#little lebanese american things

[fabdante]

lately i've been on a comically intensive quest to recreate my grandmothers rice pilaf

the dilemma being my grandma died when i was in elementary school and i cannot ask her questions

[fullfriendnerdclutch]

Artie grinned mischievously as his friends profile started to appear one by one. The app linked to the saved contacts in his phone and somehow they managed to extract a fairly accurate profile of Artie's friends, resulting in a couple avatars that Artie can choose and tweak to his likings. The app, called Chronivac, not only changed Artie's physique to look like a 30+ years old hairy muscle hunk, it also molded the reality in accordance to the final prompt Artie typed in, turning the 20 years old college dropout into a bonafide hunk living life lavishly from workout courses and OF, and he's about to spice things up in the life of his dear friends.

He started from Randall.

He started very methodically as he put Randy as the new name. Then, when the profile options opened, he started his work. Get rid of the glasses. Get rid of that acne scar and blackspot. Retain the face but make the jaw angular. Styling the hair so it's no longer greasy and moppy. Face done, now the body

Randall is quite a perv and his biggest turn-on is big titties, but well, most untouched virgin are perv anyway so maybe he should make Randy turned on with himself by giving him this large pair of muscle tits? Lol, that's hilarious, he thought to himself. Humh.....so maybe keep Randy as a 255 lbs fuckers? Well, turn all the fat into muscle and click "Optimize" because he can't be bothered to perfect Randy's muscle distribution.....hot damn that's one massive unit! Finalize the whole change with the short prompt

"Randy is a gym junkie and absolute freak of nature. He's probably the biggest 20 years old in the entire Americas. He's one of my mentee and he looked up to me as his inspiration, he even will not hesitate to take my cock if I instruct him to do so to get bigger, quite the dumb oaf he is,"

Click Save and then Process. Several seconds later, a transformed Randy appeared in the room that Artie booked for this holiday. Randy appeared to be sleeping while he got altered earlier, Artie just realized it's night time in the States so no wonder Randy is asleep. He will check him out later as he still have several more profile to go

Andy. Oh, yeah, the profile arrangement is based on surnames. Coleman, Randall. Garcia, Andy. Andy is Artie's bestfriend from childhood so Artie knows very well what Andy really wanted to look like.

Keep the name and lineage. A little tweak in his testosterone to boost that facial hair growth and make that balls pumped full faster with mini Garcias. Andy admired his hotter, older brother, Juan, so badass and clearly a true symbolism of what Latin American community deemed as macho, so Randall ensured that whatever feature Juan possessed, Andy is going to make that even better. Thicker hair, more defined abs, bigger biceps, bigger triceps, rounder delts, voice that trembles anyone that hear it, obviously bigger uncut piece of meat, more tattoos, all lodged in as part of the new Andy's persona. The avatar is looking quite a looker already so Artie just added a bit of simple prompt, click the Save button and then Process the changes. Andy suddenly appeared in the day bed next to Artie, still sleeping soundly and Artie just smirked as he continued his work

He tweaked Ollie's profile right after, making the pale and lanky 6'5" Norwegian-Lebanese former ballet dancer to be closer to his Lebanese roots as he shrunk him to a 6'1" muscle daddy. Ollie, or Olaf, quickly turned into Ali, and just like Andy, appeared in the same resort where Artie stayed

Michael is supposedly next on the list, but James is already quite distracting for Artie so he decided to work on James first. He's really not that close to James and to be honest, if it's not because James is Andy's college roommate, Artie probably would have 0 interest to befriend him. He might be clouded with jealousy because Andy seemingly enjoyed James company, and even worse, a little crush on him, but well, with a reality-changing app in the palm of his hands, why should he accept things as it is when he can change it? So, rather than focusing on the physical aspect, Artie simply turned his focus to James mental part. He smirked devilishly as he turned the pretty-much straight James into a horny, lustful bottom. Artie practically emasculated James and he felt zero remorse whatsoever as he then added to the prompt that James tagged along to this trip as he's a clingy cum dump that Michael fucked once in the seedy bar that he and Andy frequented. Yup, that's the plot of his change to the innocent Michael.

Artie quickly tweaked Michael profile, the smallest and shiest one in the friend group is now the horny beast who needs to fuck a hole in daily basis. Artie based all of them in the same city, the same apartment building even and then created this whole backstory of their ascendancy to the top of OF and independent adult industry in Michael's prompt space. When he clicked Process, the sound of James moaning in delight echoed all the way to the swimming pool, Michael is basically fucking the shit out of James

The noise also managed to wake Andy's up. Despite seemingly confused at first, Andy quickly find his senses and instead of freaking out or reacted in surprise, he seems to be very much comfortable and at home. Artie sighed with relief, thrilled that his little handiwork resulted nicely.

It seems like that Andy is totally not aware that his life has been dramatically altered by his own best friend that just whipped out his cock from the swimming shorts he's wearing. With a grin while his right hand started pumping his meaty cock and the phone flipped and locked in the table, Artie said

"Care to help a friend here? We can drench Ali to wake the fucker's up when we are close,"

[mariacallous]

tumbr.com/blog/mariacallous/post/765157871483813888

Yeah related to this and the whole "how to win Michigan" thing is that I know I'm a broken record on this as a Michigander who actually personally knows Arab-Americans in Detroit, but I feel like people not from here talk about it like everyone in that voting bloc is a Palestinian American who personally has family members dying in Gaza. It's a very diverse group of people that has NEVER been a unified voting bloc for either party, but it's people from all over the Middle East, that are not all Muslim, and many whose families came to the U.S. in the early 20th century to work for the auto factories (just like the rest of us descendants-of-immigrants from Detroit!) and so don't have any family members they know who are still there! This includes some Palestinian-Americans. Other Palestinian-Americans came over right after the Nakba in 1948, over 75 years ago... while I'm sure some still have family connections there, many many others do not. But it's just weird that people don't even recognize that huge chunks of Michigan's Arab-American population aren't Palestinian? And obviously, a lot of Arab and Muslim Americans still feel a very close connection to this issue and see parallels to broader Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism in how people discuss this, but that doesn't mean they're one-issue voters. Even plenty of Palestinian Michiganders are not. It just feels incredibly ignorant and condescending - and ironically speaking to how much these people fall into these "angry Arab" stereotypes even when they're "leftists" who are supposedly speaking on their behalves. It just makes me mad. What do you fucking know? And also, why do so many people talk about Arab-Americans in Michigan like they wouldn't somehow be counted in the polls that keep showing Harris ahead in Michigan???

My feeling is just that if you're not going to assume that an American purely being of Eastern European descent automatically means they're going to vote based on Ukraine, you should not assume the same of someone about Gaza purely for being of Arab descent. Like Harris was right during the debate that plenty of us Polish-Americans are concerned that if Ukraine falls Poland is next, and how little Trump seems to care about that, but I don't see anyone suggesting that Poles whose families have been in the U.S. for generations are one-issue Ukraine voters... and yet they seem to think that's true with anyone of Arab descent re: Gaza. And point to interviews with activists and students as though they speak for every single person in a group so numerous in the Detroit area that they have theme nights for them at the Major League Sports stadiums there.

Like, when a journalist starts going into random Lebanese or Yemeni delis in Dearborn and interviews the people who work there and the patrons about their politics - doing what they do with Trump voters in white rural areas - then call me. Of course activists are going to fixate on the issue they've dedicated their lives to fighting for. But I'm so tired of people who aren't listening to any other Arab-Americans telling me what my neighbors and friends think.

.

[all-doggirls-go-to-heaven-2]

SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BRAZILLIAN PIZZAS.

Im ngl i would be much more pleasant to people talking about "oh Brazilian food is weeeeeird" if they had an ounce of like. Self awareness. Like fude if a country is big enough half a dozen restaurants are gonna do buckwild shit. Like people dont realize that theres weird stuff from china or Brazil because theyre big fucking countries! Somewhere, a mfer is gonna do something crazy with food! So yeah we got people stuffing weird stuff in pizzas and sushi - they're things that immigrants (italians and japanese and syrian lebanese are the majority of immigrants in Brazil.) gave to us, and we consider them "extravagant" food (uh oh social disparity in brazil?) So! When brazillian people want to have extravagant food that is 1. Not that pricey and 2. Extremely indulgent, we just fuck everything up with what we consider tasty and we know beforehand! Not a hard concept to grasp!

Also!!! Can I just say!!!! That its really funny that the americans and the BRITISH of all people keep doing this. When Wigan Kebab is a thing. When fried butter is a thing. Theres a thousand american and british foods that I personally consider revolting and extremely weird but if I say something, you say "oh those arent common foods, its not a good sample of what the culinary is like" but when I say that shit about Brazil you're like "haha, yeah, I saw those pictures. You're not fooling me, third-worlder. Your food habits are disgusting and we are closing yet another traditional restaurant to open a KFC."

Im just really angry at imperialists who get a little too buddy-buddy about what my country eats. Yeah man, we have different eating out habits as you. Not AS different as you would like to think, tho. If you dont know what is in a traditional feijoada (without googling it) and WHY it is the way it is, i do NOT trust your opinion on Brazillian food. Culture is important, dipshit.

E vão tomar no cú, gringos de merda.

[dear-indies]

hi! first of all: thank you for all your fc help, i have found so many amazing faces through you! id love to hear who are some faces youd love to see more that are early 30s to mid 40s, any gender, preferably a person of color! bonus points if they look a little stoic but could have a soft spot! thank you so much, i cant wait to look through who you are suggesting!

Kayvan Novak (1978) Iranian.

Ser Anzoategui (1979) Argentinian and Paraguayan - is non-binary (they/them) - has said that they're a person of colour!

Hend Sabry (1979) Egyptian.

Angelica Ross (1980) African-American - is trans.

Madeleine Sami (1980) Fijian-Indian / White - is a lesbian.

Amara Zaragoza / Tamara Feldman (1980) Shawnee, Mexican [Purépecha], White - has Multiple Sclerosis.

Tahar Rahim (1981) Algerian.

Jesse Williams (1981) African-American, Seminole / Swedish.

Amanda Seales (1981) African-American / Grenadian [African, at least one quarter European].

Rajshri Deshpande (1982) Indian.

Riz Ahmed (1982) Pakistani.

Yolanda Bonnell (1982) Ojibwe, White / Indian - is two-spirit and queer (she/they) - is open about having OCD and ADHD!

Luna Maya (1983) Indonesian.

Aaradhna (1983) Samoan / Gujarati Indian.

Amir Eid (1983) Egyptian.

Kid Cudi (1984) African-American.

Firass Dirani (1984) Lebanese.

Mohamed Emam (1984) Egyptian.

Mahira Khan (1984) Pakistani.

Sami Zayn (1984) Syrian.

Zawe Ashton (1984) Ugandan / White.

Ravyn Ariah Wngz (1984) Mohawk, Tanzanian, Afro-Bermudian - is a Two-Spirit trans woman (she/her).

Kristin Chirico (1984) - is questioning their gender, “encompassing a lot of things” but is not yet sure if she’s nonbinary or a gender non-confirming woman and uses they/her - openly bisexual and demisexual and have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, ADHD, dyslexia, and asthma.

Troian Bellisario (1985) American, Louisiana Creole [African, French, English] / White.

Lilan Bowden (1985) Taiwanese / White.

Sepideh Moafi (1985) Iranian.

Alex Meraz (1985) Mexican [Purépecha].

a gap because tumblr hates large chunks of text!

Aabria Iyengar (1985) African-American.

Rahul Kohli (1985) Punjabi Indian - uses he/they.

Sonam Kapoor (1985) Punjabi and Sindhi Indian.

T'Nia Miller (1985) Afro Jamaican - is a lesbian.

Karim Kassem (1986) Egyptian / Egyptian Jewish.

Che Jim (1989) Navajo, Odawa, Nahua.

Mihaela Drăgan (1986) Romani - is queer.

Jodi Balfour (1986) - is queer.

Chai Fonacier (1986) Bisaya Filipino.

Diane Guerrero (1986) Colombian - has called herself a woman of colour!

Lido Pimienta (1986) Colombian [Wayuu, Afro-Colombian] - is queer.

Charlyne Yi (1986) Korean, Yuki, Mexican, Filipina, Spanish, French, Irish, and German - is non-binary and queer (they/them).

Alba Flores (1986) Romani and Spanish - is a lesbian.

Saagar Shaikh (1986) Pakistani.

Mustafa Ali (1986) Pakistani.

Lily Gladstone (1986) Kainai Blackfoot, Amskapi Pikuni Blackfoot, Nez Perce, Dutch, Cajun - she/they.

Marwa Agrebi (1987) Tunisian.

Susan Wokoma (1987) Nigerian.

Munroe Bergdorf (1987) Afro Jamaican / English - is a trans woman.

Juliana Huxtable (1987) African-American - is a trans woman.

Anjana Vasan (1987) Tamil Indian.

Pearl Mackie (1987) West Indian / English - is bisexual.

Erika Ishii (1987) Japanese - is genderfluid (she/they/any).

Kendrick Sampson (1988) African-American / White.

Aiysha Hart (1988) Saudi Arabian and English.

a gap because tumblr hates large chunks of text!

Joel Kim Booster (1988) Korean - is gay and has bipolar disorder.

Gratiela Brancusi (1989) Romani and Greek Romanian.

Frank Waln (1989) Sicangu Oyate Lakota Sioux.

Mishel Prada (1989) Puerto Rican, Dominican Republic, and Mexican [Spanish, Portuguese, African, Indigenous], some French.

Rakeen Saad (1989) Jordanian.

Victoria Monét (1989) French, African-American/Creole - is bisexual.

Meyne Wyatt (1989) Wongutha and Yamatji.

Dina Torkia (1989) Egyptian / White.

Quinta Brunson (1989) African-American.

Kiell Smith-Bynoe (1989) Afro Barbadian and Afro Jamaican - donated an auction to Cinema4Gaza.

Laith Ashley (1989) Afro Dominican - is a trans man and asexual.

Mitski (1990) Japanese / White.

Arrows Fitz (1990) African-American - is non-binary (he/they/she/it).

Shirine Boutella (1990) Algerian.

Paapa Essiedu (1990) Ghanaian.

Lolly Adefope (1990) Yoruba Nigerian.

Anjli Mohindra (1990) Punjabi. 

Tabria Majors (1990) African-American.

Rosaline Elbay (1990) Egyptian.

Justin H. Min (1990) Korean.

Bowen Yang (1990) Chinese - is gay.

Amir El-Masry (1990) Egyptian.

Katie Findlay (1990) English, Hongkonger, Portuguese-Macanese, Scottish - is queer (they/them).

Poppy Liu (1990) Chinese - is non-binary (she/they).

Shareena Clanton (1990) Blackfoot, Cherokee, African-American, Wangkatha, Yamatji, Noongar, Gija.

Nayuka Gorrie (1990) Gunai, Gunditjmara, Wiradjuri, Yorta Yorta, Scottish - is non-binary (they/them).

Jes Tom (1990) Japanese / Chinese - is a trans guy (they/he/she) - has no gifs from after he came out as a trans guy1

Kiowa Gordon (1990) Hualapai and White.

Zahraa Ghandour (1991) Iraqi.

Alok Vaid-Menon (1991) Malayali and Punjabi Indian - is gender-nonconforming, non-binary transfeminine (they).

Jari Jones (1991) African-American / Filipino - is trans.

Denée Benton (1991) African-American.

Ellora Torchia (1992) Pakistani / White.

Pınar Deniz (1993) Turkish [Lebanese].

Ramy Youssef (1991) Egyptian.

Sarah Kameela Impey (1991) Indo-Guyanese / White.

Jamael Westman (1991) Afro Jamaican / White.

Anna Shaffer (1992) Black and White / Jewish.

Vinnie Bennett (1992) Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Porou, Ngā Puhi, White.

Paloma Elsesser (1992) African-American / Chilean-Swiss.

Rivkah Reyes (1992) Filipinx-Jewish - uses they/she but mostly they.

Medalion Rahimi (1992) Iranian, Iranian Jewish - uses she/they.

Rose Matafeo (1992) Samoan / Scottish and Croatian.

Zaqi Ismail (1992) Tanzanian.

Madeleine Sami (1980) Fijian-Indian / White - is a lesbian.

Amara Zaragoza / Tamara Feldman (1980) Shawnee, Mexican [Purépecha], White - has Multiple Sclerosis.

Tahar Rahim (1981) Algerian.

Jesse Williams (1981) African-American, Seminole / Swedish.

Amanda Seales (1981) African-American / Grenadian [African, at least one quarter European].

Rajshri Deshpande (1982) Indian.

Riz Ahmed (1982) Pakistani.

Yolanda Bonnell (1982) Ojibwe, White / Indian - is two-spirit and queer (she/they) - is open about having OCD and ADHD!

Luna Maya (1983) Indonesian.

Aaradhna (1983) Samoan / Gujarati Indian.

Amir Eid (1983) Egyptian.

Kid Cudi (1984) African-American.

Firass Dirani (1984) Lebanese.

Mohamed Emam (1984) Egyptian.

Mahira Khan (1984) Pakistani.

Sami Zayn (1984) Syrian.

Zawe Ashton (1984) Ugandan / White.

Ravyn Ariah Wngz (1984) Mohawk, Tanzanian, Afro-Bermudian - is a Two-Spirit trans woman (she/her).

Kristin Chirico (1984) - is questioning their gender, “encompassing a lot of things” but is not yet sure if she’s nonbinary or a gender non-confirming woman and uses they/her - openly bisexual and demisexual and have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, ADHD, dyslexia, and asthma.

Troian Bellisario (1985) American, Louisiana Creole [African, French, English] / White.

Lilan Bowden (1985) Taiwanese / White.

Sepideh Moafi (1985) Iranian.

Alex Meraz (1985) Mexican [Purépecha].

Aabria Iyengar (1985) African-American.

Rahul Kohli (1985) Punjabi Indian - uses he/they.

Sonam Kapoor (1985) Punjabi and Sindhi Indian.

T'Nia Miller (1985) Afro Jamaican - is a lesbian.

Karim Kassem (1986) Egyptian / Egyptian Jewish.

Che Jim (1989) Navajo, Odawa, Nahua.

Mihaela Drăgan (1986) Romani - is queer.

Jodi Balfour (1986) - is queer.

Chai Fonacier (1986) Bisaya Filipino.

a gap because tumblr hates large chunks of text!

Diane Guerrero (1986) Colombian - has called herself a woman of colour!

Lido Pimienta (1986) Colombian [Wayuu, Afro-Colombian] - is queer.

Charlyne Yi (1986) Korean, Yuki, Mexican, Filipina, Spanish, French, Irish, and German - is non-binary and queer (they/them).

Alba Flores (1986) Romani and Spanish - is a lesbian.

Saagar Shaikh (1986) Pakistani.

Mustafa Ali (1986) Pakistani.

Lily Gladstone (1986) Kainai Blackfoot, Amskapi Pikuni Blackfoot, Nez Perce, Dutch, Cajun - she/they.

Marwa Agrebi (1987) Tunisian.

Susan Wokoma (1987) Nigerian.

Munroe Bergdorf (1987) Afro Jamaican / English - is a trans woman.

Juliana Huxtable (1987) African-American - is a trans woman.

Anjana Vasan (1987) Tamil Indian.

Pearl Mackie (1987) West Indian / English - is bisexual.

Erika Ishii (1987) Japanese - is genderfluid (she/they/any).

Kendrick Sampson (1988) African-American / White.

Aiysha Hart (1988) Saudi Arabian and English.

Joel Kim Booster (1988) Korean - is gay and has bipolar disorder.

Gratiela Brancusi (1989) Romani and Greek Romanian.

Frank Waln (1989) Sicangu Oyate Lakota Sioux.

Mishel Prada (1989) Puerto Rican, Dominican Republic, and Mexican [Spanish, Portuguese, African, Indigenous], some French.

Rakeen Saad (1989) Jordanian.

Victoria Monét (1989) French, African-American/Creole - is bisexual.

Meyne Wyatt (1989) Wongutha and Yamatji.

Dina Torkia (1989) Egyptian / White.

Quinta Brunson (1989) African-American.

Kiell Smith-Bynoe (1989) Afro Barbadian and Afro Jamaican - donated an auction to Cinema4Gaza.

Laith Ashley (1989) Afro Dominican - is a trans man and asexual.

Mitski (1990) Japanese / White.

Arrows Fitz (1990) African-American - is non-binary (he/they/she/it).

Shirine Boutella (1990) Algerian.

Paapa Essiedu (1990) Ghanaian.

Lolly Adefope (1990) Yoruba Nigerian.

Anjli Mohindra (1990) Punjabi. 

Tabria Majors (1990) African-American.

Rosaline Elbay (1990) Egyptian.

Justin H. Min (1990) Korean.

Bowen Yang (1990) Chinese - is gay.

Amir El-Masry (1990) Egyptian.

Katie Findlay (1990) English, Hongkonger, Portuguese-Macanese, Scottish - is queer (they/them).

Poppy Liu (1990) Chinese - is non-binary (she/they).

Shareena Clanton (1990) Blackfoot, Cherokee, African-American, Wangkatha, Yamatji, Noongar, Gija.

Nayuka Gorrie (1990) Gunai, Gunditjmara, Wiradjuri, Yorta Yorta, Scottish - is non-binary (they/them).

Jes Tom (1990) Japanese / Chinese - is a trans guy (they/he/she) - has no gifs from after he came out as a trans guy!

Kiowa Gordon (1990) Hualapai and White.

Zahraa Ghandour (1991) Iraqi.

Alok Vaid-Menon (1991) Malayali and Punjabi Indian - is gender-nonconforming, non-binary transfeminine (they).

Jari Jones (1991) African-American / Filipino - is trans.

Denée Benton (1991) African-American.

Ellora Torchia (1992) Pakistani / White.

Pınar Deniz (1993) Turkish [Lebanese].

Ramy Youssef (1991) Egyptian.

Sarah Kameela Impey (1991) Indo-Guyanese / White.

Jamael Westman (1991) Afro Jamaican / White.

Anna Shaffer (1992) Black and White / Jewish.

Vinnie Bennett (1992) Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Porou, Ngā Puhi, White.

Paloma Elsesser (1992) African-American / Chilean-Swiss.

Rivkah Reyes (1992) Filipinx-Jewish - uses they/she but mostly they.

Medalion Rahimi (1992) Iranian, Iranian Jewish - uses she/they.

Rose Matafeo (1992) Samoan / Scottish and Croatian.

Zaqi Ismail (1992) Tanzanian.

Oooo this is such a lovely message, thank you so much anon! I've honestly found so many amazing actors and artists through people speaking up about Palestine so all of these have, those with resources at the time of posting are bolded! 💌

[soll-amca]

Do you have any Alessi headcanons for someone desperate ?🫣 Too shy to come off anon to ask ..

uHHHHHHHH MAYHAps :) Thank you for the ask! I’ve been dying to write for awhile :) !

I legit don’t know what I have and haven’t posted yet since I haven’t been on tumblr for a hot minute but uhhh uhhhhhhhh. There’s lore-dumps near the top, but it gets better near the end I promise

Obligatory song for my headcanon posts. There’s no specific reason for this song, it’s just a banger, and I’m also trying to be very normal about Walid Toufic and not put his music for every single Alessi post

Alessi’s of Lebanese-Armenian descent, but extremely estranged from his Armenian roots due to internal family issues — mostly his father facing scorn from his intolerant side of the family for marrying an Armenian woman. Despite this, Alessi was very close with his mother and, even as a grown man, regrets not learning more from her. Of course, he’s never going to admit this, no matter how obvious it may be that he tries to pick up parts of the Armenian language and culture 

Alessi was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1951, but was eventually forced out due to a civil war in 1975. Though, what gave him the final push to leave was a falling out with his siblings. With both their parents gone, his sister going off to a loveless marriage, and his brother wanting to join the war effort, Alessi loses control of Sethan during a confrontation and turns them into children. This ends up as a strange, happy accident as he would try keeping up the charade for a few days, exploiting their memory being reverted to fake a “happy family” in an effort to keep the last remnants of his old life from slipping away 

Things end horribly for Alessi as his siblings eventually find out and oust him from the home they all grew up in. With nothing left for him, he leaves and dedicates himself to mercenary work throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa to keep himself afloat

With fourteen years under his belt by SDC, Alessi’s considered one of the best in the region. And since he’s well-traveled, he’s proficient in a majority of the Arabic dialects, so nine times out of ten, nothing got past him in Dio’s mansion regardless of where the other assassins were from

The joke is that most Arabs don’t understand North Africans, but everyone can understand Egyptians, so whenever Alessi wants to phase out of a conversation, he’ll slowly change to to a dialect that’s “further out” and difficult to understand despite Levantine being his first

Since French is a secondary language in Lebanon, much more prevalent during Alessi’s time in schooling, and especially North Africa for mercenary work. He knows enough to get around like the basics, but can’t read or write for shit. His little brother was easily more fluent than him, so he has a weird sort of resentment yet fondness for the language. Whatever French he knew definitely came back when he was chasing around Polnareff in the Sethan arc

Very, very curly hair, but he doesn’t take care of it. Back as a kid, when he had his mom, she would help him and he was basically a puff-ball, but as an adult, he doesn’t have the slightest clue on how to style it while also maintaining his hair. If you catch him when he just wakes up, or immediately after a shower, it’s seemingly perfect but then he’ll proceed to douse himself in a can of hairspray 

The gun he uses in SDC isn’t his, it’s his late brother’s. But going into that right now on why and how he even got it should be it’s entirely own post so —

Any endearment at all related to babe/baby will have him throwing up in his mouth. It’s one thing to mention a child, it’s another to somehow relate it back to HIM. Honestly, Alessi doesn’t read as a “habibi” person to me, he’s too bitter to be a “habibi” person. Albi and eini come much more easily to him as petnames to call someone

He’s a sucker for trashy American television. He used to think he was above it, but now if you leave him alone for long enough, he’ll put on TLC and binge whatever’s on. Although back home, he had a thing for spaghetti westerns even if they were horribly dubbed in Arabic

Adding to the Western trend, he was super into Lucky Luke comics as a kid. Since they were really popular in the Middle East, and the translated ones were produced in Egypt. It’s definitely not a stretch that during the 80s and SDC, his grown, mercenary ass sat down to watch cartoons of his favorite cowboy. Would Alessi hog the mansion’s TV to watch Lucky Luke? Perchance. Would he stay cooped up in his Luxor hotel room to watch it? Also perchance

Tintin was popular, too, but I think I need an outside opinion on that. If a Tintin person could come back to me about this please help

Hol Horse fascinates him. Not in an admiration sort of way, but a “holyshit a real cowboy” sort of way. To Alessi, it’s like Hol crawled out of his family television and old comic books

I don’t know who it was, but I want to say back in like,, 2016ish one of the original Dio’s Fuckhouse blogs had a headcanon that Hol was actually from New England or something, but basically nowhere near “the Wild West” or even the South. So the image of Alessi being interested and asking him stuff while Hol Horse is just,, sweating bullets because he’s not a “real cowboy” is hilarious to me

Because of what happened with his sister, Alessi’s very standoffish when it comes to love. He’ll take any chance he can get to mock touchy couples and heckle anyone that he thinks is getting “too intimate” in public, but I think we all know he’s compensating for something

But the moment someone touches him or is very direct about making a move, he flusters and doesn’t know what to do with himself. Cheesy pick-up lines will only embarrass him and he can’t tell whether or not you’re making fun of him

Having gone through wide extremities of emotions when he was younger, and then having to suppress them all as a mercenary, Alessi wouldn’t understand sensitivities. Especially since he’d have to adopt a pragmaticism in his line of work to keep himself alive — and arguably sane. He’d get confused over someone being upset over an inconvenience that isn’t “up to par” to what he went through, but at the same time fly off the handle at small things happening to him since he bottles up all his emotions

If someone cries around him, he falls into the routine of having this initial frustration, stuffing it down to not make things worse, and eventually follow through with a weird shoulder pat — sorta like “there, there”. After that, he’s clueless

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #166

I said in yesterday's letter that today's letter is gonna be early, so here it is! I still have a slight headache, which is weird, but I took some ibuprofen, so I should be fine soon! I can only assume I somehow ended up with a migraine yesterday; oh well.

J and I are going camping today! We're going to a spot in New Hampshire from where we live in New York! I'm not sure how the internet will be over there (there might not be any!), and I am committed to writing to you daily, so that means if I'm gonna be in a place where the internet isn't good, I gotta get my letter done before I go to that place!!

We're going to fly there from the little airport that is relatively close to us; it's about 100 miles or about 156 kilometers away. It's about 2.75 hours to get there by car. But it'll only be about an hour by plane! But of course, that hour doesn't account for driving to the airport, inspecting the plane, and getting everything packed and squared away, ahaha!

It's only about 9am, so I don't have a whole lot else to write about yet today. So what I thought to do is show you all the pictures I took over the last several days that I didn't get around to showing you in my previous letters. Because... Sephiroth... the world is full of beautiful things if you know where to look for them. I want to teach you where to look for them. I saved the best one for last, you'll see!!

Some pictures of the sky:

Some tea swirls!

This is Lebanese food. I dunno if you have a place like Lebanon in your world, but... I guess it's a lot like Greek food, except with more warming spices. This one is lamb over spiced buttered rice with cucumber, corn, and yogurt sauce and tomatoes:

These are tiny spiced meat pies; they're amazing with cucumber-yogurt sauce!!

This one is rose-flavored cream stuffed inside layers of phyllo dough, drizzled with simple syrup and sprinkled with shaved pistachios. I think you really would have liked this one:

Some more tea swirls:

This is German food! Or... well. Americanized German food, anyway! I imagine a place like Kalm might have stuff like German food, maybe? This is three different kinds of sausage, with sauerkraut underneath, and french fries and curry ketchup:

...These french fries were SO GOOD, which is saying something because I don't normally like french fries very much. But I wasn't crazy about the curry ketchup...

This is pretzel sticks with mustard and ale cheese! The ale cheese has paprika on top!

Here are some more tea swirls!!

Last set of swirls... some of the sky after...

...And a few more pictures of the sky:

...Told ya I saved the best one for last! Hahaha!

Well that's it for today; we gotta go. But I'll take lots more pictures for you during our flight and during all our other activities, don't you worry! I'm sure I'll have plenty to write to you about by the time I get back tomorrow night!!

...I hope that all the little ways I try to tell you I love you are getting through to you. Because I do - more than you can even begin to imagine, and just because you're you. And you... are kind, brave, compassionate, steadfast, determined, and able to learn from your mistakes so you can do better and make gentler choices. What's there not to like? You are everything that a human being is supposed to be, and everything I am trying to strive for and cultivate within myself. You are my reason for living, even in a place as frightening and messed-up as this one.

Looking for the sparks of beauty and joy is very important precisely because our world is so messed up. You are one of those sparks that keeps me going, so please... I'll beg you not to disappear. Keep yourself safe out there. Treat yourself kindly. Make loving and compassionate choices - with yourself and with the world around you.

I'll write again tomorrow.

Your friend, Lumine

[columboscreens]

ive been rewatching columbo eps on prime video (idk where to get the other season after 7 :c) and i'm just done with A Case of Immunity, the one with the Suarian Kingdom and the whitest middle east guy i've ever seen ? And like. I'm not a fan of that episode, but. I feel like i'm missing a lot of political or historical context for that episode ? And I wanted to know if you knew more. Thank u, I'll get back to my little guy show now.

you're not missing much.

the latter portion of original columbo was marked by an increased desire to show him in radically different contexts--between a man on international waters, an arab diplomat, a IRA liason, a CIA agent, and a mexican matador, it suffices to say columbo got around a little more as time went on. and due to the growing US interest in the middle east throughout the 70s (most of europe's imperialist/colonialist tendrils had vacated, cold war alliances were being made, israel, oil, etc.) i suppose they thought people would want to see something topical. they also didn't want to piss anybody off, so the Very Real Country of Suari it was.

the role of hassan salah was originally intended for ben gazzara, but he was scrapped by the network for being too expensive (much to peter falk's consternation). mine too, really, because though hector elizondo did a fantastic job, i think gazzara would've played a better arab. he was sicillian, but i wouldn't be surprised if he had actual arab heritage, as sicilians very often do. his surname is arabic as hell--غزارة is arabic for "abundance", which ended up as a loanward in italian to mean "noisy".

ultimately though, the middle east is an ethnically and geographically diverse region containing a wide variety of looks and skin tones. for one, i and my entire family are lebanese. my skin is rather pale, my grandfather was tan but had pale blue eyes, my aunt is nearly blonde, etc. so elizondo's countenance may not scream "arab" nearly as much as gazzara's, but levant, maghreb, or gulf--he's not all that unbelievable either.

funnily enough, in middle ages arabia, those with blue eyes were associated with duplicitous and untrustworthy behavior....

i guess something that does kinda make me roll my eyes is the treatment of the language. to their credit, the characters do speak and write real arabic in the show, albeit...poorly. obviously it's a 70s tv movie, who cares about accurate glottal stops, but they spent like eight grand to rent a learjet for one of the scenes, and the arabic is real and (mostly) intelligible, so clearly somebody translated it. would it have killed them to hire a dialect coach?

we did get some extremely jewish-sounding arabic out of peter though. so. all is emphatically forgiven

the one thing that truly rubs me the wrong way about the episode is that it's noxiously sympathetic to the american political ethos of the time, which as we well know could do no wrong. watch columbo OWN this EVIL diplomat donned in traditional garb who wants to retain his country's DISGUSTING traditional ways while the new, hip young king who was probably forcefully instituted by american troops in a coup you'll never learn about is COOL and LOVES AMERICA and will lead his oil-filled country on camelback into a beautiful sunset of BEING COOL and LOVING AMERICA. there's NO WAY this could go south. STOP looking at iran NOW

(speaking of which, the state dept. rep who bursts columbo's bubble, kermit morgan, might or might not be a nod to kermit roosevelt jr. who played a central role in the CIA's ousting of iran's mosaddegh in 1953)

...least he's honest

anyway, in retrospect this episode isn't the series' finest moment, but it's a decent watch--and believe me, far and away not the worst treatment of arabs hollywood has thrown at us over the years. i know i'd certainly take a dozen of these over whatever the hell they were churning out post-9/11.

wallahi i could've forgiven the weird culturally inaccurate bowing if they just put columbo in a keffiyeh...

[disco-cola]

bitches im reporting live from a huge menty b so i just need to rant for a sec but i had a video on my fyp from a guy who said he cant evacuate for milton because he has dogs and no car and no family or friends and he said he wont leave his dogs behind and if they die they die together and after that a video about this american-lebanese dad of four from michigan who had just recently flown over to lebanon to be with his elderly mother and now he got killed in an israeli airstrike and then when i had one of these x days left kill shelter dog videos i literally lost it like i genuinely sobbed my fucking eyes out for like an hour the state of the world is UNBEARABLE like this is genuinely why i am depressed?? all of this is man made suffering like i do not understand?? its not even on a personal level only regarding me but its literally because of the several genocides and wars and climate change and capitalism and animal matters like every single fucking day i think about and get extremely upset about it?? what kind of therapy is supposed to help with that seriously are they gonna tell me to just "blend it out and focus on yourself" like I FUCKING WISH I COULD BUT I CANT i fucking wish i could be self-centered to a point where all of this fazes me for like a minute but then i say well and go back to my own little world i wish i lacked critical thinking skills and genuine empathy i wish i could only focus on my own silly little self i wish the worst thing in my life was that some silly guy didnt text me back because literally existing in this current world and actually paying attention to all the suffering is killing me and i do not know what to do and people will say oh just delete social media and dont look at this kind of stuff like bitch that doesnt stop it from happening and i already KNOW about it i cant go back from that? ugh i just feel so helpless idk i could just cry 24/7 like where do we go from here

[anakinsafterlife]

Friends, I'm not sure if I'm really back yet, but I just watched Moon Knight for the first time and I had to post, because the final showdown between the Egyptian gods took place on top of a Cairo fast food restaurant serving Foul and Falafel (فول و فلافل)، the national dishes of Egypt, with the sign clearly marked and shown under the ongoing battle. Restaurants basically compete in who has the best foul (stewed Fava beans) and Falafal (also made with Fava in Egypt, rather than with chickpeas like the Lebanese do), and even without that there's little that's more quintessentially Egyptian, so if two gods of the Nile struggling on top of these things isn't the best in-joke of all time, I don't know what is.

And this thanks to actually Egyptian director Mohamed Diab! For probably the first time ever, a movie meant to take place in Egypt actually looks and feels like the real Egypt (even more impressive once you know that it's impossible to get permission to film in Egypt, and Cairo had to be re-created in Jordan). For example: people speaking Egyptian Arabic rather than a mash-up of different dialects or straight-up gibberish. Amazing! Some of the actors are actually Egyptian rather than just about anyone who looks brown! Even more amazing! Some of the best modern Egyptian music everywhere. Fantastic! People in the streets actually having fun and looking like humans rather than thinly-disguised terrorism propaganda. Best of all!

(I mean, we were subjected to the obligatory scene of someone running Aladdin-style on top of buildings and through a market, but I suspect that I have the American writers to blame for that).

And finally, we actually see that the pyramids of Giza are right next to Cairo and not way out in the middle of the nowhere! (For real they are literally five minutes away from a busy market district).

Well done, Mohamed Diab. I'm weeping. (I'm also weeping because Moon Knight's backstory is so traumatic, but that's another post).

[rayatii]

Okay so I just found out that my 8-year-old cousin who lives in Geneva decided to stop being friends with this Israeli girl after she said a bunch of racist things about Arabs (my little cuz is half-Lebanese half-American) to her face (but trying to frame it as though these remarks don’t count for my cousin), and I couldn’t be more proud.

[ceo-of-stealing-ur-fucking-teeth]

Nothing, and I mean nothing, has been frustrating me more than when I criticize multiple political groups for being shitty, but I’m more critical of one group than the other, and some fucking loser shows up and is just like “blah blah blah, this person on the other side did this bad thing.”

Like yeah bitch, I said I don’t like them. Do you know who I dislike more? The group of people who audibly and openly don’t want me and people like me to be ourselves, who support genocide, want to shove their religious ‘moral values’ down ours and the rest of the worlds throats, and deny their complicity in bloodshed both at home and across the sea while actively criticizing and dehumanizing the people they’re hurting

“Well the other side does that too.” Yup, yup they do. But y’know, they still tend to at least try and pretend that they’re not fucking awful people. And that’s not to minimize the fact that they do, in fact, hold a diet version of those Facist, imperialist ideals, and how harmful they are. They’re just as complicit in these issues.

“But blah blah blah, devils advocate, blah blah blah conspiracy i read on Facebook.” Shut. Up. The only freedom and safety you care about is your own. You don’t care about women, you don’t care about children, you don’t care about LGBTQ people, you don’t care about POC and you *especially* don’t care about any of those people if they’re from a country that isn’t your own. I don’t want to vote for any of the assholes I have as an option personally, but if I have to choose between a Facist or a useless smiling ineffectual liberal captalist, at least with the liberal we can still buy time to try and fix something. It won’t be great but it’s something.

And the fact that you get dog piled for not picking a side. How the fuck are you supposed to pick a side when *none of them represent you*???? I don’t vote the way I do because I like the people I’m voting for. I’m making a decision between a rock and a hard place. I don’t feel any particular loyalty to these people. To paraphrase one of my favourite tumblr posts, I’d sell their souls for a corn chip, and then not eat it.

I’m so fucking tired of it. I’m not even American, but this right wing bullshit is leaking in over the border into my province and it’s becoming increasingly clear that any safety there might have been for any oppressed group here is becoming shaky. How the United States Election goes will effect not just the United States and that infuriates me.

And the worst part is, that no matter what we do, Israel will continue its destruction and murder of Palestinians and now Lebanese people with tools given to them by the West (mostly America but almost everyone else is complicit, I don’t care what you say, they had decades of warning signs, they just didn’t care until social media started narcing on them).

I’m ranting, I know, but I’m so fucking tired and done with this shit. Fuck all of these mainstream parties, but some more than others. And fuck the little “But what about this thing the other party did” guys, I’d tell you to go apologize to the tree who’s oxygen you’re wasting but one of the companies you bootlick for is probably bulldozing it to make a warehouse or something.

Make sure you’re registered to vote.

[ariel-seagull-wings]

FICTIONAL CHARACTER ASK: JANICE

Asked by @princesssarisa 

@softlytowardthesun @themousefromfantasyland @moonbeamelf @fragglesesamemuppetz2 @angelixgutz @the-blue-fairie @thealmightyemprex @amalthea9 

Favorite Thing About Them: She is a genuinelly sensitive, sweet, kind and empathetic person who has the ability to easily make friends and a competent performer in the fields of music and acting who greatly values team work rather than competing for attention with her colleagues.

Least Favorite Thing About Them: How the writers of the 2015 ABC sitcom the muppets. portrayed Janice as so over the top ditzy that she acted passive and with no opinions or desires of her own while the male characters Sam the Eagle, Floyd Pepper and Dr Teeth treated her as an object of dispute wich they were entitled to have as a romantic partner.

Three Things I Have In Common With Them:

* I have a tambourine;

* I love colorfull clothes made of light fabric;

* I love rock and roll music;

Three Things I Don’t Have In Common With Them:

* I’m not a member of a band;

* I’m not as chill as she is;

* I don’t have long blonde hair;

Favorite Line:

From the movie The Great Muppet Caper:

“…and I said, ‘Look mother, it’s my life o-kay? And if I want to live on a beach and walk around naked, I–”

From the movie The Muppets Take Manhattan:

"So I told him 'Look, buddy, I don't take my clothes off for anybody, even if it is artistic’”

From the comic Muppet King Arthur, where she played the humourous and witty Lady of the Lake:

“Call me Janice. That was my name before I, like, became one with nature”.

“Rock never hurt anyone. Well, except for scissors. Poor scissors”.

From the comic Muppet Robin Hood, where she plays the healer Willa Scarlet (a genderbent Will Scarlet):

“Oh yeah, like, going back to nature is sooo real, man, fer sure. You’ll like dig it, totally! These trees can teach us lessons, man”.

From the comic Muppet Peter Pan, where she played the role of Wendy Darling:

“Like, I’m detecting some rilly unresolved anger issues, fer sure”...

“A nice fruit salad is very cleansing for the system”.

“It never hurts to try to be, like, totally diplomatic and make friends!”

“I’m ready to grow up, now. Yeah, I even know what I want to do when I grow up! I wanna Rock and Roll!”

“Hey, dad, at least it’s, like, totally american... fer sure!”

From the comic Muppet Snow White, where she played the dwarf Happy:

“You’re like my favorite fairytale character. Next to Wendy from Muppet Peter  Pan”.

brOTP: Rowlf the Dog, Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Animal, Bean Bunny, Scooter, Skeeter, Miss Piggy, Annie Sue Pig, Spamela Hamderson, Zondra, Darci, Charlie (Solid Foam's Drummer), Dolores (Trumpet Girl), Wanda.

OTP: Skeeter, Zoot, Floyd Pepper.

nOTP: Dr Teeth, Lips, Sam the Eagle.

Random Headcanon: She was born in San Francisco, and in one side of her family she has lebanese heritage, wich is aparent in her lips, eyes and olive skin tone, while on the other side she has german-irish heritage, wich is aparent in her blonde hair.

Unpopular Opinion: Her toddler design with open eyes and already big lips in 1984's Muppet Babies looks pretty unsetling. The illustrations for the Muppet Kids books reached a better natural look for a young Janice, with more subtle lipstick around her lips and her characteristic closed eyes.

Song I Associate With Them:

Black Bird

Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover

With A Little Help from My Friends

Earth Song

It's In Hiss Kiss

Rockin All Around the World

Favorite Picture of Them:

In her early concept sketch drawing, when she was originally idealized as an androgynus male identified character inspired by Mick Jagger

As a preteen alongside Skeeter and Miss Piggy in two illustrations of the Muppet Kids picture book New Girl In Town

Alongside fellow Valley Girl Moon Zappa, actress and daughter of rock musician Frank Zappa

In her beautifull tye-die dress portraying Wendy Darling in the comic Muppet Peter Pan (alongside Scooter as John Darling, Bean Bunny as Michael Darling, Kermit the Frog as Peter Pan and Miss Piggy as Piggytink)

Portrayed in a gala dress by Muppet Peter Pan artist @amymebberson

Another art by @amymebberson portraying her and Skeeter with buttons in support of Miss Piggy

With Floyd Pepper and Elton John

Just chilling out

[haymarketvtubestuff]

The Crew of 2-E, Chapter 1: The Misunderstanding

// Imabari was quite a choice for a family to move to for work, but when the money gets a little tight and your mother finally gets a teaching job with her special education training and your father is a remote IT specialist, you don't get to complain as to the options.

Reon Hasegawa arrived with his mother and father shortly before he would enter middle school, and his parting with his friends was bittersweet - he only made a few friends himself at that point, and he lost one friend already with a botched attempt at a confession. His mother, Miriam (the daughter of a Lebanese-American expat), wouldn't hear of that story until well after the move, and her loving support, along with that of Reon's father, Takumi, helped to ease some of his pain. "It does explain", Miriam would add, "why you were also more able to make friends with girls, but you need to be careful who you say things to, and how." The lesson stuck with Reon. He kept only friends he could trust with his secrets and usually kept to himself, instead helping teachers and volunteering for projects.

Reon met his best friend Daiki Murata in 7th grade when his science club was tasked to work with the student council for setting up the the annual science fair. Reon and Daiki hit it off quite well, and even with Daiki flatly stating his being gay to Reon, to the latter's shock, the two had even more to connect over. They attempted a few dates, even some intimacy, but a private confession between the two made it so they would be best friends who shared something genuinely special. The two would occasionally share a kiss and a hand-holding, but only Daiki would be open about his being exclusively gay.

Reon eventually told his parents as to the brief relationship and the confession. He was too scared to have all the words come out, but after the terror and the crying and the words spilling out, all he heard was assurances, statements of love; all he felt physically were two bodies surrounding him and providing warmth and a needed embrace; all he felt was a release of tension, of a secret he hid since elementary school, of shame.

Unfortunately, the government at large, even the prefecture's, was considerably conservative. Reon's and Daiki's queerness would become a sticking point at school, but not much of one where it would impact their grades. In fact, it was thanks to Reon and Daiki being near the top of their class where they were both were approached by reps from Masataro High School, a private coed STEAM academy in the area, and offered scholarships for tuition. Their families would be on the hook for room and board and books, but at least the boys would be at a nice school and could spend more time socializing.

By the time the two entered high school, there were only rumors of their having dated and broken up. Nothing that could be proven or justified outside of their being chummy. Daiki's introduction to his classmates was nowhere nearly as reserved regarding his being gay as Reon would be about his own relationship with the queer label, but the two found their new friends and clubs while still keeping connected.

There was one class that Reon felt most comfortable in, but couldn't place why at first. 2-E - Mr. Ueno's classroom - was where 1st years would learn more about local history, as well as a bit of government studies. Mr. Ueno seemed a bit more relaxed as a teacher, compared to Reon's other instructors, but that didn't cancel out Mr. Ueno's more passionate discussions on social justice and the importance of ethical and just behavior, contrasting it with a few existing laws that would serve as lessons on how to create rules that would be fairer for everyone.

When looking for clubs, Reon spotted 2-E being used for something he felt was missing from his middle school experience. Something he and Daiki both wanted to request but were too scared to, due to their lack of experience with making a formal request and due to fears of how it'd be received. Daiki would join the school newspaper, occasionally getting in trouble for putting singles ads for himself in the paper, but somehow never getting kicked out because of his passion for words, and Reon would join the chemistry club, but the club in 2-E met on Wednesdays and didn't conflict with their other interests.

2-E became their regular haunt, with Daiki being the self-appointed Queen Queer of the First Years (absolutely no one used that title) and Reon gaining a reputation for being an ally and an unintentional charmer.

----

It was a rather rough day for Reon, which was saying something regarding how things were going for his second year with homework and entrance exam prep. Gathering his belongings from the locker became an emotional chore due to his getting confession letters, words from secret admirers, and even outright statements of "I love you, please go out with me" with their names written on it. Rather than make a public show of it, he asked his parents for a paper shredder that he kept in his dorm room. He was lucky in getting a single-bed in the raffle for room assignments, and was allowed the privacy he wanted to decorate and be himself that having a roommate might endanger.

However, there were a few letters that stuck out to him. He recognized who they were written by and carefully observed the authors. For some reason, there was a connection to be made with ten or eleven of them. No, ten.

Every love letter he received, he shredded.

Every meeting for a confession, he politely turned them down, saying that he had "too much going on" to be dating.

His problem was his being too polite - even with the bad news, Reon always thanked the girl (or boy) for their choosing honesty with their feelings over being scared to talk about things and never shamed them for speaking up. He somehow got even more positive attention for it, and it was getting overwhelming.

Reon just wasn't sure how to do it, but he needed to do something crazy in order for things to happen, for a misunderstanding to be made clear.

Daiki was the perfect man to pitch ideas to.

----

"Okay, that's absolutely fucking nuts."

"Yeah, but it might work, right?"

"It could. Do you have your marker?"

"Yep. This should be quick work anyway."

----

The next morning, a large group of students surrounded the school's community flyer board. A rather large poster took up the whole of the board, and on the poster were love letters, wishes to meet up, and confessions written to Reon. The identifying markers had been blacked out with permanent marker, so the students could only send rumors flying about whose was what. The writing styles were all different but not easily discernible as to who wrote what and how - only the author of the letter would know who sent it.

Beyond the notes which were glued onto the poster, there was also a clear message with a cryptic instruction -

The rumor mill kicked up quite a storm - Who was this directed to? Where would they meet? Is it a club room? Which club? What meets on Wednesdays?

IF YOU SEE YOUR LETTER,

YOU KNOW WHERE I AM ON WEDNESDAYS.

MEET ME THERE TOMORROW.

I WILL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING.

The message got out before it was unceremoniously torn down by the principal for the 3rd years. Reon hoped he would have the chance to talk.

----

There were a few students outside of those invited who sussed out the location, but they were turned away seemingly randomly by Daiki. Those spurned were treated to a rare instance of his mean side - Daiki was known for being a comedian and a man of well-chosen words, but he knew how to make an insult hurt. The tone choice was risky but necessary. Too many people were claiming to be one of the ten students Reon wanted to speak with, and those who saw a student being admitted occasionally tried to force their way in, only to be more sternly turned away by Mr. Ueno.

Once all ten arrived, both of the self-appointed bouncers cleared the hall of stragglers who were wanting to listen in on the conversation and soon shut the classroom doors, locking them so to prevent entry except to administrators.

Even with the sense of privacy and the guidance of his best friend and his teacher, Reon was nervous. What he was about to say was either going to make his life in high school hell or make it an absolute hell.

Around him was quite the motley crew of students. They were taking the time to absorb their surroundings in the classroom. As this was a history classroom, there were the usual government flowcharts and historic figures biographies, and a few encouragement posters to boot. What was unfamiliar to them was the presence of flags that they knew weren't for countries - there were pride flags as well.

In retrospect, what else could have been expected from the school's GSA meeting room?

The students were as varied as the flags.

Iori Furisawa, the art club president, was the lone boy out of the 10, and not only that, but also the first to be clued in personally as to the rejection being complicated. It was Iori's confession letter that impelled Reon's arranging the meeting, because it was thanks to talking with Iori that Reon had figured out how to say things.

"I'm honored that you could trust me with telling me you were gay, but there's something I can't tell you yet that would help you understand why I said I like you as well ... but not in the same way."

It wasn't exactly a rejection, but Iori felt that the phrasing was hinting at something important.

Haru Shirokawa, a first year, also from the art club, was present, but she, like all the others, with the exception of the delinquent in the room, was visibly nervous and trying to understand the context.

Haru spent an equal amount of time between worry and trying to understand why so many people she recognized were here: Emu Kazetani from math class and the manga writing club; Osami Musada, the soccer club manager; Tama Naegi, the softball club manager; Esumi Kozuke, a senior from the literature club; the Hamada twins, Kaede and Yurisa, from the fashion club; Natsuki Araya, the first 2nd year to become the kendo club captain; and the delinquent in question - Aneko Suda - who was more often skipping class or spotted working with her gang to fix older cars.

Introductions weren't entirely necessary between the students, but still felt like a requirement. At the first opportunity to get attention, Reon called for the meeting to start.

"I'm sorry that I needed to resort to something so dramatic as the poster, but I needed to try and get your attention because this was something important to me."

Student and teacher alike didn't immediately parse it, but the second instance made clear that they had heard correctly - Reon was using watashi to refer to himself. It didn't dampen the feeling offense at such a public display. "What's going on here?" "Why here?" "What's the big idea for the poster?" Reon waited for calm to return so to answer.

"Again, I am sorry for how I did it. But, in my defense, it was better that I tell you all at once and have you all in the same room." His face betrayed nervousness, even with the even speech. Suddenly, he lost his nerve, but couldn't move. The words didn't want to come. His breathing started to quicken, his heart racing. Then he felt a hand tracing lazy shapes, a hand holding his.

Daiki's. Reon felt tears running down his face as the tension left him. It had to be said, and he still had his friend who knew how to help still the nerves. Reon whispered a quick thank you, briefly leaning his head onto Daiki's and feeling the warmth return.

Feeling more resolved, Reon continued with a clarification. "Daiki is my ex, and we're still good friends, but the reason he and I broke up was my realizing that while I liked guys ... "

He waited for his audience to process the information. Iori was more visibly confused. It was better to go in with a one-two punch instead of trying to drag it out.

"I couldn't date Daiki because I was straight."

Stone silence.

The first to fully understand it was Iori. Soon after was Haru. Then the Hamadas. Then the rest.

The only person who otherwise kept a cool visage was Aneko. Incidentally, she was the first to speak up.

"So you're saying you're only presenting as a guy right now."

It wasn't quite the summary Reon was expecting - in fact, it stunned him that it was put so bluntly - but it was the gist of it. If he weren't still nervous about how these people would react, he'd laugh at the bluntness. All he could do was smile.

"Pretty much. Now, if you would allow me to properly introduce myself to all of you ... While my school ID says one thing, the name I carry in my heart is -"

----

"Mom, Dad ... I need to talk about me and Daiki."

=

Reon had felt something was wrong. He was fine with liking guys romantically and being around girls, but there was this extra sensation that was bothering him. He knew it wasn't sexual feelings, but it was just that sense something didn't line up about him. Something that felt like a total mismatch that he didn't have the name for. He was already out to his family as gay, but was that even correct?

He loved Daiki dearly, but something deep inside Reon made him feel like he was lying to his best friend, his boyfriend. He needed to meet up with Daiki about this, but he wanted to make sure of a few things. Reading through books at home and articles online all but confirmed Reon's suspicions and made even more necessary the discussion ... discussions to be had.

=

"I ... I never ... I'm not ..."

Reon couldn't get the words out. He was too scared. Even with all of the research he did, finding the words that more easily came when speaking with Daiki, stressful as they were, even more difficult to say. He remembered how he felt when he was angrily rejected that one day. He ...

No.

She wasn't sure how to tell her parents. She knew they promised to always love her, but they promised it to a son, not a daughter. The tears flowed with heat and self-hate and fear. The arms surrounded. The voices soothed. The words spilled. The fear escaped, the fear escaped, the fear escaped ... and love raced in.

=

"Daiki, I'm a girl."

"Dude, I've seen your fine self in PE. You don't have a vagina."

"No, I mean ..." Reon paused, too frustrated to speak.

"I never felt like a boy in the first place."

Daiki stared at his boyfriend - girlfriend? Friend? - trying to process this news. Daiki still liked only boys, so does that mean he's bi now? No, he still only had crushes on his male classmates.

This was different, painful, special. And Daiki could see the pain in Reon's eyes. The two sat up from Daiki's bed, Daiki sitting on Reon's left

"I haven't ever felt like a boy, really," Reon continued. "I think the word for me is ... transgender."

The silence could physically be touched. It was broken apart by the sound of Daiki scooting over towards his friend and the sound and sensation of a thud, a head leaning onto Reon's shoulder and head, the sensation of two hands holding Reon's left hand, Daiki tracing lazy shapes like he usually did, the sensation of tears running down Reon's face unbidden.

"Do you still want me to call you Reon?"

Maybe the two wouldn't be boyfriends, but the two felt a genuine love for each other.

=

"You need to be extremely careful about who you tell this to, but we're going to support you all along your journey, and your mother and I want you to know we love you and we want to learn with you."

=

"Only at school and around my parents, unless they're cool with it. In private, you can call me ..."

----

"Reina. The name I go by is Reina. I use feminine pronouns when I am around my family, several teachers, Daiki, and, well, all of you now."

Silence again. Thick tension. Fear crept back in. Daiki's right hand returned, holding Reina's left tightly, letting her know she still had support.

"I see now why I never had a shot." Iori's voice broke the ice. Reina looked towards the art club president and saw a loving smile. The other students had similar expressions.

There was no anger in their hearts - maybe about how the meeting was called, but not towards Reina's being true to herself. Even Aneko was tearing up. She would deny it later, of course.

"Actually, can-"

Reina heard two voices, and saw two hands raised. She acknowledged the two girls - Haru and Yurisa. Yurisa spoke first after Haru deferred to her senior.

"Not to take away from your moment, but I was wondering if I had a shot if I didn't identify as a girl ... or a boy." Kaede held her sister close, whispering something that seemed congratulatory.

Haru was now less nervous about her own addition. "I was wondering the same, but if some days I felt more like a girl, and other days like a boy."

Reina felt the tears coming back, but it was clear to her that they were tears of joy and relief. She was being offered the same gift of trust as she offered to what would eventually be called The Crew.

"I'll get back with you on that." They were, after all, good questions, but Reina felt more relieved to tell these people. She was right to trust them.

The discussion had to end eventually, with the PA announcing that all students should leave the school building if not involved in clubs. The ten invited had left, with Reina and Daiki staying behind with their teacher. Reina offered a formal gesture to her teacher and a private word.

"Thank you, Ms. Ueno, for your help."

----

(< Girl, you knocked that out of the park!)

(Shut up, that was a near disaster. >)

(< I mean, it was, but they don't hate you for telling them the truth.)

(I guess. >)

(But we also got a larger friend group out of it. >)

(Have fun, and thank you. >)

(< For sure.)

(< I'm going to work on an article for the paper. Proud of you.)

(< Good night, the one one and only girl I'd go straight for ;) )

----

(Get back to your writing, jerkass :P >)

(Love you too >)

"'We're so proud of you telling people, sweetie!"

"It's so nice to talk to more people without having to put up a front."

"Thanks, mom and dad. I'm still scared about how this is going to work, but I know I've got more people in my corner."

"I hate to repeat the advice we gave a while back, but you're still going to have to live a double life around your classmates. Don't burn yourself out."

"I know, dad. But thank you."

"Get some sleep, kiddo."

"Will do, mom. Love you both."

----

Reina was burned out from the entire day - going to dinner in the cafeteria with ... she wasn't sure how to name the group she was out to. All she could think of for now was The Crew. But between dinner with her new friends, catching up on homework, texting Daiki, and talking with family, she had no social battery left. All she wanted to do was shower and sleep, and she was about to do just that.

The chaos in her mind was filled with fears for the future - how others would react was the big one. Students were relatively easy to predict, but teachers weren't as easy. Just because an adult was older didn't mean they were wiser or safer to talk to. Little things like presentation, transition, and college prep filled in the gaps, but she had a strong craft to navigate the turbulent sea.

For the first time since she came to school, Reina went to sleep with a smile on her face.

[askgothamshitty]

Hi! I’ve been following you for a few years now. I’m not super well versed in feminist theory or Marxist theory but I have learned a lot from your posts and have used your platforms to help inform myself on Marxist feminist perspectives. I’ve been struggling to figure out what to do this election. I’m a straight cis Mexican American male living in Texas and there’s a lot of issues that trouble me but a big one that pains my heart is the plight of the Palestinian people. I see my family, my elders, my younger siblings in the people of Gaza and the Lebanese people being affected by the atrocities committed by Israel. It’s clear that both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are both proponents of the U.S. War Machine and have little to no intention of intervening and stopping the genocide they are funding enabling and actively participating in. At the same time I’m wary to vote for a 3rd party candidate that may not truly have mine and the working class’ best intentions at heart. Obviously who you vote for is your business but I was wondering if you would share with me who you voted for, if you did vote, and why you did. I have 5 younger siblings that were AFAB and plenty of other women in my life that I care deeply for and I want to make sure I’m doing what’s best for them as well as the women and children that are suffering in Palestine. I probably should have sent this earlier but honestly just hearing more info on this from you I feel would help me navigate scenarios with electoral politics like this moving forward.

Hello! Nice to meet you!

I will not be choosing a presidential candidate. The main reason for this is because I simply cannot, in good conscience, vote to make my situation better while I know she supports policy that systematically exterminates innocent people abroad. Additionally, I do not like her border policy, her interest in working with republicans, her lack of firm support for trans people, or her weak global warming agenda. I do not believe her when she says she will codify Roe. And her history as a prosecutor and self-description as the “top cop” makes me fear her policy on crime and incarceration. Finally, I just cannot play this “lesser of two evils” game anymore. I’ve supported democrats in prior elections and all they have done is shift further right.

I know some people are voting third party, but I can’t help but be pessimistic about those efforts. The US is a two-party system through and through and I don’t see it ever changing, so voting Green or whatever just seems symbolic to me.

Now none of this means I’m not going out to vote. There are many important state and local proposals on my ballot (like ending slavery!!!) that I want to weigh in on. I encourage you to do the due diligence of researching what’s on your ballot as well.

Please don’t feel like you have to do the exact same thing I’m doing (or, not doing). If you feel like a tactical vote for Kamala is important, don’t be discouraged by me. This is just how I feel based on my politics and values. Personally I think if I were in a swing state instead of a deep blue state I would maybe vote for her.

[gaykarstaagforever]

I love Anthony Fantano, and not only because I agree with him 80% of the time. He's high-energy and passionate and fair and honest.

That said, he also has that Markiplier thing where, even when he sucks, he has such a great old skool "radio voice" that I'm willing to overlook it.

I have to imagine this is a lingering Millennial thing, and anyone under 30 absolutely doesn't get sucked into that. Obviously radio still exists and people on it still succeed if they have a "voice." But people without grey hair don't listen to that, right? They don't care.

Millennials are the last Casey Kasem generation.

(Also, fun fact, that man was the son of Lebanese Druze immigrants who settled in Michigan. The defining voice of decades of American pop radio, and Shaggy the Pot-Head, was a little brown man named after Ataturk.)