#like is a diverse group of people you do not have a concrete way to do it

[crizztelcb]

Person on the internet how does not live In latinoamérica: hey crizztel how do I make a latine character?

Me a latino: I have no idea :D

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #5396:

I'm only 28 but I'm already starting to miss forums horribly and hate discord servers. Forums were such amazing spaces for fandoms! Yeah, most fandoms had their own forum you had to sign up for, which was sometimes annoying, whereas for discord servers you only really need to sign up once, for one discord handle, and you can go to pretty much any server. But servers suck.

For starters, there's no real search indexing. Forums had a wealth of information usually readily available for lurkers and anyone who just happened to stumble upon the forum during searches and things, it was all public. But with discord servers, unless you meet the requirements to join and in some cases are pre-vetted, and unless you even know the server exists in the first place, accessing any of the information it provides is really hard. It is not very convenient having to join several channels and servers just to find one guide, if you're a gamer, or get the answer to a quick question. Forums used to index all this information to be easily searched by the web. This is what they were built for. Servers don't show any of their contents during web searches.

Secondly: there's the whole matter of asynchronous communication. Discord is very fast-paced, and it does not necessarily reward quality posts and comments. Instead, you become well-known and liked by posting as much as possible, saturating feeds with your comments. You cannot communicate on your own time like on a forum, and still expect those conversations to be there in a few days or even weeks. You have to lurk all day and hope you get to the discussion within time. You could technically bring up an older conversation, but since discord servers work like real-time conversations, it's often frowned upon and awkward. Furthermore, very useful, important, or otherwise helpful information usually just gets lost among all the one-line comments, and there's no easy way to view past messages to find this useful stuff without getting totally overwhelmed. And since the window for jumping into a certain topic or sub-topic is usually very narrow, someone who would otherwise have very exceptional information suddenly can't share it if they miss that window.

Thirdly, forums could sometimes be cliquey, but discord servers are even more so. There is always an "it" person, or group, who controls the flow and nuance of the conversations. Diversion from these popular groups, just like real life, can lead to alienation, whereas forums had more of an egalitarian vibe. Anyone could contribute pretty equally because everything was slowed down, and there was equal visibility for all posts. Moderators may or may not enable these cliques, which is even more likely if those moderators and the cliques were the first people who arrived at the server. It is awkward to jump into many servers.

Fourth, there's the online dishibition and anonymity. On forums, your content was archived forever, and your presence on the forum was marked more concretely by each post you made due to that visibility. The more "permanent" function of forums and their content encouraged longform and high quality content. Shitposters were generally shunned. On discord, however, people are more willing to bully others because it is much easier to do so, and it's much easier to avoid scrutiny. They simply need to wait a few minutes or hours before knowing their comments will no longer be in plain sight, because a bunch more people will have commented and pushed the comment(s) up, out of sight. Why not call someone a rude name or bully them? No one will see it three hours later, and even if they do, the person can change their name and tag, and repeat again.

I'm not happy.

[clarythericebot]

On the friendships in Emma M. Lion

The way Emma M. Lion deals with friends is so delightful and makes me so happy. My thoughts are running around, so let me try to concretize it:

I appreciate that she has friends from her past. Her existence doesn't start at the beginning of the novel, and while portraying the growth of a relationship from conception is a valid writer choice to do to get readers very invested, I appreciate that Emma has vibrant friendships that spring from the rich life she's already lived before our own acquaintance with her begins.

She's friends with family. She's affectionate towards her older cousin, Arabella, and while there doesn't seem to be Affection with her aunt, it's pretty clear that her aunt is looking out for her. (I appreciate this because I feel like there is a strict divide between friends and family in many of the stories I read, and this one highlights that you can have fun relationships with your kin.)

The friends from her past aren't introduced all at once. Definitely keeps things from being overwhelming. But more than that--we can see how, even in their absence, her friends affect Emma. She loves and thinks fondly of them. So, by the time they're officially introduced, you love and are fond of them too.

Her past relationships grow and change. For example, Emma enters an event and encounters her childhood nemesis, who she remembers hating and who hated her. But he's grown up, and after a little bit of reluctance, Emma accepts the fact and rejoices in it.

It's very refreshing that the chemistry that Emma has with multiple male friends doesn't mean her swooning over them or the narrative pushing a romantic arc. I mean, I love romantic arcs, and I believe that we'll probably get one for Emma in the future. But it's impressive to me that whichever potential love interest actually comes forward (and it's impressive to me that I can't say with certainty which one will--as of the beginning of the third book, there's no one male character that is marked out as Emma's One True Love), nothing supercedes that they're all interesting characters that have genuine and interesting relationships with Emma, and bring out different sides of her. In other words, I love that the writer doesn't skimp on the friends part of friends to lovers.

Emma doesn't have 'a group of friends'. She has friends from different contexts in her life. Can I just say how marvelous and lovely this is? I don't know, I think modern stories romanticize One True Group of Friends almost as much as One True Love. Emma doesn't have a specific pack of people that all have relationships to one another. She's friends with her maid, her cousins, childhood people she interacted with, someone she's met in a ball, her tenant, her vicar, her schoolmates, and the people she's encountered in St Crispian's. Sometimes these people intersect. Sometimes they don't. Emma doesn't feel the need to get them together in one place and she sometimes outright states she doesn't want them to, considering how markedly different those characters are. But the fact that Emma can be friends with this fun diversity of people is very cool.

She makes friends with her friends' friends and it introduces interesting new dynamics. Like, I just said that it's cool that Emma has disparate friendships, but it is also interesting when a new friend provides insight to aspects of an old one's life Emma didn't know. (Spoiler Alert: I'm talking about Mary and Jack. The pair are fascinating, and his hints that there's something going on with Mary intrigue me.)

[infamoussparks]

Chapter 1: Sparklers & Secrets

Approx. 5,300 words; 35 minute read.

Someone below started clapping and another group of students started laughing loudly. The three heroes peered over the ledge in half supervision and half pure glee in the moment. This was so much better, so much bigger, than they could have ever hoped for. It meant so much to all of them.

“Two whole damn years. Can you believe it?” Hazel eyes scan the grounds as the sun casually dipped below the horizon in the distance. Fetch was seated on the top of the concrete border that ran along the rooftop of the warehouse. A half-full bottle of beer was beside her on the ledge and her boots gently tapped against the wall as they dangled over the edge. The soft, warm breeze of the final summer evening played with her hair, toying with her fringe as it fell over her eyes. She was focused on the people below who were laughing and enjoying the summer air as they played and chatted with one another. 

Delsin sat beside Fetch, facing away from the commotion below and gave her a soft smile. He took a long sip of his beer and softly chuckled in response, “Two years… how the hell did that happen so quickly?” 

He brought his free hand to his head and adjusted his beanie in place. It was a staple of his wardrobe despite the warmer air and made him easily identifiable to the group gathered below. The school had done well, pulling in people from all over with powers looking for protection and guidance. Fetch knew that Delsin wasn’t sure he was the best at either of these things on his own, but with Eugene and herself by his side the three “Heroes of Seattle” had somehow managed to provide all that and more. It didn’t get better than this.

Eugene opted not to sit so close to danger and instead was seated in a fabric camping chair that was set up on the roof. He dragged it close to his friends and put himself in charge of beer counting to make sure no one had too many and ended up with several regrets come morning.

“It’s been a great two years, though. This feels like a new beginning.” Eugene raised his bottle and nodded toward Delsin who nodded in agreement. Eugene had really come out of his shell with the school under his belt and he was sitting there in a casual gaming t-shirt, no longer hiding within an oversized hoodie. Fetch figured his confidence shift happened due to how good it felt to be looked up to by everyone here.

The school went unnamed, but it was theirs. The outside was painted with murals of powers and people long since gone but never forgotten. Spray paint and neon intertwined throughout the outside and inside of the main building, adding a personal touch and a reminder that conduits were just normal people with extra abilities. It helped to really keep the students and members of the school at ease and feeling as though they were a part of something amazing, safe and welcomed to be themselves at every turn. It was the small things that mattered most, it seemed.

And those students were so amazing. Ages ranged from teens to adults. It was a very diverse collection of people all pulled together because they had abilities and needed help with accepting them, or using them, or simply needed a place to crash after feeling unsafe for just existing as they were. Some of them didn’t even want anything to do with their powers, but being here was important to them in other ways and so, they stayed. 

Everyone who stayed at the school had a small, dorm-sized room to themselves. The rooms were narrow but not claustrophobic and they were all wiped down to a neutral slate in between students. They included a desk, chair, bed and a decently sized closet, with enough room for a small couch or a few beanbags if the students decided to purchase extra furniture. Students could do anything they wanted to the room–rearrange the furniture, paint the walls, plaster them in posters, hang their powers on display–anything goes. The only rule was no demolition. The rooms were a reflection of the people who lived within and it was always a fun way to get to know someone by simply visiting their domain. Common restrooms and bathing rooms were found within each hall of dorm rooms.

The hallways were named after things that mattered most to Delsin, Fetch and Eugene. They had a wing all to themselves upstairs and tucked away from the main lobby, each with their own room and private bathrooms. They also had a shared space on the second floor that was a meeting room to discuss any upcoming classes or issues with students in private. Occasionally things came up, but mostly the school was a positive and fun place to attend.

As for classes, Fetch mostly taught combat–how to wield and defend yourself with your abilities; Eugene taught technical advancements–how to think beyond your powers and use your environment for a more tactical experience; and Delsin taught acceptance–how to love your powers without getting too cocky about it. Between the three, they had a balanced day of classes that focused on what they wished they had learned growing up with abilities instead of having to run, hide, or fight to be understood. They also made sure to include a little of the average core classes (English, Math, Science, History) into their lessons as well, but they could weave that in as needed and it was never the true focus of any class. The school was more a haven and less a high school.

Access to the rooftop was forbidden to the students, but that didn’t stop them from sneaking up there while testing their abilities. Delsin, Fetch and Eugene controlled the rooftop space and used it now as a place to just relax and quietly celebrate their accomplishments. Fetch smiled softly to herself watching the group below her now. Powers were flared now and then, but never in a way that seemed dangerous or alarming. It was a different experience for her to be in a place where powers could be used freely and in such a safe environment. She felt like Brent would be proud of who she had become afterall.

Suddenly, Delsin stood up, “Shit! I almost forgot. I got you both something.” 

Fetch glanced over her shoulder at him and adjusted herself to now be sitting sideways on the ledge, one boot on the roof while the other still dangled off the edge. She nearly knocked her beer off and onto the rooftop, but luckily Eugene grabbed it seconds before disaster. He handed it to her with a lopsided grin. 

“My hero,” Fetch joked as she took the bottle from him and raised it to his before taking a sip and tossing Delsin an expectant glance. “What you got for us, Smokes?”

“I’m glad you asked, Fetch. First, hold these,” and Delsin tossed a flat, narrow box to her. Fetch snagged it from the air easily enough and then placed her beer on the rooftop beside her foot to better examine the box.

“Sparklers?”

“Yeah. Well, I mean, I figured we could light them as a toast to everything we’ve built. Together.”

“I won’t complain about lighting things on fire.” Fetch winked at Delsin while removing two sparklers for herself and passing the box to Eugene. Eugene fished two out for himself and passed the box back to Delsin with an underhand toss. Delsin caught it without seeming to think about it and grabbed two for himself then he placed the box on the gravel of the rooftop.

The three friends brought the tips of the sparklers closer together and Delsin cleared his throat.

“To everything we’ve built, everything we have and whatever the future holds,” With a snap of his fingers simply for flair, embers of smoke summoned and worked their magic to light the six sparklers in a bright flare of light. Eugene grinned like a child and Fetch laughed out loud at the sight, “Most of all, to us.”

“To us!” Eugene and Fetch chimed in. Fetch traced the letters U-S in the air using her sparklers, sparks leaping and dancing on the slight breeze in the growing dark of twilight. Eugene seemed to be inspecting the process of the soft flame swallowing the ignited fuel for the sparklers.

Someone below started clapping and another group of students started laughing loudly. The three heroes peered over the ledge in half supervision and half pure glee in the moment. This was so much better, so much bigger, than they could have ever hoped for. It meant so much to all of them.

“One more thing… hold out your hands.” Delsin reached into his pocket, both sparklers slowly burning down between the fingers of his other hand. Fetch and Eugene exchanged a curious glance before shifting their sparklers into one hand and holding the empty one out as instructed. Delsin found what he was searching for in his pocket and with a grin dropped something into each of his friends’ hands.

“What… is this an emblem?” Eugene was holding the small gift in his fingers, using the light of the sparklers to get a better look. 

Delsin nodded, that grin still plastered on his face, “Yeah, exactly! I thought we should give something to the students to make them feel like more of a part of this wild idea of ours. And it will help us identify them on and off grounds.”

“I’m impressed, Smokes. This is really cool.” Fetch was holding it up and out over drop to the ground below without fear of dropping it. The emblem was a small, silver piece that had a pin back. The back was engraved with three initials and a year–“D, F, E - EST. 2023”--the year the school opened. The front was engraved and embellished with a design that featured a spray-painted star with a smaller star cut from the middle and two wings on either side–one resembled her neon style and one clearly looked like Eugene’s video wings. It was about the size of a half dollar, around 1.2” or 3.05cm, and it was perfect. Eugene and Delsin attached their new emblems to their shirts and Fetch pocketed hers for the time being.

“The sparklers are almost out.” Fetch sighed softly, slowly waving hers through the air. Delsin sat right beside her, his shoulder bumping into her knee playfully.

“Got plenty more where those came from.”

Eugene joined the two on the ledge, but sat so his back was to the drop below. He scooped the box off the ground and handed it to Delsin, “Are we lighting them all tonight?”

“Sure, why not? This is a celebration, after all. Let’s light it up!”

Fetch laughed again and snatched the box from Delsin, “Okay, but I gotta see if I can light ‘em with neon.”

“Maybe I’ll move the fire extinguisher closer.” Eugene chuckled as Delsin groaned and rolled his eyes jokingly. The night was rung in with good beer, bright sparklers and enough contagious laughter to be caught by the students below.

“Paging Doctor Hutch. Doctor Hutch to Maternity.” The loudspeaker announcement echoed in the silence of the small, dark office which had seemed like as good a place as any to get some breathing room at the moment. That didn’t last long.

“If they keep calling me this often no one is getting any results back today,” the words a hushed chuff below Dr. Rosaline Hutchs’ breath. No one else occupied the space with her and she wasn’t exactly upset at being continuously pulled from her research, it was simply the workflow of the day. She pulled back from looking into the electron microscope long enough to blink her green and gold flecked eyes, pull her reading glasses from her hair and made a recording on a chart that lay in her lap. That was all the time she allowed for herself and her work. Then she was standing, placing her clipboard down on her desk, smoothing any wrinkles from her doctor coat and repositioning her glasses so they hung neatly around her neck from a dainty string of pretty beads.

She didn’t need to lock up behind her as every office, lab and most hallways were only accessible with a badge, so once the door latched with a satisfying click Rosaline was off toward the maternity wing of Seattle Children’s Hospital curious to see what type of situation she’d encounter this time.

She didn’t have to wonder for long as upon swiping her badge and entering the quiet, yet busy maternity ward, a young nurse with excellent taste in scrubs (today they were light blue with doodles of puppies and kittens all over them) immediately met her with a bright smile and a clipboard of her own.

Rosaline returned her smile and gave her a quick nod as she stepped away from the main hallway and more toward the wall, not wanting to hold up the flow of people rushing here and there, “Nurse Smith.”

“Doctor Hutch, please. Call me Meg.” Meg Smith was a newer nurse, full of potential and a passion for her job. She was quickly becoming one of Rosaline’s favorite people to work with within the hospital–her energy was infectious and kids of all ages really loved Meg.

“Alright, Meg. What am I walking into?”

Meg checked the clipboard before passing it over to Rosaline, “Super anxious mother, room 301. Newborn is a preemie in NICU and stable.”

“What about the father?” Rosaline had her glasses back on, peering over the chart and flipping the pages to ensure she had a decent glimpse of everything before her. A strand of auburn red hair fell loose from her tight bun and she absently tucked it behind her ear.

“Out of the picture. Or so I assume from what the mom has said.”

A soft tsk fell from Rosaline’s mouth as she gave a slight frown to Meg and removed her glasses, “We should never assume…”

Meg instantly cringed at the disapproving look, pleading her defense in a rush of breath, “I know! I know, but I just overheard some things and I…”

“Smart girl,” Rosaline smiled softly, hoping Meg understood her stance on this matter. Sometimes it was best to follow your instincts instead of the rules. “Thank you.”

Meg immediately brightened again, her smile giving her dimples and she started walking toward the room at a quick pace, “I’ll introduce you.”

“Please. It makes it a lot easier for everyone.” Rosaline followed closely behind Meg as they wove between staff and patients toward their destination. Meg rapped on the door with her knuckles before opening and entering the room. It was a standard hospital room for new moms and contained everything needed for both mother and baby while both were monitored before being sent home. The mother here was sitting up in bed slightly and seemed relieved to see Meg.

“Ms. Rogers, this is Doctor Hutch. She runs our Discovery Department and I know you had a few questions for her. If everything is okay, I’ll leave you both to chat in privacy.” Meg swept through the room, her eyes darting between machines, charts and Ms. Rogers. It looked like a normal conversation, but Rosaline made a mental note of how astute Meg was and noticed that the young nurse was checking all the vitals with a quick glance. It made Rosaline proud knowing that Meg was doing everything right without so much of a fuss nor prompting.

Ms. Rogers adjusted her position on the bed and looked simply exhausted, “Yes, everything is fine. Thank you. Hello, Doctor Hutch.” 

Meg nodded and left the room and after the door latched Rosaline approached the bed with a soft smile.

“Hello, Ms. Rogers. Congratulations on your new baby boy.” Rosaline reached out one hand to shake Ms. Rogers’ hand. This was how it started, how Rosaline worked her magic. Ms. Rogers extended her hand and it was wrapped in a gentle handshake that then turned into a comforting handhold. Rosaline left the handhold relaxed in case Ms. Rogers pulled away, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t happen. Her internal clock started ticking down.

“Thank you, Dr. Hutch. I’m just so…” Ms. Rogers hesitated and took a calming breath, seeming to steel herself.

“It’s okay. I understand. How can I be of assistance?” Five seconds down. Five to go. Rosaline took her own quiet inhale. This was second nature to her now, but meeting new people this way always made her a bit nervous. It wasn’t the people per say, but their stories that brought them to her.

Ms. Rogers blinked back tears. New mothers were always this way–so much was happening to their bodies, their minds, their souls–it was hard to stay neutral after such an emotional experience from giving birth. Bringing a new life into this world was hard no matter what lens you looked at it through. Rosaline gave an encouraging squeeze to Ms. Rogers’ hand and the mother seemed to find her words.

“My son. I need to know if he’s… one of them. I just… I’m so worried. His father may have been one, but I never knew for sure and I… I don’t know what I’ll do if, if he’s…” Ms. Rogers stumbled over her words, but they were out now and Rosaline didn’t flinch nor react beyond a genuine comforting smile. Enough time had passed and she saw what she needed from this worried mother. Rosaline patted her hand and let go.

“My testing isn’t covered by insurance but I can perform the test immediately if you consent. I’ll take a small sample of blood–no more than a pinprick–from your son’s large toe and then I can have results for you within a few hours. I’m a tad backed up in my lab, I’m afraid.”

“Yes! I mean, please. I’ll pay out of pocket, I just.. I have to know.”

“I’ll have Meg bring you the forms to sign and then I’ll collect the sample. I’ll be as quick and painless as possible.”

“Thank you. I’ll wait for the results.”

Rosaline nodded and said her goodbyes then left the room, signaling to Meg who was already headed over with her clipboard and paperwork, “Thanks, Meg. I’ll wait for the official signature.”

Meg disappeared into room 301 and Rosaline leaned against the wall around the corner from the room, replaying the conversation in her mind. Ms. Rogers was so frightened for her son to be “one of them”, to be a conduit. It broke her heart. This child who was fresh to the world was already being judged and having decisions made based on something he had no control over, based on genes that may never activate in his life. Regardless of whether or not the absent father truly was a conduit, it was clear only to Rosaline that Ms. Rogers was not one. The aura she saw after ten seconds of skin contact was white, and after years of fine tuning her ability she knew without a doubt that Ms. Rogers was not only not a conduit, but that she didn’t carry the gene at all. Maybe her son would be spared as well.

“Doctor Hutch? I have the paperwork,” Meg’s approach pulled Rosaline from her own head and she offered Meg a grateful nod. 

“Which NICU room for her son?” Rosaline took the paperwork and placed her glasses on, peering through the few pages to make sure all the signatures were in place.

“NICU 3-B. He’s a real cutie, you can’t miss him.” Meg was practically swooning. 

Rosaline found herself thinking that Meg would make an amazing mother someday when she was ready, “Thank you. I’ll go now and run my tests. Hopefully, I’ll have time to complete this one before I’m paged again. It’s been a busy day.”

“It has! Good luck with the tests.” Meg waved and then was quickly summoned back to the main desk to assist another patient. Rosaline returned the wave, removed her glasses and headed to the NICU.

The NICU was a quiet space full of machine beeps tracking oxygen, blood pressure, heart rate and emergencies for the smallest of babies who were born too early for a variety of reasons. Nurses sat nearby every block of rooms taking turns with monitoring the babies, changing diapers, feeding, holding them and comforting them in the times that their parents were unable to be with them. 

It was a tense place, but the nurses here were the best of the best. That was partially thanks to Rosaline and the funds she donated to the hospital after her research paper on identifying conduit genes had won a prestigious award that came with more money than she knew what to do with. The award was earned after years of intense research on the topic at hand and years of fine-tuning her own abilities. The Seattle Children’s Hospital was ever so thankful and they restructured the maternity wing, adding a brand new NICU center to the hospital as well. Rosaline’s only request was that they didn’t name it after her. The hospital board agreed but only if Rosaline would join their staff. And that was how she moved from Boston, Massachusetts to Seattle, Washington to continue her conduit gene Discovery Department, staffed by only herself. The pay was wonderful and she was able to continue to refine her skills and powers at the same time. As they say, it takes one to know one, and being a conduit identifying other conduits was her secret gift.

Meg was right about the baby. As soon as Rosaline found his space, she could see he was precious. He was swaddled tightly and according to his charts only two weeks premature, so he didn’t have as many red flags to watch for as some of the others in NICU care. The blood sample was absolutely useless to her, but Rosaline had to keep up appearances and she prepped for it regardless. She gently unswaddled the baby enough to free one tiny foot from the warmth of the blanket.

“Sorry little one. Forgive me?” Rosaline quickly pricked the baby’s big toe and squeezed a single drop of blood into a small vial. The little bundled baby hardly stirred in his sleep with the swift prick of pain, then Rosaline was back to adjusting his foot into his blanket, cooing softly to him to relax him further into his deep slumber. After the paperwork was done, the sticker placed on the vial and the vial safely dropped into the pocket of her doctor coat, Rosaline cleaned up her small mess and then returned to the baby in 3-B. His hand was out of the swaddle due to stickers in spots that the machines had to read. Rosaline placed her index finger against the palm of his hand and he instinctively curled his fingers around hers. It was always her favorite moment of this job–it was her sign of comfort and her reassurance that this was what she was meant for.

She silently counted to ten in her head and watched as the aura began to shift and appear around this new, tiny human. It was white at first but within a few milliseconds it shifted to a cream color–a clear indicator that this baby did have the conduit gene. Whether or not it would activate was unclear and Rosaline was still working to try to figure out how exactly to see this future state, but just like illness or cancer sometimes you don’t know until it makes itself present. At least she didn’t see any colors indicating either of those for this newborn. With a soft sigh she retracted her finger and left the NICU, headed back to her office just outside the maternity ward. 

Now she needed time to figure out how to tell Ms. Rogers that her son was a carrier. Inside her office she left the lights off and sat in her chair, glasses pulled back on to look over the charts on her desk, on her clipboard and in her pocket. Sometimes this job was heavier than it had any right to be. She reached out her right hand toward her microscope and felt a familiar pressure in her fingertips, like a magnet being pulled to its polar opposite. A soft glow of yellow shifted from the microscope into her fingertips. It took seconds to drain the small device and seconds more to shake the glow from her fingers and blink it away from her eyes, but it was done and now Rosaline had refueled her abilities. She was thankful she didn’t need much power to do what she did and even more thankful that her eye glow was controlled so she didn’t give herself away while using her powers. But reading cells at a magnified level was still tiring and having to deliver news that she needed to mentally prepare for was often exhausting.

She left her office a few minutes later checking her reflection in her desk mirror before finding her resolve. She bypassed the main desk in the maternity ward and knocked on the door before entering room 301. Ms. Rogers seemed surprised to see her back so soon and Rosaline handed her a formal letter, breaking the news in a comforting tone of voice.

“Your son is a carrier, however, this does not mean that the gene will activate. This letter is a formal record of his results and a list of things you can do to help prevent activation, although that is not guaranteed. I’ve also included a name and extension in case you needed to speak with our Adoption Specialist.” It was all formalities and facts, but Rosaline delivered them with a soft grace that seemed to resonate well with her patients.

Ms. Rogers nodded and a single tear slipped down her cheek, “Thank you. Bless you, Doctor Hutch.”

“It will not be included in his file, as this test is confidential. I know you’ll do the right thing for both of you. He’s a beautiful baby.”

“I… yes, thank you.” Ms. Rogers would have to take it from here, so Rosaline said her goodbyes and offered her contact information. Then she left Ms. Rogers’ room and tried to block out the sound of sobs as the door closed behind her.

Rosaline decided to take a loop through the hospital before returning to her office. It was good for her to get some extra steps in and it always helped to reset and clear her mind. She took a moment to get herself a coffee from the breakroom before stopping by her favorite window beside the maternity ward waiting room. The day was looking warm and sunny for once, the fog from the morning heat had long since lifted and the hope of an overcast autumn day was long over. She sipped her coffee and found herself daydreaming about her weekend hot yoga plans. She deserved it after this week.

After a moment of lingering, she paused at the doorway of the waiting room, watching some home design show playing on the television. As she pulled her focus away from the interior design mess happening on screen she nearly walked into a small child who was standing directly behind her. The little girl looked up at Rosaline with large, gray eyes and immediately raised her arms as though she wanted to be picked up.

Rosaline gave the child a confused look, eyes narrowing as she scanned the waiting room for any distraught parents looking for their missing daughter. Her ears perked to listen for any calls of names that could help better direct her to the parents and return the child. But after a minute of seeing nothing out of the ordinary nor hearing any names being called in worry, Rosaline suddenly felt uneasy.

The small girl tugged at the bottom of the doctor coat that Rosaline was wearing, getting the doctors’ attention again. She repeated the action of asking to be picked up without words or sounds, a pink blanket in one fist while the other one was open and shut, open and shut, trying to signal in her own way. Rosaline glanced around again quickly, then placed her half-empty coffee cup on a nearby table before kneeling before the little girl. She wasn’t wearing any socks or shoes, her platinum hair was up in two lopsided pigtails full of wavy curls and those eyes suddenly looked so scared and sad.

“Hey there. I’m Doctor Hutch. What’s your name?” The little girl just shook her head and pulled her blanket to rest against her cheek. Rosaline sighed quietly and decided to try a different tactic.

“Do you see your parents? Can you show me where they are?” This seemed to work as the child gave an enthusiastic nod before pointing toward the main hospital entrance.

This was very strange and Rosaline stood to get a better look at the main doors. Again, she didn’t see anyone who looked to be in distress over missing their child. She hated to ask more questions, but the little girl was still pointing to the sliding doors, “They’re outside? Are you sure your parents aren’t inside with you?”

Now the child was back to asking to be held and since Rosaline saw no other way to traverse this strange encounter, she obliged. The quiet child rested her hand on Rosaline’s as though to calm and praise the adult for understanding her request. Once she had the little one in her arms, Rosaline noticed a note tucked into the chest pocket of the overalls that the girl was wearing, the outside of the note simply said, “READ ME”. She shifted the child to sit on her left hip and moved her glasses into place. She pulled the note from the pocket to read it, hopeful that the parents’ information was included so she could track them down.

Dear Reader,

Please take care of my baby girl. Her name is Calypso, she is four and she is very special. We are in danger and I don’t have much time left.

Caly, sweetheart, Mommy loves you so much. No one will ever hurt you again. I’ll make sure of that. Be brave, be good, stay safe. I love you.

Rosaline could feel her heart drop into her stomach, unable to believe this was happening. This child, seemingly abandoned at the hospital. What was going on? Where was her mom now? What was the protocol for finding an abandoned child here? Would her mom come back for her? A zillion questions without answers rushed through her head, her coffee forgotten and her mind now cluttered with something new. Maybe she should go visit the Adoption Specialist for advice on who to contact for this sort of thing? She read over the letter again, scoffing at the word ‘special’. We’re all special until we’re not, Rosaline frowned slightly with the thought.

“Oh, dear. Calypso, right? Can I call you Caly?” The girl nodded and seemed suddenly very tired, her eyes fluttering as she rubbed her cheek with her blanket and her other hand idly rubbed the back of Rosaline’s. This was when it struck Rosaline, when the doctor truly saw Caly through her own, special eyes. There was a glow around the girl, her aura bright from the contact of their hands. The color reflected off Caly’s black and white striped shirt and suddenly pulled Rosaline to full attention.

Her aura was yellow. And yellow was the color only reserved for active conduit genes. But this child was four years old… no conduit on written record had ever been so young. Rosaline’s voice was a hushed, worried whisper as Caly rested her head against the doctor’s shoulder, “Oh, Caly… you are a special girl…”

[stereax]

over explain hockey rpf pairings and why people like them - sincerely a girlie who wants to get into rpf but only knows her home team

hahahaha, alright :)

hockey rpf: a thing

So firstly, I'll say that, honestly, I'm not the top person to answer this. I am a bit of a fanfic writer, but I'm nowhere near established enough to have a very concrete understanding of it all.

That being said - generally, the reason any RPF (real-person fiction) exists is as an extension of a parasocial relationship. RPF allows people to project feelings onto a fictionalized version of a real person (here a hockey player) who we know much more about than they do us.

RPF can be divided into two subcategories - Player x Player and Player x Reader.

"x readers" (generally found on Tumblr) are often contested in the world of RPF, as many people consider it a bit too far in breaking the fourth wall. There are also issues with diversity in "x readers". The reader in question is almost always assumed white, Anglo-American, cisgender, female, heterosexual, heteroromantic, neurotypical, not fat, not disabled and not disordered in any way. Not only does this reinforce a "beauty standard" (by insinuating that only this kind of person is "attractive enough" to be a partner of a hockey player), it alienates those who do not fall into these categories - this is especially pertinent, at least in my limited experience, for transmasculine people, for whom being perceived as female can cause discomfort and dysphoria. If you're an "x reader" writer reading this and thinking that you're the problem for writing to uphold this standard, please don't feel bad - this is the standard "x reader" fiction has upheld for years. I ask only that you consider writing for more diverse audiences. Maybe one of your next "x readers" could be for a character explicitly written to be of color, or a transgender character, or the character could be hard of hearing or require a wheelchair... The possibilities are endless.

Enough about "x readers" and my gripes on them, though, as your question leads me to believe you're not all that interested in them. Player x player fics (generally posted on Ao3), while not as divisive as "x readers", also carry their own issues, often around misportrayal. For instance, some hockey players, such as Carey Price and Zach Whitecloud, have Indigenous backgrounds, which are an important part of their identities, but are rarely discussed in any detail.

In both areas, it's generally emphasized not to have the fics interact with the public figures - this means archive-locking on Ao3 and other measures to reduce the probability of players actually finding and reading these fics. Don't send a hockey player fic about him boning his teammate. That's weird.

As perhaps the "homoerotic homophobic" sport, hockey RPF situates itself in an environment that allows writers, who are often queer, to tackle issues of sexuality (sometimes gender as well) in a sport that is not always tolerant, mimicking some writers' experiences with homophobia and transphobia. This is especially pertinent in an era when Pride jerseys are being disavowed by players and the NHL itself.

The main idea of RPF, though, isn't a group of queer scholars writing treatises on queer topics - it's simply being a witness to the joy of others, watching people you like being happy (with each other) in situations just left of reality. Hockey, and hockey players, are just the medium for finding that joy. I think that's the long and short of it, honestly. I've spent a solid half hour trying to figure out a better way to put it and I really can't. People care about hockey pairs because they care about the players and want to see them happy. Whether it's a realistic hockey fic or a high fantasy AU where the players are royalty and knights, the idea is to create something that makes oneself (and others) happy. There are fics that, for some of us, hit home in a way that fundamentally changes our point of view on life. Not every fic is earth-shattering, but they are all labors of love, generally in the name of love, and perhaps that's something to cherish in and of itself.

Let's get into some of the pairings, then.

Generally, the more popular pairings have some sort of impetus or drive behind them - an interaction (or usually series thereof) that makes the pair enticing. Popular pairings almost always deal with popular players, too - it is incredibly rare that bottom-six players and journeymen are featured in fics.

Often, the impetus for a pair is them being teammates and growing close, giving interviews about each other, having good chemistry (and cuddles!) on the ice, and so on and so forth. Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin, Mitch Marner/Auston Matthews, Jamie Drysdale/Trevor Zegras are some of the most common teammate pairs on Ao3 - going into the specifics on each pair I mention from here on out would require my making entire primers at this point, which others have done far better than I could. Teammate pairings are often denoted by jersey numbers. (8771, 3416, 611, respectively.)

The other main impetus for a pair is a rivalry. Who doesn't love a good rivals to lovers? Leon Draisaitl/Matthew Tkachuk, Sidney Crosby/Claude Giroux, Jack Eichel/Connor McDavid are some of the top rival pairings, with each having strong motives. The first stems from the Battle of Alberta and Draisaitl's "get off the ice" comment about Tkachuk before combining for a sweet goal during one of the All-Star Games; the second is the Pennsylvania teams' rivalry that led to Crosby basically breaking Giroux's wrists before they made up on one of the Worlds Team Canada rosters with Crosby centering Giroux; the 2015 draft class where Eichel and McDavid were pit against each other and the media-stoked rivalry, only stronger now that the "worse" player Eichel has a Stanley Cup whereas the Oilers' "savior" and "generational talent" McDavid is still Cupless, fuel that pairing.) These pairings generally are denoted by portmanteaus of last names. (MattDrai, Cheesby [Giroux's love of grilled cheese makes a better pairing name], McEichel.)

Obviously for pairing names, there are exceptions - Leon Draisaitl/Connor McDavid is often referred to as McDrai and not 2997, as one example. Oftentimes, numbers or last names aren't used, and it's just written as "first name/first name" or "firstfirst" - sidgeno and nicojack are two examples of that. That works better when your pair has at least one distinguishable name.

As always, I know this is far from complete, and I invite others in the HRPF community to share their thoughts and experiences as well! :)

Your hometown team (don't know what it is) probably has a few pairs that are written about. If you're up to it, maybe start from there. If that feels a bit much for you, maybe start from a pair whose players you aren't yet emotionally attached to, from a different team. That's, of course, if you want to dive into the world of hockey RPF at all - if not, that's totally cool too!

If you want to know more about a specific pair, let me know and I'll do some Tumblr trawling for ya.

[pomegrnteseed]

Fandom observations

I only joined the DHr fandom via ao3 in the last year or so. My twt account went live in February. I'm a relative newbie.

I'm also an internet researcher and spend a lot of my time thinking about how people interact in negative ways online. To be clear: I am not participating in fandom as a researcher, nor do I research fandom. But I can't turn off my curiosity and I think my expertise in adjacent internet cultures offers some productive framing for making sense of the behaviours I'm seeing.

The following are some percolating reflections I've been mulling over for some time now. They're incomplete and shouldn't be read as a concrete analysis or a fix-it guide; instead, consider them pervasive thought clusters with fuzzy edges and an incomplete picture as I try to talk through my ideas to identify their core elements or themes.

I'm extrapolating from macro to micro here, and without any real map or guide to structure my thinking, I'm afraid we're left wading through this tangled web together. If, indeed, anyone at all finds this of interest. Which they likely will not. Nevertheless, it's a useful exercise. And so we begin.

On connection and community

In broad strokes, I find that communities tend to be sorted by geography, identity, or interest.

In fan communities, people can connect strongly over a special or niche interest that they don't get to indulge in deep discussion with others in other social spaces. They also connect in specific locations: fora, social media, conventions, etc. Despite the interest connecting fans, there's largely a celebration of diversity and similarities.

However, there's an impetus exhibited by a vocal minority to control or manage the boundaries of acceptable representation or experimentation within fandom. And when people stray from the emotionally and socially charged interpretations considered legitimate (which, to be clear, are inherently subjective because they are not part of the original published works and therefore are all vulnerable in their faithfulness to canon or headcanon depending on the reader), communication between fans (in-fandom and spanning fandoms) can break down.

Frankly, the lack of grace extended to others in these situations is really sad.

I'd love to see more compassionate reactions to behaviour or ideas that stray from our headcanons or interests - provided they aren't harmful.

And before anyone tries to argue that DHr is harmful because Draco was a young fascist, please remember that anything can happen in fiction: writers make the rules. Fandom offers the freedom to explore alternate realities within canon universes, or even alternate universes.

Similarly, if the author is clear in not promoting violence or harm in fiction, fictional worlds are a wonderful way to explore issues of violence, harm and issues of a taboo nature in different societies and cultures. There's a marked difference between exploring taboo and creating a manifesto endorsing harm. While some of the topics may be uncomfortable for you, your discomfort does not afford you license to censor others. As consenting adults, we can enjoy Icky Things and recognise that it only is okay to engage with and explore them in fiction or fantasy.

On digital publics and (intended) audiences

Social media platforms are spaces for various publics to interact. When we post, we have an idea of who the intended audience is. It may be out general followers, or a specific group of people. Sometimes, we post for ourselves as an archive of our ideas and experiences.

We're likely not thinking about the people outside of our perceived networks as reading or engaging with our posts, but because of the (mysterious) workings of the algorithm, often our posts end up in our spaces and we can feel that our territory or personal digital space is being encroached upon (usually because they misunderstand or misinterpret our community practices or artifacts; the recent mainstream news article about Manacled is one such example). These outsiders decontextualise our co-constructed worlds and make them vulnerable to (mis)interpretation due to a lack of or incomplete cultural knowledge.

It's not just external Publicness we need to be aware of, though. There's not one DHr fandom. There are many communities or networks of individuals who share some common interests, but there are numerous differences in what people will accept or not accept as DHr-compliant (or of personal interest). The lack of cohesive agreement as to what is acceptable means that we're vulnerable to misinterpretation or misalignment with others in our spheres.

And that's not even considering the networks of fandoms related to DHr under the wider HP umbrella.

On miscommunication, disagreement and shame

When these boundaries blur or are crossed, or contention arises, we often see an uptick in sub-tweeting, screenshotting or private quote retweeting (pqrting). This "behind their back in front of their face" approach is a wholly unproductive path to addressing ideas or behaviour we disagree with.

Shame is a powerful tool for gaining and maintaining social control. It can quite easily be weaponised and effectively impact the behaviours and beliefs of others. Shaming people's ideas, actions, or interests doesn't end them, it just obscures them or quietens them in mainstream spaces, while ostracizing them and opening up opportunities for escalation (particularly in negative behaviours) to occur.

Deciding whether to engage in conversation publicly or privately is a personal, and sometimes difficult decision. Public call-ins can model good practice and signal to others when behaviour might cross into unacceptable or unproductive areas not conducive to harmonious, diverse ranges in ideas and actions. Publicly addressing behaviour can lead to defensiveness, though, if people perceive the call-in as a shaming event, instead of a good faith intervention.

On the other hand, private conversations may lead to more in-depth and impactful discussion, but no one knows it's happening and so behaviour appears to go by unaddressed - and silence can be interpreted as complicity or agreement, despite the other functions on twt to signal agreement, e.g. Likes, Replies, Retweets.

One way to maybe mediate these tensions is to note your disagreement/issue and ask to talk about it more in private.

But sub-tweeting and pqrts, while signalling your opposition, create divides or Others, which only widens the distance between people and creates barriers to well-meaning discussion.

I'm also a firm believer in protecting your peace. Block those whose ideas or behaviour is misaligned - particularly those who build their identity on negative oppositional stances (I.e. antis). You'll not change their mind, they aren't open to alternate perspectives. Save your energy for celebrating and creating within your own networks of like-minded fans.

Shifting the ways we frame our interactions, with greater recognition of parasocial relationships, and a more expansive, welcoming approach of acceptability that replaces shame or cringe with curiosity and grace could help us combat some of the hardcoded structural issues in communication created or exacerbated by platform design and the lack of a central hub of activity, interaction, and easily accessible historical information on the networks and individuals we're engaging with.

[void-galaxy-shenanigans]

I had a thought about community, religion/cults, diversity, & exclusion/inclusion that I think some will appreciate (though others may hate it). I just wanna put it out somewhere so it stops rattling around in my brain (/met), and maybe it’ll help people.

(This is coming from a queer, polyam, trans/nonbinary, auDHD, physically disabled, mentally ill (+ partially prescription medicated) person/collective. It’s based in research/science, but inspired from my own diversity/divergence and interactions with the world.)

Cults and cult-like churches hate diversity (DEIA) because they require group cohesion to maintain control.

You can’t have group cohesion and unity without (a) an outside enemy to unite everyone & (b) an intolerance of what makes that enemy (or enemies) different. You need everyone to be the same so it’s clear who isn’t in the good group—you have a distinct common enemy, to avoid ‘friendly fire’.

A lot of Christian denominations and churches do this. Sins (& sinner vs saint dichotomy), specific ways of appropriate dress (especially binary (man/woman, priest/member)), taboo phrases and actions - these are weaponized as methods of control.

They take advantage of people who are seeking community (often desperately), especially those who want a concrete/clear schema* or multiple of those to make sense of something (being handed one is simpler than forming your own complex webs of schema). They especially take advantage of children (born with very few schema), but also of people in poverty seeking a way out & of people who feel like they’ve lost their way in life (or even their own identity).

(* fancy word for ‘map/concept/framing of how the world works’)

Diversity becomes their enemy.

If people are allowed to be diverse, and your members learn to accept diversity, that means they also learn critical thinking skills that make them question you & your authority. They may even find a schema that works better for them & leave your cult / religion (which you really don’t want when you seek this level of control).

So you (cult/controlling leadership) make them fear & hate those who are “outside”, to not just exclude/ostracize but oppress The Other, because ‘if they didn’t want to be oppressed they could choose to be Correct’, AKA choose to believe what you (or, more, the powerful people in charge) want them to.

It is inherently manipulative.

But it takes advantage of real physiological (body function) wiring already in your body - to be wary of the other*, to feel powerful emotions & feel validated in those emotions. (These are important for survival, not evil on their own but easy to take advantage of.) It relies on members who are ignorant, or afraid to stand out/speak up.

(* which usually allows room for curiosity, if not overwritten with hate)

That’s also why deconstruction is so difficult. They control so much of what you’re allowed to say/do/be/consume. They shape the way you believe the whole world works, or should work.

This also means they want all human people united under their Good Group, because power & unity are “good”. This requires converting or eliminating The Other by any means necessary.

The contradictory reality of this world is that people do need community, but community requires some exclusion.

A community of nuns excludes those who aren’t nuns. A community built at a football game excludes those who aren’t watching or playing in the game. A community built around profit excludes those who can’t generate endless profit.

The world needs diversity of community. We can’t cram everyone in the world (all our experiences, needs, appearances, etc.) into one box. We require access to communities that are accessible to, inclusive for, and well-suited for us. We need people we share commonalities with. We also desire to learn about other communities, especially when this isn’t vilified/demonized.

Division and hatred breed PTSD / traumagenic disorders (anxiety, depression, borderline, etc.) and autoimmune diseases and chronic illness. Exclusion makes us physically sick/injured (including mentally ill, because the brain is the body’s pilot, & inherently part of the physical body).

Some disabilities are genetic. People can be born with disabilities. However, some disabilities are created by the scrambling for world cohesion, for assimilation that erases diversity, and the inherent damage caused by surviving / trying to live that environment.

~~~~

This sprung from social science classes (last semester, & current). I’m finally making sense of what I learned, and this interconnected web of concepts has been rattling around in my brain.

I hope some of y’all appreciate this. It brought me peace and clarity. 💜

~Nico

[nbenvs3000w25]

Unit 3: Privilege in Nature Interpretation

To begin, we first need to identify what privilege is. Privilege is a complex and typically taboo topic, but it has become important to discuss and realize in recent history. At its core, I believe that privilege is the unearned advantages, or opportunities, that certain individuals or groups may have based on their identity or background. Some groups that can, or have shown to have, privilege can be those of higher socioeconomic background, white individuals, straight individuals, physically abled people and conventionally attractive individuals. While these are some potential groups that may have privilege, there is no right answer, and anyone can have privilege depending on the circumstances at hand. Privilege is something that is typically inherent. Reflecting on this course, I have come to realize that privilege is often invisible, like an invisible backpack filled with opportunity, as was discussed in the course notes. 

For instance, one major form of privilege relating to nature interpretation is availability to nature itself. I was privileged to have grown up in a middle-class family in a suburban area that was filled with lots of open nature. I originally took that for granted, given how to me, it was normal. I have now learned that not everyone is privileged enough to have direct and easy access to nature, and thus, I was fortunate to be able to have that myself. A lack of availability can be someone that lives in the inner city, where they are surrounded by concrete. Or someone who may not have available time to visit the nature areas.

Another privilege that can impact nature interpretation is socioeconomic privilege. Many natural areas require entrance fees, travel fees, and outdoor equipment that all cost money. For some, this may not be seen as an essential use of their money, and thus, can form barriers for low-income families. As well, some interpreters may cost money to deliver their program, thus creating another barrier for some regarding nature interpretation.

As someone who is interested in nature interpretation, addressing and acclimating to privilege is both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is acknowledging these inequities and ensuring that my role as an interpreter does not perpetuate and continue the cycle of privilege. This could look like educating myself about these privileges and broadening my lens in which I interpret nature for others. I need to incorporate diverse perspectives while being mindful of barriers that can exist for many people. One way to adequately address privilege is to create inclusive programs. Offering subsidized access to these natural areas can help reduce financial barriers as an example. We can also partner with local organizations that can provide transportation to address the access barrier. Generally, to help solve these barriers, we need to elevate underrepresented voices. We have a duty to share stories from diverse perspectives. What steps do you think we can take to break down these barriers?

[syasyamusfyirah]

CTS B | WEEK 2 Collaborative Skills

Q1. Describe your strengths and weaknesses as a collaborator. What did you do well, and what are some areas to improve? Discuss with reference to today’s activities.

As a collaborator, I recognise that I bring my own unique style, preferences and standards to the table, which can sometimes make teamwork challenging. Like everyone, I have certain likes and dislikes, and when it comes to combining ideas, I find that they do not always align with my expectations. I have this tendency to hold onto my personal standards which can be a weakness, as I sometimes struggle to fully embrace others’ contributions when they do not meet my ideals. On the other hand, I acknowledge my strength in being flexible and accommodating differences within the group. While I may initially disagree with ideas that do not match my expectations, I am capable of setting aside my preferences for the sake of collaboration. I am willing to give in when necessary and recognise the importance of having different perspectives. This ability to compromise helps create better teamwork, and ensures that we all contribute to a shared outcome. However, there is always room for improvement. I realise that I could contribute more of my own ideas, rather than just focusing on accommodating others. When nothing goes my way at all, I tend to shut out all of my ideas so I do not disrupt other's train of thoughts. By sharing more of my thoughts and participating more actively in the brainstorming process, I can help ensure that all voices are heard and that we can all be on the same page. This would also strengthen my ability to communicate my ideas clearly and make sure that everyone in the group feels equally valued and involved.

Q2. If you had more time and an unlimited budget, how would you design the monument differently? Include pictures of the group work, and your personal re-design.

If we had more time, I would revise our design to be more minimal, general and versatile, rather than focusing on just one specific style. Our original design was based on the theme of ‘LASALLE students’, but as someone who enjoys observing many ways people express their creativity, I have realised that limiting the design to a single style, like the “cutesy-goth’ concept that group agreed upon, does not fully capture the diverse range of creative expressions among the student body. When we aim to convey a message, it is important for it to be coherent and make everyone feel included. This means considering different perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences to ensure that no one feels left out. By expanding the concept, we could represent a wider range of styles, allowing for a more inclusive and flexible design that resonates and attracts a larger audience. 

In addition, if we had an unlimited budget, I would still choose durable materials like concrete, stones, wood, and glass. Simple yet elegant. These materials not only ensure the design's longevity and sustainability, but also give it a timeless aesthetic that complements various styles. The combination of these materials can create a design that is both strong and versatile, supporting the broader, more inclusive vision I have in mind. It would allow the design to feel more modern, functional, and adaptable to different interpretations of creativity. The simplicity of this approach would ensure that the design remains visually appealing and adaptable without losing its sense of strength and purpose. You can never go wrong with simplicity.

~ 525 words

[happyminyards]

that would be a terrible idea. you get an extreme bias in your test group selection since a significant chunk of people who are opposed to change in general will opt out of any new feature/design immediately or never even select it to begin with. which is not info you want. you want concrete data on if the new feature changes the way they behave on the website, i.e. click certain stuff more/less, spend more/less time on the site, whatever. just pure, cold engagement data.

there's a reason all websites do it like tumblr does. you want actual data, and you need the most diverse group of users (in terms of user behaviour) to collect that.

the feedback option is literally already a thing, there's a feedback form you can and should use if you want to feedback new features/changes.

let's imagine there's a new change like, idk, a new dashboard layout (wild, i know). with the suggested 'experiment' here, a significant chunk of people would exit out immediatly since they dislike change (valid enough). they might also send in some feedback showing their displeasure, but not with any concrete information since they didn't really test the layout to begin with. another group of users try out the new layout and give some feedback as well. tumblr only has data on the actual engagement and usage of the second group.

with normal a/b testing, you might get a lot of loud feedback from folks who actively dislike it, but you also get their data. you can look at whether they're "just" complaining or whether they actually use the site less or in ways you didn't intend them to do. you might also see that hey, they're complaining, but their feedback may be a lot more detailed (since they actually have to try out the new stuff) and/or they might still be using the site/feature in the way you hoped they would! which is extremely useful info.

really not a big fan of how tumblr will ''test'' changes by just. like. rolling them out to random users without warning? like dont they already have tumblr labs as an opt in way of testing new features?

stuff like the new icon changes where they directly say in their blog post about it that they're ''running a new experiment'' like okay. thats not even a good way to get feedback because objectively way more people are going to be negative about a sudden layout change they didnt ask for or get warned about? this is. like. surely there is a better way to do this. guys. please.

[sage-sips]

I guess it's time.

I've done my fair share of social media doom scrolling and void screaming over the years. Oddly enough, social media can also be a source of inspiration. Especially if you can pull back and look at big picture trends within your individual feed (not the big platform-wide trending topics.)

Lately I've been seeing all the usual tensions between Easter and those of us raised in evangelical fundamentalism who get a little twitchy this time of year. Plus there is a presidential election this Fall here in the U.S. The very real dangers of Christion Nationalistism are (finally!) being recognized. I've added what I can on the side of church-state separation. One person called me a "bafflingly atheist Tarot reader." Well, I am an atheist and I am  a Tarot reader. I've been planning to write a post like this to un-baffle things a little bit.

Unsurprisingly, I follow a lot of Tarot readers on Threads and Instagram. We are in the business of provoking thoughts so when @pixiecurio (creator of the brilliant Light Seer's Tarot deck! www.chris-anne.myshopify.com) outright asked for our thoughts about religion and spirituality, I knew it was time for this particular behind the scenes peek.

The root problem, as I see it, is when we use religion and spirituality interchangeably or think of them as being essentially the same thing.

They are not.

No matter how thin a coin may be, it still has two distinct and opposite sides. Both religion and spirituality deal with the intangible mysteries of human life. In that sense, they are part of the same coin, but they approach life's mysteries in distinct and vastly different ways.

Spirituality is internal and moves from the inside out. Spirituality is our individual, direct experience of life's mysteries and can be expressed but not taught. A spiritual teacher can lead you to the doorway, but only you can cross the threshold into direct experience and direct understanding. This internal experience directs external behaviors.

Religion is external and moves from the outside in. Religion is a group consensus about life's intangible mysteries and is taught from one generation to another. The external behavior strives to direct the internal experience.

Rather than two sides of the same coin, I find it more helpful to think of religion and spirituality as two circles of a Venn diagram.

For some people, their group, cultural, external religion is also an expression of their sincere, individual, internal spirituality. In that case, their circles overlap a great deal. For others, like me, the circles don't touch at all.

Tarot falls 100% within the circle of spirituality and not at all within the circle of religion. Tarot doesn't touch religion unless there is already some degree of overlap in your individual, personal religion-spirituality Venn diagram.

The original Tarot images emerged in sixteenth century Europe where religious and cultural diversity was less common. The original Tarot decks are rife with Christian images and symbols because at that time, Catholicism was culturally and politically dominant. Their circles had a lot of overlap.

Here, now, the circles need not touch and are still perfectly valid. In 21st century America an atheist Tarot reader is both possible and understandable.

Centuries of use and practice have shown that Tarot is a tool for our spirituality - it is a mechanism that enables our individual understanding and experience. Tarot doesn't tell you what to think or do. Tarot shows a world of possibilities, options, and guidance. Tarot only serves to enrich our internal understanding.

Tarot is a means of spiritual experience from the inside out, not a means to impose dogma from the outside in. Tarot does not make concrete predictions or impose anything from the outside.

Like Taoism and Buddhism, Tarot concerns itself with living human experience and doesn't say anything one way or the other about any particular god or gods.  Tarot works well with any religion, especially with modern, diverse (and sometimes abstract) Tarot decks.

In 30 years of reading Tarot and Oracle cards, both privately and publicly, I've never received the slightest hint of a message for or against any religion. There is never a sense of 'this is the ultimate truth for everyone.' Tarot is always individual. Tarot is always well within the realm of the spiritual.

If religion comes up in a private individual reading at all, it is emotional chicken soup. Sometimes the cards will remind the individual to take comfort in their chosen religious practices whatever they are.

With every passing year, religion has become increasingly radioactive as a public topic. I actively avoid religion and politics in my public collective energy Tarot readings.  I want my work to be inclusive and compassionate - to the best of my ability I will not allow toxic energies into this blog, this website or any of my readings, even if it comes in the guise of religion.

Religion in the mainstream despises Tarot. Religion despises atheists.

Spirituality embraces both with open arms. There is nothing baffling about that at all.

[lagonzesse]

The Urge to Purge

While I’ve only recently emerged in this particular fandom, I have extensive experience in several others. I have found it interesting to observe how the different subgroups coexist.

I can tell you with all honesty that I have seen myself dipping in and out of almost all of them. Anthropologically, this is a truly diverse society.

However, there’s a group of people in this realm who pose as fence sitters and use their exposure for the sole purpose of tearing Sam down. The level of overt toxicity is tragic, when you think of all the time they’re wasting on someone they supposedly dislike. They call it a “public service.” Delusions of grandeur. I pity you.

For my purposes today, I’m going to refer to them as SLAMs. They are lost and have founds themselves and their kin by slamming Sam relentlessly. They exist under a cloak of double anonymity that is neither honourable, nor courageous. Despite how well you conceal yourselves, the following is blatantly obvious about you:

- You fancy yourselves experts on public relations, yet you refute proof (sent to you in private, as a courtesy) when it is 100% concrete, because it doesn’t serve your disingenuous narrative. You come from a place of NO. I pity you.

- You question the business ethics of not only Sam but his partners, employees, accountants, lawyers, benefactors, family and friends. Do you think Sam has publicly set up this legacy to deliberately scam his fans, not to mention all of the above? This is an international company, who (while based in the US) reports income to several countries. Yet, you think a phone call to the IRS is going to be the thing that finally sh1tcans his career? (As you rub your hands together in hopeful glee). This is not your Uncle Pete’s lawn mowing business. Pick up a book. Learn about charities and partnerships before you comment again and reveal how little you understand. I pity you.

- You claim to be somewhat worldly and yet you do not have even a half-decent command of geography, time zones and privacy laws. I pity you.

- Your grasping, reaching, clawing to find *anything* negative from the tree planting event only served to reveal that: a) You know nothing about trees b) You assume the world plants trees the way you plant trees, c) You’re so resentful that you would begrudge an endeavour like this with no consideration of any good they achieve. I pity you.

- Your comments around the Gala tell us: a) You’ve never been at an event with French Service before, b) You’ve never been to a large conference of any size or kind real acumen and c) Your top (only?) skill is snark. I pity you.

- You demonstrate a new level of guile and hypocrisy by simultaneous accusing Sam of doing too much but also wanting him to do more. Stop calling it charity and using it for publicity Sam, but OH, how come you don’t auction off all your leather jackets, Sam? Which is it, Rainman? I pity you.

You don’t even have the conviction to own your narrative. You reblog every negative claim you see about Sam under the guise of “I just share what I get” as though you have no skin in this game. In reality, this is the only game you’ve got. I pity you.

[battlefrankies]

saw ur tags, wanted to give some context because you do bring up some interesting points!

newkama as a term is a combination of okama (a reclaimed pejorative that refers to drag queens/transvestites, who don't always identify as women) and newhalf (a term some trans women celebrities used to refer to themselves in the 90s, but today i've seen most trans women prefer to just be called women) (and the word for trans people in japan today is just english loanwords, literally just 'trans' and 'transgender', so the terminology has evolved)

the newkama and especially iva-chan's impel down group see themselves not as specifically drag queens or trans women, but as people who've transcended the restrictions of gender entirely. they do tap into that campy drag aesthetic though, like you can clearly see the rocky horror influence on ivankov's designs. i think it's a mistake to try and apply concrete labels that we see constantly online to this group (and also, lgbt people in general). oda isn't on twitter reading about how gen Z kids on tiktok want to be portrayed, he's talking to real-life people he meets, but also mostly he's drawing one piece and playing gacha games.

even on momoiro island when they were trying to put sanji in a dress, i think it's important to point out that sanji agreed to that training regimen and discussed it with iva-chan in order to get stronger; he could've left at any time. imo the optics for that section weren't ideal, but it emphasizes the freedom of expression for the newkama who live on that island. there's no pressure to conform to rigid standards of femininity when they're safe and comfortable having body hair and square jaws, but they just wanna wear a frilly dress too. ivankov could (and would) physically alter anyone's body at any point they wanted, but the newkama of the kamabakka kingdom felt no need for that.

are there better ways to portray that? for sure! i'm not mad about oda imperfectly supporting the lgbt community in a time & media environment that was either dismissive or downright hostile to trans people though. it was, again, head and shoulders above pretty much any shonen that was being published at the time. personally, i like that there's such a diversity of trans experiences being depicted in the series with so much affection, to the point where each time sanji said or did anything transphobic, he'd get punished for it. you can truly tell that oda thinks it's dope as fuck that people can just trans their genders, and to me that matters more than optically perfect trans women.

giselle gewelle from bleach, for example, being a really cute trans girl who is also evil, and whose trans identity is openly insulted by a protagonist and also she dies, in 2013. oda having the newkama not just be empowered, heroic characters but also living and thriving on their own island was basically unheard of at a time when 'bury your gays' was so prevalent it's got a tvtropes page. and it's not just that these heroic characters happen to be trans, their establishment of a supportive community in impel down is the REASON luffy could be saved.

i think a lot of people criticize the trans representation in OP in bad faith without context or any intention of trying to understand the context, but i don't take them seriously. the reason we're even talking about the supportive but flawed 2009 trans rep in one piece is because OP has so much staying power and influence in the cultural consciousness. i think it's fair to be uncomfortable with aspects of it, and that speaks to how far we've come since then, which is a good thing. i think the intent of these characters & oda's stance on trans rights couldn't be more clear though.

the trans representation in one piece is phenomenal actually

[meandmyechoes]

There's more on production design than costumes but all in all a very enlightening and informative talk on inspirations and the design process!

timestamps below

00:22 How do you work with the story group to make sure fans of the lore are served without excluding the newer fans?

LH: we don't start from the basis of it being fanservice

crew includes a mix of passionate fans and people with no context. we are all filmmakers and focus on character work first, then look at what from sw can be put in there.

Luthen's collection works together to tell the story of lost culture

Never are we led by [that = fanservice], but things that enrich the environment should be there

02:03 Coruscant

Q: three main settings:

Syril's home, ISB, Mon Mothma

aotc: bright, saturated neon colours - a welcoming environment

andor: brutalist, minimal modernism, some art deco in MM -

an "anti-coruscant"

LH: the hardest to do

avoid CGI because we want a place that exist.

the core principle of Coruscant is height (upper, middle, lower) then it become character led

ref vertical cities like Tokyo and NY, what is their language, what makes them interesting?

the goal is not to make (RM's) it should smell like that, have that nostalgia and fit in SW, but shouldn't feel futuristic or scifi.

I want to understand it as a place that can really exists, not always leading away from it but a place we can inhabit.

first decide on the materials: hard, monochromatic, concrete, steel, glass -> inhumane, total lack of organic materials, and you build it up to realize what works or not

Eddy's: i reckon she bought that apartment 20 years ago, she had a view of Coruscant and then the whole city grew up around her and it got lost like she did.

Baker-like cream vs. clinical sterility of the ISB vs. Mon's… values of her Chandrilan culture but also lack of comfort (the embassy is given to her)

MW: want to build real societies. thought about the texture, culture, materials, technology of each planet -> stratified? diverse? levels of society?

every background player has a story and a reason to be on screen

06:57 Happy accidents on costuming?

less of accidents and more endless discussion and thinking about things

everything needs to have a logic and reason to be onscreen because they are under so much scrutiny

08:14 How did you design Narkina 5? What does the design of oppression look like to you?

LH: prison to a me like a cross between an abattoir and a laboratory, like a labour camp, you can't escape from it, like Alcatraz if it was a lab.

the Panopticon logic of turning the organic people be the fuel of the machine, the disposable element

makies it more interesting, more THX1138 than the obvious grungy prison

love making white sets: photograph beautifully, things pop more, have a sinister nature.

earthiness of Ferrix vs. organics of highlands vs. trapped sterility of prison

MW: Luke and I talked about How do those wielding the power use the environment to oppress, intimidate and disorientate?

The part of white on white: there's nowhere to hide, it's horrific, you lose your sense of depth -> disempowered by this soul-destroying environment.

we also spend lots of time on developing this fabric that's utilitarian, disposable, feels like they just peel them off at the end of the day. they are treated like cattle, "host down", sterilized and they are given a fresh one for the next day.

all of these details eat away at you psychologically.

11:38 Visual style of Andor

How close did you want to get to what we've already seen?

What motifs do you know you want to work in when creating the world of Andor?

LH: we don't start that way around. when i met tony it was like, 'we're gonna make a star wars show but it's not gonna be like any star wars show you've watched.'

it was challenging when you figure out it means going into people's apartment and bathrooms to work with them.

keep the tangibility of the OT, then looking at R1's grittiness, and a sense of modernity that could compete with other shows, and make work the drama/chc but maintaining the nostalgia of SW without having it becoming as if 'selecting things from a catalogue just for it to feel SW'

It was about enhancing what was there and fleshing it out to feel like you could walk and live with these people, and hopefully forget about it at times, forget that you're watching SW, and be reminded of it.

13:35 Costuming

MW: knew as soon as we had the script we knew we had to create a new look to go with the layers and complexity of the characters.

the established costume language of SW was there.

Use the established uniform to ground us firmly into the SW world.

15:06 There is an abundance of personal rooms/belongings, how do you approach setting those space versus a public one? What were you trying to communicate about their lives?

LH:

Maarva: the home used to be function when Cassian was younger, but with him drifting and her husband's death, and the shop closing, her world gets smaller till it centralized around her chair

Eedy: she bought it box-fresh, you can get upgrades and plug-ins to the apartment and over time, it aged and (BAY-ta-lye)

a home salon you never see in S1, things that you feel relatable but in the SW language. It always start with the chc.

MW: Luke design spaces like the character designed them. He thinks about who they are and what they want to project in their interior. I try to do the same with the costumes.

It's the difference b/w wearing something in terms of structure and how it makes you feel compared to something like layers that you can disappear in.

e.g. Cass was hiding, disappearing in his clothes, then his arc is to become closer to the hero we know from R1, little bit he reveals himself more, the coat becomes more tailored, longer lines, shoulders are squared out, a very subtle, subliminal transformation he goes through.

18:45 Syril's costuming and his own customization

within the constricts (blurring of individual) of the uniform, people can still find ways to express themselves.

on one end, guys working in the ball pen and jaded office workers, not at all engaged, their costumes are enzyme-wash to fade out, unironed, no pride in their appearance. On the other end of the spectrum is Syril who tailors and tweaks and personalize it to express who he wants to project and who he wants to be. We made his costume subtly more rigid, more sculpted, freshly pressed, slightly brighter colour.

21:00 how do you go from Chernobyl (a raw story) to the SW show (pre-established lore)?

LH: the process is the same for whatever project it is. the similarity between the two projects is there are a lot of research. with Cbyl you don't want to lost and become a documentarian. Cbyl had finished scripts but on Tony was taking on it when I started, so we were building it the same time he was writing.

It's about character, and environment and storytelling, and it was mood and tone.

we wanted this to have sort of a journalistic logic. you approach it like you're dealing with building up every character's reality and atst we're making fiction/drama. The material is a bit lighter on Star Wars and the world is much greater varied. From a design pov, they are both rabbit holes. the only similarity is you run out of time, I'd love to create bigger set but at some point you'd have to shoot it.

24:11 filming real-world location/what's the consideration for location scouting?

LH: I'd love to do more on location. But it was hard to have a large crew on site and in a pandemic, so we ended up building a lot more [sets] than we initially intended.

I don't want to do a desert, but I want somewhere where the landscape spoke for itself. What if we have a planet that looks like the Scottish highlands? Then we were looking at dams and there's this one that always feels like a blight on the landscape. It just felt very imperal. The whole Aldahni sequence was then based around that idea. It was an imperial stronghold there and so on.

Barbican has both the weight and texture that felt right for a megacity like Coruscant but also felt right for a certain level - the middle.

We don't approach a location on the basis of pure concpet, it was always about enhancing the real place and how we can put it in the wider world of Coruscant, how we can do shots that you'd do in a real city and not in a CGI environment.

I always said the best place to do Coruscant would be Paris becaus you got the scale and style of certain aspects of Corsucant. (it's [slimpickins] in London ???? can't understand this part)

[audience talks about how turning a corner you see a structure featured in the show] yeah with Barbican you are a little more limitied, a little more, targeted, i suppose. What I'm always looking for when piecing together Coruscant was Journeys. So again it wasn't like 'Oh, let's stand here and have a conversation with the city in the background' or sth like that. Barbican actually gives you a lot in terms of Joruenys: Syril going home is one of my favourite. This place in London I don't remeber the name of, it's like a bridgeless estate, we made it go much further down and give it that elevation and that sense of depression.

It's really hard, I want to shoot more on location but more often we pull back and use the real world location as an inspiration.

28:45 What are some under-discussed innovation in the your fields that help you create Andor?

MW: leaning heavily into the DNA of established SW costume language. It was quite an analog costume approach. A mixture, in fact. There are things that would've been groundbreaking 1977, that seem not so much now. But we would like to have that as a starting point, we had a similar approach with this one. There was a lot of handmade, old-school analog creative costumes, but we also have a fantastic costume props dept that use new tech and material to create mostly armour elements and small sculpted elements on costuming. Lots of 3D Printing happening, scanning, adapting, trying urethanes and other materials that can make more comfortable armour. A problem of the original stormtrooper armour is discolouration/yellowing. It was also quite rigid and difficult for stunts. We import new materials for the armour to stay white forever and allow room for the stunt people.

LH: It was an active choice NOT to use the Volume. It doesn't suit our goal, what Tony is writing. The idea is to be on the ground and moving around with the characters as much as possible, and not creating spaces for scenes to happen, if that makes sense.

It's something you can do with longer, multi-ep drama like this, is to build bigger sets and connect them up. Ferrix comprise of almost 30 sets. They are largest out on the back lot one large composite set so you can walk in around the streets and into the homes. All the complexes are enjoyable.

With any sets I'd start by designing the whole thing. Design the city, design the prison infold, then start to break it down and what we want to use and how, what, who we want to build lest we understand the full geography.

I think that filters through even if you don't see it all. You hopefully doesn't jar at any point. The technology part is we first build it in 3D and previs. We don't follow a pipeline like the Volume shows. The analog feeds into what we want to achieve, a bit more like the OT, more tangible.

It wasn't anything groundbreaking we do as much as trying to put more on screen but make it feels like it's less (intentional/artificial)

[dailyniallnews]

How Niall Horan And Modest! Golf Are Changing The Game

Niall Horan has quickly become one of the most influential people in golf.

His company, Modest! Golf, manages a diverse group of players, runs tournaments and has recently joined forces with The R&A to inspire more young people to play the game.

His vision and passion is going to help shape an exciting and buoyant future for our sport.

How it all began

Horan has been a keen golfer his whole life.

Through his friendships with tour players, including Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose, and while spending time at European Tour events, he realised there was an opportunity to help younger pros at the start of their careers.

He teamed up with good friend Mark McDonnell, who has over 16 years of experience in the sports industry, and that dream became a reality in the form of Modest! Golf in May 2016.

You might think Horan’s profile and wealth – his 41 million Twitter followers is comfortably more than the world’s top ten golfers combined and he has an estimated net worth of around $70m – would make it easy for him, but the golf industry can be a tough nut to crack.

“It was hard to gain credibility at the start,” Horan admits.

“The nos and bumps in the road were a bit harsh. Trying to gain credibility with the players and within the industry itself was tough.

“But a couple of decisions we made early doors were important – we wanted to be involved with events and wanted young, up-and-coming players before taking on a top-50 player. The roots of the company were good.”

From those strong roots, Modest! Golf has flourished.

Just five years after launching, it’s now in a position to significantly influence the present and future of the sport. It’s a great place to be, but Horan’s aspirations from the outset were – excuse the pun – more modest.

“Niall never came to me and said, ‘I can change the face of the game’,” says McDonnell.

“Niall always recognised he had a part he could play, but clearly to change the face of the game takes a number of different people and stakeholders. But we’re trying to do our bit.

“We are a management company that manages players, but we also recognise that through great talent, some initiatives, the network we’ve built and Niall’s following, we can have a positive impact.”

The importance of inclusivity

Modest! has men, women and disability golfers on its books.

“Inclusivity is what our business is about and it’s what our business stands for,” says McDonnell.

“One of my standout moments was announcing Brendan Lawlor (in September 2019). For us, the ladies’ category and disability golf are two of the biggest growth areas.

“If we can help elevate them and put some people who we represent on a bigger platform to talk about them more, we feel it’s something we want to do.”

That became a reality this summer with the ISPS Handa World Invitational taking place at Galgorm Castle in Northern Ireland from July 29-August 1, and Lawlor hosting (and winning) the World Invitational Disability Tournament.

The men’s and women’s event was sanctioned by the European Tour, LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour and featured 144 men and 144 women playing alongside each other for an equal share of the $2.35million purse.

“Things like equal pay in the tournament are what we can do to get things off the ground,” says the former One Direction man.

“Then that gets headlines, and we start getting calls from big organisations and we’re working together all of a sudden. Having the support of ISPS and Dr Handa has been huge for us. We can have all these ideas, but we do need help to get it over the line.

“Anything that we’ve asked of ISPS Handa, they’ve been brilliant. We’ve been so lucky that they’ve seen the little bit we may be able to give to the game, and the tours as well.

“It’s very important to have the European Tour, the LET and the LPGA all on the same page.”

Shaping the future

Perhaps the most significant call Modest! has received came from The R&A, which resulted in it being asked to help design and develop a series of grassroots programmes aimed at inspiring more people into golf and retaining them within the sport.

In true form, Horan was playing golf when McDonnell told him The R&A had reached out.

“I nearly fell over because I thought ‘this is amazing, this is what we’ve been waiting for’.

“Straight away we got on calls with Martin Slumbers (chief executive of The R&A) and Phil Anderton (chief development officer at The R&A) and they were brilliant. They’re really forward-thinking. Not what I thought The R&A would be like, as mad as that sounds.”

So what happens now, and when can we expect to see some concrete plans coming from Modest! and The R&A?

“It’s not a quick process and they aren’t going to throw money at anything just to see if it sticks,” McDonnell explains.

“We’re taking our time to speak to as many different groups as we can to start putting together some really meaningful programmes. Hopefully they will resonate with a lot of people who don’t play or play rarely.”

Horan and McDonnell believe the August 2020 appointment of Anderton, who has worked at Coca-Cola, as chief executive of Scottish Rugby Union and Hearts FC and chief marketing officer of the ATP in tennis, is extremely significant.

“Phil Anderton is a great guy and has a really interesting background of disrupting sports in a credible way,” says McDonnell.

“For example, he was behind the tennis at the O2 Arena. We don’t want to take golf in a completely different area, down the tacky or publicity route. Niall and I are quite traditional. We like golf how it is – it just needs a few tweaks to make it more appealing.”

The recognition that golf is a brilliant game that just requires the odd tweak and a bit of work to improve its reputation and communication to non-golfers is absolutely integral.

Horan and McDonnell recognise many of the barriers that exist, but they’re also aware there’s a huge opportunity to grow the game.

“The barriers are quite obvious,” says McDonnell.

“The speed has always been heavily criticised, the cost, the fashion. Our role is to work with The R&A to see how we can bring those barriers down to allow more people to experience golf.

“We know it’s a game you can get the bug for really quickly. We’re not reinventing the wheel, but it’s about working with a massive organisation to create more opportunities for people to be introduced to the game, and then how we retain them.

“This isn’t a problem where we’ve got no one to sell the game to, because there are so many people who don’t play. For us, it’s a massive opportunity and a really exciting challenge to try and tap into those non-golfers. There’s a massive market of young people who want to take up sports, and we’ve seen there’s been a huge increase in cycling, so golf has a massive opportunity.

“We feel we can do it without saying ripped jeans are allowed on the course. You’ve got to maintain a level of tradition, but we shouldn’t be having a hoo-ha if somebody wears a hoody on a golf course.”

Horan adds: “It’s the people at the top now who need to move the needle. Augusta National with the Drive, Chip and Putt and the Women’s Amateur; The R&A doing this.

“It’s all going to start to move the needle. It’s those at the top who are going to make it happen, and we’re going to help them.”

[blazenhearts]

The only people who have ever brought up accessibility issues with build mart are the stans of the Dream Team. None of the actual players have said anything except for a couple of times, and that was when change happened. After players were struggling to tell which blocks were which, Noxcrew added block titles so everyone could see what block they were looking at without it being invasive. If any player has a problem with being overwhelmed during the game, they can take it up with Noxcrew. The fans don’t need to complain for the players, they can do that themselves.

If it’s accessibility you’re worried about, I could argue just about every game in MCC is inaccessible and hostile to certain players in some capacity. Parkour Tag and Battle Box require coordination and cool nerves under pressure, which is inaccessible to players who have wrist/hand mobility and coordination issues and have extreme anxiety, for example. The issue is not that Build Mart is particularly inaccessible compared to other games, just that it’s a game that several players with large audiences dislike and continue to voice their distaste for the game publicly (which they’re allowed to do). It does have memorization aspects, yes, but so do games like Battle Box, where players can memorize certain strategies for certain maps, or Ace Race, where they can memorize the fastest route to get somewhere. The only difference is there is no defined group-hate towards these games, even though they have aspects that could be hostile to a large number of players.

The only people who have brought up accessibility issues with build mart are the stans of the Dream Team.

I have seen a lot of of Dream Team stans talk about inaccessibility. I think a lot of that comes from seeing how frustrated they get whenever buildmart comes up, especially considering we watch george, whos colorblindness is incredibly severe, and dream, whose spoken about how his ADHD negatively impacts his performance in buildmart a lot. But just because it seems like a particular group is more vocal about it doesn't negate that fact that inaccessibility is the issue. If I had to watch any cc struggle with a game that they literally cannot approve upon because of their disability, I would advocate for it to be removed.

Noxcrew did add block titles, but what's the range? Non colorblind players can easily look at a block and name the color from across the map, but colorblind players would have to over within range to come to the same conclusion.

The fans don't need to complain for the players, they can do that for themselves

Of course they can which is why I also brought up the fact that as a viewer it can be overwhelming. Also the reason I posted it here in tumblr and didn't tag anyone. I'm not fighting battles for the players; I'm pointing out how ableistic buildmart is.

I could argue just about every game in MCC is inaccessible compared and hostile towards certain players

Buildmart is a game you can't practice. Also games like battle box and ace race are games that players can improve on. Pvp isn't your strong suit? Practice, talk to pvp players. Ace race tridents messing you up? There's a map that you can practice on! You're colorblind and literally cannot see the difference between lim and yellow concrete unless you go all the way up to the block? ... what do you do then?

It's not that other games aren't hostile or that other games don't put certain players at a disadvantage. It's the fact that there's no way currently for colorblind and nd players to improve.

The only difference is that there's no defined group-hate towards these games

I wouldn't mind if other games got called out for inaccessibility, there's always room for improvement. And calling out when games are punishing players for things they cannot control is not a bad thing. If you see something that should be changed, talk about it. Every person's accommodations are different and they over lap, especially with large diverse groups of people so not every game is going to be each players best, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't call out games that are fundamentally putting people with particular disabilities at a disadvantage.

Buildmart ,as it currently is, is a memory game in which being able to quickly identify colors is a huge advantage which makes it an inaccessible game to nd player/players that struggle with short term memory and players that are colorblind.