#maybe protestants do???

[givethetwinkaflamethrower]

Maybe it's bc I was raised Catholic but I just cannot take the Stage Break seriously

[yuwuta]

gojo would kill your work husband. but if he were the work husband, that's a different story

REAL!! he’s such a hypocrite because if someone mentioned you had a work husband, his entire world would stop and he wold devise the absolute worst plans to make sure that your co-worker, everyone at your job, and everyone in the next building over knew that he was happily committed to you 

but if he is the work husband, he’s very........ dutiful in his role. there’s a loose office/lawyer au in my head where satoru is your secretary, and for all intents and purposes, your personal assistant, and he’s good at his job, but mostly because he considers his job to be pleasing you. he has coffee for you when you arrive, he moves your schedule around without you asking, he has answers to questions before you can even ask them, he has fresh flowers on your desk weekly, pokes into your meetings to pretend to hand you a file that’s really just maybe a single document in a manilla folder with candy on top of it—he’s made himself your business, your partner; he’s made himself irreplaceable, and he loves to remind everybody of that fact. 

he’s also extremely loyal. sure, he could day a week’s worth of work done in about a day, but that doesn’t mean he’ll just use his talents for anybody. he’s your secretary, so he’s at your beck and call, and everyone knows it. they know he’s the best, but also that he’s off limits—not because you won’t share him, but because satoru won’t let himself be shared. 

he also extends his duties beyond work, of course. when he hands you a print out of your schedule for the day and you’re confused by the three-hour block of time you have in the middle of the day, satoru just helps you shrug your coat of your shoulders and smiles, “that’s for the lunch date you have with me, of course!” hanging up your coat in your closet for you, “i’m paying, see you soon, sweets.” and because you’re great at your job, and satoru helps you be great, nobody really questions when the two of you have time for a 13-course tasting menu at 1pm on a tuesday afternoon. and if they did, all satoru would say that you two had a lovely date 

[songofwizardry]

ok I'm not an expert but I'm not seeing much specific info going around here, and there's a lotta Palestine solidarity protests in the UK this weekend, so here is some (including UK-specific) protest info and resources (mostly pulled whole-cloth from Twitter)

policing is heavy at Palestine protests generally

Hamas is a proscribed org under UK law. that means "inviting support" for them or "wearing clothing or displaying articles" that implies you are a supporter is a criminal offence (if you're interested, here's the full list of criminal offences from gov.uk). Palestinian flags etc are ok*, but do not have something that could be mistaken for Hamas imagery. don't go out there looking for convictions pls.

*in spite of what Suella Braverman has implied, the London Muslim Community Forum has just confirmed that the Palestinian flag is not a proscribed flag and is not banned (apologies for quoting the "we advise the met police" group but I thought it was important to have that info explicitly)

don't talk to cops. that includes the police liasion officers in blue bibs.

particularly if you're concerned about your face ending up on social media etc, but also just good practice in general (both in terms of COVID and protest safety)—mask up. cover up tattoos etc.

have bustcards or contact details for protest legal support on you. Green and Black Cross can be contacted on 07946 541 511. write the number on your arm etc.

if you witness an arrest: check if there's a legal observer nearby and if so call them over; if not: if the arrestee doesn't have a bustcard, give them one, find out where they're being taken, and contact eg GBC or a protest support line

if you have the time and can help out, there will likely be arrestee support required after—GBC tend to post callouts on Twitter for this

other links

for particularly children and young people and their families being referred to PREVENT for pro-Palestine statements, contact PREVENTWatch and maybe also Palestine in School (newer initiative I think, I don't have an excessive amount of detail on them just FYI)

Liberty, Migrants Organise and Black Protest Legal Support have bustcards in different languages, including Arabic and Somali (also Liberty's website has lotsa useful info, including advice for disabled protesters, protesting and immigration status, and what to do if you're kettled)

GBC's thread on what to do if you see an arrest is useful, as are all their resources generally

if I've missed anything or made a mistake, lmk—as I said, I am very much not an expert. if you know people who are protesting, pass them the legal support line numbers; if you're attending, stay safe and be vigilant; and ofc carry water.

[agnesandhilda]

as far as christian-themed art goes I'm of the opinion that you cannot meaningfully appropriate mainline western catholicism (it's a massively powerful branch of a religion that has been spread by imperialism and that actively seeks out converts as a core tenet. how could you appropriate it?) but that it is possible to engage with it shallowly and that that's fair game to make fun of. I will not be taking questions at this time

[demonic-shadowlucifer]

yes, we shouldn't ignore the terrible events going on right now (Palestine, Sudan, etc), but I think we need some reminders because some of the posts i've been reading have been giving off *extremely* guilt-trippy vibes: Not posting about current events or bad things =/= not caring. Not reblogging =/= not caring. Adding "don't scroll past this" or "reblog this or block me" to posts is guilt-trippy as hell. And lastly, online activism is not the only form of activism.

[uncanny-tranny]

Every now and then I remember I am significantly older than the legalization of gay marriage in my country and I take psychic damage every time. I am not that old, like my life has just begun.

Just... Remember our rights didn't just descend from the heavens hundred of years ago. It is still a fresh memory, a blip compared to the timeline of the world.

[shalom-iamcominghome]

Honestly, a very healing thing for my relationship with g-d is to do things out of love rather than fear, which might be an unpopular opinion. When I was in the xtian church, the biggest thing was to Fear g-d because He Will send you to hell in a hand basket. He will send you to eternal damnation, a hell where you can look up and see heaven just out of reach (this was a genuine thing I was told. You can imagine why my atheist phase was a phase of rebelling against that, not in a disbelief, per se, of g-d). This also doesn't help because my history of abuse was based on primal fear, which... isn't conducive to fear models of behavior.

I'm sure the relationship I have with g-d might be seen in a negative light because you're supposed to fear g-d, but I can't separate fear of g-d from the genuinely toxic do-things-out-of-fear-of-eternal-damnation thing.

I do everything - pray, go to shul, follow kosher (as best I can) - because I love g-d. I have no fear of Him because I am secure in my relationship with Him now. What I appreciate about judaism is that there is emphasis on love, where that wasn't the expectation in church.

[aeriondripflame]

whatever just know that in the quest to stop any criticisms against team black slash rhaenyra know that i will create new things to side eye them about. i’m going to be checking diversity boxes just like them in protest. be the change you want to see in the world i guess. rhaenyra not having nettles actually means team green is lowborn forward. criston is hand of the king while rhaenyra has nobody of low birth in positions of power blah blah bring nettles back.

[pettytiredandjewish]

So when are y’all gonna admit that antisemitism is a huge and concerning problem?

Or are y’all just gonna keep saying “ it’s not antisemitic it’s anti Zionist” or “we don’t hate Jews we just hate Israelis” or “ stop deflecting” or “stop overreacting”…

(Sorry most of my rant is in the tags but I said what I said)

[essektheylyss]

I think it's important to note that I do believe Orym wasn't totally thinking straight when he nodded to Laudna. Because if he'd have been thinking straight, he'd have gotten in front of her and then very efficiently killed Bor'dor himself, and he'd have still been correct for it. Hope this helps. 😌

[radiantmists]

binged both chalice of the gods and the hidden oracle in the last few days and tbh i don't care if zeus would blast me to bits, if he were real it would be on sight

[fisherrprince]

oh so alisaie’s exaggerated bully behavior is 80% fanon. saying this she casually picks up a large rock

[the-voice-of-night-vale]

now im not saying anything about whether or not you ~should~ vote for the immigrant-hating palestinian-killer who happens to be a "democrat" but i swear if i see one more post about how "if everyone had just voted! trump never would have gotten in office and we don't want that to happen again!!" i'm gonna go chimp mode

trump didn't even win the popular vote, you idiots. am i the only one who remembers the weeks of protests because of it?

[squarebracket-trickster]

Sorry guys, rant incoming. I considered deleting this but I put too much effort in.

"girlboss" "girl dinner" "girl math" "boy math" "gen z are making fun of us for wearing x" "here's how to dress like gen z:" "girlies" "girl's night" "boy's night" "me and the boys" "90s kid"

"I don't feel like an adult" "I'm 34 and I can tell you, I still don't feel like an adult either." "My parents seemed like real adults when they were my age." "I still feel like a teenager."

Maybe you'd feel more like an adult if you started calling yourself one. Maybe you'd feel more like an adult if you stopped trying to dress like a teenager. Maybe you should move your bed out from the wall and get a wallet. Maybe find a calendar app that works for you.

You are an adult. Even if you live with your parents. Even if you do part-time shift work at minimum wage. Even if you haven't graduated college. Even if you are single. These are adult things to do. Because you are doing them. And you are an adult. Start treating yourself like an adult. Fake it 'till you make it if you have to.

In other, writing-related, news:

That trend on TikTok of 20-40 something women authors (and writers yet to be published) promoting their books like,

"Omg! I can't believe I've sold X number of copies!! I never thought I would!" "Ahhhh imagine publishing your book and all your dreams come true and now you get to meet famous authors and work with big names in the industry!!" "Would you read a book where [proceeds to list a bunch of oversaturated tropes that tell me nothing about the actual plot]?"

It reeks of infantilization. If you didn't believe anyone would want to read your book, why should I? You made it on the NYT bestseller list! Stop acting like a mega-fan who got to meet a celebrity. You are their peer! "Would you read a book--" What if I wouldn't? Why does it matter to you what I think of your book? And for the love of god stop hiding behind tropes you know are already popular. "Here is my book: This is what it is about." Have some goddamn confidence.

It is fine to mention in passing "this idea was really far-fetched so I didn't know if it would appeal" or "I was struggling with self-esteem when I wrote this". It's fine to fan a little bit. It's fine to discuss the tropes in your book. But why are you building your brand as an author off of your inferiority complex? You are using your poor self-esteem as a marketing tactic to seem "humble" and "relatable" but it's coming across as unprofessional and desperate for reassurance. You are an adult. You are competent. The more you act like it the more you will believe it.

And of course, I haven't seen a man promote his book this way...

On another note, do any of the 20-40 something women writers who do "write with me" videos on TikTok actually enjoy writing or are they just doing it for the aesthetic?

They all have gorgeous minimalism writing spaces full of white and pink and a macbook beneath a window. Their makeup is done and they are conventionally pretty to start with. But their entire video is just them talking about how little progress they made, how many pages they deleted, how often they got distracted, how frustrated they are. And like, yeah. We all have those days. But what about the good lines you can't wait to share? The days when the words just flow? The cool stuff you learned while researching? Why don't you ever make videos about that?

Is this some other attempt to seem "relatable" by only talking about the "bad" side of writing? Because again, it's coming across as lacking confidence at best and, at worst, that you don't actually know how to write. And that is not the brand you want as an author.

Again, its always women. Why must women market their self-esteem issues in order to sell their art? Why must we be perpetually awestruck children (girlies, book girls) in over our heads?

[wheelie-butch]

Chants for Palestine

These are the chants I can remember doing at the pro-Palestine protests and vigils I've been to recently. People from the local mosques usually lead them with a loudspeaker.

They're pretty easy to pick up when you're there if you can hear okay but I thought being able to memorise them in advance might be helpful for some people, especially if you have difficulty hearing or processing audio. Having confidence in what you're saying really helps the protest sound effective.

Please add on any you know too!

Call and Response Chants

If you hear the first part, the part in bold is what you should shout back. Obviously if the people around you know a different version, follow what they're staying instead, but these are the ones I've been taught.

ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR - OCCUPATION NO MORE! / FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT - ISRAEL IS A TERROR STATE!

IN OUR THOUSANDS, IN OUR MILLIONS - WE ARE ALL PALESTINIANS!

FROM THE RIVER, TO THE SEA - PALESTINE WILL BE FREE! / FROM THE SEA, TO THE RIVER - PALESTINE WILL LIVE FOREVER!

RISHI SUNAK YOU CAN'T HIDE - WE CHARGE YOU WITH GENOCIDE! (this one I heard also with Kier Starmer's name, I assume other relevant politicians also get put in there)

GAZA GAZA DON'T YOU CRY - WE WILL NEVER LET YOU DIE! / GAZA GAZA DON'T YOU FROWN - WE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!

FREE! FREE! - PALESTINE!

Repeating Chants

(These ones don't have a call and response aspect but I find it helpful to only shout on every other shout the leader does, so you can hear when they change it up.)

CEASE FIRE NOW!

STOP BOMBING GAZA!

STOP BOMBING CHILDREN!

These are just the ones I've heard at my local events, please add on any others you know or variants!

[daylighteclipsed]

I think if you convinced Astarion not to ascend, he’s there for the Haarlep encounter, and you fail the CON check (push Haarlep away), he should lose his cool and fire an arrow at Haarlep or something and interrupt Haarlep’s magic, giving you another chance to fight instead. I do think the sex abuse survivor witnessing his friend or lover being coerced into sex would notice when they want to escape and would have something to say about it.