#most old literacy? FANFICTION!

[philzokman]

idk why people are so against fanfics as if they havent been one of the most consistent forms of media since humans learned to write

[youling-the-ghost]

And I feel like this just circled back to the competition for morality that's become so common on the internet. You shouldn't read or create anything that can even be perceived as immoral because that would be romanticising it, and creating anything that could potentially make people uncomfortable is wrong because entertainment should be for everyone. With this philosophy being so rampant online, the books or movies or shows that make the audience uncomfortable in any way gets labelled as "disgusting" and the creator is deemed a creep.

To these people, it's not about doing the right thing or advocating for better representation, it's about feeling better about themselves. Sure, some might believe that they're doing the right thing, but at their core it's all about maintaining that sense of self-righteousness. "I'm calling out this horrible human being so I'm being a good and moral person."

If it's actually about making a change, then this sort of uncomfortable/disturbing media is one of the last things that should be targeted because they reveal the true atrocities of human nature. We find them uncomfortable because we don't want to be exposed to the cruelty that some people face for simply existing. By censoring this type of stories, we're blinding ourselves to the reality of our world.

It's perfectly fine if you as an individual don't want to read a book or watch a film with disturbing themes, but calling it disgusting and trying to defame the creator of that book or film is just not the way to go.

I think some people forget that some literature and some media is meant to be deeply uncomfortable and unsettling. It's meant to make you have a very visceral reaction to it. If you genuinely can't handle these stories then you are under no obligation to consume them but acting as if they have no purpose or as if people don't have a right to tell these stories, stories that often relate to the darkest or most disturbing parts of life, then you should do some introspection.

[danieldrivesfast]

Would love to hear your take on why Maxiel was the most popular f1 ship for years, and why Lestappen now seems to have taken over.

The first bit of this is easy.

As far as Maxiel falling off specifically, Daniel is "old" in the minds of the young, new fans. Look at how the hate towards him usually mentions his age and his hairline (which has always been like that, but I digress). It's the same thing as when old folk like me loved Nick and Brian, but then grew up and realized Kevin and AJ were the hot ones the whole time.

This is going to tie into my literacy rant, but these new fans like to claim Daniel is a racist, misogynist, whatever because of his age and their inability to contextualize things he says or does in relation to the topic, situation, or time period. So, of course, they don't want someone they perceive as "bad" in their ship. They're completely deluded, but... That's a different post.

A lot of these new, younger fans also started following the sport very recently. They missed the Maxiel teammate era, the scorned lovers era, the reconciliation era, and are only seeing the comfortable era. (I just made those up.) They didn't watch that actual relationship grow and mature over the last ~8 years.

It's the same with Dando. Now I'm realizing I need to talk about why Daniel Ricciardo is your favorite driver's favorite driver. Anyway.

Maxiel was compelling early on because you had hotshot, cocky, popular Daniel Ricciardo on a team with an ultra-talented young kid in Max Verstappen, a menace who was gunning for his hard-earned #1 spot. (These young fans also don't realize that the RBR cars at that time were not good. What Daniel and Max were able to do with them is insane.) Max was the serious son of a nasty man, DR was, well, DR. The way Max came out of his shell and would always look to Daniel for approval when he made a joke or tried to be funny was endearing, and still is.

At first it was a typical teammates ship, but when Daniel said he was leaving for Renault, it added a whole lot of angst very quickly, and it kept blooming from there. Watching them mature and realize how much they cared about each other through the Renault/McLaren years was something. Very much a "distance makes the heart grow fonder" situation. It was actual growth between two people, and it was very easy to translate that into a ship/fanfiction setting.

I feel like if you don't know that backstory and didn't see it unfold, it's easier to jump on a popular ship of the moment for new fans. It's also the difference between just wanting two cute boys to kiss versus being drawn to two men who've been through it together and have developed a deep bond and rock-solid relationship over years of personal and professional growth. So... maturity.

There are a few asks about Lestappen that I really think tie in with the second part of this ask and my last point, so I'm going to put them together in a different post.

[mangora]

I’m so tired here are some assorted Disventure Camp headcanons:

•Jake is really into poetry. Some of his poems are bangers, some of them are absolute dogshit. He posts some of them online, mostly the bad ones because he’s not self-aware of how bad they are. He will spend hours on end writing in his notes app. Guy is a big fan of sonnets and free verse but his strong suits are odes and villanelles

•Rosa María, James, Yul, Lake, Riya, Fiore, and Alec are all multilingual. Rosa speaks English and Spanish, James speaks Portuguese and English, Yul speaks Korean and English, Lake speaks German and English as well as some French, Riya speaks Hindi and English, Fiore speaks English and some Italian, and Alec speaks English as well as a variety of other languages (he did a minor in linguistics for his university degree so he knows the basics of multiple major languages).

•Hunter’s a competitive chess player. Ally’s the only person who’s ever beat him fair and square, but even then, that rarely happens

•Lake is great at baking. She’s incredibly exact when it comes to measurements, timing, and technique. Rosa, meanwhile, is a great cook and she doesn’t measure anything

•Aiden can play bass guitar. He started learning as a teenager because he wanted to join an emo band one day. Chase your dreams boy

•Yul used to have braces and he’s really embarrassed about it

•Gabby’s a forager, she loves to forage for wild fruit and mushrooms and greens

•Ellie’s kinda a ghoul in the kitchen. Like she can make good food and drinks but most of the time she’s so tired that she makes evil energy drink-instant coffee potions or like that pistachio & condensed milk concoction from Arthur

•In a better universe I think Ellie and Jake are frenemies instead of fully hating each other and they play Minecraft together and Ellie is constantly stealing Jake’s shit and trying to defeat the Ender Dragon meanwhile he screams every time he sees a Creeper and begs her to turn Keep Inventory on because he keeps dying

•Miriam gets a cat after the show. She’s an older white cat named Snowball and she has the same personality as her. They are best friends and Miriam is so annoyed by her. She made them matching sweaters. Snowball is only fully nice to Jake

•Fiore listens to Thrash Metal. It’s partially just to throw people off when they find out, she thinks it’s funny

•Fiore also enjoys those YouTube prank videos, she knows they’re fake they’re just so stupid that she finds them hilarious. Kristal gives her an iPad for a day one time for entertainment and it pisses the rest of the Magenta team off so bad because she keeps playing these prank videos and watching epic fail compilations at full volume

•Grett loves crocheting. She slowly turns into one of those people who crochets during lectures and while watching movies and shit

•James is really good at Tetris

•Ally is obsessed with Sci-Fi. She, Tess, and Hunter watch Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Star Wars together because they all love the worldbuilding so much. Tess writes fanfiction about almost everything they watch. Hunter has terrible media literacy and misses the themes every time but he has fun watching

•After All Stars, Riya gets really into tattoos. She gets matching ones with Connor

•People antagonize Tom with the cop slide video and every time he clenches his fist and goes, “Stop laughing at him.”

•Kai has a bunch of pet bugs. Maggy’s secretly afraid of them still but she’s getting there. She likes rollie pollies

•Karol used to do roller derby and Lill used to ice skate. Ggirlf,riends,,, I miss them chat. Where is my old woman yuri

•Aiden eats plain yogurt nothing on it and it’s the one thing James doesn’t like about him. Like it’s so upsetting to him. Why does he eat plain yogurt

•Ashley likes hyperpop, don’t tell anyone

•Tom likes crockpot food. He is not invited to potlucks for this reason. He will always bring the crockpot

•Alec doesn’t like splatter films but he really enjoys psychological horror, especially mockumentaries and mondo films

•Lake read creepypasta a lot as a kid and she wouldn’t go into the kitchen after dark because she was afraid of Jeff the Killer appearing at her fridge

[vinelark]

6 for the ask meme 😎

6. Have you written any fanfictions featuring OCs? If so, elaborate!

oh? is it time? is it time to drop the OCBFEU primer??

in short: yes, last year my friends came up with a whole "what if we invented a boyfriend for jason" "what if we also invented a boyfriend for dick in the same continuity" batfam AU with two (and a half) significant OCs. we write little informal fics for each other about them and my incredibly talented friends draw them and we also have an extended fantasy AU of the boyfriend AU that could fill about three TV seasons of plot so far. i love them. they are constantly rotating in the back of my mind; it's a fun time.

months ago we compiled a document with bios and a rough OC bf timeline (with bonus timkon) and: here it is! (content warning for a (past) emotionally manipulative relationship. also some brief underage drinking.)

Batfamily OCBFEU (OC Boyfriend Extended Universe)

Santi

jason’s OC boyfriend; ship name sanjay

[original santi post] [mammutblog’s santi art tag] [90kon’s santi art tag]

santi, short for santiago

5’7”; has to go up on his tiptoes to kiss jason

line cook by day, taking classes toward his teaching certification by night, also volunteers at an after-school literacy program in park row

gothamite through & through—grew up a few blocks over from jason, though their paths never crossed. has two siblings, an older sister and a younger brother, but is mostly estranged from them after their dad died. money was incredibly tight after that and santi still took odd jobs—including some for the falcones—to help his sister finish med school.

an old soul like jason, aka he’ll use his same phone til it’s a brick and does not understand tiktok despite kids at the program explaining it to him over and over

there’s probably a mildly popular tiktok series one of the kids has of them asking santi questions while santi is in the middle of something at the program, because everyone loves santi and he gives funny answers when he’s distracted

santi does not become a vigilante—he has enough on his plate, he’s (almost) a teacher—but he’s certainly not without his own set of skills. also he talks a very good game and can usually get by without having to physically fight (see: confrontation with nick in the below timeline)

Blue

dick’s OC boyfriend; ship name bluebird

[original blue post] [other original blue post]

ex-talon from an alternate reality

6’5” 😳

in his original universe blue was taken as a child and turned into a talon (in this version talons have boosted strength/healing, and were conditioned/brainwashed into carrying out the court of owls’ assassinations. also golden eyes) and doesn’t remember his name anymore. once he tumbled into this universe after an assignment gone wrong, he was free of the court’s orders and re-education for the first time and started slowly unraveling their mental conditioning

he rarely speaks, and takes a while to consider his words when he does. when he texts it’s mostly emojis because he prefers them

when left to his own devices he’s very gentle and likes to bake

he had short/shaved hair as a talon. once he’s in this world he starts growing it out and prefers it long

he eventually makes an excellent crime-fighting partner for dick; he knows and understands dick’s skills enough to trust him to take care of himself, so they work very well together. that said, if you really hurt nightwing you will be reminded very quickly that blue spent most of his life as a nearly unbeatable assassin.

he eventually takes up the superhero name flamebird to go with nightwing

Nick

tim’s OC ex-boyfriend; no ship name we hate nick

nick is a GU college freshman (18 at the time) tim meets playing tennis at the local rec center while tim is avoiding the manor in the early red hood reconciliation days

at first nick definitely plays into the fact that tim desperately craves attention at this point in his life. nick is at turns overwhelmingly nice and startlingly cold, and more and more often “playfully” mocks tim, dismisses his thoughts because he’s “young” (16 at the time), etc. nick is, essentially, a jerk who, despite—or perhaps due to—being a teenager himself, does everything he can to feel superior to tim.

nick also drags tim along to parties/hangouts with his college friends so he can show off that he’s dating tim drake-wayne. other than late-night parties with his friends, though, he insists on keeping their relationship a secret.

none of the bats know about this as it’s happening; tim eventually breaks it off and pretends it never happened.

rough OCBFEU timeline

jason and santi meet while jason is still sort of on the outs with the family but not in Revenge Mode anymore. first jason meets santi as red hood, and later realizes his main apartment/civilian ID lives in the same building as santi when they run into each other in the elevator.

sanjay identity shenanigans ensue! santi is very taken with red hood. santi thinks his upstairs neighbor “uhh, call me jay” is an inconsiderate dickhead for seemingly working out/moving furniture around at 3am sometimes. seriously, how many muscles does someone need. that’s ridiculous. santi also thinks jay has a very nice smile but that’s irrelevant.

meanwhile tim meets nick at rec center and they date for a few months. it’s not a great time for tim and he eventually breaks it off.

santi starts seeing red hood more because red hood will just. appear and shadow santi when he’s walking home from work late, and helps santi out of a tight spot with some of falcone’s men at one point (we learn santi used to work for falcone a few years ago; he needed the money to put his older sister through med school. santi’s not involved with the mob anymore but the past dogs his heels sometimes). santi and red hood start hooking up, though hood still won’t show his face.

santi volunteers at an after-school literacy program (while taking night classes working toward a teaching certification). one day santi’s neighbor jay shows up to the bake sale fundraising for the after-school program, and they have a cute interaction until there’s a surprise rogue attack and the school goes on lockdown. jay disappears; red hood shows up minutes later, helping santi secure the kids before going after the rogue. red hood gets hurt and in the aftermath santi, patching him up, pieces together that red hood is his neighbor jay.

shortly after this santi gets kidnapped in public along with a random teenager (tim drake) who happened to intervene and get himself kidnapped too. the kidnappers saw santi and hood together after the rogue attack, so they’re trying to get information on hood out of santi. tim runs interference as best he can and takes a few hits as a distraction, and soon enough red hood shows up to dispatch the kidnappers. in the aftermath red hood is cold and snappish to tim (jason thinks tim was stalking santi) (to be fair, tim was) and this leads to santi learning a bit more about jason’s family. this also leads to jason breaking up with santi because it’s too dangerous (for santi) to associate with him.

santi does not agree with this decision, and there’s a lot of pining and angsting until they get their shit together over the course of another few months. coincidentally jason is reconciling with his family in the meanwhile and getting his feet under him emotionally.

once they’re together jason and santi are like. incredibly domestic. totally in rhythm with each other. somehow jason now has the healthiest most settled relationship of any bat.

meanwhile in blüdhaven, blue pops in from an alternate reality where the court of owls rules gotham. blue was taken as a child and turned into a talon; when he’s thrown into this universe, he’s free from the owls’ control for the first time. it’s a rough landing—he ends up being fished out of a dumpster by dick and even though blue runs away, he imprints hard on one dick grayson.

Tim (18 now) realizes his longtime crush on kon might be reciprocated; cue panicking.

tim lies his way into a gay club to Research (because nick always kind of mocked tim for not having dated any guys before him; tim thinks he will have one shot to not disappoint kon so he has to figure shit out). gets drunk, starts making out with someone who is not uhh handling him gently. gets spotted by jason and santi, who are there on what was supposed to be a fun date, and they intervene. at first jason is annoyed, thinking tim’s following him again, and then realizes something is Wrong. he and santi dispatch the asshole other guy, and they bring drunk tim back to crash on jason’s couch.

the next morning tim is hungover at jason’s and mortified. santi makes him sit and eat breakfast and tim is like i’m sorry, i wasn’t even following you guys this time, i swear. which leads to tim haltingly explaining the nick thing. santi and jason (who is lurking in the kitchen listening to this convo) don’t know who this ex guy is yet but they’re gonna kill him ❤️

tim’s net gain for this ill-fated excursion: one (1) splitting headache and one (1) new older brother unit.

meanwhile back in blüdhaven blue is slowly un-conditioning himself, keeping to the shadows, and leaving little gifts on dick’s windowsill. the gifts are like, keychains, a lost earring, a random postcard. all tend to be blue or have blue in them, so dick starts nicknaming this mysterious gift-giver blue.

during patrol a week later jason finds tim on a rooftop and has an awkward but earnest talk with tim about uhh. consent and healthy relationships and stuff okay yeah we’re never talking about this again but also if you ever need anything. call me right away or i’ll kill you. okay good talk.

blue gets invited inside dick’s apartment for the first time. god bless bluebird they’re in their own little world over here.

tim and kon kiss 😳

an anonymous, “scandalous” tabloid story from someone claiming to have dated tim drake-wayne drops. resulting fallout, salacious rumors abound about tim + the waynes, etc. also, obviously, bruce and the family find out about nick. jason and santi figure out who nick is and separately visit him to put the fear of god in him.

nick: what the fuck, are you with the guy from earlier? i got the message! tell that guy i’m moving to star city this fucking weekend!

red hood: what guy

nick: you know the, the guy with the earring and the tattoo and he said if i didn’t lose tim’s number and leave town i’d have an accident

red hood: huh. no, not related. so you never made a deal with me. bummer for you, i still get to break one of your arms.

(jason obviously realizes the other guy was santi so he goes home and climbs into bed where santi’s awake reading and he’s like “productive night?” and jason’s like “mmhm, and i heard you had a productive day” and santi shrugs and then jason kisses the hell out of him)

over in blüdhaven blue witnesses dick get really upset over something (this article) for the first time. dick says “i’m going to be away for a few days but you can stay here while i’m gone, okay?” (when dick returns blue isn’t there but dick’s apartment has been deep-cleaned) (this leads to dick insisting blue stay there more and more until they accidentally end up as roommates)

batfamily deals with the nick aftermath and much-needed convos are had with tim. this also brings santi more into the family fold because everyone approves of him essentially making nick shit his pants.

bruce, up to this point, has been kind of wary of santi solely because santi is NOT immediately impressed with bruce. santi sees bruce as being on thin ice until he gets proof that bruce is in fact doing his best as a parent and then they have a slightly more chill dynamic.

meanwhile in gotham, mid family crisis, dick is having his own crisis/rooftop breakdown with tim and jason about having feelings for blue and going through his gay awakening at the ripe age of 20something and jason is very upset that he has somehow become the to-go gay relationship advice sibling.

because yeah, between dick and jason, JASON’s relationship is the more normal/aspirational one for tim looking for like queer mentors. bluebird is great and perfect for them obviously but they are not a blueprint for anyone else.

dick: [sitting on blue’s shoulder after describing how blue wooed him with random tchotchkes on his windowsill and then moved into a corner of his living room for a month and—] anyway do as i say not as i do

dick literally let a secret organization-trained slightly undead assassin into his house for fun bc he got like a few cool rocks as a gift

if tim asked dick for advice dick would be like “oh shit you like-like him? i just thought you were really touchy friends”

no one should ask bruce for advice, ever

so here jason is, somehow the most stable gay of the family

by the time damian appears with his first crush jason is like [sighs] [gets out the powerpoint]

timkon officially get together!

aaaand then months later dick shows up to family dinner with a giant ex-talon in tow like “heyyyyy guys, so guess what—”

there are also plenty of fun post-timeline adventures like “blue and santi get kidnapped together to target nightwing and red hood; kidnappers regret this almost immediately” and “tim takes blue on restaurant adventures because blue really likes fancy food; one day they run into nick who says something nasty about tim and blue breaks nick’s wrist (tim’s net gain: another older brother unit)” and “santi is frantically trying to catch the bus one night and steps on one of poison ivy’s vines—whoops, it’s sex pollen; santi gets introduced to PAID forms” or, alternately, “jason gets hit with the poison ivy special and that’s how santi finds out he’s on jason’s PAID form” and “bruce and blue surprisingly get along very well and trade sparring tips (meanwhile, bruce is trying so hard to get santi to tolerate him and it’s slow going)” and also “dick realizes everyone else in the world knew he and blue were dating and in love six months before he did.”

extra content:

santi, blue, and kon end up in a robin bf support group gc. one day kon gets added to a group chat that’s just like [(372)846-XXXX and (124)234-XXXX has added you to a group chat] and nothing happens there for like 2 hours he’s just like 

kon: ?

kon: hello?

kon: is this spam? is there such a thing as spam gcs?

kon: am i getting blackmailed

kon: how did you get this number??

(blue added kon while santi is in school)

the gc also ends up nonstop unintentional comedy due to their communication styles. kon’s gen z (👍 = declaration of war) and santi is technologically elder millennial/boomer (thought 🙂 was a normal smiley until corrected)—but blue is none of the above. blue knows the nuances of every emoji but has no social rules for using them. he’s an emoji artist. he is unbound.

from @90kon, in a version of the timeline where santi hasn’t seen jason’s face/doesn’t know his name before their sort-of breakup:

after their not-yet-together-break-up they should have an argument. like santi confronts jason about him saying he doesn’t want this thing between them to go on but wont give santi an honest answer but also keeps lurking and santi cant move on like that. bc either he’s done with him or he’s not. and umm yeah jason is not rly saying much but eventually santi is like alright. just tell me this: do you want this or not? forget about everything else…do you want me? and santi barely has time to finish his question before jason says yes. in a tight voice. i want you so much it scares the shit out of me. and ummm well eventually santi is like look. you can have me. but i have conditions.

and he’s like. whatever idk uhh don’t lurk out my window unless you’re gonna come in. dont investigate me; if you want to know something, just ask. at the end he should say "and i need a name. it doesn't have to be your full name or anything, but i need to call you something other than red." and jason is quiet for so long santi sighs and is like. "yeah i didn’t actually think that one was gonna fly. whatever, forget i said--" and jason says "jay." like it just slips out of him. and santi stills, looks at him, and from the way jason said it he somehow knows it's real. it could be short for any number of names but it's real. so he repeats it. "jay."

family game night from @mammutblog:

collected OCBFEU tag

[OC boyfriends created in a lab by @90kon, @mammutblog, @cairoscene, @vinelark, @feyburner, @bluecrystalrainingdaggers!]

[laddersofsweetmisery]

There's nothing I can't stand more than elitist perspectives from supposed academics. Academia is a PRIVILEGE to pursue. You were lucky. You had just the right foundation, just the right experiences, and just the right support.

I was homeless, raised by addicts, and severely malnutritioned from the ages 12 to 20. I remember having to melt snow in the winter just to wash my hair and it was still a privilege for me to acquire a literary degree. I had just the right people looking out for me and just the right life experiences to encourage my interests. I've never considered myself without privilege nor have I believed 'I worked hard to get here, so I deserve it.' The truth is that thousands of people work hard and everyone deserves it, but their resources differed from mine and yours. I just had the right circumstances to encourage my educational pursuits.

Not everyone has that.

Even in my most unluckiest moments, I was lucky to receive an education.

If someone stumbles into dark/light academia for the vibes alone and ends up learning about art history, poetry, new books to read and obsess over...then THAT'S A GOOD THING. I view the aesthetic as a gateway towards learning. Telling others they have no place in academia is so counterintuitive and can make them resentful. If you can make education more palatable and more easily digested, why wouldn't you support that? If you truly love academia, then you will love all facets and not just the parts that allow you to stroke your ego.

I believe education is a privilege and we must take our privileges as a chance to educate ourselves so that we can educate others at a more affordable rate. To me, having the opportunity to receive a quality education means you now have a civic duty to pass on that knowledge to those who couldn't afford the same opportunities.

Education is not a pathway to superiority, it is a journey towards empathy and civic engagement.

I share my poetry and other writings not because I think I'm good. I share because someone somewhere might need to hear it. I found my love for literature when I stumbled into Instagram poetry at 13 years old--a realm of poetry that receives immense backlash from supposed 'lovers-of-the-written-word.' Now, I obsess over John Milton, the Brontë's, and Mary Hays.

Accessibility is vital to academic communities. These communities that utilize the aesthetic to encourage involvement are doing good in the world even if you think it to be frivolous. They are exposing those who may not have originally been interested in education due to their foundations and experiences to wear a cozy sweater, make some tea, pick up a book, head to their local art museums, and pursue something they didn't know was available to them.

I support the Colleen Hoover girlies, I support the Instagram poets, I support the aesthetic followers, I support ACOTAR, I support fanfiction. I support words and what they can do for others no matter the form.

In a world where literacy rates are at a low, encouragement and accessibility are our greatest tools.

Do not weaponize education for your own egocentric objectives. It is a selfless communal endeavor to enrich the way we understand, interact, and positively influence the institutions around us.

Most children enjoy learning about the world around them, ask yourself, 'What made them stop loving it?' and then, ask yourself, once more, 'Could it have been people like me?'

Mary Hays via Mr. Francis said it best: "When the minds of men are changed, the system of things will also change...Let us remember, that vice originates in mistakes of understanding, and that, he who seeks happiness by means contradictory and destructive, is emphatically the sinner. Our duties, then, are obvious--If selfish and violent passions have been generated by the inequalities of society, we must labour to counteract them, by endeavoring to combat prejudice, to expand the mind, to give comprehensive views, to teach mankind their true interest, and to lead them to habits of goodness and greatness...Let it, then, be your noblest ambition to co-operate with, to join your efforts, to those of philosophers and sages, the benefactors of mankind...everyone in his sphere may do something; each has a little circle where his influence will be availing."

-Memoirs of Emma Courtney, by Mary Hays

For those interested in learning from the security of home when you can't afford the privilege of a classroom, here are some links that I've enjoyed and perused multiple times throughout the years. They are FREE OF ANY COST. Have fun with education in whatever ways you can and feel free to ask me if your interested in further resources or just want to chat. I don't know everything, but I'll do what I can to help. Check out Perseus at https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/

Holy shit, they've got it all! I use it for their Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, but there is so much more to learn to and explore. The Mission of Perseus: "Our larger mission is to make the full record of humanity - linguistic sources, physical artifacts, historical spaces - as intellectually accessible as possible to every human being, regardless of linguistic or cultural background."

Check out Project Gutenberg at https://www.gutenberg.org/

Project Gutenberg is a library of over 70,000 free eBooks! They have a lot of free classics, so if you're struggling to afford books for school, this is an excellent resource!

Love poetry? Interested in Emily Dickinson? Then, read The Prowling Bee at https://bloggingdickinson.blogspot.com/?m=1

The Prowling Bee is a blog by Susan Kornfield. I love hearing her insight into the poems and hearing from someone passionate about Dickinson's work!

Check out the John Milton Reading Room at https://milton.host.dartmouth.edu/reading_room/contents/text.shtml

This one is a favorite of mine! It includes the complete poetry and selected prose of John Milton, with introductions, research guides, and hyperlinked annotations.

Interested in journalism? Check out The Outlaw Ocean Project at https://www.theoutlawocean.com/

The Outlaw Ocean Project is a non-profit journalism organization based in Washington D.C. that produces investigative stories about human rights, labor, and environmental concerns on the two thirds of the planet covered by water. The content they produce is so vital, I couldn't recommend it more highly.

Additionally, you can sign up for some newsletters so you can receive articles in your inbox everyday! My favorites are:

The Literary Hub at lithub.com

The Literary Hub is an organizing principle in the service of literary culture, a single, trusted, daily source for all the news, ideas and richness of contemporary literary life.

JSTOR Daily at https://daily.jstor.org/

JSTOR Daily is a daily magazine that contextualizes current events with scholarship found on JSTOR. They are published by JSTOR, the nonprofit digital library of scholarly journals, books, images, audio, research reports, and primary sources. JSTOR Daily stories are what we like to call academic adjacent—they are carefully researched and written by experts for a general audience. Each piece  provides historical, scientific, literary, political, and other background for understanding our world. 

[itsbansheebitch]

Gen Zer's (2005) Predictions for Gen Alpha (They aren't Doomed)

I have some cousins that are Gen Alpha and they're turning out well. I really think all the "they're so doomed" messaging is from a loud minority, mostly on tiktok. I disagree, so I plan to make predictions for the vague & soupy (time) generation of Gen Alpha.

This list will focus on American Gen Alpha since there WILL be a stark contrast, especially regarding school shootings.

Average to EXTREME skill with tech depending on the kids (hope STEM is ready to welcome a new wave of newcomers)

Difficulties with history knowledge due to rewritten history books, (Please be kind while they learn, they don't know the full scope of what's going on yet)

Desensitized to violence (Due to usual kid stuff, school shootings being treated as normal, and an increase in hate crimes)

A new passion for social justice (I don't mean to be a "but I have black friends" kind of person, but believe it or not, having friends in minority groups and realizing they're in danger makes you want to fist fight whoever is at fault)

TONS of memes about the "Alpha" phrasing, which trust me, will get old QUICKLY. (A bigger stretch is saying the term for a shitty Gen Alpha kid will be Omega/Beta instead of Boomer)

Unusually violent jokes & memes

Extremely dark humor

A long list of child neglect lawsuits

An increase in accents homogeneity due to watching YouTubers at a young age (I'm not joking, this has happened to me and I only started watching YT in 2nd Grade. I have the weirdest Irish, British, and midwestern, but not the state I currently live in, accents on only CERTAIN words and phrases. There definitely will be studies on this.)

A new wave of kids fighting gerymandering

Brand New Shiny Raw LinesTM from the KiddosTM that they'll probably use to roast lawmakers until they start decomosing on the spot

Kids who are NOT afraid to fight you

New unseen levels of compassion

This is a stretch, but somehow they'll manage to bring back the avocado toast jokes, either as a banter thing or as a new "Boomer" type thing.

KiddosTM will probably joke about how Millennials ruined every industry from fabric softener to identity theft to robberies. This will be (hopefully) fully joking manner and used in a [Post kiddosTM disagree with] [Reply: Well, you ruined the fabric softener industry, so you don't have a leg to stand on] type format.

Will either share you their Social Security Number or will be a brick wall online. No in between.

A increase in reading (specifically fanfiction & audio books, but will NOT be void of physical copies) but a decrease in literacy & media literacy. We are already seeing this happening.

A "you didn't fix this/you fucked it up" attitude towards older people. This isn't necessarily negative since it means they won't take ANY shit from lawmakers and will probably not have as many hangups regarding rioting.

An absolute HATRED for family channels. I waiting for these kids to break the van life kids out in a bizarre scheme of epic proportions lmao

The most indecipherable controversies you've ever seen in your life. I'm thinking at least 5 levels of knowledge and joining a subreddit will be needed to even have an idea of what's happening.

(Hopefully) a new level of understanding when it comes to accountability, people changing, and knowing what you should expect from a person when they get cancelled.

Brand new political cartoons (now made for the internet)

A new passion for the environment and recognizing one's place in it.

A new level of hatred for colonialism and mass killings

Probably at least one assassination lmao (they'll be the barista from the tiktok about the barista killing CEOs with metal straws as darts)

A polarizing divide between anti-capitalism and ancap ideas that we haven't seen since 2008 (and not as publicly in 2008, so get ready for your shit to get rocked).

Some of the best and worst takes that humanity has ever bore witness to.

New acceptance (even better than now) regarding hair (dyes and styles), tattoos, piercings, etc.

A major crackdown on systematic issues (criticism when they're young, major law & education changes when they're older)

That's all for now. REMEMBER! Do NOT treat these kids like you were treated (LOOKING AT YOU, Ms. AVOCADO TOAST and Ms. DOWNFALL OF HUMANITY GAY-MER).

Side Note: People are always surprised when I tell them I was born in 2005 and have already graduated high school (no, I did not skip grades, I was actually very young for my grade) so I'm going to apologize ahead of time for turning all the Millennials reading this into dust. Sorry, ya'll.

[chokohen]

ᯓᡣ𐭩 Hi! I’m Cho! I’ve been roleplaying and writing fanfiction for about eight years now! I took a two-year break from roleplay because I got busy, but now I intend to get back into the groove. I really miss roleplaying and hyper-fixating on original characters with others, so I hope to find that again making this post to scout partners ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱₊˚⊹!

Cho ⁞ He/him ⁞ 18

All art by Takeshi Obata

Roleplay Status: CLOSED

𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘 𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒

FYI: I will not roleplay with anyone who is a minor or under 18!

I⎯ HOW TO CONTACT ME: I roleplay exclusively on Discord, so please contact me @y2kkoko. My name is char on there, which you can also call me. You can also contact me here if you want to roleplay, however, we will take it to Discord after our initial introduction. So, you definitely need Discord to roleplay with me. If you have any further questions, you either ask under this post or click the “Ask me Anything!” on my profile!

II⎯ LITERACY LEVEL: I’ve always been literate throughout the years I’ve roleplayed. Though, as of recently, I’ve been an advanced-literate to novella roleplayer. I find it much more enjoyable being advanced-literate. I like writing detailed and lengthy replies with more than five paragraphs. Usually, my replies range from 1000-2000 words per response, so please be okay with that. I’m detail-oriented in my prose. I enjoy describing emotions and details of the environment/setting. I’ll be sure to leave an example of my writing style at the end of the post ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧!

III⎯ VOCABULARY & GRAMMAR: I don’t take this so seriously. I’m not a pro editor, but please keep your typos to a minimum. Sometimes if there are too many typos in one sentence it becomes very hard to read. As for grammar, I don’t notice any minor grammar mistakes—to this day I don’t know how a semicolon works. I’d also like to consider a lot of people on here don't have English as their first language, so I understand.

IV⎯OC CRITERIA: I’m not very picky when it comes to original characters, as long as they’re interesting and intriguing. I, myself, draw, so two out of the three of my original characters I drew. However, face claims are completely fine if they are real people, anime or art (that is credited and/or granted permission via the artist).

V⎯THEMES & GENRES: Like previously mentioned, I’m not a picky guy, so a lot of genres I’m open to roleplay. However, I do have a few I specifically love. I like romance, science fiction, historical fiction, fantasy *looks around awkwardly* and smut—ANYWAYS! When it comes to historical fiction, I’m not educate on every historical event or past-time in the world, so obviously there’s limits to what I can and can’t roleplay.

As for themes, I’m an avid enjoyer of angst, especially hurt/comfort. I’m fine with dark themes such as drug abuse and violence. However, I will not roleplay anything that’s under the umbrella of sexual assault, such as pedophelia and sexual coercion. I’m fine with sexual assault being mentioned in your character’s backstory, but that’s as far as it can go.

Though, for NSFW, I don’t know what I don’t and do like, so please communicate to me what you plan on doing if we ever roleplay smut.

VI⎯ PLOTTING: I never have plots in mind, but I do have an old stack of plots buried somewhere in my Google Docs. Though, I’m good at making them and being a helping hand according to my previous roleplay partners. With that being said, I don’t want to make a plot where I’m the only one constructing the storyline. Roleplay isn’t a one-sided effort, so, please, put mutual effort into creating and writing the scenes.

VII⎯ PAIRING CRITERIA: I don’t limit myself to any relationship dynamic, but most of and probably all of my roleplay experience is with lgbtq pairings. This includes mlm, wlw and anything under that umbrella. I don’t exclude those who are non-binary or gender non-conforming (e.g. gender fluid and two-spirit people). Since I’m a gay guy, I’ve mostly roleplayed mlm. However, even though I’ve barely roleplayed wlw, I’ve written a lot of wlw short stories and read and watched alot of wlw fiction so I’m not uneducated in that manner!

Further clarification of what I pairings I can do:

man loves man (mlm)

trans man/transmasc loves man (mlm)

non-binary/gender non-conforming loves man (nblm)

woman loves woman (wlw)

nonbinary/gender non-conforming loves nonbinary/gender non-conforming (nblnb)

trans woman/transfemme loves woman (wlw)

nonbinary/gender non-conforming loves w (nblw)

man loves woman (mlw; inexperienced)

pretty much anything.

𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐌𝐒

I⎯ JUJUTSU KAISEN: I’ve been a fan of Jujutsu Kaisen since 2021, so I know quite a lot about it. Unfortunately, I’m not completely caught up to the manga. From what I remember, I read up to chapter 210. However, I know all the spoilers and the current plot in the recent chapters either from leaks or from online gossip! I’m a huge SatoSugu shipper, and Geto is one of my all-time favourite characters! I also like Itadori and Choso ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱₊˚⊹

II⎯ HELL’S PARADISE: JIGOKURAKU: I have only watched season one of Hell’s Paradise and only read some of the manga. However, I’m up to roleplaying any of the plot of season one (as of the time I’m posting this: May 7th, 2024). My favourite characters are the Tensen (I’m sorry, I have a love for villains), Sagiri and Yuzuriha!

III⎯ TOKYO REVENGERS: Oh, I love Tokyo Revengers so much ദ്ദി ꒦ິ꒳꒦ິ )✧! I’ve been a fan of TR since 2021, and despite the fact the manga is finished I still obsess over it to this day. My all-time favourite character is Koko, and I love him so much. I really love Inukoko, so if anyone sees this post and is both a Tokyo Revengers fan and loves Inupi x Koko, please hit me up. I’m begging to roleplay Koko in any situation possible.

IV⎯ GOKURAKUGAI/GOKURAKU DISTRICT: This manga is fairly new, but I’m in love with the plot right now, along with the art style and character designs. I’m free to play any character from this manga! My favourite from Gokurakugai is Yomi (the hot evil guy with white hair).

V⎯ CHAINSAW MAN: I’m caught up with Chainsaw Man, both part one and part two. However, I’m only like a chapter or two behind in part two. My favourites from this series is Reze, Denji, Quanxi, Makima and Aki. I love RezeDenji a lot. Lastly, I’m completely fine with playing any of the character’s I listed prior.

𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐘

I⎯ TIME ZONE: My time zone is Easter Standard Time or EST/EDT. Please be at least an hour to three hours away from my time. I feel it’s really hard to roleplay with people who are five to six hours ahead of me, and let’s not even fathom how hard it would be to roleplay with someone 12 hours ahead of me. With that being said, my activity time during the week is much less than during the weekend. I am definitely active on the weekend unless I have a huge assignment or project due. I have to warn you that a few of those will come up, so I will go inactive for a few days.

II⎯ COMMUNICATION: With that being said, communication is key to keeping my future/our partnership together. I do like talking a lot out of the roleplay, discussing storyline ideas, making jokes and being compatible with my partners. Furthermore, I will tell you if I have a huge project or assignment due, or if exam season is coming up. Please do the same if you’re busy and tell me in case you can’t reply. As of now, I believe my replies will take 2-3 days, though when there’s a lot of homework I might not be able to reply until the weekend. However, I will try to talk to you OOC in the meantime!

WRITING EXAMPLE

Once again, please contact me if you read through these rules and think we are compatible! You can either DM me on here or DM me on discord @y2kkoko

[oh--jeez]

FIRST OF ALL: there is nothing wrong with being bad at something, whether you are doing your best or not. you are obligated to nobody and nothing to improve your art or your appreciation of art, as long as you don't make it someone else's problem. i am MAGNIFICENTLY BAD at sewing, and i sew my own clothes anyways, and wear them! where people can see!! and if i download a sewing pattern and fuck it up - which is inevitable, given my dyspraxia and ADHD - that's on me, and i can either fix it or walk around looking lumpy. i choose lumpiness at least 75% of the time, because i am now old enough to be eccentric and not just unfashionable.

THAT SAID:

i keep seeing fic authors apologising for their clear, well-written, engaging fics being "confusing" due to reader complaints about, among other things, changes in narrator perspective, use of subtext, and (tagged, always) unreliable narration.

these are extremely basic narrative tools in story writing, and it's fine to use them.

stop apologising for your readers, who, until they found fanfiction written by other children their age, hadn't read anything they weren't assigned in school, for being functionally illiterate. stop apologising to people who prefer manga, and have decided to get mad at you for writing a wall of text instead of publishing your story as a dōjinshi manga.

you have done nothing wrong. you are writing a story, and you absolutely are not obligated or even advised to provide a humble apology with your author's note c-notes to people who want to read horny fic about tobirama in the potterverse, but refuse to engage with written medium at a level, frequency, and breadth of topic that would allow them to GET BETTER AT IT.

reading fiction is a practiced skill that gets easier and more enjoyable with time, barring the interference of chronic disabilities. there is a reason why we start with 'THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR' and work our way up to 'Hóng lóu mèng,' and it's not that little kids can't invent and enjoy more complex narratives, or that an adult, upon entering an adult literacy program, will automatically be able to take in and enjoy advanced literature with intricate grammar and subtle wordplay, simply cos they're adults. it's the reading. you have to put in the time and effort to get better at reading written language, and familiarise yourself with the function and utility of basic-to-complex grammar, even if you don't study the technicalities.

i ask you to stop apologising for doing nothing wrong, because people are starting to believe they're entitled to an apology from creators for creating things they don't like. i'm not talking about racist, misappropriated, or misogynist content, or people producing fetishising, transmisic, or pedophilic material for the delight of rapists and chasers. i'm talking about people just not liking where the story is going, or how you choose to portray inner monologues vs spoken ideas, or your use of techno-jargon. those are stylistic and creative choices by you, in your art, and if they don't like your flavour they can go read someone else. you are not responsible for entertaining everyone, all the time.

your readers are free to enlarge the text, use a dictionary, pay attention to who is talking instead of skimming cos the chapter is "boring" and "too long" (?!?!), or any other material or ephemeral adaptation they need to make it accessible and enjoyable to them, before coming to you and complaining that you're writing for a level of literacy they are unable or refuse to get to.

"reading with a dictionary what kind of nerd shit is that" the kind of nerd shit that wants to know what words mean so they can enjoy what they're reading, until they know so many words they don't need a dictionary to understand what's happening. it's what nerds used to do before the internet, when we didn't have a way to reach out instantly and demand the author explain their story to us, personally. we had to write LETTERS demanding that, so most - not all - of us opted to just open a dictionary or consult a grownup about what a turn of phrase meant instead of waiting a month for a reply.

to readers who want a story explained: the story you are reading is the explanation. that's the author explaining it to you. they have taken a piece of their heart and carefully written it out and posted it for you to read, for free. if you didn't understand it, read it again to see if you missed anything. if you don't want to do that, or you didn't enjoy it, move on. otherwise, you're like people who leave bad reviews on free advanced sewing and advanced knitting patterns, complaining that you tried it and it is too complicated for you. the world is full of accessible, beginner-level fiction and crafts. either resolve to get better at the thing you want to enjoy, or stop complaining that fun and challenging things exist for people who are good at reading, knitting, and any other pleasant recreational or cultural pursuit.

NB: if the author was being a bigot and not just writing about a bigot, by all means yell at them. learn the difference, first.

also, if you're fixing your mouth to talk about how i piss on the poor, this isn't directed at people with learning disabilities, of which i have several.

because of those, i'm not an author. yeah, imagine that: i'm someone who is passionate about being kind to creators and engaging with their chosen medium in an informed and honest way, without myself being a creator. it's called "being a person, and understanding other people are also people."

i could probably try writing fiction, and maybe get better at it, but it's not a pressing issue and i'm perfectly happy just reading. fic authors are magical beasts we should value and love, not treat like AU spank bank vending machines that ate our money.

EDIT: man this sure is a lot of words about how i don't write

[mystery-wings]

Roleplay/Fanfiction Writing Partner Search

I am 22 years old and look for someone who is 20+ years.

Literacy: I can do semi-literate, literate, and advanced novella, though I attempt to do the novella the most unless my partner or partners say otherwise.

Fandoms:

Beastars

Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia

Arcane

BoJack Horseman

Thomas & Friends

MCU

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Sanders Sides/Sanders Asides

Super Mario Bros. (including The Super Mario Bros, Movie)

Indigo Park

Gravity Falls

Other Roleplays/Fanfictions: • Original, no fandom (though characters from fandoms can be used)

Crossover Ideas:

"Boku no Hero Academia" | "My Hero Academia" & "Gravity Falls"

Character Relationships: I have no with fxf, mxf, mxm, ccxcc, ocxoc being included in the roleplay, though I don't want the character to be written/typed out in a way where all they are is just the romantic interest/platonic soul and to explore who they are as a person outside of that. And I am open to familial, mentor-mentee, and other relationships as well.

Character(s): I have original characters and can roleplay as canon characters as well, though I have a preference for roleplaying as my OCs.

Triggers: I genuinely don't have any triggers.

Genres: Science fiction, religious fiction, adventure/action, horror, thriller, romance, angst, hurt/comfort, hurt/no comfort, fluff, contemporary fantasy, alternate history, counterfactual history, steampunk, biopunk, solarpunk, crime and mystery, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, and more.

Tropes: De-aged/De-aging (temporary), escape trope (fleeing for one's life or freedom), index to the rescue (the hero goes out to save someone in need of help), bookcase passage (a secret passage is hidden behind a bookcase or triggered by the removal or manipulation of a book in a bookcase), bullet catch (anyone who can actually catch a bullet has to be pretty amazing), arrow catch (when an archer fires an arrow and someone has enough hand speed to yank it out of mid-air, that's an arrow catch),

Kinks & More: I have thought about what my original characters would possibly explore/be into, though I am willing to explore outside of these possibilities, only if it is still in character for them. However there are things that will never be allowed: zoophilia, pedophilia, feederism, agraphilia, abasiophilia, agalmatophilia, agrizoophilia, angrophilia, anthrophila/anthophilia, anthropophagolagnia, apiphilia, arachnophilia/arachnephilia, autonepiophilia, autopedophilia, automatonophila, batrachophilia, capnolagnia, cleptophilia, contreltophilia, diplophilia, ephebiphilia, erotophonophilia, hadephilia, hagiophilia, hamartophilia, harpaxophilia, homilophilia, hybristophilia, illyngophilia, infantophilia, lactophilia, lockiophilia, maieusiophilia, menophilia, methyphilia, necrophilia, neopharmaphilia, objectophilia, paralipophilia, parasitophilia, parthenophilia, penisphilia, peodeiktophilia, potophilia, pharmacophilia, taphophilia, uranophilia.

Where To Roleplay/Write: I prefer to roleplay on Discord, whether in the roleplay server with private categories and channels (so no one other than those involved in the roleplay can see the roleplay and other messages) or have a new server created. For fanfiction, I prefer AO3, Quotev, and Fanfiction.Net, we can also use other sites/apps, like Wattpad.

OCs: 1. Jules Bellamy and his family (Fandomless OC)

2. Alexan "Love" Sanders (Sanders Sides OC)

3. Alexan | Watcher (Boku no Hero Academia/My Hero Academia OC; version 2 him), the scientists (his creators) and their families

4. Alexan Vincent (Beastars OC; version 3) — temporarily unavailable

5. Ariel Nazareth (Jewish, Gravity Falls OC) and his family (including centuries dead ancestors of Ancient Israel from his paternal side) — When will they become officially become characters used in online roleplay and fanfiction? I will examine my progress on January 1.2025. If I deem them ready, they will become involved.

• To learn more about my OCs look at the links in the description

• You are also welcome to asks me any questions about my OCs.

• I highly recommend continuing to look at the information about OCs (Original Characters), as I do make updates (and the range of when I do is diverse).

Preferences for Fanfiction:

• Archive Of Our Own | AO3

• Quotev

• Fanfiction.net

Preferences for Roleplaying

• Discord

Trigger/Caution Warnings:

The warnings are related to the information about them. Which can be affected by the fandom my original characters are apart of.

Abuse (Jules Bellamy (abused), Alexan | Watcher (abused), Alexan Vincent (abused), Ariel Nazareth)

Neglect (Jules Bellamy (neglected), Alexan | Watcher (neglected), Alexan Vincent (neglected), Ariel Nazareth)

War (Alexan | Watcher, the scientists who created Alexan | Watcher)

Poverty (the Bellamy family) |

Self hatred (Jules Bellamy, Alexan | Watcher, Alexan Vincent, Alexan "Love" Sanders)

Aggression (the Bellamy family, Alexan | Watcher (and the scientists who created him), Alexan "Love" Sanders, Ariel Nazareth)

Anxiety (Jules Bellamy, Alexan | Watcher)

Animal death (Alexan | Watcher, Alexan "Love" Sanders)

Arson (Alexan | Watcher)

Assault (Jules Bellamy, Alexan | Watcher, Alexan Vincent)

Attempted murder (Alexan | Watcher)

Attempted kidnapping (Jules Bellamy (kidnapped))

Bandages (Alexan | Watcher, Ariel Nazareth)

Biting (Alexan | Watcher, Alexan Vincent, Ariel Nazareth)

Body horror (Alexan | Watcher, Ariel Nazareth)

Body checking (Jules Bellamy)

Breakdowns (Jules Bellamy, Alexan | Watcher, Alexan "Love" Sanders, Ariel Nazareth)

Captivity (Alexan | Watcher)

Childhood trauma (Jules Bellamy, Alexan | Watcher, Alexan Vincent, Ariel Nazareth)

Bullying (Jules Bellamy, Alexan | Watcher, Alexan Vincent)

Extra:

If you want to turn our roleplay into fanfiction, I will happily help.

If you are interested in creating fanart of my OCs and other things related to my OCs, speak me first.

There is this thing I started to do a few days, where I think about the relationships and create categorized lists of the potential relationship or relationships between my OC & a character. It’s just to help get an idea of the interactions between the characters for the roleplay/story, then figure out the undecided and other relationships along the way.

Though I don't have any triggers, there are things I won't do with my OCs because it would truly be out of character for them.

I research a lot for my OCs, world building, and roleplaying, and I put much thought in various topics. But there is something in particular I have a personal experience with and it's something those who have also experienced or something similar, which is official adoption (legal adoption). For various other people, they have specially when there is no consent involved, no informed consent, and the lack of looking into alternatives (kinship (only if there is anyone alive, and safe for said person or people, to community/tribe (if you are familiar with ICWA (Indian Child Welfare Act), you will understand what I mean), to guardianship; then fostering last); I only have experience with the lack of consent and informed consent. And there is also the issue of not being trauma informed (which is especially important when it comes to newborns and infants, and if the bio mother/parent had trauma (before, during the pregnancy (physical pain or injury, serious illness, war, natural disasters, terrorism, witnessing a death, rape, domestic abuse, incarceration within the criminal justice system, poverty, adoption trauma, medical trauma, family trauma, refugee trauma, traumatic grief, abuse and neglect (physical, sexual, emotional or psychological, religious, financial, digital, stalking, educational)—and those on the receiving end (and the causer) might not even recognize it was, is, or has been done at all or to a certain extent (even if the trauma suddenly hits them the worse they've experienced, though it could also be what leads them what realize they have trauma and what caused it); generational trauma comes to mind (humans being blank slates were never true, people just used to believe it was; but there are people who still believe this dangerous myth. Or if someone doesn't have a pre-trauma self, a self before their trauma, something not everyone has) —You can find information on this topic and related topic, on my Tumblr, TikTok, and Twitter, and YouTube.

If you are interested, like the post, then message me on here with the link to it and we will go from there.

[supermaks]

Yes pookie I do write f1c yes I have clowned on self insert and will continue to do so but Im not about to imply these 'y/n' social media authors are perpetuating a ‘cesspool of misogyny’ without acknowledging my own reproductions of capitalist, heteronormative, white supremacist and yes, particularly, homophobic and transphobic models. CRAZY how the thing about op's type of surface level literacy is that it’s literally just somebody’s own sense of superiority wrapped around framework that exists in a vacuum. Talking about girls/women being their ‘own voyeurs’ wid a lil Atwood quote and then going back to cope posting about millionaire men having gay drama without a lil bit of pause or reflection on how these 2 might intersect bro I can’t stand it its so empty it's nothing. Theres no purpose to that but posturing. And the tags of other rb's echo that. Like 'no my voyeurism is different than theirs because my characters are ‘fictional’, and these 15 year olds want to 'perform' as if the intention behind creating the ‘y/n’ fantasy thru social media doesn’t come from the same place as using celebrities to play queer roles wid each other that u as an author find satisfying by completely erasing the gender orders and logics of possession inherent to the spaces where they exist as real people. Especially in a space like f1 lmfao. It’s ALL escapism that’s the whole fucking point. It’s fantasy it’s delusion it’s not real but it justifies itself thru the author's own perception of what an 'ideal' reality is, and yes, that reality is always dominated by men. So why are we all of a sudden talking down to self insert as if the same power structures arent present in most fan work, as if the 'fictional approval' of y/n and the celebs peers isnt as important as the search for 'content' that institutionalizes real person f1c and its own levels of performance-based accuracy. Why isn't that present in this analysis or is its purpose just to clown on young girls wid capcut accounts because u don't find their reproductions worth the price of admission. There’s no ethical consumption of real person fanfiction lmfao SORRY my gay little maxiel is not more feminist than ig edit of sharl leclercs quirky model gf receiving fictional meme approval on twt just because mine has manifested itself thru a projected queer identity that I want to perform thru them by making them fuck and theirs is performing thru aesthetics by going on pinterest. We're all 'performing' for men because we're all responding to billions dollars worth of marketing driven by an industry that wants to keep marginalized bodies at the margin trying to buy their way in. Fans respond to that by faking their own status either wid gay f1c or self insert or both or whatvr. The parasocial nature of how celebs move today and the type of access u have wid social media means fans are more likely to turn to that medium to fantasize about how it wud be if they were perceived like that and they got the likes and the comments and the fans. So I agree wid op that its not actually 'y/n' , but like, not sure how 'wild' that is compared to most f1c considering literally, the whole point of fanfiction is that u play wid already familiar and existing structures until they reflect something that is more recognizable to u. I do that by turning these guys into multifaceted queer versions of themselves, somebody else might do that by editing an ig post, somebody might try both. So I dont agree wid any feminist analysis of f1c or self insert that isn't the very least intersectional and that is willing to make assumptions about how 'y/n' authors perform the male fantasy without mentioning how the same happens in every type of f1c. Im suspicious of its intention and I find it lacking

[danieldrivesfast]

Thoughts on Lestappen and Lestappies? And the narratives they spin and their media literacy, or lack thereof?

At its core, I have no problem with anyone's ship. I am very pro-fanfic. Hell, I've been participating in a fanfic/RP situation for twenty years now. (I am old.) My love of the creativity and expression that goes into fanfic and fandom is very deep.

My problem is when people can't or won't separate their characters from the actual, real-life human beings they're based on. I feel like the very recent normalization of using ship names and "fandom speak" in actual sanctioned/corporate media has caused a lack of separation. There has always been a barrier between the personas in fanfiction/fandom and the real humans, but that's gone now.

When it comes to "Lestappen" fans, I think there's a perfect storm.

Charles is a pretty boy with sad eyes and a traumatic backstory, plays piano and writes music, from a whimsical little country full of the rich and powerful, fulfilling a destiny that belonged to someone he lost.

Max is the superstar son of an abusive man, de facto stepfather to a little girl, hyper-focused on his special interest, the biggest threat to his competitors while also being a compassionate protector.

These two guys have competed since they were children, have a history of a fierce rivalry, came through the ranks at nearly the same time, and are now going head to head to be champion of the world.

That sounds like the most cliche setup of Mary Sues as rivals-to-lovers with a touch of hurt/comfort I've ever seen.

So when you take down the barrier between actual humans and the personas that are accepted as "canon" in fandom, you get whatever is going on with the "Lestappen" fans. Max and Charles aren't even that close in real life, but the fantasy is too good to pass up.

The group of Charles fans that call themselves the "Lecfosi" are overall very toxic (not all 16 fans, but holy shit), and when you mix that with the shippers who can't separate reality from fantasy, it's a noxious situation. What they've been saying to and about Lando and his fans after yesterday is borderline delusional. It's unnecessary. I can promise you that neither Max nor Charles would appreciate their behavior.

I think the ship on its own is very compelling. It's the inability to separate that fantasy world from reality, then using the fantasy to be truly hateful to not only fans, but directly to drivers and their friends/family that's gross and wrong.

It's obviously not all shippers. It's also not only "Lestappies" who are toxic. They just seem to be the loudest about it. (And this was asked about them specifically.)

As far as media literacy - that's an entirely different essay that applies to a much larger group than any one group of shippers. I'm sure I'll get annoyed enough to unleash that draft eventually. 😅

[uchihasavior]

what made you pick up this character?

I decided to catch up to Naruto after a few years break and thought Itachi was nice to pick up because of the Edo Tensei arc!

how did you get into this franchise/fandom?

I've always been into Naruto! It just went dormant for a little bit, but like... you never escape lol. I began watching it on Toonami when I was in late middle school tho. U never forget the first time u see the wave arc and Haku dies......

what’s the best thing about the show/series/books/comics/etc.?

The art! Seriously, watching Kishimoto's art develop from the beginning to the end is beautiful.

what’s the worst thing about the show/series/books/comics/etc.?

Uhh. it's hard to say what I legitimately hate! I have criticisms like everyone else but nothing I hate.

what’s the best thing about the fandom?

Fanart and fanfiction! Seriously, I've gotten into so many ships that I wouldn't have given a chance if I hadn't seen fanart or peeked into a fanfic that seemed kinda interesting.  

what’s the worst thing about the fandom?

Antis, of course, but on another note the media literacy of the fandom as a whole has sunk into the negatives. Too many people taking things at face value and refusing to let the story unfold infront of them. Characters change!!

what’s the best thing about the canon you are writing?

Itachi is the only character who realized his actions towards Sasuke were is own fault and didn't seek excuses. He knows he hurt Sasuke and that Sasuke didn't owe him any forgiveness or understanding.

what’s the worst thing about the canon you are writing?

How Itachi at 13 years old is treated as if the massacre was preventable, and as if he had the decision making skills of an adult and not a kid who was groomed by both sides since he was seven. "just say no to the massacre lol". But this is more of a fandom problem, really.

have you tweaked the character from canon? if so, what did you tweak?

Kinda! But I like working with the challenge of canon, including the novels. Of course to make certain AUs and character interactions work you have to bend canon to a certain degree.

are there some things you dislike about how the show/series/etc. portray the character you have picked up? if so, what?

Not really! I like Itachi.

what would you say is the most unique trait about your character?

Itachi's self reflection! It took him dying and being revived to realize, but he fucking knows full well his "protection" of Sasuke ended up really hurting him and it's 100% his own fault.

are there any other characters from the franchise you’d like to play?

Not sure! I've already dipped into Sasuke, whom I also love with my whole heart.

are there some characters from the franchise you can’t stand? 

From main Naruto series: Sakura :( Mostly because most sakura roleplayers use her as a self insert/projection, I have to say it and it's a really pervasive problem. From Boruto: Daemon. I hate this goblin and I want him to die.

what are your thoughts on the canon ships for the character, if any?

Itachi's only "canon" ship is the implied feelings he had for Izumi! But Izumi is a nice girl, so I like the ship. It's okay!  

what is your personal ship bias for your canon character?

I ship most of the main Itachi ships! ItaKisa, ItaShi, ItaSasu. But I also like exploring "non conventional" ships! RP for me is about exploring things we can't see in canon. ItaIzu, ItaSui (Suigetsu), ItaUra (Urashiki from Boruto), ItaMada, ItaIru, ItaKarin... ItaOro (REALLY love this one), etc.

are there any ships you can’t stand, why?

Itachi/Sakura! It's the one I actively avoid specifically with Itachi. Other ships I'm "I don't see it" about are Itachi/Kakashi, and Itachi/Deidara. Nothing wrong with them, I just don't really get it!

how long have you been writing the character?

Since about 2013, so 11 years or so! Tumblr boomer.......

should people get into the franchise you're* writing from, yes or no?

yes. And this includes Boruto. This is a threat.

if you could sum up your character with one sentence, what would it be?

:)?

which song do you feel describes your character the most and why?

Unfortunately I don't have a song! I'm really bad at connecting music and characters.

tagged by : @osteus (thank you!)

tagging: @bladedhunter @heavenlypaper @thatsneakymedic

[myimaginarywonderland]

I love to read. I love stories.

I love books, games, movies, shows, anything that builds a genuine world, gives living characters, adds normal interactions etc.

So it always seemed obvious to me that as someone like that I would end up in fandoms and stuff like BookTok.

And I truly have to talk negatively about things because it hurts to sometimes admit flaws but as a storylover the last years of movies, TV Shows, books etc. have really started to feel so lack luster.

I could write essays about how storytelling, worldbuilding has become one of the lowest priorities when many projects nowadays start but I think there is also something to be said about the Fast Fashionisation of media because I am a victim of it just as I am a victim of brand buying sometimes.

The Fast Fashionisation of media is not only truly damaging stories in a lot of ways but I think people ignore how much off an effect all forms off media have on anyone, no matter their age but especially children.

Because I am someone of the "I learned languages through media" person and I feel like so much off the lose of knowledge, reduction of literacy, lose of interested in science etc. can be tracked directly back to the way media (most industries) have become a Fast Fashion brand and are essentially also using names.

What do I mean by this? We are getting movie after movie from big studies that seem like they have less and less effort put into them, baiting us by being part of x-franchise or in y-universe with z-big actor. Why do I hate this? Because a lot of movie feel like they aren't a story that is told but rather that one of these 3 bait factors was used to build a story around it. The story in itself is never a main focus of the movie, the worldbuilding is lacking because it is just expected that if it's x or y you will already know that "world" and if it's actor-bait, they just hope you are too busy ogling an actor (this isn't meant to shame because we all do sometimes!) to realise the complete lack of genuine story that is most movies.

When it comes to shows there is literally the Formula. Be a remake, a spinoff to some character, connect to some event of x-movie in y-universe, fit into the current in-categorie. Be based on some other past form of media, another season of some old show and that's it. I know people talk a lot about the homophobia because so many queer shows get cancelled but you will notice with these shows is that they don't fit into the "typical" TV Show formula and are actually trying something new so they will already be expected to be received worse and then if they don't at least met those expectations it's immediately over.

Booktok and smut/fanfiction has truly ruined the industry because 90% of books that will be promoted will just be promoted for sex scenes and romance when there is no substance in the entire story. You will have people throwing out this title and that and yet all the books are basically carbon copies with just slightly different featured main characters.

I think Games are the best of media genre right now because the scale of the others has not been reached yet. But I can already say, there is a noticeable bait with big franchise and remakes that will essentially be a carbon copy of the game before with genuinely no new features. I was so disappointed in Pokémon when I got my Switch because I adored Sword but hated the stupid Diamond remake. (Personal I know.) But I also think the gaming community is by far the biggest one influenced by fans which is why there is still many great stories out there. I think the main problem here is also that there isn't the promotion there used to be? Sure big Games from large companies will get ads but in my opinion many games used to rely on Let's Plays for attention especially from "bigger" creators. Since many creators have aged though and shifted their interests + are not uploading as frequently as before, there is less exposure to smaller games that are storybased and not mainstream.

I just think people don't understand the full effect this genuine fast fashion media will have on the population but especially the development of children and I could talk about this all day but yeah, I am going to cut myself off here to stop rambling.

[fasttube]

The Literacy of Lyricism: For Swifties

I stand by my seat at The Eras Tour and eagerly await the arrival of one of my favorite artists as the clock on the screen counts down. The screams around me reach an unimaginable volume as we all hear “It’s been a long time coming.” I look out at the crowd and see so many faces. Almost every single one was screaming or crying, some were doing both. This singular person who was coming up on stage had created a mass fanbase of people who would cheer for her through thick and thin. In fact, Taylor Swift has created more than just a fanbase, she’s made a community. Communities can be defined simply as a group of people whose interactions create some kind of unity and commonality (Prior 26). However, the Swiftie community goes further than this by becoming a discourse community. It’s a discourse community through which people engage with each other on topics relating to Taylor. Where they have online chatrooms and in-person events to discuss and share their thoughts on Taylor and her music. Where dozens of fanfictions, parodies, blog posts, and even full-length college courses are created to spread the “word” of Blondie, a term of endearment by fans for Taylor. I make it sound like a cult, and although some people take it seriously enough to call it a religion, it’s just an accepting community that shares the goal of appreciating and sharing the music of Taylor Swift (Swales 12). Because of all these things, I find it fitting to define the Swiftie fanbase as a discourse community, according to John Swales's definition. The main mechanism through which Swifties appreciate and share Taylor’s music is through her lyrics. These lyrics enable Swifties to pursue writing and advocacy in some of the contexts that Taylor writes about. Through Taylor Swift’s lyricism, the literacy of Swifties is uplifted and encouraged in the contexts of emotional expression, feminism, and insecurity.

Writing and literacy can take many forms. It can be in the form of poetry, screenplays, non-fiction books, Tumblr blogs, or lyrics, among many others. Lyricism, especially, is one of the most popular ways that literacy can be learned and spread. Although I have heard my fair share of lyrics and songs with questionable messaging and imagery, I believe most artists value their lyrics. One such artist is Taylor Swift. About an hour into the concert, I stood by my seat eagerly anticipating the next song and saw one of her backup singers hand her a guitar. She strums casually, gives a little speech about love, and asks, “Do you have about 10 minutes to spare”. The crowd goes absolutely buck wild, all of us recognizing that she’s singing the 10-minute version of her Grammy award-winning song, All Too Well. For the many Swifties at the show and me, this song carries much meaning all because of the touching lyrics she wrote. As the bridge of the song builds, I take a deep breath and prep my vocal cords to scream out as loud as they can.

“And you call me up again just to break me like a promise. So casually cruel in the name of being honest. I’m a crumpled-up piece of paper lying here cause I remember it all too well.”

I look at my cousin next to me and she is brazenly sobbing while singing each lyric and screaming as she recalls that last time someone hurt her and made her feel the same feeling that Taylor was singing about. That’s one of the beauties of the lyricism of Taylor Swift, the relatability that allows people to feel comfortable sharing their feelings.

Blondie’s music has always been catered towards women, both young and old. So, the teenage girls within all of us that have been heartbroken a dozen times over because of our fresh, unexperienced hearts, really FEEL every word that she writes. This feeling is especially multiplied when I look online and see hundreds of blog posts, tweets, and images detailing how a stranger hundreds of miles away feels exactly the same way that I did. Knowing that someone else feels the same way I did, gives Swifties the confidence to share their stories and tell others of their ventures, both gleeful and sorrowful. In this way, the Swiftie community uplifts and encourages each other to write their feelings. The encouragement that is provided among the Swifties community and from Taylor Swift’s lyrics, empowers fans to engage in literacy that has to do with their own emotions and manner of expression. Even as someone who is studying to be a writer/editor, I still find it difficult to find the right words to express myself and my feelings. I often find it impossible to put pen to paper and write exactly how I feel in regard to what I felt at a specific moment; it’s why I have never been one for journaling. The masterful lyricism with which Taylor Swift writes is one that inspires me to find better ways of expressing myself. And this is something that is further fostered by the Swiftie community. Every cover, parody, inspired piece of poetry or art, is uplifted and celebrated by Swifties. They’ve even come together as a community and created fan chants to sing during some of Taylor’s songs and a slurry of inside jokes that only other Swifties would recognize. This scale of supportiveness and expression of the community is something that is second to none among the often-toxic fandoms that many recording artists have amassed.

Soon after the Red era of songs was over, the entire stage was emptied as just Taylor walked towards the end of the stage. At the end of the stage stood a wooden piano, decorated with painted flowers. The entire audience was abuzz with anticipation as we waited to see what song would come next. Taylor spoke, giving a relatively long speech about the love she has for her fans before introducing her special guest for the evening, Aaron Dessner, one of her co-songwriters. The crowd went wild once again, I stood in confusion but cheered and asked my cousin “Who’s that?”, “That’s one of her songwriters,” she said. I understood the cheers now, this was someone who had written some of Taylor’s most powerful and touching songs. He begins to play the piano, everyone sitting in silence trying to see what song it was. This was what was called “Surprise song time”, where Taylor would choose two songs from her discography to sing acoustically. It was different at every show so the fans never knew what surprise song was coming even if they knew the full setlist. In the midst of Aaron’s piano playing, “What did you think I'd say to that?” is sung, and as if they were commanded to do so, the crowd screams in unison and begins to sing along with Taylor. After the first verse, she almost angrily sings

“Good wives always know, she should be mad, should be scathing like me, but no one likes a mad woman. What a shame she went mad... And you'll poke that bear 'til her claws come out And you find something to wrap your noose around. And there's nothin' like a mad woman”

I feel anger well up from deep within me as I recall all the times, I have had to suppress my feelings for fear of being told I am “crazy”. This is an experience not unique only to me, but rather one that could be felt by every woman who exists in male-dominated spaces (which, let's be honest, is almost everywhere).

As a woman, I find it to be incredibly important to read, listen to, and watch material that empowers women and supports feminism. This applies to books, movies, academic texts, and music. Music is mostly the one that I surround myself with the most. Music is the media that reaches the widest audience, as it can be listened to, recognized, and appreciated beyond the barrier of language. The lyricism of songs like “Mad Woman” and some of Taylor’s other songs, allows Swifties to be empowered and embrace their femininity without fear of judgment. The song reminds me of the story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a story about a woman who slowly goes mad as the men around her ignore her and her pleas for help. Although in this story the narrator actually does become a “mad woman” it is because of the lack of reception and mental help that her physician husband refused to give her. Both this story and Taylor’s song encompass the experiences that most women have. Experiences where men undermine the feelings of women and place them under this umbrella of being “crazy” rather than acknowledging their very real feelings and issues.

The lyrics behind “mad woman” encourage women to put their feelings into words, specifically their feelings about being a woman. Women are inspired to become feminists through songs like these. Although feminism has gotten a bad rap, it’s really just a different word for equality (Logsdon 5). In this constant struggle for equality, the sharing of female rage and despair actually uplifts women to continue the fight, rather than delving them into a depression from the lack of equal rights. The feminist lyrics behind some of Taylor’s songs, promote Swifties to engage more with feminist rhetoric and discourse. From this, the community gains a newfound courage to share and engage with feminist literacy. This form of literacy actually encourages abstract and conceptual language (Havelock 1). The metaphorical nature of her lyrics adds a visual component to her already descriptive and immersive audio. In this song, the lyrics give Swifties the image of a man pushing and pushing a woman till she reaches a point where she goes mad. The relatability of Taylor’s lyrics once again serves as the catalyst for why Swifties engage so much with her music and get inspired and empowered by it.

The crowd was still yelling, with screams getting more and more raspy as people lost their voices. The first surprise song had finished and left all the women in the crowd with a rush of adrenaline as they thought of all the times, they were told they were “mad”. These screams continued as Aaron left the stage. Screams still cheer out for Taylor as we see water being projected onto the stage. Taylor readies herself assumes a position similar to that of professional divers and literally jumps headfirst onto the stage. “What the, that was so cool!” I remember exclaiming to my cousin as we watched the interim visuals of Taylor Swift swimming inside the stage. Soon after this truly jarring moment, the final era of the tour, Midnights, was about to begin. I really wasn’t ready for it to be over, I felt what seemed to be every emotion possible throughout the last 2 and a half hours of this show. I probably screamed the loudest of everyone in my section, even with my already shredded vocal cords from the night of excess screaming. We eventually reached my favorite song from the era, Anti-Hero. It’s a song I, unfortunately, deeply relate to.

“It’s me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me. At teatime, everybody agrees. I'll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror”

My throat grew tight as I felt the emotions rush through me, it became almost painful as it combined with the soreness I already had. I knew exactly what it felt like to be insecure about the things you do and to have anxiety about what you could have done better. It’s a feeling I know isn’t unique, but one that still hits hard nonetheless.

It’s not often that I get emotional in a space with so many people around. I normally like to keep my emotions to myself. But something about the experience of seeing this person on stage singing about this feeling that I had had so many times before and that I see so many people around me sharing, had me close to tears. The song itself is upbeat and happy sounding, but the lyrics tell a story of anxiety and insecurity. As a student, I especially relate to the feelings in this song as I often question my abilities and wonder if my writing is good enough. And I know I’m not alone. In a letter to her students, Erica Dolson exclaims about how she so desperately wishes that she could allay the sentiments of stress and anxiety that her students express to her (1). Despite advice on breathing, healthy habits, and professional help, those emotions are still there. One thing that has really helped me with my anxieties and insecurities is knowing that I am not the only one who feels this way. Dolson explains that she also feels those same stresses and anxieties as her students do. Taylor Swift, this person who people have long been idolizing and claiming to be perfect, also feels that same way and she’s letting us fans know that through her lyrics. She’s insecure about her writing, her actions, and herself. Swifties feel these insecurities and anxieties too, and by opening up about these things, Taylor Swift is sponsoring the normalization of vulnerability and creating mental health literacy.

Through this normalization, the Swifties community becomes a supportive space where people can express their feelings and show their vulnerability with people who will try their best to uplift someone out of those negative thoughts. On Twitter (I know it’s X now, but that name is stupid so I still call it Twitter), I’ve seen dozens of posts from Taylor Swift update accounts who apologize for being inactive because of their mental health. Rather than attacking this person for being absent and being upset that they didn’t get their daily Taylor Swift news, the community supports that person and tells them to take their time and prioritize their own health. This isn’t really something hard to do as they're just being decent human beings, but such support among fans is uncommon in a lot of fanbases. By giving each other empathy, offering support, and encouraging open conversations about mental health, Swifties contribute to a broader understanding of emotional well-being within fanbases.

As I write this piece, still in my post-Eras Tour depression, I continue to think about all the lyrics of Taylor Swift and how they have touched the lives of so many people. Through her lyrics, Taylor Swift has sponsored the literacy of her fanbase and inspires them to be raw and creative. The Swifties community has been shaped by Taylor Swift's impactful lyrics and now serves as a vibrant discourse community that encourages emotional expression, feminism, and mental health. Through the shared experience of her lyricism, Swifties finds not only entertainment but also a source of empowerment, understanding, and connection with a broader community that extends beyond The Eras Tour. Taylor Swift's lyrical artistry, combined with the communal spirit of Swifties, has cultivated a space where literacy transcends traditional boundaries and embraces the human experience.  So, just remember, when the crushing weight of the current state of the world and your own anxieties and emotions get you down, just do like Taylor Swift and “Shake It Off”. 

[thebestpartofwakingup]

Idk the issue of how fanfiction impacts youth literacy interests me because outside of porn past the age of like 16 I wasn’t really interacting with fanfiction the way someone interacts with a book or a movie or tv show but the way that someone interacts with the student essays they and their peers have to write and edit about the books and movies they’re assigned in high school and college. Like a more creative and abstract fan discussion forum where people can highlight what they like or don’t like or other thoughts they have on canon without prompt or the rhetorical context of an open discussion

And I say that because over the years I’ve seen arguments that teenagers are drawn to fanfiction instead of literature because the books teachers give them are too boring or non-representational but outside of learning story structure (usually done in elementary school and early middle school) the benefit of most assigned books isn’t like, personal connection or broadening of horizons? It’s about learning to use literature to connect with others, a specific time and place, or with the millions of people who have also read that same book

Because culture builds on itself yknow? So to navigate it well you need to be versed in the motifs and codes used throughout it. Having students read the same books for generations broadens a frame of reference that is shared by a growing portion of the population. The value in Shakespeare isn’t just that it’s well written or structured often in a way that makes it easy for teachers to highlight the themes or use and mechanics of different literary devices, but because virtually EVERYONE in the English speaking world knows who Shakespeare is and virtually everyone with an English education has read some Shakespeare — and so the ripples of Shakespeare are especially numerous, frequent, and influencial.

And it’s not just about understanding YOUR culture but about how culture as a whole WORKS because if you don’t see examples of how one old classic story has gone on to influence stories that’s went on to influence stories you’re going to struggle to understand the power that art and literature have past the individual relationship between story and singular reader. You’re also going to struggle to understand how individuals and groups feed back into eachother, how ideas propagate and spread and reinforce themselves.

Mary Shelly wrote the first sci-fi horror at a time when scientific advancement was rapidly changing what a conservative religious society understood about the world, not just the facts they knew but the ways in which they could conceive and imagine somebody to interact with it, the body was changing from the vessel of a soul impeded by a higher being to an organic machine. People weren’t just looking down the barrel of new ethical questions, they were looking down the barrel and realizing that there COULD be new ethical questions, that ethics as a whole could be fluid and expanding with the expansion of sciences and industry. That context is important because it serves as evidence to the modern reader to the evolution of culture

And you HAVE to understand how and why and when culture changes or you’re not going to have ANY influence during the moments when you’d otherwise has the opportunity to partake in such, because you won’t know that what is an opportunity is there at all