal Service, who were already performing one of the most important jobs in America, are now literally putting their own lives on the line to deliver the food, medicine, and essential supplies that hundreds of millions of Americans depend on every single day during this pandemic.”⁣ -Senator Bernard Sanders⁣ ⁣ “It’s been losing billions of dollars a year for many, many years… this is the new one, I’m now the demise of the Postal Service. I’ll tell you who’s the demise of the Postal Service, are these internet companies that give their stuff to the Postal Service…They drop everything in the post office and they say, ‘You deliver it.’ “⁣ -president Donald Trump

no. 14 – Lansing⁣ (quarantine paintings, 2020)⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ watercolor, oil, gesso on arches paper, 18×24″⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ dedicated for⁣⁣ Lisa Ewald⁣ nurse⁣ 1966-2020⁣⁣ ⁣ “COVID-19 has impacted the lives of so many citizens throughout the state of Michigan, and even more pronounced in the city of Detroit, as we are the fastest growing city nationally with casualties related to this deadly disease.”⁣ -Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo⁣ ⁣ “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”⁣ -Donald Trump⁣ ⁣⁣