#like Jesus Christ you can have your opinions but to be so fucking self centered and unaware

[chewwytwee]

This just in, tumblr user who’s only learned about Palestine over the past few months feels incredibly emboldened to tell everyone what they think about the ICJ ruling and the history of Palestinian resistance

[none-shall-caricature-me]

Goody - two - shoes discourse has reached the VTSOM fandom. Ugh.

Just finished Vincent : The Secret of Myers, SPOILERS and opinions on its fan discourse below -  ISTG if another person says ‘Vincent should've seen that bad end coming because he was going TOO much down a dark, vengeful, murderous path and EMOTIONALLY - DRIVEN REVENGE BAD 11!!!’ I’ll go berserk. Bruh, ALL THE CHARACTERS in this game are morally grey (less so for Draco, it seems). Vincent is brutally murdering the core members, and people’s issue with that is that he’s apparently also killing those sidepiece employees who were very selfish but not fully evil, just like he used to be. Now, regardless of whether or not he’s killing the less shady workers too (I personally think it’s not clarified so far, though sparing other pawns like him would make his revenge ethically sound), get out of your asses for once and see how convincing ‘BUT I WOULD NEVER SINK SO LOW IF I WERE HIM, I’D STEW IN MISERY OVER MY TORTURE LIKE A GOOD VICTIM INSTEAD OF GOING ON A BLOODY RAMPAGE TO TAKE BACK SOME SEMBLANCE OF CONTROL OVER MY SHITTY LIFE’ sounds.

 Dude, first of all, once you’re self - centred and socially desperate enough join a cutthroat MNC as their top dirty - dealing lawyer -- and then get fucked over horribly despite reluctantly licking the company’s boots -- you’re also self - centered enough to seek vengeance at all costs. And barring the whole corrupt lawyer thing, being self - centered isn’t necessarily bad. An ordinary person wouldn’t have the means to take on Myer Corp. and that’s why most ‘normal’ folks would just give up on revenge, willingly (if they’re of the insane ‘I will suffer in silence and simply expect to get over the horrible destruction of my self like a good girl’ variety) or unwillingly. But Vincent has the genius, the insider info and the wealth to fuck over Myer Corp.’s experimenters - SO WHY WOULDN’T HE ? 

Yes, his ostensible targeting of a probably memory - wiped Vanora is not at all a good move - in fact it was mostly quite dumb and could’ve been averted since altering memories can definitely change a person’s goals, loyalties, personality and philosophy (Vanora at the game’s start, before Vincent intentionally reminded her of her past, was harmless). But Myer Corp sent her to kill him, and maybe he was paranoid that she could be a sleeper agent, BUT most importantly his terrible experiences have understandably fucked him up psychologically and he’s NOT thinking straight at all. Therefore Vanora and those he killed may be brainwashed company pawns just like him, following callous orders for self - preservation or profit, but it’s hardly easy to empathise with that when you’re stewing in your own hell. That’s something smoothly said but rarely done, and very few of you morality hecklers would be saintly enough to pull it off if you were in his place. 

Do you seriously think that ANYBODY is such a dumb baby lamb that they’ll simply get over their life being ruined, having to eat humans to live, suffering long agony; perk up, fix a smile on their face, and try to live out the rest of their life like they’re fucking Jesus Christ a - okay with being crucified ? No, and whether they were a bad enough person to be called hypocritical for their obsession (like Vincent probably is) DOESN’T MATTER. Because the alternative is fucking unrealistic and oppressive (like Madoka Magica’s bird - brained ‘happier ending’ where the puella magi swallow their pain and straight up have to die so that their pain won’t make them lash out in the only way they can). 

Point is, Vincent’s mad fixation on gorily wiping out Myers IS, as far as we know, NOT good, yes. But given his realistically morally grey personality, his trauma and his circumstances, it makes sense. Similarly, his attempt to kill Vanora after HIMSELF ensuring she’d remember her past and calling her loyal to Myers at heart was SUPER DUMB and horrible - but it makes sense given the above. The world is full of Vincent Edgeworth, Self - Preserving Ex - Corrupt Lawyers. Unconditionally loving, naive, selfless Dracos are rare. 

And tbh, I personally find a fucked - up Vincent very interesting, realistic and poignant. I don’t care that he’s problematic because he’s super well - written.

[bunnywan]

obi-wan for the character asks? 👀

can do, anon <3

favorite thing about them

this is hard because there’s next to nothing i don’t love about obi-wan lmao. but if it really came down to it, i would have to say it’s just his goodness. when matthew stover said, “he is modest, centered, and always kind. he is the ultimate jedi.” HELLLLL FUCKIN YEAH. that’s my shit right there. i slurp that right up with a straw. he is so good. i always think that you could take away obi-wan’s skills, his lightsaber, even his connection to the force; and he’d be no less of a jedi. he’s that good. and it’s a choice. obi-wan could’ve veered off the path a million times. but every time, he chose the light, because for him, there isn’t really another choice. it’s just who he is.

also, he is super sexy.

least favorite thing about them

welllll. this is weird because it kind of clashes with the fact that i love obi-wan just being above everything and not sinking down to anyones level, but occasionally… i would like him to be more of a bitch. sometimes he deserves to be a bitch! remember when bo-katan said “i thought she meant something to you” ? personally, i think obi-wan was well within his rights to be a bitch. ma’am you were a terrorist five minutes ago and now you are trying to guilt trip me into cleaning up your mess? (true sw fans blood boils when watching a cartoon.)

favorite line

“look what i have risen above.”

honorary mention: “anakin” (derogatory/affectionate)

brOTP

i really love obi-wan’s relationships with his fellow jedi, especially the one’s he grew up with, like quinlan, luminara, and even siri. i loooove fics where it’s just like 17 year old obi-wan vibing. and i adore when people appreciate the relationships and community of the jedi!!!

OTP

obikin (duh). “kenobi and skywalker have become a single word.” jesus christ.

nOTP

codywan. i’m sorry. it’s just not clicking for me. maybe it’s because i think a lot of codywan shippers write cody to be playing a role in obi-wan’s life that i think belongs to anakin…? sometimes i’ll read fic to try to get into it, but then i read a line like “there’s no one obi-wan was closer to than cody, no one he trusted more” and i’m like. are we talking about the same star wars lmfao.

random headcanon

he listens to neutral milk hotel.

unpopular opinion

pre-mustafar obi-wan doesn’t hate himself. soooo many fics about obi-wan’s apparent self loathing and fragility when that’s not who i see him as at all. he’s one of the strongest bitches to ever exist. (post-mustafar, go ham with the self loathing tho.)

song i associate with them

strawberry blonde - mitski

in a hoe kind of way: music with your dad - nasty cherry

favorite picture of them

fucking LOOK AT HIM. it was hard to choose between this obi-wan, talking to the younglings w yoda obi-wan, and sitting in his council seat w his big dick obi-wan. honestly i could have picked any picture of obi-wan ever.

[whitehotharlots]

The point is control

Whenever we think or talk about censorship, we usually conceptualize it as certain types of speech being somehow disallowed: maybe (rarely) it's made formally illegal by the government, maybe it's banned in certain venues, maybe the FCC will fine you if you broadcast it, maybe your boss will fire you if she learns of it, maybe your friends will stop talking to you if they see what you've written, etc. etc. 

This understanding engenders a lot of mostly worthless discussion precisely because it's so broad. Pedants--usually arguing in favor of banning a certain work or idea--will often argue that speech protections only apply to direct, government bans. These bans, when they exist, are fairly narrow and apply only to those rare speech acts in which other people are put in danger by speech (yelling the N-word in a crowded theater, for example). This pedantry isn't correct even within its own terms, however, because plenty of people get in trouble for making threats. The FBI has an entire entrapment program dedicated to getting mentally ill muslims and rednecks to post stuff like "Death 2 the Super bowl!!" on twitter, arresting them, and the doing a press conference about how they heroically saved the world from terrorism. 

Another, more recent pedant's trend is claiming that, actually, you do have freedom of speech; you just don't have freedom from the consequences of speech. This logic is eerily dictatorial and ignores the entire purpose of speech protections. Like, even in the history's most repressive regimes, people still technically had freedom of speech but not from consequences. Those leftist kids who the nazis beheaded for speaking out against the war were, by this logic, merely being held accountable. 

The two conceptualizations of censorship I described above are, 99% of the time, deployed by people who are arguing in favor of a certain act of censorship but trying to exempt themselves from the moral implications of doing so. Censorship is rad when they get to do it, but they realize such a solipsism seems kinda icky so they need to explain how, actually, they're not censoring anybody, what they're doing is an act of righteous silencing that's a totally different matter. Maybe they associate censorship with groups they don't like, such as nazis or religious zealots. Maybe they have a vague dedication toward Enlightenment principles and don't want to be regarded as incurious dullards. Most typically, they're just afraid of the axe slicing both ways, and they want to make sure that the precedent they're establishing for others will not be applied to themselves.

Anyone who engages with this honestly for more than a few minutes will realize that censorship is much more complicated, especially in regards to its informal and social dimensions. We can all agree that society simply would not function if everyone said whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. You might think your boss is a moron or your wife's dress doesn't look flattering, but you realize that such tidbits are probably best kept to yourself. 

Again, this is a two-way proposition that everyone is seeking to balance. Do you really want people to verbalize every time they dislike or disagree with you? I sure as hell don't. And so, as part of a social compact, we learn to self-censor. Sometimes this is to the detriment of ourselves and our communities. Most often, however, it's just a price we have to pay in order to keep things from collapsing. 

But as systems, large and small, grow increasingly more insane and untenable, so do the comportment standards of speech. The disconnect between America's reality and the image Americans have of themselves has never been more plainly obvious, and so striving for situational equanimity is no longer good enough. We can't just pretend cops aren't racist and the economy isn't run by venal retards or that the government places any value on the life of its citizens. There's too much evidence that contradicts all that, and the evidence is too omnipresent. There's too many damn internet videos, and only so many of them can be cast as Russian disinformation. So, sadly, we must abandon our old ways of communicating and embrace instead systems that are even more unstable, repressive, and insane than the ones that were previously in place.

Until very, very recently, nuance and big-picture, balanced thinking were considered signs of seriousness, if not intelligence. Such considerations were always exploited by shitheads to obfuscate things that otherwise would have seemed much less ambiguous, yes, but this fact alone does not mitigate the potential value of such an approach to understanding the world--especially since the stuff that's been offered up to replace it is, by every worthwhile metric, even worse.

So let's not pretend I'm Malcolm Gladwell or some similarly slimy asshole seeking to "both sides" a clearcut moral issue. Let's pretend I am me. Flash back to about a year ago, when there was real, widespread, and sustained support for police reform. Remember that? Seems like forever ago, man, but it was just last year... anyhow, now, remember what happened? Direct, issues-focused attempts to reform policing were knocked down. Blotted out. Instead, we were told two things: 1) we had to repeat the slogan ABOLISH THE POLICE, and 2) we had to say it was actually very good and beautiful and nonviolent and valid when rioters burned down poor neighborhoods.

Now, in a relatively healthy discourse, it might have been possible for someone to say something like "while I agree that American policing is heavily violent and racist and requires substantial reforms, I worry that taking such an absolutist point of demanding abolition and cheering on the destruction of city blocks will be a political non-starter." This statement would have been, in retrospect, 100000000% correct. But could you have said it, in any worthwhile manner? If you had said something along those lines, what would the fallout had been? Would you have lost friends? Your job? Would you have suffered something more minor, like getting yelled at, told your opinion did not matter? Would your acquaintances still now--a year later, after their political project has failed beyond all dispute--would they still defame you in "whisper networks," never quite articulating your verbal sins but nonetheless informing others that you are a dangerous and bad person because one time you tried to tell them how utterly fucking self-destructive they were being? It is undeniably clear that last year's most-elevated voices were demanding not reform but catharsis. I hope they really had fun watching those immigrant-owned bodegas burn down, because that’s it, that will forever be remembered as the most palpable and consequential aspect of their shitty, selfish movement. We ain't reforming shit. Instead, we gave everyone who's already in power a blank check to fortify that power to a degree you and I cannot fully fathom.

But, oh, these people knew what they were doing. They were good little boys and girls. They have been rewarded with near-total control of the national discourse, and they are all either too guilt-ridden or too stupid to realize how badly they played into the hands of the structures they were supposedly trying to upend.

And so left-liberalism is now controlled by people whose worldview is equal parts superficial and incoherent. This was the only possible outcome that would have let the system continue to sustain itself in light of such immense evidence of its unsustainability without resulting in reform, so that's what has happened.

But... okay, let's take a step back. Let's focus on what I wanted to talk about when I started this.

I came across a post today from a young man who claimed that his high school English department head had been removed from his position and had his tenure revoked for refusing to remove three books from classrooms. This was, of course, fallout from the ongoing debate about Critical Race Theory. Two of those books were Marjane Satropi's Persepolis and, oh boy, The Diary of Anne Frank. Fuck. Jesus christ, fuck.

Now, here's the thing... When Persepolis was named, I assumed the bannors were anti-CRT. The graphic novel does not deal with racism all that much, at least not as its discussed contemporarily, but it centers an Iranian girl protagonist and maybe that upset Republican types. But Anne Frank? I'm sorry, but the most likely censors there are liberal identiarians who believe that teaching her diary amounts to centering the suffering of a white woman instead of talking about the One Real Racism, which must always be understood in an American context. The super woke cult group Black Hammer made waves recently with their #FuckAnneFrank campaign... you'd be hard pressed to find anyone associated with the GOP taking a firm stance against the diary since, oh, about 1975 or so.

So which side was it? That doesn't matter. What matters is, I cannot find out.

Now, pro-CRT people always accuse anti-CRT people of not knowing what CRT is, and then after making such accusations they always define CRT in a way that absolutely is not what CRT is. Pro-CRTers default to "they don't want  students to read about slavery or racism." This is absolutely not true, and absolutely not what actual CRT concerns itself with. Slavery and racism have been mainstays of American history curriucla since before I was born. Even people who barely paid attention in school would admit this, if there were any more desire for honesty in our discourse. 

My high school history teacher was a southern "lost causer" who took the south's side in the Civil War but nonetheless provided us with the most descriptive and unapologetic understandings of slavery's brutalities I had heard up until that point. He also unambiguously referred to the nuclear attacks on Hiroshmia and Nagasaki as "genocidal." Why? Because most people's politics are idiosyncratic, and because you cannot genuinely infer a person to believe one thing based on their opinion of another, tangentially related thing. The totality of human understanding used to be something open-minded people prided themselves on being aware of, believe it or not...

This is the problem with CRT. This is is the motivation behind the majority of people who wish to ban it. It’s not because they are necessarily racist themselves. It’s because they recognize, correctly, that the now-ascendant frames for understanding social issues boils everything down to a superficial patina that denies not only the realities of the systems they seek to upend but the very humanity of the people who exist within them. There is no humanity without depth and nuance and complexities and contradictions. When you argue otherwise, people will get mad and fight back. 

And this is the most bitter irony of this idiotic debate: it was never about not wanting to teach the sinful or embarrassing parts of our history. That was a different debate, one that was settled and won long ago. It is instead an immense, embarrassing overreach on behalf of people who have bullied their way to complete dominance of their spheres of influence within media and academe assuming they could do the same to everyone else. Some of its purveyors may have convinced themselves that getting students to admit complicity in privilege will prevent police shootings, sure. But I know these people. I’ve spoken to them at length. I’ve read their work. The vast, vast majority of them aren’t that stupid. The point is to exert control. The point is to make sure they stay in charge and that nothing changes. The point is failure. 

[dragqueenpentheus]

hi mr spruce!!! since you recently graduated, i wanna ask about your university experience. anything you wanna share including tips for being chronically ill and managing time would be much appreciated!!!!

FOLDS MY HANDS. OKAY. HERES THE DEAL. IT WAS HELLISH. but also a really valuable thing in so many ways. i'm gunna make a lil numbered list of tips and thoughts an opinions bc time management while chronically ill is. NO joke.

honesty hour ask me anything!

1- art school is paying a LOT of money to get your heartbroken during critiques. it also pushes you to do art every single day. which is the best way to improve anything but ESPECIALLY art. i worked my ass off in second and fourth year especially. deciding if any degree is worth it is VERY hard. but i think particularly with art school when with discipline and outreach and research and life drawing nights can achieve. i knew i wasn't going to be able to rely on myself for ALL of that-- especially after my diagnosis. the world got bigger and scarier and the guidance was really needed in order to make any kind of growth. also i HAD to move out of my dads house i was NOT doing well. the change of city was a HUGE help

2- BE SO BLUNT AND HONEST WITH YOURSELF AND OTHERS ABOUT YOUR ABILITIES. jesus christ after realizing how easy it was to swallow pride and send a message asking about extensions and for help CHANGED how i interact with deadlines. when teachers or clients ask when you will be ready with your work. add a week. add a few days of only that's possible. don't feel guilty about being honest and saying i need to go the fuck to bed.

3- the instant i graduated i regretted not committing to one extracurricular and going for it. i think it's worth it. our program worked us VERY hard, but i personally wish i had found something to raise my confidence a little more. been more brazen and present and chasing things i was excited about. i should have gone to at least one knitting circle at my local yarn store.

4- bribe yourself and mean it. you have to earn your treat. BUT you can set your own parameters. if it's a hard day-- make the reward continual and after smaller tasks. couple of chips after doing a question . couple more after another one. but don't EVER chat on it bc ... then it's just too easy to cheat from that point on 😔

4- set little deadlines. use your phone calendar. set little alarms but name it things with emojis and endearments.

5- call yourself endearments. no more cruel words. call yourself sweetheart as you wash some blueberries for your post five questions snack.

6- try not to let resentment about a particular project or even your whole program creep in. be real but think about the things you love and are excited about in a particular project

7- talk to your student center. you can like. request better chairs in your classrooms. insane. i didn't know that for years. could be different school to school but??? most are not looking to get smeared for ableism on social media lmfao

8- little playlists helped me like crazy and continue to do so. especially school during the pandemic which is heartbreaking and lonely. the most valuable part of art school imo is the other artists you meet and grow with. having a whole year of that ripped away was GARBAGE and lonely af. RADIO. PLAYLISTS. TRADE PLAYLISTS WITH YOUR CLASSMATES. MAKE SPECIFIC VIBES ABOUT THE SILLIEST THINGS. I HAVE A PLAYLIST OF SONGS THAT ALL HAVE ANNA IN THE TITLE AND THATS ALL THEY HAVE IN COMMON. I HAVE A PLAYLIST OF SONGS THAT I WOULD SING IN MY COFFEE HOUSE REVENGE FANTASY. score your life and it'll become cinematic.

9- learn about REM cycles for powernaps. set a timer for ten minutes and stick to it. bribe yourself if you have to. it will help if you can't get a full night. take a bunch of forty min and wake up again. get back to it. call it if you have to. it's NOT a failure. it's a gesture of love and care.

10- just god work so hard on loving yourself and learning about the things you love. that's what life is FOR babe. putting moments you adore on the tip of your tongue and letting them melt. you are the PRIORITY. remember the world doesn't revolve around you or your self worth OR your achievements. your good days and your bad days weigh the same to the world. it's got to be you that takes the time to be soft with yourself and have your days matter. being chronically ill means that's a LOT of fucking work and you need a LOT of help. ask for it and give yourself it without shame, hesitancy or remorse.

11- granola bars and juice boxes. nuts. baby bell cheese. you are not going to have the energy after a full day of working to make yourself a real meal. keep some in your room (please not the cheese unless u have a mini fridge)

I LOVE YOU. i'm putting vibes out into the world for it to take care of you as well. stay safe. get a treat.

[cleareyedandbrave]

COVID-19

I’m not convinced there are enough words in the English language to explain how angry I am. Angry about how the government is handling this outbreak. Angry about US health insurance and care. Angry at middle-aged women who buy out entire grocery stores in their neighborhoods. Angry that NO ONE IS ABLE TO GET TESTED FOR COVID-19. Yep. You heard it here first, folks - no one will test you for corona virus, even if you present with all the symptoms. Isn’t that fun?

I should probably start at the beginning of my story. From February 16-18, I travelled by plane to Missouri (which was awesome, btw). About 2 weeks after I returned home, I started having a scratchy throat and a pretty hefty cough. This was around the time COVID-19 was starting to pick up in the US and I was feeling pretty anxious about my newly found symptoms. Instead of googling and self diagnosing, I called a local urgent care to ask what the odds are that I’d contracted COVID-19 and what I should do to keep my loved ones safe. The Urgent Care said that I had reason to be nervous, and recommended that I call the Ontario County Department of Health right away, as they were not equipped to test for COVID-19. I spoke with the nurse from DOH, who said that because I had not travelled to Italy, China, etc. and because I didn’t have a fever, I would not qualify to be tested and I probably just had the flu. I said okay, and went about my business. 

About 3 days later, my symptoms worsened and I had developed a pretty high fever and a cough that rattled my entire body (and because I’m in a sharing mood, often left me wetting my pants after each cough). I became more concerned and decided to go to urgent care to get everything settled. The provider at urgent care diagnosed me with bronchitis after the flu test and the strep test each came back negative. The provider prescribed some antibiotics and cough medicine, and sent me on my way. My wonderful husband picked them up from Wegman’s and we went home, where I stayed for several days. Symptoms continued to escalate...my fever would not settle, cough was worse and I was very achey. I scheduled a tele-med appointment for a second opinion, and the provider on my phone camera believed I had pneumonia. I should remind you that COVID-19 is often confused for pneumonia. My parents began to worry and made a few calls for me, insisting that it was important I be tested for the corona virus. I mean, I had just attended a conference with people from all over the country and flew on a plane 4 separate times. After speaking with 3 different providers, it was determined that despite my very serious symptoms, I was not able to be tested for COVID-19. Each provider stated that if my symptoms worsened, I should go to the ER. Finally, I spoke with the nurse from DOH again, who suggested I go back to urgent care to determine whether or not I actually had pneumonia. She said that if they believed I didn’t have pneumonia, she would consider testing me for COVID-19. I headed back to urgent care asking for a chest x-ray and another flu test. After the flu test came back negative (again) and after reviewing the X-ray, they determined I did indeed have pneumonia and that I should just continue to take antibiotics and stay home to rest. Fine. I was on the mend and things seemed to be settling. If I did indeed have COVID-19, I knew I had done everything I could to be safe and proactive by staying home and calling ahead of time. This one was not on my shoulders. 

This week, I feel much better, but my sweet husband, Jamil, has begun showing symptoms. His symptoms started with severe body aches and a small cough. I thought it may be best to stay on top of it and suggested he go to urgent care to see if they’d prescribe him antibiotics so he can move through the symptoms quickly. Jamil’s insurance has a $3000 deductible, so when he went to urgent care that day, he paid $120 for a nurse to tell him that his symptoms were not severe enough and they would not prescribe any medication. They told him to come back if his symptoms progressed. After a few days, Jamil’s cough became worse and his aching became almost intolerable and he began having a fever. We decided to make another appointment at our local doctors office to see if they would refer him to be tested for COVID-19. He showed up, was tested for the flu (which came back negative) and was told to go home. The provider mentioned again that if things got worse, he should go to the ER. I called the ER to see if they were providing testing for COVID-19...which, surprise, they were not. They recommended that we call the COVID-19 hotline for more information...super helpful.

Today, after Jamil’s fever spiked to 102.2, I called back the doctors office asking if there was anyway they would prescribe him an antibiotic for pneumonia, as that’s what I had last week and was treated for. The nurse said there was nothing more they could do and that they couldn’t prescribe something without him coming back in. I was not satisfied with this answer and decided to call back urgent care, where we had both previously been treated. The woman there said that Jamil needed to call the COVID-19 hotline before coming in, as it sounded like he had the virus. I explained that NOT ONE SINGLE provider in this area would test Jamil for COVID-19 and that I wanted him to come in, have an X-ray done to see if he had pneumonia and have something (read: anything) prescribed to try to help him manage his symptoms. After some push back, she agreed. We showed up at urgent care, where we were told to call the hotline again. I humored them...maybe something had changed in the last 4 days? 

NOPE

After waiting on the line for 20 minutes, the provider from the hotline said it sounded like Jamil had a “mild case” of COVID-19, but he did not qualify to be tested, as he was not immunocompromised and did not travel outside the country in the past month. The hotline said we should go home and if things got worse, call the ER. I relayed this information to the woman at urgent care and demanded he be seen. Jamil was given an X-ray and it was determined that he has pneumonia,  but the provider was very concerned and wrote a referral for Jam to be tested for COVID-19 at a local testing area. The nearest testing center is in Rochester (about an hour away). They said we should leave immediately. I asked if the referral meant he would be guaranteed a test, and they said it should, so we drove. 

Upon arrival, we drove up to a white tent and spoke with a doctor. He gave us the green light to head to the second tent where they’d determine whether or not Jamil would be tested. Upon driving up to the second tent, we were quickly met by a woman who said that Jam’s symptoms were not extreme enough, so she would not test him, and that we should self quarantine for 14 days. Without a test taken, we drove away. I sobbed. I called my parents who were in disbelief. 

THIS is what is happening in NYS right now. I know that there is a shortage of tests in the Rochester area, but they are literally turning people away who are showing symptoms without a second thought. Before Jamil and I showed symptoms, we were out and about and working. I understand that Joe Shmoe who recently had a lung transplant has priority to testing, as he is immunocompromised, but Jesus Christ, how many people in my life are immunocompromised who now don’t get to know whether or not they’ve definitely been exposed to someone with COVID-19?? How many people have Jamil and I been in contact with over the last 3 weeks that will surely be impacted - and how sad that we can’t confirm we’ve actually had the virus and that they need to be quarantined?! This is why I am ANGRY.

I am overwhelmed with anger that I can’t tell my dad, who has Multiple Sclerosis, whether or not he has been exposed to COVID-19. I am irate that Jamil had to tell his work that he probably has a mild case (whatever the fuck that means) of COVID-19, and that he’ll need to take 14 days off from work/will need to work from home without any paperwork or documentation. I am ENRAGED that a bill was passed to ensure that all workers affected by COVID-19 are provided 2 weeks paid sick leave, but I am 98% sure that if they haven’t been tested, they likely won’t be entitled to that paid time off. I am FURIOUS that Trump has told all of America that if they feel sick, they can get tested anytime/anywhere, when that is CLEARLY NOT THE CASE. I am FUMING that the US is short on tests because the government wants to make it look like our confirmed cases number is low, while people are struggling and sick and feeling foolish for thinking they may have COVID-19, but can’t get a solid answer. I am heartbroken that low income families/people from impoverished areas will not be taken seriously when they go to their doctor with illness and symptoms and will not be given an answer that’s helpful or affirming. I am SEETHING that healthcare providers/workers are being put in a situation where they have to choose who is more important for testing, when there are countries administering hundreds of tests daily to keep citizens safe. I am PISSED OFF that there are still people going out and about when there is a LITERAL PANDEMIC happening. 

For fuck’s sake, just stay in your house. And call your representatives to let them know that WE ARE NOT BEING TESTED and that people’s lives are at risk. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. Just had to get that off my chest. 

[aelinbitch-archive]

You've probably said this before but what's your favorite aspect of the TOG series? I've only read like ten pages of the first book lol

aaaaa thank u for asking!! this sort of leads into something i’ve been meaning to talk about for a while so i hope you’re prepared for An Essay No One Wanted By Me. anyway this is a two-part answer, read below:

1. Aelin. Celaena. The main bitch, whatever you wanna call her lol. Without her I probably wouldn’t have cared about the series at all and wouldn’t currently be trapped in ToG tumblr hell reluctantly stanning a racist and homophobic series, but unfortunately when I was like twelve years old or whatever and read the first book I literally imprinted on Celaena like a baby duckling. To the extent that she became, like, the default avatar for all my maladaptive daydreaming and If I Don’t Project On Her At All Times I Will Die. It’s not like she’s the only thing I like about the series (I loooove a lot of the other characters, especially the gals, and the writing can be really great and engaging and cinematic) but Aelin has always been the supermassive black hole at the center of it all for me. I wouldn’t know how to even begin untangling her character from my psyche at this point. It’s honestly a little disturbing. Anyway. 

2. Part two is a quality of the series that I feel was unprecedented in its strength in the first five books of the series (ToG-QoS plus the prequel novellas) and really really disappointingly weak in the last two books (EoS-KoA). Like I said above, Aelin has always been my main interest in tog so I read and enjoyed the last two anyway, but I definitely felt the loss of this - “this” being the detail and attention paid to all different types of relationships between characters, and how rich and unpredictable those relationships were as a result. 

That sounds like kind of a broad, vague thing, but what I mean is that (in my opinion) rarely are romances and friendships and rivalries explored with such nuance, complexity, drama, and realism in most YA as they are in ToG. I remember reading Cassandra Clare’s books (lmao.) as a pre teen and loving those as well, but totally being able to predict who was going to end up with who, and finding the character dynamics to be pretty cut and dry. 

In ToG that’s not the case at all. Like, you’ve got Celaena and Sam, a really complex example of enemies to lovers to….. Tragically Dead Boyfriend Whose Demise Fuels My Guilt and Self-Hatred For Seven More Books, Lysandra and Aelin, two girls pitted against each other by their abuser who team up a year later to unlearn their internalized misogyny and kill him, and Aelin and Chaol, who… how do I even describe the ups and downs (and downs. and more downs) of their relationship. 

And that’s just three pairs! Pull the names of two characters out of a hat and I can almost guarantee essays worth of material could be written about them. Arobynn and Aelin? Aelin and Nehemia? Chaol and Dorian, as much as I hate both of them and feel that their relationship as been widely mischaracterized? All fascinating!!! No two people in those first few books are just friends, or just lovers, or just enemies. It’s always more complex, there’s always a history or tension or competing agendas or viewpoints that Fuck Shit Up. 

And benefit of that is twofold: one, everything that happens between the characters just…. lands so well. The betrayals and triumphs and losses and victories of The Assassin’s Blade and Crown of Midnight and Queen of Shadows (especially TAB) are fucking heart-stopping. It’s great character-driven entertainment!! Gripping and engaging and vivid to the point of being painful. 

And two, there’s no way to predict where a relationship is going to go. Aelin and Lysandra teaming up in QoS instead of returning to their rivalry? Who would have thought! Ansel and Celaena’s summer fling (they were in love. fight me.) ending like That? Holy fuck. Nesryn and Chaol breaking up in ToD? Oh shit! I fell for it again! Rowan and Aelin ending up together after everyone swore they were brotp in HoF? Hell yeah! Chaolaena seeming like endgame and then ending forever, with Chaol and Aelin realizing that the rift between them that began in CoM was something that would never sufficiently heal? Unprecedented. Fucking badass for a YA book to curve everyone like that. Tween me was shook out of her mind. 

(Important to note, though, that the downside of this style was that SJM couldn’t tell where ~unpredictable relationships and characters~ ended and fridging began, and as a result, not one but two woc were killed off to make white characters sad and it sucked beyond belief). 

Aaaaaand then QoS, the peak of literature, turned into EoS, and SJM just… gave up on all of that. I remember the first time Dorian and Manon met, and I was like oh, okay. So they’re going to end up together. And I was right. I remember that on this site, before EoS came out, before Lorcan and Elide ever fucking MET, people predicted the existence of Elorcan!! And they were right!! Like how fucking boring? Everyone is just paired off into completely predictable heterosexual ships and those are now the only relationships we get to read about (with a few exceptions, like Aelin/Aedion, Aelin/Fenrys, etc.). 

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: my least favorite thing about Manorian is not that I find the relationship to be shitty (although I do, I really do). It’s that Dorian is suddenly the only character Manon gets to interact with in any meaningful way. 

Like, are you kidding?! I want to read about Manon and Elide, Manon and Asterin, Rowan and Lorcan, Aelin and Lysandra, Aelin and Nesyrn, even if it’s not romantically (although some of them, like Manon and Elide, absolutely should have been, and the fact that not only was that ship very thoroughly sunk, but also they didn’t even get to TALK after QoS, felt like a real slap in the face to gay fans, but I digress), because those pairings previously had hella complexity and drama. But we don’t get to. 

And this trend that’s so painfully present in the last two books Sucks for two reasons: one, every relationship that isn’t romantic (which were previously some of the most interesting ones) is abandoned so that more time can be made for The Hets™ and two, the relationships that are romantic, now the only ones left, are totally fucking boring and predictable!! If two characters are interacting at any point (if one is male and the other is female, of course) then you know for a fact that they’re not only love interests, but endgame. 

And that makes me not care even when there is drama between them. Elide giving Lorcan the cold-shoulder for three hundred pages, and Manon and Dorian arguing, and Aedion being cruel to Lysandra weren’t compelling narratives to me like they should have been, because the whole time I was just thinking “but it doesn’t matter. I know it’s still endgame. There are no stakes here whatsoever; it’s a done deal.” Whereas Chaol and Celaena’s devestating breakup in CoM felt like (and was) suuuuper Real. An all-in bet on the wrong person. Crazy shit. 

And not that I think two characters should never have a happy ending together (I really like rowaelin and nestaq and I would have loved malide!) but imagine how much cooler and subversive and entertaining it would have been if Elorcan, which seemed soooo totally cute and endgamey and borderline like fanfiction throughout all of EoS just ended forever right there and then on the beach, with Elide turning to Lorcan and saying “I hope you spend the rest of your miserable, immortal life suffering. I hope you spend it alone. I hope you live with regret and guilt in your heart and never find a way to endure it” - and BAM. She never speaks to him again. He’s dead to her. 

I mean, talk about shock value! (See, Sarah, you can have shock value without killing of a person of color to make a white character sad 🙃). And I totally get that relational twists like that alienate fans more than just going the expected route and having them kiss and make-up does (I mean, the ending of Chaolaena in QoS certainly did, Jesus Christ) but I, Bella aelinbitch, personally live for that shit, and isn’t it only fair that all media cater directly and specifically to me? Lmao. But seriously, I do think it’s objectively more interesting, and that it keeps readers on their toes (I was on my ASS in EoS and KoA. Like. I was flat on my back sinking into the Earth). 

And there are still sort of… glimmers of the old way she wrote in the first few books, but it just feels like a tease rather than something that’s really explored and indulged in the way it was before, and it just ends up being more frustrating (like what was the point of Manon and Dorian not getting married at the end of KoA if I would bet my life savings that in World of Tog it’ll be confirmed that they’re either married or still together) and sometimes downright problematic? Like to return to a previous example, I think all the drama between Aedion + Lysandra was a result of Sarah’s previous (good) instincts to shake stuff up and complicate the character dynamics, but it backfires because when they end up together, it’s not ever… worked out? Or addressed? If you create really intense drama between two people, then that needs to show up in their relationship, no matter how happy they end up together. It doesn’t just disappear.

And despite the fact that her understanding of that concept (that shit between two people doesn’t just disappear like magic) is one of my absolute favorite things about the first few books, Sarah even went as far as to use the last two books to retcon some of the original complexity away, which makes me want to rip out my hair!! Like Aelin at the end of KoA just going “Love you Chaol and Love you Dorian xoxoxoxoxox best friends forever!!!” instead of having, like, any type of mixed feelings about the way these boys treated her? I mean, come on! 100 pages earlier Chaol was openly saying she should die instead of Dorian! Why is everything just peachy-keen instead of fraught with tension!! (I know why. I know. It’s because she introduced way too many characters/POVs/storylines as the series went on and didn’t know what to do with them all besides sideline the nonromantic ones and pair off everyone else boy-girl boy-girl down the line). Or if it has to be peachy-keen, why is the peachy-keeness never critically examined as, perhaps, a repressive mechanism for Aelin to avoid dealing with painful truths from her past? Now that would be interesting. 

(My ideal World of ToG would be just a transcript of the characters’ therapy sessions where Aelin realizes that her insistence that “Chaol and Dorian Are Her Friends!” is actually a way to keep herself safe emotionally and that she has plenty of reasons to hate them, and Lysandra realizes she should divorce Aedion lmao).  

Anyway tldr: The variety, complexity, depth, and unpredictability of the relationships in Throne of Glass was simultaneously the most realistic (sometimes relationships of all kinds fall apart or veer off in unexpected directions and love is temporary and the boy you met in the first chapter isn’t actually your soulmate and it doesn’t mean he’s a villain) and the most gripping and dramatic (I would have been totally chill if maeve and erawan weren’t a thing and tog was just like a medieval soap opera, that’s how entertaining the character dynamics were) thing about the series, and to lose that in the last two books because of Heterosexuality (and introducing too many POVs and not knowing what to do with them all)…. kinda devastating. 

This ended up being waaaaaay more complaining than it was talking about what I loved, but the only reason it bothers me so much is because it used to be so good!!! So just imagine the inverse of all the frustration I just vomited into this ask and you’ll have a good idea of how much I loved the series when things weren’t this way.

[popsiclebunny]

Dad harassing me terribly and kinda threatening

Had interview today at McDonald's, did lots of research about interviews before going, one thing I needed clarification for was how to address disability/health issues in a interview. Every article says that it is,OK to not only mention but discuss your health for accommodation during an interview.

The manager I spoke to said it was ok AND that he had employees who have health problems and are provided accommodations. The manager was really nice and really understanding.

I told my dad and he blows the fuck up. Tells me that I should never mention my health at work because I won't get hired, but ok, then how did these other employees with health problems get hired? It doesn't make sense to keep your health a secret and then suffer on the job, damn.

We ended up getting into a screaming match, he kept telling me "you don't understand the way the world works" I ended up hanging up on him.... then answered again, only to have him scream at me more.

I need help fast, all he has done is harass me all day, and my dad wouldn't listen, "watch what happens if you ever hang up on me again, dont you dare hang up on me, dont you dare disrespect me!!!" ;/// hes like im trying to help you and tough love, but being shitty is being shitty, he truly does not understand how hurtful hes being. Damn.

Hes telling me that hes being supportive and that I have something against him. Of course I do, you dont sit there and tell your child that you can't "agree", AKA, listen to them, and put them down while expecting them to accept everything you say as "absolute reality, absolute truth" wtf kind of "supportive" mentality is that???? He's yelling at me at how he's trying to help, by screaming at me and screaming over me trying to explain things??? But im trying to tell him that hes not being supportive, and he interprets that as an attack on his character, Jesus Christ, he's absolutely self-centered like crazy and he absolutely refuses to listen or even CARE to actually try listening to me, AND opening his mind to different mentalities.

He honestly does not care about anyone's knowledge or what people know, he only can ever see his "opinions" as reality and absolute harsh truth, and if you don't agree, then he brushes you off and treats you like your a dumb person who wants to stay ignorant without his "wise wisdom about the world"

Seriously, he knows what he says to me, but hes too uneducated and ignorant to understand that a lot of things he says are actually really fucking hurtful and rude and insensitive. But if you try to point out to him that what he says hurts, he'll not only get confused, but he'll defend himself by saying its "opinion" and how he feels is the truth of the world and that your WRONG for being upset at him "trying" to help you...

Fuck man, I'm so SICK OF ALL OF THIS.

[archtroop]

Ok, I’m gonna say this you hatin’ mob SPN13X09 was a gem and fuck offfff into the sunset you’all I’m pissed at all that negativity STOP

So I’m gonna list EVERY FUCKIN’ POSITIVE bit in this ep, and it’s gonna be loooooooooong and spoooooilery and caaaaaaps. Some are thatnX to the HOMEOFTHENUTTY. 

NOW lets go.

1.

I ADORED THE ARTIST WHO IS ALSO SEER AND A DREAM-WALKER. Too bad he dies :(

2.

LANDSCAPE.

Like WHOAA

just look at this i want to eat this up i want to cuddle this ominous scenery gulp it up like fresh water on a hot day are U KIDDIN’ ME THIS IS ARSFKMNGVKJJJX

also it’s a reversed cross if you really wanna loot at it that way. home on one side, nowhere on the other, a road straight to hell, a “ah-ah I’mmaa off that road right here stopstop oops here is a bail-out road” option on the left of it, and they are all on the main highway like yup that’s what I’ve signed for back in ‘05

3.

DEAN FINDING THE MAIN FAT CLUE IN SOME WEIRD WAY

coz that’s what Dean does, you know? Like he is attracted to shit like that

4.

DADS JOURNAL IS STILL ALIVE AND KICKIN’

coz you know, John had 20+ years over his sons of research and experience, we are “only” on the 13th season you’all 

5.

THAT GIANT

angel  

WING

Is that a seagull? An eagle? DEATH? Bats? Angels? Crows? The fuck is this? This is awesome.

6.

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN PURE INNOCENCE AND PURE EVIL

…lies Jack. Pun intended.

7.

NO THOUCHIN’

8.

AND THIS AMAZING SHOT OF DEAN’S MIND:

9. “THE DOOR IS A BIT KINKY”

…well the whole episode deals with breaking down doors or barging through doors or at least coming through a door in some way:  1. Jack enters Derek’s workshop invited. 2. Patience’s father standing at a door as the talk: twice, at her room, and later on, as she leaves the house. 3.  Jack breaking the door of the rehab center Kaia is institutionalized in. 4. The sunken boat entrances: as out intrepid heroes go in, and later the angels. 5. The door the the other world itself. 6. Jody opens the door to welcome Patience as she walks towards her new adventure and purpose in life. Beautiful.

10. “You go now, you choose this life, you don’t come back”.

And you know what? This is awesome.

First thing, he doesn’t cast her out, this is a father telling his daughter that there is no coming back from this choice of hers to normality. He is not angry, not disappointed. He is worried. And last but not least - she is going towards the SUPERNATURAL, and the unknown, to do GOOD IN THIS WORLD. She is doing an altruistic move, not a selfish one like Sam (nothing against self-care here, just facts). THESE ALL OR OPPOSITES TO WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN JOHN AND SAM.  They are showing us HOW TO PARENT RIGHT.  As opposed to suffocating your child within your own norms (Sam), to a child making his own choice, and as to say, “spreading her wings”.  In no way this is a callous, cheap call-back. This is, in my opinion, a very well done analogy, showing a different way with words. A similar situation, worlds apart. Pun intended.

Also, the thematic of POWERS CAN BE USED FOR GOOD EVEN IF YOU ARE THE SON OF SATAN is so refreshing, and fuckin’ mature I’m SO PROUD OF MY HEROES, SOSOSO MUCH. I’m so proud of SHOW for getting tot his point!

11. “And he is The Son of Satan?”. “I am. Yes”.

THIS.

12. “Get in the car”.

That moment when Dean draws a loaded gun at Kaia to threaten her into cooperation: EVIL. And that’s the point. In my opinion, he just got so hard slapped in the face by reality, about Mary still being alive, and him NOT going after her (as opposed to when dad gone missing), that he couldn’t really see much difference between right and wrong. OR, he was well conscious of himself, knows he is damn frightening as he is, and with a gun - any puny human other than Sam would piss himself. So he uses this in his advantage. Would shoot a foot though, if he really had too. OR BOTH, which is very much a Dean thing.

13. The scenery strikes back again!

Apparently this is a real location (don’t have the source but it is). Plus, THE TUNE!

14.

The intriguing “Larsen Bros” sign that is shown too clearly to be a coincidence. Plus, iconic street lamp.

Guess is, this is a Chekhov’s Gun, and that’s how Patience will later find them. Plus, Google gives me this:

The Larsen Bros - Don’t Fear The Reaper (cover)

Like, why not. This is so fuckin’ weird, like the vid was uploaded for the ep, cut, like in 2016??? And there are sings pointing “OUT” behind the two man band singing???? HUH??? I dunno. No one has commented. YET. We can make some guys really weird out if we go collectively and put some comments on there about The Son Of Satan and Multiple Dimensions. Who’s with me…?

15. DANGEROUS G(O)ODS, DO NOT GET T(O)o CLOSE

And without Sam everyone would’ve been a toast by now.

16. A REMINDER: ANGELS ARE SCARY AF

17. THE OTHER WORLDS:

Are you shitting me??? This is so REAL. Look, some of them aren’t even WORLDS yet. Or already. Some are desert. Some are black hole. Awesome shit. And I think, at this point, our heroes are so legendary, they’ve been through so much, they’ve achieved the plot-lines of parallel realities. Who amazing is that? From unicorn and werewolf monstrosities and “mundane” scares and horrors, through the apocalyptic and the otherworldly, to THIS.

18. (A) MARY TRAPPED BEHIND A DILAPIDATED JESUS, ON OF GOD.

With an “eye” of Sauron  on the right…

The many halos of Mary, of light and thorns and clasping metal:

19. Bringing the house down with a scream:

You know how the most Narnia-like stuff is always stuck in some weird place, like ON A HALF SUNKEN BOAT IN FUCKIN’ DAKOTA. THIS RIGHT HERE.

20. Molten angel blade and dead angel wings imprints:

21. A literal DOOR:

22. Larsen Bros Shipyard sign again, but without the “closed” sticker (coz it’s opened now huh):

23.

And here we have  THE SON OF SATAN BEHOLDING in sheer awe A DANGLING MARY BEHIND CHRIST, and that’s how you reconstruct a 2000+ y/o belief system and make angels cry, Beautiful.

24.

And, the GIANT FOOTPRINT.

[a300lbman]

May the Lord Open [your mind]

The Trump Presidency has been one fraught with controversy—from his problematic relationship with Russia to his complete and total lack of diplomacy toward the American people; mainstream media will leave no stone unturned and no tweet un-scrutinized. Time and time again, liberal pundits are left scratching their heads at the apparent lack of concern that half of the country shows with regard to his behavior. Long gone are the days where talking about grabbing women by their pussies put an end to political aspirations—nurturing a relationship with Russia, pardoning felon cronies, and shameless pandering to the religious right is the status quo. This happens in broad day light in full view of all of us, yet so much of this shit is put into this ‘gray area’ where people can find justification for anything. As the old adage goes, don’t hate the player, hate the game. Well fuck the game and fuck how it’s being played right now.

Questioning the status quo and ‘shaking things up’ was the pretext for his election win, and I’ll have to admit the thought of turning the political sphere on its head was appealing for a lot of Americans, including myself. But if we have seen anything in Trumps first term, its confirmation that there is nothing that can be done about the filthy muck that is our political system. The corrupt, greedy, and self-serving nature of contemporary politicians (on ALL sides) is sickening, but we all know that. We can disagree about politics, that is the beauty of our country. I can write the things I’ve written and not fear retaliation from our Government. But who’s to say that won’t change? Very little seems to be sacred anymore (pun intended), and if the Trump administration can balk at the idea of the separation of church and state, maybe your freedom to raise that issue goes away too.

“The left is going to tell you there’s this separation of church and state, and that’s just nowhere in the Constitution, nowhere in American law,” Jenna Ellis declared Monday evening during a Zoom event hosted by Asian Pacific Americans for Trump. “That’s nothing that our founding principles ever, uh, derived whatsoever.” This, taken from a Daily Beast article by Andrew Kirell found HERE, leads me to my point: we need to recognize these divisive tactics for what they are and stop letting politicians manipulate us. In this 300lb man’s opinion, pretending that Christianity is anything other than a Political Action Committee is absurd and anyone touting their godliness is pandering for votes or virtue signaling. I am not blind to the controversial nature of that statement, and I know that any devout (or posing) Christian would love to contest it. I don’t want to argue with you and quite frankly, I am content living my life the way I choose—I am not interested in spreading the gospel and converting non-believers. Some choose to share their faith, while others choose to weaponize it, like the Trump administration: “But it’s not altogether common for a top official of a presidential campaign to so forcefully adopt such a position and it’s further proof that Trump—hardly an observant man himself—has strategically allowed his presidency to become a vessel for the religious right” -Andrew Kirell. The founding fathers, those beautiful bastards that had everything figured out back in the 1700’s, seemed to understand the importance of a separation of Church and state. Below are just a few quotes, cherry-picked obviously, to illustrate that point:

“The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”

—John Adams

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."

—Thomas Jefferson

“If we look back into history for the character of the present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution in the Romish Church, but practiced it upon the Puritans. These found it wrong in the bishops, but fell into the same practice themselves both here [in England] and in New England.”

—Benjamin Franklin

“I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death."

—George Carlin

Nicholas Rathod wrote an article for the Center for American Progress about this exact topic, even going as far as to point out that most of the founders weren’t even Christian! Here’s an excerpt: 

“The genius of the founding fathers is they understood that Christianity could not only stand on its own but would thrive without being written into the laws and founding documents of the country. In fact, it was likely their own “faith” that led them to this conclusion. Many of the founding fathers—Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison and Monroe—practiced a faith called Deism. Deism is a philosophical belief in human reason as a reliable means of solving social and political problems. Deists believe in a supreme being who created the universe to operate solely by natural laws—and after creation, is absent from the world. This belief in reason over dogma helped guide the founders toward a system of government that respected faiths like Christianity, while purposely isolating both from encroaching on one another so as not to dilute the overall purpose and objectives of either.” (ARTICLE)

That point, along with the snippets from the minds that got this little thing off the ground over 200 years ago, should be reason enough to at least question this administrations efforts to intertwine all that is good and just with Christianity and attribute our short comings as a nation on the lack of good old wholesome Christian values. Do I need to provide a comprehensive list of murderers, rapists, and all-around bad people that associated themselves with Christianity? Do I need to remind you that we are currently in the midst of troubling revelations about the sheer number of priests that have been sexually abusing little boys for decades? Decades. Why is it that Christians tout their faith as the end-all-be-all when so many people have justified horrific acts in the name of the lord and savior Jesus Christ? It’s like they’ve forgotten the parts about beating slaves and keeping women in check. I’m not saying Christians are the enemy, I just think they should be treated as any other religion and the same as any other PAC. Stop being sheep. Practice your religion in your home, honor your God in your work, and respect the fact that your belief is your opinion. “In God we Trust” has not always been on our money (circa 1861), part of our national motto (circa 1956), and in the Pledge of Allegiance (1954). The degree to which conservatives in this country ignore that is mind boggling. My only thought is that the rapid decline of Americans identifying as Christian means soon there won’t be enough saps left to swing an election solely because Jesus loves the GOP.

Amen to that.

Sources:

Trump Campaign Adviser Jenna Ellis: Separation of Church and State Is a Liberal Lie by Andrew Kirell, The Daily Beast

The Founding Fathers’ Religious Wisdom by Nicholas Rathod, Center for American Progress

Founding Fathers: We Are Not a Christian Nation by Jeff Schweitzer, Huff Post

Picture of Trump and his Bible:  Patrick Semansky/AP

[wyrmguardsecrets]

To people complaining about Blood Elf RP.

**MOD NOTE: Placing this under a cut because jesus christ dude this shit was fucking long**

Dear players who continually complain about Blood Elves,

I came to Wyrmrest Accord from a dead server, completely alone, no contacts, no friends. I was elated to find a Silvermoon that actually had people in it, I moved my priest over before my main and sat on the edge of the fountain in Silvermoon while alt tabbed finishing my last night of raiding with a guild before transferring my main.

I tabbed back in to jump and noticed there were people roleplaying at me. My first roleplay experience on Wyrmrest Accord. It was a pair of Orcs who had come to Silvermoon specifically to antagonize and hate on Blood Elves. So here my dude was, sitting there minding his own business, gazing at the fountain, and being the recipient of hostility. What made so little sense about it was that they were antagonizing my character because there are too many Blood Elves in Silvermoon. I think my character gave them a look as if they were wearing their pants on their head because that’s like going to France and complaining that too many people are speaking French.

Over the years I’ve witnessed a non-stop bombardment, mostly from Orcs, Trolls, and Undead, but from everyone to a lesser extent, hating me despite not even knowing me simply because when I made a Blood Elf Paladin in Burning Crusade I found I like playing Blood Elves. I like their animations, I like their jokes, I like their voice actor who was also responsible for playing many characters I enjoyed on television when growing up. I liked their background story, being a zombie apocalypse survivor for whom the ends justify the means is really cool. What kind of pain, what kind of suffering must this character have gone through? How has he coped? How does he think, how does his experiences shape him? Who has he lost? How has he survived? That’s some nifty lore.

But this hate has come from all sides and is constant. I see it on Forums, Tumblr, Facebook when I bothered, Discord, OOC in chat channels, IC by people who have decided to come to Silvermoon just to pick on the elves. It’s everywhere and it’s inescapable. I watch as almost daily RPer bashes people for playing elves. Every. Day.

I’ve begun to just see images of indignant children shouting in shrill voices, “STOP LIKING WHAT I DON’T LIKE” and “STOP NOT LIKING WHAT I LIKE” when I read complaints about Blood Elves. And no, it doesn’t matter how you frame it, it’s still complaining.

You can try to frame it as a “diversity” issue but when push comes to shove you aren’t paying for anyone else’s subscription so you don’t really have a say in what they play. You could go to Blizzard and demand that they put a limit on the number of one class you can play but I can tell you right now that they will never enact such a limit. In reality we will probably see further relaxation on race/class choices as time goes on. When Blood Elves can be shamans and druids my Horde roster will consist entirely of Blood Elves.

And before you start questioning why I play Horde if I just want to be pretty, I’m going to point out that I’ve been playing Horde for a long time, probably longer than you, since November of 2003. I remember what it was like before Blood Elves, I remember the massive faction imbalance that Blood Elves helped solve. I remember how much harder it was to do things like Blackwing Lair with Shamans instead of Paladins, how we were stuck with Resto Shamans having to heal while not having the best class set allocations while having priests dispel on Baron Geddon while Alliance had their Paladins cleanse and their priests heal. I remember having to learn to stance dance to get out of fears while tanking Magmadar while Alliance had fear ward. Blood Elves and Paladins coming to the Horde was the absolute best game balancing step Blizzard has EVER taken.

I remember after Majordomo, we’d all kill our characters and corpse run back to the raid to go kill Ragnaros. Everyone would get naked and hop on domo’s hotplate. Everyone but me. I couldn’t stand the look of my main naked, so I ate a repair bill so I didn’t have to look at the shriveled hunched body of a male troll as I ran naked across the Searing Gorge. The shape of the male troll reminded me of haunting photos I had seen of emaciated people (“Muselmänner”, living corpses) rescued from Auschwitz. Even though trolls are buff, their mass compred to their length and their posture was just too uncomfortabe. Have you ever stopped to think that maybe non-blood Elves aren’t everyone’s RP style, and sometimes for very good reasons?

I’ve seen a lot of complaints about Blood Elves that are homophobia driven. The males are too gay. Why yes, their voice actor is an openly gay voice acting legend, problem? Blizard actually made them ‘buffer’ than elves should be because of homophobia. To this day I think that having mildly pretty men by contrast to other men in the game triggers homophobia. Perhaps Blood Elves weren’t made for the straight male eye, perhaps they were made for the female eye. They were made for the queer eye. They were made because the Horde races lacked mass appeal, and their designs made it very hard for the average player to empathize or immerse themselves into these characters.

Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is being made to think that everyone who doesn’t play a Blood Elf hates you just because you happen to play one? Can you imagine being the recipient of hate being your very first experience on this server? Oh I know you’re going to say, “It’s just IC” except for, it isn’t really. This hatred is a constant bombardment across mediums, this is self-insertion of the author’s opinion into characters in a way that makes no sense. Stop it.

Now here’s my point: You blame Blood Elf roleplayers for there not being enough of other things, you blame Blood Elves for the dearth of good guilds or communities that center around other Horde races. What race people choose to RP on WOW is not zero sum.

If this site had the ability to do pull quotes (where you take a sentence, separate it out with horizontal rules and make the text very big) I’d totally pull quote that. But I can’t so I’m going to repeat it a few times for emphasis.

What race people choose to RP on WOW is not zero sum.

What race people choose to RP on WOW is not zero sum.

What race people choose to RP on WOW is not zero sum.

What race people choose to RP on WOW is not zero sum.

The popularity of Blood Elves is not taking away from the creation of other guilds, groups, and communities. The popularity of Blood Elves is not taking players away from other guilds, groups, and communities.

Blood Elves are not the problem. Would you like to know what the problem is? Take those crooked little fingers you’re pointing and rotate them 180 degrees on the horizontal axis. Where are those fingers pointing? Why they’re pointing at you. YOU are the problem.

There. I said it. You are the problem. Every single person who is blaming people who RP Blood Elves for their problems, every person passive-aggressively screaming “STOP LIKING WHAT I DON’T LIKE,” every person denigrating people who RP Blood Elves as shallow, uncreative, unskilled, bland, superficial, in it for the ERP, boring, or whatever. You are the problem.

One more time. You are the problem. Yes you. If you yourself haven’t engaged in this behavior, then the behavior of others around you. When was the last time you told your Belf bashing friends to shut the fuck up? I bet you don’t like blanket statements being made about you but you sit by quietly while your friends do the same damn thing.

Players of non Blood Elves are to blame for the dearth of non Blood Elf RP, not Blood Elf Roleplayers. All y'all’s actions, your behavior, and your choices are the poison that has stunted your community growth.

When you people sit there and denigtate people who RP Blood Elves, you need to understand that other people are doing it too, and that if we’re listening we find a symphony of hate from theother side. I know why you do it, you’re hoping to discourage, to pressure, to force, to make Blood Elf RPers feel bad so they will decide to stop liking what you don’t like and start liking what you like so you can have more RP partners.

Except it doesn’t actually work that way. What you’re actually doing is painting yourselves as hostile and it makes people who main Blood Elves. It makes us think that if we decide to make an alt and go play with you, that you’re going to be hostile to us the moment you find out we main a Belf. This deters us from wanting to play with you. Why would we subject ourselves to such hostility?

I had a male orc prot warrior that I played as an argent aligned male orc prot paladin, a character with all of the ferocity and strength of an orc combined with a stalwart defender who may or may not actually be able to use the light. It was a fun character. I deleted it because I realized that I could never RP it among other orcs because I main a belf. I made a pair of male blood elf hunters intended to be dark ranger bards. 80s metal wailing manshees in undead elf bodies with red eyes, big hair, and sun lutes. But I realized that while the idea is cool and fun that undead RPers would likely hate my characters for having belf models let alone being male instead of female, even though manshees were added in Legion. I repurposed the characters into something else. While these things are weird and quirky, they’re examples of some of the ideas, possibly fun ideas, that non-Belf RPers lose out on when they constantly bombard other creative people with endless hostility.

The only non-Belf groups that I’ve ever seen try to reach out and engage others has been a group of really nice Tauren. If I was going to RP something other than a Bloof, I’d probably RP a Tauren because I’ve seen that there’s at least some circles of Tauren who likely won’t shit at me for maining a Belf. They’re doing it right. Learn from them.

No one will listen to the Blood Elf RPers’ critiques of what you all need to do and change. Change must come from the inside.

If you want to see things get better you need to start being excellent to each other, you need to be the change you want to see, and you need to quit yer bitchin’. Then you need to tell the people who are being passive aggressive, or outright aggressive, to people playing Blood Elves just because they’re playing Blood Elves, to have a nice glass of shut the fuck up.

Change comes from making a stand. Let me tell you that when these people start getting bombarded by a couple dozen scoldings from their peers for being a jackass they’re going to learn that it’s uncool and stop being a jackass. Then the community healing process can start. 

When hating on players for playing Blood Elves becomes uncool, then players who have decided that all y'all are hostile may consider trying to interact with you, put alts in communities, and help you grow and nurture your own communities.

[quakerjoe]

A CUPPA JOE for Independence Day 2017

 Happy 4th of July to all my followers here at Quaker Joe! As I sit in my flat in upstate Vermont, I can see over the tree line the fireworks going off over Lake Champlain and I begin to ponder things about this country that I love so much. Sure, I’m a right bit pissed off at this nation as a whole at present, but this is part of the dichotomy of life. If you’ve ever been royally pissed at your parents or children or spouses or somebody you love, then you can understand why I rail on sometimes against the United States of America. I’ve had people accuse me of hating it, sometimes citing the ol’ bullshit line of “Love it or Leave it” which only makes me want to get more involved with projects finding a way to reach through the internet to slap the living shit out of someone. C’est le Guerre.

 I got to thinking a bit about what “PATRIOTISM” means. Clearly it means a lot of different things to everyone. Some of these definitions are radically different, evidently. For some, “Patriotism” seems to mean something akin to being one’s duty to hoard cash, get rich, and screw everyone else. To some, it means being anti-government at all times, regardless of whether the government is good or not. To others, it means being responsible for one’s own self but it could include taking care of those around you, and sometimes watching them drown because you feel that THEY are not being responsible. Some see patriotism as a sort of nationalism or being prideful towards the US regardless of how good or how shitty the place is. To cheer “USA! USA! USA!” all the time and put “Support the Troops” crap all over the car, even though as a nation we’re academically tanking (and celebrating the fact that we, as a people, are getting progressively dumber and dumber as the rich and powerful get richer and more powerful- you know, because educated, smart people aren’t that easy to fool, but more on that later).

 From what I’m seeing, the rift between us is getting widened and the chasm deeper. We’re failing to realize that what the actual majority of us want is actually the same thing- to see the United States prosper and be the best nation in the world. It all seems to come down to the divide of who one thinks the USA is. Most, I believe, want “We the People” to live better lives than our predecessors, and to make the country a better place than when we found it. This means, to most of us, that we’re all better educated and that the job market is strong so that we can all hold our heads up high with dignity that we can get jobs that pay livable wages and that we’re not in constant fear of bankruptcy over a medical emergency. In my opinion, you’d have to be either really fucking ignorant to not want that, or just that self-centered and utterly selfish and as far as I’m concerned, as NOT patriotic as can be. Hearing people bitch about taxes is a good indicator. Sure, taxes can be a bit high, but it’s also an investment in the USA. If you like safe roads and bridges, the best public schools, and so on, then it’s not only the law but your DUTY to pay your damned taxes! The uproar, which there isn’t nearly enough of, is that “We the People” are not seeing a good return on this investment today. Our infrastructure is shit, and we all know it. Our education system is on the path to total collapse, and we all know it. Out military… Jesus Horatio Christ, don’t get me started. Never mind; I’ve already gone there…

 As a veteran and coming from a family of military men and women, I love and adore our military. Nobody, and I DO MEAN NOBODY works harder than these people do and for so little reward. I mean, face it- their pay is utter shit. To keep them supplied and to survive, these people live in a certain structure that dictates what job they’ll do, when they’ll do it, and the ‘perks’ like healthcare and so on are “free”… you know- Communism. It’s a life of structure and order, take and receive orders, do your duty, and for little pay and almost no thanks. Then you have to look forward to a failing system (The VA) to help you out and care for you after you get out, showing that all that “Support the Troops” shit all over cars amounts to more of a punch to the crotch than an expression of thanks. All true-believers and “patriots” seem to think we send our beloved family members around the globe to defend our nation and our freedom, but how many of you have actually THOUGHT about this much? I mean, REALLY thought about this… Think- We’re surrounded by… NOTHING. Canada isn’t ever, even at their best, never going to invade us. That much is clear. Hell, just the people with hunting rifles alone could repel an invasion from Canada, numbers alone. Mexico? Not a chance. There will never be a day, nor has there ever been one since the Alamo that Mexico will come marching up to invade us. So that leaves us with what? The Atlantic and Pacific oceans. So, one would think that’s a sure bet that fucking Aquaman’s people aren’t going to rise up out of the waters to kill us or an unexpected attack from Atlantis is going to catch us all off guard. I’m former Navy. I was in the submarine force, and believe me, after all these years, we’d have found Atlantis by now if it was active. I’m pretty sure we’re safe in this regard. So when was the last time you asked yourself some important questions like “Who are we currently at war with?” and “Why?” When was the last time you read up on the history of the Middle Eastern nations, you know, that dumpy, desert area where everyone’s favourite hero Jesus came from? Did you read about how Western wars like WWI and WWII essentially tore the area apart in a modern colonial fashion? Did you read up how borders were drawn by the USA and other European governments, essentially making Iran and Iraq what they are today? Did you catch how these Western powers totally ignored the regions that were Shiite and Sunni? (Do you even know the difference between them? Think, very loosely, that there are differences between Catholics and Protestants, the constant conflict in Ireland, for example.)

 What about Afghanistan? Is that a nation, on any level, that’s a threat to the US? Do you think they’re going to come here and kill everyone? Apart from it being numerically impossible should they show up on our soil, it’s also impossible for them to get here. It’s also ignorant to wonder WHY we’re there. We’re not defending the USA. We’re not defending our freedom. So why are we there? Did it have anything, anything at all, with making Haliburton rich by cock-blocking the Russian oil pipeline down through Afghanistan? Would it have anything to do at all with Big Pharma’s stakes in the massive amount of poppy fields there which are used to make their opioids? Take a moment to think this through… we can wait. Too often politicians praise our military for their strength, courage and sacrifice for “protecting” us here at home and (listen carefully and pay attention to the wording here) “our INTERESTS abroad”. What interests? The Iraqi oil fields? The Afghani poppy fields and a block against Russian oil magnates? Who benefits from that? “We the People” certainly do not. When we lose a loved one because he or she is over there in combat, be it Iraq or Afghanistan or wherever, did they die to save our lives here at home? Did they lay down their lives to protect financial investments of America’s rich and powerful? You know, those same fucktards who are always getting tax cuts in the tune of millions while the shrinking middle class and working poor get stuck with the nation’s tax burdens? Yeah, THOSE mega-fuckers. So essentially, on this 4th of July, I’m reminded that the rich and powerful pay people in our government to deploy our military to places that will make them rich, and not have to pay a dime for it. These rich fuckers certainly don’t pay taxes, they don’t pay our military, but they’re sure willing enough to spend their lives to make them richer, aren’t they? Do you think for an instant that a professional mercenary would do the same job for less? Do you think, if these rich assholes on Wall St. had to foot the bill personally, that we as a nation would be at war and throwing away the lives of our own men and women in uniform so lightly? Do you think the rich assholes are willing to step up and pay veteran’s medical bills? Do you see them stepping up to take care of their widowed spouses and children? Of course not. They know full well that our military are expendables. They see vets as the by-product of war to be cast off. They treat this like our servicemen and women are their conscripts; the underpaid cannon fodder that they can laugh at as their bank accounts get bloated with their profits. They think of us as suckers, and to a degree, they’re right.

 You see, this is where staying PROPERLY informed is so paramount. KNOWING what’s what is the key to realizing who’s doing right by you and who’s screwing you. QUESTION. Question everything. Question motive. Question who is benefitting and why. Question who is being hurt by legislation. Question why. We used to be able to rely on the media to do this for us. We used to be able to rely on something as basic and simple as our public schools to teach us. We had such high hopes that something as majestic as the internet would bring us together, not just as a nation but as a member of the world community, to have a clearer and better understanding because we can now look shit up and read up on just about anything. But since Reagan shafted the laws that required Truth in Reporting, fake news began to rear its ugly head, and actual journalism with integrity began to suffer. The rich and powerful know that when you keep people in the dark, they’re easier to con out of their money and even their own lives. They bought up media outlets and began to filter what got reported. Any fucking moron knows this. A big corporation that owns a news outlet is certainly not going to let a story out about how the parent company is poisoning the air or water or how they treat their employees like shit and endanger them in unsafe working conditions. FOX News came into being, casting a shadow of doubt over ALL news outlets, and because they prey on people’s fear and hate, they can continue to literally lie, promote conspiracy theories, and damage the integrity of journalism on such a wide scale that there may never be a comeback for honest, truthful and ACCOUNTABLE journalism. It was once considered to be our PATRIOTIC DUTY to be well informed. Now, it’s a national pastime to listen to whatever drivel the news outlets are willing to shit out, like having diarrhea while trying to run a marathon.

 I have, as one of my favourite pastimes, read an awful lot of history, from ancient times to present. I don’t see things getting better in the near future. I’m not confident that this nation is going to survive. It would be vain to thing it can. The Soviet Union didn’t last nearly as long. Nations rise and fall, and Republics, fragile things that they are, fall the hardest. We’re on the precipice of total collapse as a society and as a nation, and nobody’s talking about it. I want us to get through this, but nobody’s listening anymore. People believe what they WANT based on their feelings and facts-be-damned. There are those on the political right who want pretty much the same end results as the left, but through different means. The right is also poisoned with poor education and understanding as well as riddled with a hate for anyone not straight, heterosexual and male. Both sides have lost the path to any sort of enlightenment. The importance of art and music is now a comedic happenstance that’s underappreciated like nothing more than a pleasant wrapping paper around a gift; something to be grinned at and then torn off and thrown away, sort of like personal relationships. We no longer have a sense of pride stemming from neighbourhoods that spreads out from communities to surrounding communities, surrounding cities, counties, and finally states. “E Pluribus Unum”; from one, many, now has no significance. We violate the Constitution daily by putting “In God We Trust” in place of what was a very important national motto because we no longer care about the many it seems. We only care about the one, for the most part; the one being “ME”. We’ve strayed quite far from “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country” haven’t we? Today, we’re more the “I got mine; fuck the rest of all y’all” sort of people.

 I attribute this to our inability to talk to one another anymore. Personally, I can’t readily speak to a Trump supporter. I can only take so much stupid. These people are either easily conned, or they’re so pissed at the US and the Democrats for turning their backs on the middle/working class to become a diet version of the GOP that they were willing to go with Trump just to watch the house burn down. Not very patriotic… or is it? Debate at will. The point I’m driving at is that there are some very stupid, gullible people out there. They’ve got their five pieces of silver from FOX and buy into their shit while actual scientists, economists and so on are trying desperately to warn us all about the pitfalls ahead. Trump and the rich and powerful, who profit on disaster, don’t want you or me to know about the dangers ahead, so they’re clouding the credibility of all media. While their followers fall in line like sheep to the slaughter, the rest of us are, or at least WERE working to try to save them, even from themselves, but they don’t want to be saved.

 I think we don’t talk to one another anymore mainly because I don’t think people like me, the Liberals, Progressives, the actual “Christians” who walk the walk and not just talk the talk, are DONE trying to save them. We’ve got ourselves to worry about and time and resources are getting short in supply. We USED to want to help them; to reach down and help pull ALL of the “We the People” up so they could have better paying jobs, better health care coverage, better education and so forth. However, when you reach down to help bring someone below you up and all they do is pull hard to try and bring you back down, it’s time to let go. When they’d rather bring you down with the ship instead of letting you help them into a lifeboat, then it’s time to pull back and let them drown. We used to see Patriotism as focusing on our OWN nation first and, if we’ve got something in surplus, to send that as aid to others around the world, unconditionally. We can’t get our own house in order anymore.

The way I see it, Progressives/Liberals see America/Earth as a house; a gift from God or Nature, to be taken care of and its inhabitants respected and treated with care and dignity for all. Looking at it as a house, we want to upgrade all the utilities whenever possible, to ensure efficiency and safety so that all living in it will be protected and happy. On the other hand, Conservatives have come to represent something akin to the inhabitants of “Animal House”; something to party in, something to ignore when drinks spill on the carpet or when someone’s sick and puking in the sink or having a shit on the floor somewhere. Conservatives take what they can and give little to nothing back and call themselves “Christians”, and that really pisses me off. It’s why I left religion. These people make me sick. The big reason I can’t talk to them isn’t because I lack material, research or information. The big reason is because they REFUSE to listen or to take an interest in doing their own research. They refuse to listen, and I’ve wasted enough breath to know that further talk is pointless. Their ignorance keeps them in bliss, one would think, yet these conservatives are so very, very angry at the dumbest shit. They’re all pro-Jesus yet all pro-guns. They’re pro-fetus, yet so very, very anti-life overall. They’re hypocrites on far too many levels it’s a wonder they haven’t actually imploded like a black hole; an entity overwhelmed by too many contradictions.

 So on this 4th of July, try to focus on what YOU think is the true definition of “Patriot” and “Patriotism”. Does it go as far as the simple, dumb-sounding definition you can find instantly on Google? “Vigorous support of one’s country” it said. But what if your country is turning into a shit hole and sinking fast? Should you support that, if that’s what the government is doing? Should you FIGHT against that instead? Which supports the country? Wiki says ‘Patriotism’ is “an attachment to a homeland”. Simple, and yet a bit baseless, don’t you think? Dictionary.com defines patriotism as “devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country; national loyalty”. How often do we confuse this with nationalism, pride and vanity?

Think about that. Ponder all of this on Independence Day, a day of national vanity. Blasphemous? Perhaps. You see, when a prisoner ‘declares’ himself free, it doesn’t make him/her so until escape or parole comes around. America’s Declaration of Independence was finalized and began being signed on the 4th of July, 1776. It didn’t MEAN we were a free and independent nation. There was a war to fight first, and that didn’t conclude until 1783 when Britain conceded and recognized their loss and our right to be a free and independent nation. That was almost seven years later, man. THAT was when the WORLD knew we’d won and the United States of America was now fully out of the womb and born. But hey, what are historical facts in this “Post-Truth” and “Alternative Fact” nation today?

-Joe

[notravinsorry]

1-99 do not ignore

jesus christ dude

1: 6 of the songs you listen to most?

Move- Saint Motel, Kim’s Caravan- Courtney Barnett, Kill v. Maim- Grimes, Joyrides- Mutemath, Ascension- Gorillaz, Loves in Need of Love Today- Stevie Wonder

2: If you could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be?

Janelle Monae

3: Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 23, give me line 17.

“…He chose to send us His only Son to effect our redemption by His death at Calvary”

4: What do you think about most?

Living by myself in a luxury apartment 

5: What does your latest text message from someone else say?

“ok”6: Do you sleep with or without clothes on?

depends7: What’s your strangest talent?

i can do weird voices8: Girls… (finish the sentence); Boys… (finish the sentence)

Girls are ethereal

Boys are back in town9: Ever had a poem or song written about you?

sadly no :/10: When is the last time you played the air guitar?

last week11: Do you have any strange phobias?

dark open spaces and/or loud noises from no known source12: Ever stuck a foreign object up your nose?

…yes13: What’s your religion?

i used to identify as catholic but im atheist now14: If you are outside, what are you most likely doing?

riding my bike are just hanging out15: Do you prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it?

behind16: Simple but extremely complex. Favorite band?

Saint Motel at the moment17: What was the last lie you told?

this gross but “yes i brushed my teeth”18: Do you believe in karma?

nah19: What does your URL mean?

my name is Ravin-Marie and freshman year one of our vocab words was ravine and my friend called me that and so i just added marine20: What is your greatest weakness; your greatest strength?

weakness: negative self image

strength: forgiveness21: Who is your celebrity crush?

janelle monae22: Have you ever gone skinny dipping?

no23: How do you vent your anger?

i start ranting24: Do you have a collection of anything?

bottle caps25: Do you prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online?

depends on who im talking too26: Are you happy with the person you’ve become?

not yet27: What’s a sound you hate; sound you love?

i hate the sound of people chewing and i love nintendo switch sound thingy28: What’s your biggest “what if”?

what if i become famous29: Do you believe in ghosts? How about aliens?

not ghosts but i believe in aliens30: Stick your right arm out; what do you touch first? Do the same with your left arm.

right: pillow and left: dresser31: Smell the air. What do you smell?

air32: What’s the worst place you have ever been to?

psych ward33: Choose: East Coast or West Coast?

east34: Most attractive singer of your opposite gender?

the weekend35: To you, what is the meaning of life?

anything you want tbh36: Define Art.

anything that gives the viewer a look into the mind of the artist and/or strong emotions37: Do you believe in luck?

nah38: What’s the weather like right now?

perfect39: What time is it?

11:3040: Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed?

no and no41: What was the last book you read?

whats a book42: Do you like the smell of gasoline?

ya43: Do you have any nicknames?

ladybug, ravy-baby, ravine, ray44: What was the last film you saw?

Paris is Burning45: What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had?

hit my knee and i couldnt had to use crutches for weeks46: Have you ever caught a butterfly?

nah

47: Do you have any obsessions right now?

griffin mcelroy48: What’s your sexual orientation?

bi49: Ever had a rumour spread about you?

not really50: Do you believe in magic?

no51: Do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong?

only if it really hurt52: What is your astrological sign?

pisces53: Do you save money or spend it?

spend it…54: What’s the last thing you purchased?

a book55: Love or lust?

both56: In a relationship?

nah57: How many relationships have you had?

058: Can you touch your nose with your tongue?

no59: Where were you yesterday?

Arlington, VA60: Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?

yeah61: Are you wearing socks right now?

ya62: What’s your favourite animal?

all animals63: What is your secret weapon to get someone to like you?

i pay attention to what they like64: Where is your best friend?

at home65: Give me your top 5 favourite blogs on Tumblr.

all of my mutuals66: What is your heritage?

im black but idk what else67: What were you doing last night at 12AM?

on this hellsite68: What do you think is Satan’s last name?

Perkins69: Biggest turn ons?

idk good listener, gentle, eye contact??? idk70: Are you the kind of friend you would want to have as a friend?

no, i could do better71: You are walking down the street on your way to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss has told you if you are late one more time you get fired. What do you do?

save the dog72: You are at the doctor’s office and she has just informed you that you have approximately one month to live. a) Do you tell anyone/everyone you are going to die? b) What do you do with your remaining days? c) Would you be afraid?

A) yeah B) spend money C) kinda73: You can only have one of these things; trust or love.

trust74: What’s a song that always makes you happy when you hear it?

my type- saint motel75: What are the last four digits in your cell phone number?

8008 (lol)76: In your opinion, what makes a great relationship?

trust, understanding, openness, and honesty77: How can I win your heart?

compliment me, buy me things, take time to talk to me about what i like78: Can insanity bring on more creativity?

yeah79: What is the single best decision you have made in your life so far?

none80: What size shoes do you wear?

981: What would you want to be written on your tombstone?

skate and die82: What is your favourite word?

darling83: Give me the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word; heart.

love84: What is a saying you say a lot?

my dude/ my guy85: What’s the last song you listened to?

Bang Bang (my baby shot me done)86: Basic question; what’s your favourite colour/colours?

pastel yellow87: What is your current desktop picture?

mauve color88: If you could press a button and make anyone in the world instantaneously explode, who would it be?

trump89: What would be a question you’d be afraid to tell the truth on?

whats ur kink?90: Turn offs?

being self centered91: You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What is that power?

ability to stop time92: where are your parents from? 

moms from dc and dad is from new orleans93: You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?

telling my dad i was suicidal for the first time94: You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who would it be?

hozier95: You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go?

Greece96: Do you have any relatives in jail?

lmao hopefully not97: Have you ever thrown up in the car?

i think so98: Ever been on a plane?

yeah99: If the whole world were listening to you right now, what would you say

please dont be mean to me

fuck u this took me more than an hour

[scoutshonor56]

Viva La Trump!

Here you go America, a bloated, vainglorious, dumpy-assed, absolutely clueless orange-skinned buffoon, with more plugs in his head than a third-rate, high school football field with cheap, second-hand Astroturf (donated by one of the nicer schools after they converted to natural grass)... and YOU elected him!

 Clueless?  Come on Bob, you’re being a little harsh aren’t you?  I mean, after all, this guy is a billionaire and successful businessman, surely he knows something… ah, no he isn’t a successful businessman - see continuing lawsuits over questionable business practices (mostly stiffing contractors), multiple bankruptcies, and a failed “University” that was sued, resulting in a quietly and conveniently settled lawsuit (coughing up $25 million) just after he became “president” - and no, he does not “know something”, other than the fact that every time he signs a piece of paper at a White House desk he comes a little in his pants, but that’s a whole other blog.  

 Go ahead, take the Pepsi challenge: I dare you to watch this 8 minute clip from Thursday night’s “The Daily Show” and not want to run out of your house screaming with a large can of gasoline to then set yourself on fire like a Buddhist monk.  Not want to rummage around in that kitchen drawer that contains all the crappy gadgets that you thought you just had to have but never use, looking for that “Home Lobotomy” kit.  Go ahead!    

 Yes America, you elected this imposter – you let it happen. Oh, “but Clinton won the popular vote…”; “if it wasn’t for our antiquated Electoral College system…”  Please – just stop.  The fact that this clown wasn’t exposed and vetted out within the first 4 months of the primaries, let alone won, is all the evidence this court requires.  Let me be perfectly clear: my issue isn’t just with Donald J. Trump; my issue is equally with an irresponsible media that traded in its journalistic integrity for ratings; my issue is equally with the millions of Americans who are SO STUPID, and SO GULLIBLE that they bought what this pompous, preening asshole was selling like a cure for baldness.  My issue is equally with a voting populous who now are able to selectively shop for their “news” like they do for a box of cereal or a set of new tires.  “Oh, I only buy Bridgestone!”  Well, get ready for a lot of flats all you Gomers and Thelma Lu’s, and hopefully a recall.

 Even ultra-conservative editorialist Charles Krauthammer, who regularly wrote about our last president like he was the illegitimate love child of Angela Davis and Karl Marx, has of late been harshly critiquing Trump as dangerously ill-informed, with grandiose, self-driven motives that will ultimately bring this country and our international standing down to an unprecedented level.  

 When Chuck starts slamming a GOP president, we’ve clearly got a red flag the size of my bed sheet.

 But let’s focus this story a little bit; let’s take a look today at one of Donny’s biggest campaign banner issues: the building of a border wall. Odd that so many in the GOP party are standing behind this, as Ronald Reagan, the man who they adore with the fervor and intensity equal only to the Catholic church’s deification of saints, once famously stood at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, Germany (June 12, 1987), and delivered probably his most famous line, "Mr.Gorbachev, tear down  this  wall!"  As the world approached the end of the 20th century, even Ronnie knew that from both a political and economic standpoint, fences and walls were a thing of the past; holdovers from a different era, when nationalism and isolationism held sway.  Any politician today under the age of 50 knows that in this 21st century, openness and cooperation – even with your enemies – is the heart of a relationship that greases the wheels of true world powers and their economy.  

 Even stripped down to an ideological core, walls represent one thing and one thing alone – division.  KEEP OUT! says the sign on either side.  In today’s world, those few still left who think they can go it alone, with only their self interest as a primary motivator and negotiation tool, are doomed to stagnate and wither on the vine as they watch their competitors race by.  Today the world is interconnected in ways never seen before; sorry all you Trumpsters with your eyes nostalgically glued to a past never to return, it is now more than ever a techno-global community, and everybody gets to play.  You don’t play smart and you will all too soon be sitting out the game.  May as well get yourself a beer and some snacks, go into the living room, and binge watch re-runs of “The Apprentice” on Netflix.  

 Speaking of which, only Donny could come up with a show that climaxes every week with him yelling at some poor bastard, “You’re fired!!”  Oh, the gleeful sentiment!

  Latest estimated cost of Donny’s version of the Great Wall of China, complete with 10ft. tall DJT gold letters on both sides every other mile? Upwards of $25 billion.  And once again the core of my anger with this current GOP party lies in its hypocrisy. For eight years we were treated to their hair-pulling hysterics about Obama “shoving things down our throat”, and “big government interference”, yet they are now ready to back a massive folly that is not only antiquated and self-destructive, but THAT NO ONE WANTS!  I’ve lived here in Texas for forty years now, and I read a lot – every day.  Nor is this the first time the ridiculous idea of a border wall been brought up. Every administration change since the year 2000 this rancid proposal floats to the surface like a bloated corpse, filled with noxious, conservative Republican gases.  But trust me when I say you would be hard-pressed to find a single politician or local law enforcement agency in favor of a nearly 2,000 mile long wall running through their state, be they in California, Arizona, New Mexico, OR Texas.  

 You know, what the hell, just a suggestion, but before we let another bloated gasbag talk about a border wall, maybe we should check in with the people who actually live there and would be affected; you know, the folks who live, work, and raise family’s along the southern border of these four states.

 Nope - not our new fearless leader.  He rolls with whatever stirs the fears of his rabid followers.  So let’s begin this issue by debunking one of Donny’s biggest lies that he is effectively selling only to the bitter and racist xenophobes who lead their lives looking for someone other than themselves to explain their personal and professional failures.  

“Illegal border crossing is rampant!  They’re stealing our jobs!!”  And of course, according to Trump’s fear-mongering campaign rhetoric, also raping our women, flooding the country with drugs, and murdering our innocent citizens.  Oh Donny, Donny, Donny… unfortunately, another one of those inconvenient truths, or “facts”, that you habitually refuse to acknowledge or accept, is the FACT that illegal border crossing has been declining since our economy went bust in 2008.  I cite a 2016 article from “The Atlantic” here, but if you don’t like that one, feel free to refer to “FACTANK”, a feature of the Pew Research Center.  As a matter of FACT, according to the Washington Post, fewer “illegals” crossed our southern border during Obama’s tenure than during the Bush administration.  

 But the crime!  THE CRIME!!  Our border towns are a bloody battle zone filled with hoards of violent, fence-jumping, pillaging miscreants!  Actually, contrary to the fearful rhetoric of Donny’s Inauguration speech, which portrayed not just our border, but our entire nation as a gutted out, crime-ridden, dystopian hell-hole, violent crime across the country has been steadily dropping for the last twenty years, and the statistics prove it out.  These same statistics hold true in our southern border town communities: according to a recent Texas Tribune, people there are much safer when compared to their larger, urban brother cities of Texas.  

 But hey, this is the age of “don’t let facts get in your way”, so if you prefer, go ahead – be afraid. Live in fear.  “They” are out there, and they’re coming for you, your women, and your possessions!  Quick, better pack the kids in the car and get down to the local gun store.  

 Speaking of His Highness’s Inauguration speech – ah, so uplifting, so hopeful - did you hear the good news?  One of King Assclown’s first actions in office was to whip out his pen and declare his Inauguration Day as an official “National Day of Patriotic Devotion”!  Jesus fucking Christ, sit down Kim Jung-un you amateur you!  

 But back to Assclown’s wall.  I just can’t help but be amazed at the fact that when talking about a wall along our southern border, ANYONE would even entertain the opinions or thoughts of a pampered billionaire blow-hard who lives in a penthouse occupying the top three floors of a 58 story tower in downtown Manhattan, overlooking Central Park, and pimped out in 24K gold and imported marble.  Well, other than to admit he certainly knows something about seclusion… By the way, I took the liberty of including this link, just so you could take a peek at “this man of the people” and his urban crib; after checking it out I’m sure you’ll agree that he obviously interacts on a daily basis with plenty of working class folks and Hispanics!  Come on, remember his tweet on last year’s Cinco de Mayo day?  “The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics!”  See?  He’s obviously sort of a modern day melding of Che Guevara and Robin Hood, adored by the common masses.

 OK, let’s back up a little and focus even further on the home turf - Texas: I read somewhere that back in the 1800’s, folks fleeing to Texas in search of a better life would leave their homes and chalk GTT on their doors, letting friends and neighbors know that they had “Gone To Texas”.  Well, back in the late ‘70’s and throughout the ‘80’s, Texas was again being seen as the new land of opportunity and a fresh start to thousands of people fleeing the Northeast and Midwest for greener (and warmer) pastures.  Back in those heady times a similar sentiment was expressed: “Not from Texas, but I got here as soon as I could!”, and it was soon popularly seen on bumper stickers and T-shirts that you would see around town.  No, I never owned or displayed one, but one of those “carpet-bagging Yankees” was me, back in the winter of 1976/77 and at the ripe and blissfully optimistic age of 20.  My point being, I know Texas as well as any Texan; I’ve lived here my entire adult life, even marrying a local who was born and raised right here in Houston.

 Upon my arrival, it didn’t take me long, even back then, to observe that my newly adapted home, like all Texas cities, exercised what I would call a “soft” view, or attitude, toward our Hispanic neighbors and the workforce they provided; it’s just the way it was and will continue to be, and any true and honest Texan will admit it.  It’s called reality.  According to a recent article in the Houston Chronicle, the Hispanic demographic will continue to drive the majority of growth in our Texas' population, which is expected to double to 50 million by 2050; and all projections point to a state that will be three fifths Hispanic by then.

 And now, along comes Trump.  So why does he obsess so over Mexico?  Well, Houston Chronicle’s business section columnist, Chris Tomlinson, had a few thoughts on that yesterday:

 “President Trump’s proposal to levy a 20% tariff on imports from Mexico is geopolitical bullying of the worst kind and could have dramatic consequences. When it comes to our foreign trade deficit, Mexico is not even close to our biggest problem.  But Trump doesn’t have the guts to go after more powerful countries, so he leverages American prejudices to kick around Mexico, our much smaller and less wealthy neighbor.”  

Hmmm - ends out our trade deficit with Mexico is only $60.6 billion, while that of China is a whopping $367B.  Germany - $74.9B.  Japan – 68.6B.  Out of our five largest trade partners, only Canada has a smaller deficit than Mexico ($15.5B).  And who wants to fuck with Canada, am I right Donny?  I mean, they’re, well… white.

 Tomlinson goes on: “Trump’s proposed tariff would destroy the largest free trade agreement in the world, trigger a trade war, and drive up the prices of everything we buy from Mexico by at least 20%.  This would also force Mexico to build stronger trade ties with China, while ruining our alliance with our southern neighbor.”  

 “So what”, you say – “who buys shit from Mexico anyways?”  Texas does.  In 2015 we bought $84B in goods while exporting $92B worth.  That’s right, Texas has an $8B trade surplus with Mexico.  And in regards to Trump’s other targeted international agreements, NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership)?  To paraphrase Chris Wallace, president of the Texas Association of Business, and quoted in Tomlinson’s editorial, “Texas is the largest exporting state and one of the largest importing states, and by dismantling these trade agreements Texas could suffer severe repercussions.  There is no question that Texas has benefitted more than any other state from NAFTA and will be hurt the most if it is killed.”

 Now imagine Houston’s dismay when our ship channel, America’s busiest seaport, heard the news that President Assclown has already backed out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP). In the last five years or so we spent millions on widening and deepening the channel and installing a new, huge, state of the art multiple crane system to accommodate today’s larger ships and growing shipping industry.  Now, all for naught.  It’s like spending years preparing an Olympic team for competition, then only to see the games get cancelled.  This will greatly affect Texas jobs and will add up to millions and millions in lost revenue.  Briefly back to Krauthammer and his editorial yesterday:

 “We are embarking upon insularity and smallness.  Nor is this just theory.  Trump’s long-promised but nonetheless  abrupt withdrawal  from the Trans-Pacific Partnership is the momentous first fruit of his foreign policy doctrine.  Last year the prime minister of Singapore  told John McCain  that if we pulled out of the TPP ‘you’ll be finished in Asia.’  He knows the region.”

 Are you getting a sense yet, of the brilliance of Donny’s business acumen?  A man who through decades of “in the trenches”, high-level corporate boardroom experience seems to intuitively know his customer and how best to maximize their profit?  I know I am!

 So Bravo Mexican President  Enrique Peña Nieto, who this week chose to back out of his visit with Trump and the White House.  Let’s face it, what would be the point?  Way to go Donny, barely a week in office and already getting cancellations from world leaders!  I think Nieto mentioned there was a scheduling conflict, apparently that was the day he usually straightens out his sock drawer…

 In closing, last night, as I was writing this very blog, around 9:00 I heard quite a continuing festive clamor coming from my open front window up here on the third floor of my apartment building, so I decided it would be a good time to take my ever-faithful companion, Bear, out for a walk and investigate.  It was a nice, clear and cool evening, and as we turned around the block and headed toward the main thoroughfare in my neighborhood, Yale St., I was taken back when I saw a veritable parade of brightly (even gaudily) lit, bicycles and riders of all ages filling the street and spilling out onto the sidewalks, many bearing speakers that were blaring out Hispanic music - awesome!  Curious as to the nature of the celebration, I stopped and chatted with one of the celebrants who was taking a break on the sidewalk.  He told me there’s a group that does this every last Friday of the month, and they start downtown (about 5 miles east of here) before riding out into the surrounding neighborhoods.  Moms, dads, kids, flags and music and smiles – FUCK YOU Trumpasita, that’s the true heart of American spirit and patriotism today, and it’s alive and free, and will not be contained or held back by your false and divisive proclamations issued from your new palace in Washington. My advice to Melania?  Ahh, might want to hold off for 3 or 4 months before ordering all the new furniture and drapery – just sayin’…