#my chilluns

[foragergnome]

two year glowup

[mimi-0007]

FATHER & SON: James Earl Jones with his Father Robert Earl Jones on Stage in the 1962 Production "Moon on a Rainbow Shawl."

Robert Earl Jones (February 3, 1910 – September 7, 2006), sometimes credited as Earl Jones, was an American actor and professional boxer. One of the first prominent Black film stars, Jones was a living link with the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s, having worked with Langston Hughes early in his career.

Jones was best known for his leading roles in films such as Lying Lips (1939) and later in his career for supporting roles in films such as The Sting (1973), Trading Places (1983), The Cotton Club (1984), and Witness (1985).

Jones was born in northwestern Mississippi; the specific location is unclear as some sources indicate Senatobia, while others suggest nearby Coldwater. He left school at an early age to work as a sharecropper to help his family. He later became a prizefighter. Under the name "Battling Bill Stovall", he was a sparring partner of Joe Louis.

Jones became interested in theater after he moved to Chicago, as one of the thousands leaving the South in the Great Migration. He moved on to New York by the 1930s. He worked with young people in the Works Progress Administration, the largest New Deal agency, through which he met Langston Hughes, a young poet and playwright. Hughes cast him in his 1938 play, Don't You Want to Be Free?.

Jones also entered the film business, appearing in more than twenty films. His film career started with the leading role of a detective in the 1939 race film Lying Lips, written and directed by Oscar Micheaux, and Jones made his next screen appearance in Micheaux's The Notorious Elinor Lee (1940). Jones acted mostly in crime movies and dramas after that, with such highlights as Wild River (1960) and One Potato, Two Potato (1964). In the Oscar-winning 1973 film The Sting, he played Luther Coleman, an aging grifter whose con is requited with murder leading to the eponymous "sting". In the later 20th century, Jones appeared in several other noted films: Trading Places (1983) and Witness (1985).

Toward the end of his life, Jones was noted for his stage portrayal of Creon in The Gospel at Colonus (1988), a black musical version of the Oedipus legend. He also appeared in episodes of the long-running TV shows Lou Grant and Kojak. One of his last stage roles was in a 1991 Broadway production of Mule Bone by Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, another important writer of the Harlem Renaissance. His last film was Rain Without Thunder (1993).

Although blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s due to involvement with leftist groups, Jones was ultimately honored with a lifetime achievement award by the U.S. National Black Theatre Festival.

Jones was married three times. As a young man, he married Ruth Connolly (died 1986) in 1929; they had a son, James Earl Jones. Jones and Connolly separated before James was born in 1931, and the couple divorced in 1933. Jones did not come to know his son until the mid-1950s. He adopted a second son, Matthew Earl Jones. Jones died on September 7, 2006, in Englewood, New Jersey, from natural causes at age 96.

THEATRE

1945 The Hasty Heart (Blossom) Hudson Theatre, Broadway

1945 Strange Fruit (Henry) McIntosh NY theater production

1948 Volpone (Commendatori) City Center

1948 Set My People Free (Ned Bennett) Hudson Theatre, Broadway

1949 Caesar and Cleopatra (Nubian Slave) National Theatre, Broadway

1952 Fancy Meeting You Again (Second Nubian) Royale Theatre, Broadway

1956 Mister Johnson (Moma) Martin Beck Theater, Broadway

1962 Infidel Caesar (Soldier) Music Box Theater, Broadway

1962 The Moon Besieged (Shields Green) Lyceum Theatre, Broadway

1962 Moon on a Rainbow Shawl (Charlie Adams) East 11th Street Theatre, New York

1968 More Stately Mansions (Cato) Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway

1975 All God's Chillun Got Wings (Street Person) Circle in the Square Theatre, Broadway

1975 Death of a Salesman (Charley)

1977 Unexpected Guests (Man) Little Theatre, Broadway

1988 The Gospel at Colonus (Creon) Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, Broadway

1991 Mule Bone (Willie Lewis) Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway

FILMS

1939 Lying Lips (Detective Wenzer )

1940 The Notorious Elinor Lee (Benny Blue)

1959 Odds Against Tomorrow (Club Employee uncredited)

1960 Wild River (Sam Johnson uncredited)

1960 The Secret of the Purple Reef (Tobias)

1964 Terror in the City (Farmer)

1964 One Potato, Two Potato (William Richards)

1968 Hang 'Em High

1971 Mississippi Summer (Performer)

1973 The Sting (Luther Coleman)

1974 Cockfighter (Buford)

1977 Proof of the Man (Wilshire Hayward )

1982 Cold River (The Trapper)

1983 Trading Places (Attendant)

1983 Sleepaway Camp (Ben)

1984 The Cotton Club (Stage Door Joe)

1984 Billions for Boris (Grandaddy)

1985 Witness (Custodian)

1988 Starlight: A Musical Movie (Joe)

1990 Maniac Cop 2 (Harry)

1993 Rain Without Thunder (Old Lawyer)

TELEVISION

1964 The Defenders (Joe Dean) Episode: The Brother Killers

1976 Kojak (Judge) Episode: Where to Go if you Have Nowhere to Go?

1977 The Displaced Person (Astor) Television movie

1978 Lou Grant (Earl Humphrey) Episode: Renewal

1979 Jennifer's Journey (Reuven )Television movie

1980 Oye Ollie (Performer) Television series

1981 The Sophisticated Gents (Big Ralph Joplin) 3 episodes

1982 One Life to Live

1985 Great Performances (Creon) Episode: The Gospel at Colonus

1990 True Blue (Performer) Episode: Blue Monday

[qqueenofhades]

Writing prologue and epilogues.

Is there a rule in writing about how long before or after the main plot of a story that the prologue and epilogue can take place?

For example, a prologue that takes place a month before the main plot of a fic, and an epilogue that takes place a decade after.

Thank you for your time.

Okay, listen here my anxious chilluns. The fun thing about writing (fic or original stuff or whatever) is that there are literally no rules. You can do absolutely whatever you want and which makes sense for your story. There is no omniscient Writers Regulation Authority walking around with a ruler and a clipboard and frowningly measuring your story to make sure it's up to code, and the self-appointed ones you occasionally meet on the internet are without exception total dicks. You do not have to worry about this. You can go forth, my butterfly. Go forth and spread your wings and do whatever the ding dong diddlyfuck you would like to do. BE FREE. BE FREEEEEEE.

[trippinsorrows]

You know what? Even pregnancy being confirmed with two chilluns was sad for me because the minute I caught myself smiling and being happy for her, I remembered that Roman was thinking about leaving her (which I guessed correctly).

And then, it’s gonna get worse because Fetu died (also guessed correctly) and I don’t know about Roman, but if I felt like all my family died and I was alone, my first depression-riddled thought would be to push people away to be lonelier. But that’s just me, which he’s probably gonna do. That shit’s gonna hurt. I don’t like to say that I see myself in Roman, because I ain’t no killing, ruthless, fine ass Samoan mafia boss, but I know them feelings and it’s gonna be hard for him to let people in, more so than he already doesn’t.

And he must be hurting bad for his obsessed ass to even think about leaving his wife out loud, and let alone to someone else.

to be fair, friend, when you strip away all the mafia stuff from roman, he’s not like many of us walking around with unspoken pain and trauma.

i see some of myself in roman as well. i don’t think he’s a bad person. just a troubled, unhealed person who does bad things sometimes.

he’s human. we all human, ya know? 😭😭😭😭

[lotus-flower-writes-history]

The Unofficial Black History Book

Janet Collins (1917-2003)

The history of ballet began around the 1500s in Italy. The term "ballet" stems from the Italian word "Ballare," meaning to dance. When ballet was introduced to America in the early twentieth century, it was a new form of art. Unfortunately, African Americans couldn't be part of ballet culture for many years, saying that our bodies were wrong for ballet.

Until one woman broke one of the last major color barriers in classical ballet, 

This is her story.

Janet Faye Collins became the first African American prima ballerina and one of the very few prominent black women in American classical ballet. And the first black prima ballerina to perform with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York City, New York.

She broke one of the last major color barriers in Classical Ballet.

Janet Collins was born on March 2, 1917, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her mother was a seamstress, and her father was a tailor. They moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1921, when she was four years old.

She started taking private dancing lessons at a Catholic community center, and ironically, Collin's parents urged her to study painting rather than dance. Because at that time, art seemed to offer more opportunities to gifted African Americans than classical dance.

Collins studied art on a scholarship at Los Angeles City College and later at the Los Angeles Art Center School.

But she continued her dance training and attracted the attention of Adolph Bohm, Carmelita Maracci, and Mia Slavenska. All prominent dance instructors agreed to work with her. She continued her dance training with Carmelita Maracci, who was one of the few dance teachers at the time to accept black students.

At the age of 15, Janet prepared to audition for Leonide Massine and the De Basil Ballet Russe Company. The company was performing in Los Angeles during its American tour and advertised for an aspiring young dancer to audition for the company.

When it was Janet's turn, she was one of the best to audition. She moved with such beauty and grace that all the other ballerinas applauded her.

Massine saw her talent and accepted her into the company. But only under one condition...

He told her she would have to paint her face white for performances.

Going further into my notes, she was told that she would either need "special roles" created for her or dance with a white face to disguise the fact that she was black.

Collins left the audition in tears and vowed to perfect her art so that race would not be an issue.

In an exchange quoted in U.S. News & World Report, she responded,��"I thought talent mattered, not color."

Collins found a cold reception in professional ballet, despite her training. However, she didn't let that set her back, and she continued to perform.

In the 1930s, when she was still in her teenage years, she performed as an adagio dancer in vaudeville productions.

In 1940, she became the principal dancer for the Los Angeles musical productions of "Run Little Chillun" and "The Mikado in Swing". At this time, she worked with the Katherine Dunham Dance Company.

In 1943, she performed in the musical film "Stormy Weather," and in 1946, she appeared in the film, "Thrill of Brazil."

In 1949, Collins made her New York debut after performing her own choreography on a shared program at the 92nd Street NY. In the same year, and after two more performances, Dance Magazine named her "The most outstanding debutante of the season."

Collins made her debut as a prima ballerina on November 3rd, 1948, at the Las Palmas Theater in Los Angeles, and critics praised her as a one-of-a-kind performer.

Zachary Solov, the Metropolitan Opera House's ballet master, noticed her in a Broadway production of Cole Porter's "Out of this World" in 1951. Solov then invited Collins to join the Metropolitan Company when she was 34.

November 13th, 1951: Collins broke a color barrier after her performance of ‘Aida'. She was the first African American prima ballerina with the Metropolitan Opera after a year of joining the Corps de Ballet. It marked the first time a black artist had joined the permanent company.

Unfortunately, Collins faced racism on the road as the company toured southern cities, despite her success in New York. 

She was kept off stage due to Race laws, and sometimes her parts were performed by understudies who were white.

She remained at the Met until 1954. She would then go on to tour across the United States and Canada. She then began teaching ballet, which included using dance in the rehabilitation of the handicapped.

She also taught at the School of American Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet School, and the Harkness House.

Janet retired from performing and teaching in 1974. She spent the last years of her life painting religious subjects in her studio in Seattle.

Janet Collins died on May 28th, 2003, in Fort Worth, Texas, at 86 years old.

Despite all that was thrown at her, Janet Collins made a legacy for herself by becoming the first African-American Prima ballerina with the Metropolitan Opera and breaking its color line. 

__

Previous

The 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing

Next

Juneteenth

___

My Resources

[skinnyclue]

Update

I'm kinda in limbo rn about how I'm doing things

Due to my medical bs and having to have a baby now ir never, I am unsure losing major weight is feasible rn? Like I'd just gain it back probably

Really I've been focusing what energy I have outside of caring for my current chilluns on tryna have a baby and how to improve my odds so ana has sadly taken a back seat

And it makes me feel so fake like ugh if you really wanted Skinny and you were really Sick you would just ⭐ve

Why is it so much harder as an adult 😫

[sardonic-sprite]

A thing we were doing!

Im the out-of-touch gramma who doesn't totally know what this means, but...

*sighs* bc i have some damn sense thats why im an older familial.figure

V true

... in what way am I a blorbo? Tf? Does that mean?

... yknow what do it, before physics can

🥹🥹🥹 yey

Lmao i usually put stops to chaos but ty

Awwww chillun. Sweet bbies. Pls dont freak out I swear im no less normal than u

*wails* my body is broken enough pls dont hurt me

No ❤️ jk, for all my shit i have probably one of the closest-to-reasonable sleep schedules on this hellsite

[queerlilchinchin]

Fight Me, Negativity Height Comparison Art

My chilluns from Fight me, Negativity.

Shortest to tallest in this drawing: Tali/Nava the twin cherries (representative of @perasperaadastrawriting), my strawberry girl Adriana (representative of @deniselavestal), Jason the sushi boi (representative of @lordkingsmith), My avocado girl, Edifa (representing my friend who isn't on tumblr), KC then Glyndell which both represent me (the pizza & donut) and finally my tol gurl, Maron (the peapod) of whom... I forget if she was supposed to be my positivity or if she was based off of a friend T_T so yeah.

[foragergnome]

rogermon

ROGERMON......

ok. ok ok i. have many a notes about rogermon, and.. they dont interact at all in the book. but they are my chilluns my silly bip bop binkadinks. i Love them. OTP.

[qqueenofhades]

coming from one of those "born in mid 2000s and is now suddenly an adult, making everyone feel old," people, do you have any resources to learn how to bullshit your way through getting a job with zero experience. cause i cant even put like "babysitting" or anything since covid prevented literally any teenage-typical jobs and i kinda dont know what to put on a resume beyond the university im currently attending and the high school i graduated from. and they still dont teach you this in school even though we've complained for years 😭

Okay my chilluns, listen up. This is how to bullshit your way into a basic 1-page resume even if you think you have absolutely dum-dum-diddlysquat to put on it. I completely feel you, as it's hard as hell to get a job even in the ordinary course of things, and especially when everything seems to want 10 years of experience and a bachelor's degree (and still pays like shit). But you gotta be persistent anyway. So here follows the step-by-step guide of How To Resume:

Open a new Word (or other word-processing software of your choice) document.

Pick a nice, professional-looking font (for the love of God, no Comic Sans). Times New Roman is fine; you don't have to overthink it. My own CV is currently in Perpetua, because it's a nice serif that looks crisp and a little different, but it is still clean and readable. Garamond or Cambria or other starter typefaces are fine too. Make sure it is the right size, usually around 12pt.

Put your full name at the top, centered, in BOLD CAPITALS. Increase the typeface size a few more points on this, to make it stand out and to make it take up space.

Underneath this, in regular-sized text, put your contact information: mailing address if you're comfortable sharing it, or if not, at least your phone number and email address. Use a school email if you have it, and not some weird/in-jokey personal email.

Start a new paragraph. In a slightly smaller font (italic if you want to make it look classy) write a few words about yourself. This should be something like I am a [Major] student at [University] looking for a part-time, entry-level position in [sales, retail, office, etc]. A [year] graduate of [High School] in [City, State], I am [prompt, reliable, detail-oriented, mature, friendly, etc] and a hard worker who is eager to gain experience and positively contribute to your business.

Start a new paragraph. Change the alignment from Center to Left. Create a new heading in bold underline labeled Education.

Under this, fill in your education (college first, followed by high school). Include the institution name, city, and state, the year you graduated or expect to graduate, any honors or awards, any extracurriculars, any grade-point averages if they're good (i.e. 3.0 and above), and your expected major in college.

Start a new paragraph. Create another heading: Experience.

This is where you put absolutely anything you can think of (in chronological order, most recent first and counting backward). Did you volunteer for something ever in your life? Put it down! (Title of work, dates, location, brief description of work). Did you do yard work for someone for a weekend? Put it down! Were you (or are you) part of a student club or organization in high school or university? Have you organized or taken part in any local initiatives in your community or neighborhood? Put it down! Basically, absolutely any kind of work, paid or unpaid, that might be relevant, regardless of how long it was or when it took place.

Under that, put the new heading/paragraph Skills and Interests.

Have you worked with Microsoft Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Adobe, Photoshop? Put it down! People love that shit! Do you use social media and/or know how to work it better than the average grandma? Put 'er down! You get the idea. Think of anything in your daily life that can be put in Job Language and then see if you can do that. You are in university; do you have any projects, papers, or other things that you're proud of? Have you successfully managed a (gasp) group project? Do you make any kind of art? Are you a registered voter who has taken part in civic/political organizations, drives, or events? (If not, REGISTER TO VOTE! This is your angry grandmother speaking). All of that can go down. Even if it's not job experience per se, it's life experience and shows that you are someone who is engaged with the world and working to gain more.

Last paragraph and heading: References. Ask a few trusted adults who know you well and aren't related to you, such as a favorite high school teacher or a university faculty member/degree advisor, if they'd be willing to serve as referees. Put down their full names, titles/place of work, email addresses, and phone numbers.

Voila! You have a full page resume, probably even a little more if you're lucky. Proofread, make sure the spacing is even and the alignment is right, it doesn't look weird, the text is a consistent size, it's all the same color, there are no glaring typos or grammatical errors, etc. etc. Save it as a PDF.

Boom. Done. You are now a Job Hunting Maestro.

If you get an interview, you don't need to pretend that you have tons of experience or that you're something you're not, but you can present what you ARE in a positive light anyway. Don't apologize for yourself or play yourself down pre-emptively; be confident about yourself and what you can offer. You're a college kid looking for your first part-time job, COVID prevented you from a lot of normal teenage work experience, you're willing to work hard and learn new things. Here's your resume. What would be a good time to talk again.

Good luck! I believe in you.

[ravynfyre]

Okay, story time, chilluns...

Y'all know how Damar Hamlin from the Buffalo Bills went down on the field in full cardiac arrest the other night, right? I'm here to school you on a couple things:

the people who actually saved his life were probably paid about as much as the people who sweep the stands after the game.

that's typical for the industry. No, not the NFL... the HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY. Guy I used to know had been a medic for nearly 20 years. His daughter went out and got a job paying a dollar more an hour than he was making. She was a McDonald's fry cook.

there wasn't an "undue delay" in leaving the stadium with Hamlin; there's stuff to do to help the patient beyond just throwing him in the back. Also, they needed to grab an extra medic in case he coded again on the way to the hospital.

GOOD CPR BREAKS RIBS! I don't know if Hamlin's got busted ribs or not... but if he does, then they did GOOD CPR. You cannot compress the heart if you do not compress the ribs. You cannot compress the ribs effectively enough without breaking them. That is just a fact of CPR. (ask me sometime to tell you about the medic student who had a literal panic attack about breaking someone's ribs. it was a shit show)

in 12 years of firefighting and EMS work, I only ever had ONE confirmed save. Did I get pulses back in the back of the ambulance? Oh sure. Many times. Did any of them ever walk out of the hospital later? Never. My one confirmed save was when I was attending Dragon Con, and I wasn't even on duty at the time. CPR then, like for Hamlin, was initiated within 60 seconds of the arrest. I heard four days later that he walked out of the hospital on his own two feet. Other than him? I have only ever saved potatoes. Vegetables. People who had a pulse but no brain waves.

Because Real Life CPR is NOTHING LIKE IN THE MOVIES OR ON TV.

This rant brought to you by all the idiots and asshole armchair quarterbacks who have never even seen the inside of the back of a real ambulance, much less touched a dead person. Shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down.

[eddis-not-eeddis]

I really need to pause and have a moment to reflect on how awesome my dad is, because he is going to be gone for the next few days and I miss him.

He made up bedtimes stories revolving around a reoccurring cast for us when we were wee ones. The main characters would occasionally change, but the villain was always an ogre 'with hair like a burdock' that he named Evil Murdoch. We always begged him to tell us "Evil Murdoch" stories. We never asked for Princess Mary Ella or Prince Tomas stories, no, we always wanted Evil Murdoch stories.

He eventually wrote a very long and epic poem based on our childhood stories. Someday I will commission some paintings and surprise him with a fully illustrated copy of his fairy tale poem. Most of use chilluns have it memorized at least in part.

He told us that we shouldn't be afraid of monsters, because what we really needed to fear were mosskers, which were monsters' hairier, scarier cousins. There was quite a bit of lore attached to these Mosskers, and they all have much longer, sharper teeth anything else in the world.

[kuruwaba]

I was struck with the urge to doodle Haine (one in front) and Nephele (one in back) as wee chilluns. They’re from one of my many stories, and this one centers around religion... kind of? I’m hesitant to say it does, just for the simple fact it’s not “real world” religion (sorry Jesus ): ). (It started because I really wanted to write about a cult, and things spiraled from there, as they do) Neph moonlights as a girl because where he comes from, boys get tossed into battle and they get no say in it. So, his parents were like “Well, you know... what if girl”. Even after he leaves said place, he still keeps up the act just in case. Haine is just... scary boy, but is actually nice boy. Well, he’s nice to Neph anyway. c:

[galacticdesperado]

I love you my chilluns

Don't forget me. I won't remember anything else.

IMAGINE ME & YOU (2005) dir. Ol Parker

[why-cant-i-be-loud]

Be kind: Raised voices.

I found myself raising my voice with four different siblings. For, four different reason. For, four unacceptable reasons. I issued four different apologies. I come from a large family. 13 brothers and sisters. Wow, mom and dad you all had a whole lot of kids! When I asked dad why the world he had sooooooooo many chillun, he said: The radio did not work and the television was…