#my parents introduced me to the concept of banned books

[lizardbytheriver]

Tim Pool: "The idea is to introduce the concept of drag to a child in a way that parents would say is fine. “It's just reading a story, it's no big deal." But drag is inherently a sexualized performance. They rip their clothes off in exchange for money. I often put it this way. Imagine we had Go-Go Dancer Story Hour. Now the women are scantily clad and exposed, but they're just reading books, right? No, you do not want to groom kids in that way. Well, here we are. I'm going to come out and say it. The Daily Dot has said, “Twitter says it will ban using the word groomer as an anti-LGBTQ slur, but its enforcement is lacking." Claire Goforth, who wrote this article, I believe is a pedophile. My personal opinion. And I will also go on to say that I believe the LGBTQ community is now dominated by overt pedophiles. 

I've not I've not believed that previously. There's a group called Gays Against Groomers. I think they are not pedophiles or groomers. In fact, I am friends with many of them and I know they aren't. The issue is, you know, I grew up with LGBTQ activists. In fact, I even fundraised on behalf of some of the largest LGBT rights organizations in the country. I'll leave them unnamed. Some people probably know who I, who I did campaigning for, fundraising for, but now things are different. It used to be that when the right came out and said, ‘If you legalize gay marriage, they're going to come for your kids’ and say, “No, we don't want to go anywhere near your kids. We just want to be left alone." That's great. Marjorie Taylor Greene last night on Timcast IRL, if you haven't seen it go check it out, she said, “I don't care what people do in the privacy of their own homes. That's between them and God. I'm out of it, right?" And I agree. Hey, man, do your thing. You know, there's, there's an element of classical and traditional liberalism in do your thing. But now what's happened is they're directly going after children, telling them about overtly sexualized concepts that literally is grooming, and they're lying about it. Now, here's why I say pedophiles have taken over. They are actively trying to stop people from calling out pedophiles using LGBTQ people as a shield. Well, that's it. 

When someone goes up to a child in a thong and asks the child to put money in that thong, that person is grooming the child, introducing overtly sexualized concept to the child. Me personally, I'd say that's a groomer. Now, if you call them that, what they're saying is, “You're just insulting them for being gay." And they’re banning people. They started banning, they banned James Lindsay. Reddit, there was like there's a story about how Reddit was going to be enforcing some kind of rule like that. The Daily Dot reports that all the big tech platforms will now stop you from calling out groomers. That is to say, quite literally, if you see someone, someone abusing a child and trying to groom them and you call it out, they'll say, “You're only saying that because you're, because they're gay,” and then they ban you. Here's the way I described it on Timcast IRL. We're all at a playground, and there's a guy looking at the children walking up to him and licking his lips and going [mumbled sound]. And we go, “Hey, hey, get that groomer out of there. Get that groomer out of there." And then all of a sudden, a bunch of LGBTQ people walk over and say, “Hey, don't make fun of us." And we're like, “What? I wasn't talking about you guys. I'm talking about that guy right there." “You were saying all gay people." Or another way to view it is when I call out the guy for being a groomer, the guy walks over to the gay crowd, the LGBTQ crowd, and says, “That guy's making fun of us calling us groomers." And they all get mad. And I'm like, “No, I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about, wait a minute. How come y'all are getting mad when I say that?" And that's why I think they've been taken over. 

Because when you look at like Arielle Scarcella or Brennan Strzok or, you know, Milo Yiannopoulos, there are many prominent gay people who are not for this and totally opposed to it. And so my question is, when I point to a groomer and I say, “that guy's grooming" and then a bunch of LGBTQ people go, "He's just insulting LGBTQ people." I go, “No, I'm talking about the pedos, wait. Why are you getting mad when I insult pedos?" And there it is. They have no reason to be mad. Claire Goforth coming out to literally defend this probably because she is a pedophile, at least in my opinion. Now, I'm not saying I have any evidence, I don't know anything about this lady, but I'm just confused as to why anyone would come out and be and be in defense of pedophiles. Hands down. Why, Claire? Why are you actively defending pedos? Let us insult, insult them. Let us call them out. It's illegal what they do when they attack children. Why are you defending this? Actively fighting against those who are calling it out. These people are pedophiles. It is the only, only explanation or they're pedo adjacent, that they want pedophiles to be in the LGBT community. I think child abuse is wrong."

Drag is also not inherently sexual. Drag Performers are not ripping their clothes off during Drag Queen Story Hour. Drag can be sexual. But at its core (IMHO) Drag is an art form that emphasizes an overt and extremely exaggerated form of femininity and/or masculinity. And this does not need to be sexual at all. Tim Pool is genuinely homophobic, transphobic, and bigoted. Tim Pool calls a woman a pedophile with no proof. Tim Pool is friends with "Gays against Groomers" which is an Anti-LGBTQIA+ Hate Group. Tim Pool was being supportive of Marjorie Taylor Greene who is a hateful islamophobic, transphobic Christian Nationalist who is against Same-Sex Marriage and Abortion. Tim Pool defends James Lindsay who repeatedly called people "gr**mers" with no proof. To explain to normal folks who do not understand this discourse... The Rightwing has been calling every Queer Person a "gr**mer" for months. The Rightwing has a few A FEW Gay Folks they use as a shield (this includes the Woman who runs the Gays Against Groomers Account). However. The Rightwing has repeatedly called Pride Flags "gr**ming". The Rightwing has said any talks about Queer Identities to children is "gr**ming". The Rightwing has said any children seeing drag is "gr**ming". Gays Against Gr**mers has called "Trans Ideology" a Trojan Horse for Pedophilia and Gr**ming. The Rightwing has called people who acknowledge the existence of Gay Kids and Trans Kids as "gr**mers". The Rightwing has been calling people "gr**mers" with no proof besides them being Queer or Queer Allies. And then Queer People notice this and understandably get upset. Only for Rightwingers to say that Queer People being upset proves they are "pedophiles"! If you call someone a pedophile or a gr**mer, you should have more proof other than they are gay/trans or "they dislike being known as a gr**mer". Tim Pool also uses Milo Yiannopolos as an example of a Good Gay Person. Milo Yiannopolos is a blatant racist. Milo has talked about wanting Gay Couples murdered for adopting Children. Milo has also helped run Ye's antisemitic presidential campaign. And Milo himself seems to identify as ex-gay, having converted to an Extreme-form Christianity. Tim Pool is legitimately a bad person.

[maxtothemax]

Hawk Annotations

It’s been some days since Hawk came out so I figured I’d post my stupid annotations on here. Putting it all under a cut because, obviously, there are so many spoilers, and I had a lot to say.

Started reading: 7/6/20

The 10th Maximum Ride book

It just came out today and I just got it in the mail so let’s see what this dumpster fire is all about.

2 – well! the world building is already bad

3 – I do sorta like the narrative voice though

8 – there’s so much swearing. wonder whether she’s allowed to say fuck though

she says “feck”???

11 – how is there an even remotely functional government like 15-20 years post-apocalypse

13 – why’d she wait the extra half hour?

15 – “my kids” I’m going to assume this is more of a flock situation than a teen mom situation?

19 – so much exposition :/

23 – I’m really not invested in any of this. Ugh, and I have 400 pages to go… [well, okay, it was more like 375. My hardcover copy was long.]

26 – for someone who doesn’t care about her parents, Hawk sure does bring them up a lot

37 – oh, that’s probably Fang, isn’t it

39 – is that a fucking smiley face? [It actually had J in the narration. What??]

40 – “Anytime I heard the word ‘experiment,’ my ears perked right up” okay just call me out like that I guess

43 – that would make sense

46 – black lab coat? [the future of lab fashion?]

67 – hmm this is weird, I don’t like it

69 – she didn’t really seem like she was into that

72 – …but apparently she was?

77 – I WAS RIGHT

78 – well that escalated quickly

82 – I don’t know how to feel about this

84 – WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED???

85 – has Max been in solitary for 10 years? What the fuck?? [It wasn’t solitary confinement, actually, just regular prison.]

87 – none of this world building makes any sense

101 – this is incredibly poorly written. Barely even follows the rules of reality

102 – It’s also very dark, edgy, “Life sucks deal with it” flavored and I’m not a fan

General note: this is reminding me of Witch & Wizard in all the worst ways. Especially page 105. [It’s been brought to my attention that Gabrielle Charbonnet also co-authored at least one book in that series, so that’s probably why.]

106 – Why does McCallum sound exactly like Trump? [The most shocking part of reading this book was finding out that Jimmy Patterson apparently disapproves of Trump.]

108 – so we’re not ignoring the “he was like a brother to me” thing?

109 – JP has torn this series apart so thoroughly. I hate him.

116 – Fuck this. You killed her after giving her maybe 2 minutes of page time. There’s nothing meaningful about that!! Nothing!!

119 – oH SHIT OKAY

121 – that didn’t make it any better, actually

Everything feels so pointless here

I don’t even want to read this but it’ll bug me if I don’t :/

127 – At least this book is better about describing characters

129 – HOW COULD HE POSSIBLY TELL?? Isn’t Ridley enough to prove it?

Side note: will we ever find out who Rose is?

130 – multiple sets of what now?

133 – HOW DO THEY FOLD TWICE???? [Their wings! Fold twice! How the FUCK does that work??]

138 – I’m sorry what

141 – Okay yeah McCallum is definitely a Trump stand in

145 – that’s not gonna happen

147 – I know Jeb is dead but I would be totally unsurprised if McCallum turned out to be Jeb. [Spoiler alert: he isn’t. Evidently Jeb’s still dead. Good for him.]

148 – Okay that line was actually good [the line was: “I’m Maximum Ride, you son of a bitch!”]

149 – Max ALMOST said fuck. Very nearly.

[God just let her say fuck, she deserves it the most]

153 – well this is fucked

154 – you’re not allowed to judge anyone’s names, you named yourself Hawk

160 – It doesn’t even really feel like the flock is older. Except Nudge, probably b/c she keeps calling Hawk “sweetie”

163 – why is Freak capitalized?

164 – “We try to keep the body count low. Part of our personal growth.” I’M SCREAMING NUDGE IS SO FUNNY

173 – OH SHIT

181 – Crismins? Did they change the word for Christmas?

183 – As usual, Nudge is the only one here who I respect

190 – Nudge would be an amazing mom

I’m actually so happy about Nudge’s characterization so far, I love her. Nudge stan for life.

[In the original series: Nudge who? I don’t know her.

In Hawk: Nudge is everyone’s favorite person.]

193 – “You want a wing! Find yourself a goddamn brain first!” that’s so fucking good actually

203 – Are you fucking kidding me

205 – OH GOD DAMMIT

209 – savage

215 – this just in: horses aren’t real

Hey also where the fuck’s Angel? Did she finally start a cult or something?

221 – “he’d put his dad wings on” that’s… quite a phrase

When did Fang become such a hardass? [Edit: actually he was focused on rescuing Max so I guess that’s justified.]

225 – “eyeless Rain” are we doing the blind mentioning thing again? Really? [JP has a bad habit of traumatically removing characters’ vision and then always bringing up that they’re blind as though that’s their only character trait, and I for one think he should be banned from writing for that alone.]

234 – well that escalated quickly

237 – way to avoid describing Gazzy or Iggy’s wings lol

246 – seeing Max call Fang “my love” is very uncomfortable

247 – Okay, that’s cute. [Cutest scene in the whole book, actually.]

257 – Nudge does have curly hair!!! See!!! [@ Narae Lee: take some fucking notes.]

259 – Gazzy’s environmentally friendly bombs. He should make a business.

269 – “forking”? Excuse me sir this is [definitely] not the Good Place I’m sure you can just say fuck

271 – Oh god I don’t want to think about how old the flock is now

HAWK HAS TATTOOS??

272 – These Ride girls are really prone to fainting I guess. Real convenient for transitions between scenes.

278 – I’m still so pissed that the flock was separated for ten years. Not even in a heartbreaking way—it just feels like there was no point to it

Also: how did they find out what happened to Rose? [Also: why use a random character you just made up instead of characters we already know? Hello? Wasn’t Fang’s gang still around post-apocalypse? Weren’t they all friends by then?]

283 – Oh god, is it Angel?

284 – YEP! And holy shit did Total have a kid or something?

285 – Okay so I was this close with the cult leader thing

287 – TOTAL’S ALIVE??? and remarried?? where is he? [I still want some fucking answers, James.]

295 – what the fuck is with the spelling here? Did Angel really just say “staaaahp”?? [As in “stop” but the 2010 internet way of saying it.]

Did she just say “LOL” out loud??

301 – this feels like when you’re in the car with a friend while they’re having an argument with their parents…

This all feels so pointless. The whole first series was about building a better world, and things somehow only got worse.

306 – wow it really doesn’t take much to set Hawk off

307 – you know what, Max is right

The fact that it’s been 10+ years and the flock still has to save the world is really dissatisfying. [It’s passed off as a “it’s what we do” sort of thing, but that shouldn’t be their fucking lifelong job.]

315 – Breaking news: Hawk is introduced to the concept of daddy issues

320 – wait when did Ridley get here??

323 – why are there so many mentions of wearing ponchos to hide their wings? [There have to be better ways]

333 – this was the only major spoiler I got but even though I had warning I’m still mad about it

355 – “Could that could be sky?” has to be the worst mistype I’ve seen in here

365 – Okay this is super uncomfortable

370 – “200 km per hour” I don’t know the metric system but I’m guessing that’s not accurate [it’s 125-ish mph so… I don’t know enough about flying speeds for this, okay, that’s the author’s job]

375 – How would Hawk know what a geocache is?

378 – so she’s just leaving him to die?

381 – okay, zero foreshadowing on that one

396 – so Pietro lived

397 – so actually everyone lived except for Clete :/

399 – “More Epilogue”??

Finished: 7/7/20

I… have no idea what to say about this one. It was a lot. Some parts were decent, others were boring, and it didn’t really feel like a “new generation” book, just an excuse to show the old flock as adults.

I was pleasantly surprised with Nudge’s characterization, and I really liked the “drop the Phoenix” scene, but that’s pretty much all I liked.

[Additional note: the book had no plot. Zero. Like… there was an attempt, but it didn’t really come together.]

[ozis-paradise]

ØZI for Tatler

published july 3rd, 2020

[translated by me, proofread by @baobeejun]

Free like water, a born star! From Irene Yeh's son to the new king of popular music, the dazzling star you need to know: ØZI!

Bright red highlighted hair, equally red earpieces hanging around his neck. The boy with eye-catching tattoos is sitting on the make-up chair, skipping his feet while eating breakfast and he exudes a rebellious and free, yet delicate and pure atmosphere. Soon after his debut, he was shortlisted for six Golden Melody Awards last year and won Best New Artist. At the mention of his name, everyone will exclaime admiration and excitement, ØZI seems to have become a synonym of "cool" and "red" among the younger generation.

"I think I'm too rational, 100% rational, I should also be a little sentimental." This cool-looking artist was told by his agent that "his temper is very good, he most likely won't look angry." Isn't it a little unexpected for a rational rapper to be so talkative? Doesn't he also like to drink beverages with either honey or strawberry? Everytime ØZI gives a new answer, people have to reconstruct the imagine they already had in mind of him, contrasting to his appearance there is a vibrant and rich soul ready to stir trouble (in a "catching peoples attention" kinda way). Speaking of his definition of freedom, ØZI jokes "Freedom means that my agent won't call me, no work, blocking my agent's calls!" But in fact, the interpretation of freedom in his heart is somewhat aloof and mature: "Because society has a lot of rules, as far as I can tell, no-one is free; from family, love to friendship, they all have their own rules. But freedom comes from inner stability, it should be "like water", just then you're free. When it is placed in different containers, it becomes it's shape, it can adapt to every environment; to me, this state is freedom, because you can be free from restrictions and confined space."

When asked if he's free now, he mutters "Not necessarily, sometimes I get stuck when my inspiration runs out. It's been a little better lately, it wasn't like water in the second half of last year, instead it was more like ice cubes!" Last year was too busy to think, it was described by ØZI "like the mind is drying out". And because of his plans to go to the United States to relax at the beginning of this year - he didn't expect the immediate outbreak to happen - he got more time to produce, "I'm free now, I'm simply water now!", he smiles.

Living in a prominent family of performing artists - his mother Ye Ailing is an all-round entertainer, his father Chen Wenbin is a well-known photographer - ØZI's creative path can be said to be expected. Because his parents are both in the industry, he grew up in a musical environment ever since he was a child. But when it comes to his own creations, in fact, ØZI liked to draw as a kid. In Junior High, he liked to make and arrange music, in High School he began to write melodies, lyrics, from drawings to producing movies, "creations" of change because as a child, he liked to be "original" about this. He had six Music Videos, all on his iPhone. "At first, my dad said that there were a lot of problems with my Music Videos, so I was trying hard to improve, I learned about lighting and so on, just to prove that my Music Videos can look good, I wanted to get his approval!"

The requirement of children of celebrities is a blessing but it's hard to hold a grasp of it, it's difficult to excuse mistakes. The music world describes it as "to be born a Super Saiyan (means something like "Second-Generation-Star" because he's the son of famous parents). ØZI explains: "I was just lucky to be born into a musical family, I have enough space to be understood and supported. My dad knows what it's like to be a creator, my mom knows what it's like to be a performer. So I had the chance to train to become a Super Saiyan." It's a double edged sword, everyone was paying close attention when ØZI was nominated at the Golden Melody Awards. "After the rookie award, in addition to putting myself under a lot of pressure, I didn't change any of my creative motives and I'm very expressive. So if you don't get rewarded, you get mad at yourself." Maybe stress occasionally hinders his creative work, but at the same time, it's also a sign of determination to succeed and break through the golden sunken ship.

ØZI's first well-known Chinese song "Title" is about not being bind by anything, about wanting to have more freedom, more creative freedom for everyone. He's been making music for his "mission to internationalize Chinese Music" from the very beginning. "The internationalisation is something that not everyone can do, we listen to music from Latin America, Hip-Hop, K-Pop, it's all because of their atmosphere. For me, every artist has their own way of interpretating their culture. It's very important to let everyone know "Oh, that's C-Pop!"" And the new plans of ØZI will be followed by the release of some singles, a new album will also be released this year. He also revealed that he's working on three different projects at the same time now, experimental and core concept types. There's even a project that's "looking for the next stage of ØZI" trying to give his music a new image. "There will be a lot of music you have never heard from ØZI before, some experimental music, I can't reveal much!"

He's 100% rational when it comes to his family, but his sentimental tone betrayed him; when he talks about music, he becomes serious. Introducing his new tattoo is as exciting as being a little boy. His soul is free, but "ØZI" still has a lot of unavoidable restrictions.

"ØZI is the character I created, he's the embodiment of self-confidence, he has to be perfect. The self-confidence this character needs will be infused into my spirit, but this is only one part of it", he says slowly. With his high and straight nose bridge and the fine and smooth line of his chin, ØZI looks somewhat like his mother Ye Ailing; but he has taken off the label of being a celebrity's child, that used to stick on him tightly, a long time ago already. He's ØZI, free like water, a born star.

TATLER discusses with ØZI

What do you do to pass the time that make a perfect holiday?

Go to the beach of an uninhabited island alone or with a group of friends, lie on the beach and drink cocktails, read a book, maybe listen to music, sleep.

What do you like to do the most when you don't have to work?

Playing video games, eating, getting a massage, sleeping, watching Netflix.

If you could have one drink with an idol, who would it be?

Canadian Rapper/Singer Drake! So I can understand his logic of running his OVO Empire and see if I can absorb it and apply it on my own label.

Your motto?

The tattoo on my leg, it's a famous quote from "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises": "Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up."

Who is your life idol? Why?

Christopher Nolan, the director of "Inception"! Actually, everyone who gives me inspiration for a period of time is my idol.

What would you recommend to watch on Netflix?

I actually watch anything, from serious "13th" to pure entertaining "Too Hot To Handle", I want to absorb different elements.

Please define freedom in one sentence?

Be like Water!

Which abroad city do you want to visit first after the ban gets lifted?

Greece! I went there for the first time when I was shooting the MV to "Paradise Island", and I thought I have to come back when I get the chance to! It has a peaceful charm between the island and the city, it has their own ancient culture and beach parties, everyone is very relaxed and the atmosphere is very cool.

Favourite drink?

Apple Milk or Honey Water, I like the Honey or Strawberry kind.

When your mood is low, what do you do to cheer up?

Playing video games, hanging out with friends, working out.

What games have you been playing lately?

The remake of Final Fantasy 7, the graphics have changed very beautifully.

[sophieakatz]

Thursday Thoughts: Sophie Sides

I cannot overstate how highly I recommend the web series Sanders Sides. In this scripted series, YouTuber Thomas Sanders shares the screen with a cast of characters, each a personification of an aspect of Sanders’s own personality – and each performed by Sanders himself. The ensuing debates and shenanigans are quick-witted, hilarious, and increasingly thought-provoking as the show progresses and more of Sanders’s “Sides” make their presence known.

I stumbled across these videos at a time when I really needed to do some serious reflection on some big questions, such as “What kind of person do I want to be?” and “Am I taking good care of myself?” – the kinds of questions that this show tackles. Sanders Sides has definitely helped me think through some difficult topics.

It’s also gotten me thinking about my own Sides. If I were to split my personality up into different characters, who would I find? I wouldn’t divide myself up along the exact same lines as Thomas Sanders, of course, though our personalities do overlap in some interesting ways.

Let me introduce you to the Sophie Sides!

Lilly – The Dreamer

If it’s time for fun and imagination, then Lilly is not only on board, but at the helm! She is my creative side, the source of my storytelling and my artistic drive. Lilly also embodies my more childlike aspects, including playfulness and optimism. She’s my love of fantasy novels, Disney movies, and puns – and it’s ridiculously easy to make her laugh. Lilly is a constant source of new ideas, so she can be really distracting when I need to focus on just one task. She believes that “princess” is a compliment no matter what tone of voice it’s said in.

(Lilly’s full name is Lilly Belle, a reference to Lillian Disney – Disney Studios ink artist, wife of Walt Disney, and the reason we know the famous mouse as Mickey rather than Mortimer! Lilly wears the longest, swishiest blue dress, perfect for twirling like a Disney princess!)

Maddy – The Mother

I’ve always been the Mom Friend, and Maddy is why. She is the personification of my idea of what it means to be an adult – rational, responsible, and nurturing. Maddy keeps my priorities in order and makes sure that I stay on track and on schedule for all the important things in life. This includes eating well, attending doctor’s appointments, doing homework, attending synagogue, developing my career, and taking care of my friends. Maddy loves structure, rules, and tradition, and so she embodies my religious observance as well.

(Maddy starts with M – M as in “mother” and “maternal”! The other Sides will call her “Mom” if she’s getting too overbearing. Maddy wears professional attire: a black blazer, black slacks, and a dark blue blouse.)

Vashti – The Warrior

For Vashti, the term “social justice warrior” is no insult. She is my morality – a strong, instinctive sense of right and wrong, combined with an incessant, selfless desire for things to be fair. Vashti also embodies my aggressiveness, defensiveness, and vindictiveness; she tends to show up when I’m really pissed off, and she’s a lot shoutier than the other Sides. She holds both me and the world to a very high standard, and she has an unfortunate tendency to jump to conclusions and see issues as black and white. Without her, I’d be a much worse person – but I’m glad the other Sides are there to balance her out.

(In the Book of Esther, Vashti was the queen of Persia. One night, her husband the king told her to dance naked in front of his friends. She refused! My mom used this story to inspire in me an early sense of feminism, and so Vashti seemed the perfect name for this Side. Vashti rocks matching blue jeans and denim jacket over a “Girls Rock!” t-shirt.)

Sidney – The Slacker

While the first three Sides are a “get things done” kind of people, Sidney… is not. She represents my laziness, self-indulgence, and procrastination. Sidney encourages me to expend as little energy as possible and to devote my time to leisure activities, which can put her sharply at odds with Vashti, Maddy, and Lilly. In Sidney’s defense, she is a much-needed source of “chill” in my life. Without her, the other Sides would burn me out!

(Besides the useful alliteration of “Slacker Sidney,” Sid is the name my parents had on standby if I’d been assigned male at birth. The name is mine, but also not mine – appropriate for a Side who embodies qualities about myself that the other Sides don’t readily accept as a part of me. Sidney wears a burgundy hoodie and dark blue sweatpants.)

These first four are the aspects of myself I’m most comfortable with. But, just like in Sanders Sides, the exploration doesn’t end there…

Ex – Anxiety

Two years ago, I wrote a fairy tale about a little monster named Ex who mimics other people’s voices, tricking you into imaginary arguments that get you all riled up about things that didn’t actually happen. When I started thinking about my Sides, Ex turned up again.

Ex would tell you that she’s my forethought, my ability to imagine the outcomes of future interactions. However, the scenarios she presents always run negative. It’d be more accurate to say that Ex embodies my anxiety. She insists that she knows, with 100% certainty, what other people are thinking and how they will react to me. Her goal is to keep me safe, but she tends to blow things out of proportion and leave me feeling downright awful.

(Ex is a shapeshifter, able to appear as anyone in Sophie’s life and even as the other Sides. Ex’s name is the variable X – a placeholder for whatever role she may choose to play. I’m reluctant to give her a name, lest the arguments I have with her taint my emotional response to anyone I happen to meet with that same name. When Ex appears as herself, she wears a long green trench coat and a blue fedora hat. She has little blue horns and a tail which are all obviously attached to her clothing instead of being a part of her body.)

(Side note – lately, I’ve been thinking differently about my interactions with Ex. I’ll talk a bit more about that in next week’s Thursday Thoughts!)

Mal – Depression

Mal embodies my depression and grief. Her appearances used to be much more infrequent, and it was easier to ignore her. Until this year, it’s been easier for me to see her as an enemy or as something that I should hide. But Mal shows up as an expression of my pain. While all the other Sides are talkative, Mal never speaks. Her presence alone is enough to derail a conversation with a wave of sadness; she quietly, sullenly commands attention.

(“Mal” is a Latin root meaning “bad” or “evil,” and Mal embodies the worst feelings I’ve ever had, in response to the worst things which have ever happened to me. She spends most of her time hidden under a pile of blankets, only sitting up when she wants to be noticed, so it’s unclear what she’s wearing. She has permanent dark blue tearstains on both cheeks.)

Eve – Yetzer Hara

If Vashti is Yetzer Hatov – the good inclination, my drive to make the world a better place – then Eve is Yetzer Hara – the evil inclination, my selfishness. As far as Eve is concerned, I should be my number one priority, everyone else in the world be damned! Vashti generally bans Eve from having a seat at the table, as it were, because once Eve has a say, she’s difficult to ignore. Eve is a smooth-talking politician with an agenda of ambition and pride. As Rabbi Nahman said, without yetzer hara telling us to envy our neighbors, we would never seek to improve ourselves. But as Rabbi Hillel said, if I am only for myself, then what am I?

(Christians blame the biblical Eve for “original sin,” and my Eve never met a deadly sin she couldn’t make sound appealing. Of course, she’d be the first to point out that in Judaism the concept of “sin” is much more complicated than that! Eve wears a light blue dress, much more form-fitting and much less swishy than Lilly’s. She has glowing golden eyes – and when she convinces the other Sides to listen to her, then their eyes start to glow, too…)

I ended up going much deeper in this little exercise than I expected to. Overall, it was a lot of fun! I don’t plan on making a web series about my Sides, but who knows? Maybe I’ll write a fic about them someday.

How about you? Are you a fan of Sanders Sides? Have you ever thought about what Sides make up your personality? If not, take a moment and try it out, and let me know who you discover – I’d love to hear about them!

[tinyarmedtrex]

Could you do a part two for the joint custody of the book au?

Baby you know it. Part 1 is here 

‘Wanna study 2nite? Library is open l8’

Eddie smiled to himself at Richie’s terrible grammar as he replied with a quick, ‘Sure! See you in our spot’

He didn’t need to study tonight. In fact, he had other homework that he should definitely be working on but he could never pass up the chance to be next to Richie. They had a table in the back they liked, where they would spread the book between them, both of them sitting far closer than they needed to. They’d talk about the actual subject material for maybe twenty minutes and then move onto other things, talking for hours until the library closed. Richie made him laugh like no one else did, he’d almost gotten banned from the library for it and over the semester they’d grown closer. 

They saw each other nearly every day, always under the guise of their joint custody for the book. It had started with Richie texting him and asking how it was doing, if Eddie was treating it right. Soon they were snapping pictures, pretending to show how good of care each was taking of it. Then of themselves holding it. Then just themselves, walking across campus or laying in bed. 

Eddie glanced at the clock, knowing that if he left now he’d get to the library before Richie and could set things up how he wanted. He decided to change, trading his lounge wear for something nicer.

“Seeing Richie?” His roommate Ben asked, looking up from his own homework.

“Maybe. How’d you know?” 

“You always wear that shirt around him. Every since he told you it brought out ‘the baby blue of those big ol’ eyes’,” Ben quoted, doing a passable impression of Richie.

Eddie flushed, looking at the shirt and wondering if he should change. “Wear it, maybe it’ll finally give you the courage to ask him out.” Ben said, sensing his hesitation. 

“I don’t even like him.” Eddie replied, shoving his supplies and some starburst in his bag. 

“Then why did you buy his favorite candy? You don’t like starburst.” 

“I-” Eddie frowned as Ben looked at him, smiling. “Shut up.” He hurried to the door.

“Have fun studying!” Ben called after him. Eddie gave him the middle finger. 

As planned he got to the library first, sitting at their table and pulling everything out. He decided that he should work on the homework he actually needed to do first and pulled that out, making flashcards for his econ final. 

“How’s Skinner?” Eddie popped his head up as Richie rounded the corner. They had affectionately named the book Skinner after reading about him in class. Eddie had protested but the nickname stuck. 

“Still holding in there.” Eddie replied, patting the cover. 

Richie fell into the chair next to Eddie, scooting closer as he did. Soon their thighs were pressed together and Eddie fought a blush as Richie’s hand grazed his. 

“Are you ready for the final?” Richie asked, flipping the book open to where they left off. The final was in just under two weeks. After that Eddie wouldn’t have an excuse to see Richie, something he’d been ignoring for as long as possible. 

“Not at all.” Eddie admitted.

“Me either. Looks like we’ll need to spend a lot of time together.” Richie grinned at him making Eddie’s heart do a small flip. 

“Oh darn.” He whispered, watching as Richie played with one of the pens he’d brought. They started to study, quizzing each other on the concepts and names, but soon ended up talking about holiday plans.

“I’m staying on campus.” Eddie told him, popping a junior mint into his mouth. He had no plans to go home ever again and he could pick up hours at his off campus job. 

“Well that’s depressing.” Richie said, frowning. “Campus is gonna suck with everyone gone.” Then he brightened. “Come home with me! My parents would love you.”

Eddie shook his head. “No way.”

“Why not?

“Oh hi Mr. and Mrs. Tozier, I’m Richie’s study buddy, nice to meet you.” Eddie mimicked then shook his head. “It’s weird.”

“I wouldn’t introduce you like that.” 

Something in Richie’s tone made Eddie look closer. He was bent over the book but was watching Eddie. “How would you introduce me?” Eddie asked quietly. 

Richie shrugged. “Maybe as my-”

“Richie!” Eddie tensed as Stan, Richie’s best friend and roommate came around the corner, hand in hand with his boyfriend Mike. Normally Eddie liked both of them but right now he wanted to kill them. 

Richie on the other hand seemed delighted by the distraction. “Stan the man and Mike! Hey!” He hopped up, grinning at them.

“We’re going to the movies, wanna join us?” Mike asked, looking at both of them.

Richie glanced at Eddie, who shook his head. “I’ll pass.” He didn’t have the money to pay for it. 

“I’m staying with my study buddy.” Richie said, also shaking his head. “Thanks though.”

The two left and Richie settled back down. Eddie moved away from him slightly. “You could have gone. You don’t have to stay just because I was.” Eddie told him, staring at his notes. 

“Without you? Where’s the fun in that.”

“Going to a movie is a lot more fun than studying.” Eddie replied. He knew he was being cranky but he couldn’t help it.

“What’s wrong?” Richie asked, his hand covering Eddie’s. Eddie glanced up at him. God Richie was close. He always seemed to be close to Eddie. It was like he needed to be within touching distance at all times. 

Not that Eddie minded.

“What were you going to say? For how you’d introduce me to your parents?” 

Richie suddenly seemed nervous, he took his hand back and shrugged. “Study buddy is fine.” He looked cautiously at Eddie. “I guess. Whatever.” 

Eddie was sick of this, sick of stepping around and pretending. So he replied with actions instead of words. He leaned in, kissing Richie firmly on the lips. 

It only took him a second to realize that Richie wasn’t kissing him back. He drew back, looking at Richie’s shocked expression.

“Shit.” Eddie cursed. “Fuck. I’ll- fuck.” He stood and started to gather up his stuff, annoyed at how much he had set out. He was about to just leave it when Richie grabbed him. 

“Don’t go.” Richie arms were on his hips, clinging to Eddie. He was sitting but he was nearly Eddie’s height. 

“I don’t need you to let me down gently.” Eddie told him, freezing in Richie’s arms and refusing to look at him. Richie put a hand under his chin, forcing Eddie to look at him. 

“I’m not going to. I like you too.” 

Eddie furrowed his brows. “Then why-”

“You surprised me! I had this big fucking thing planned to ask you out but then you go an throw a wrench in my plans.” Richie chuckled. “I get the feeling you’ll be doing that a lot.” 

Eddie relaxed slightly. “So you like me?”

Richie stood, taking both of Eddie’s hands in his own. “Since the first time we met and you told me tough shit.” 

“Oh.” 

“Yea, oh.” He looked at Eddie, grinning. “Wanna try that kiss again?” 

Eddie nodded, not daring to blink as Richie lowered his lips to Eddie’s. He already knew that he could get lost in this, in kissing Richie and being kissed by him.

Eventually they broke apart, both smiling. “Now, will you please come back with me for Christmas? As my boyfriend?” 

Eddie nodded, “I’d love to.” 

[flowerslut]

1/2: hiii, i was wondering if you have the time (and/or patience), could you please explain further about vampire age vs. human age when turned and how that effects how they act and what teenage tendencies the vampires will be prone to? like i get the whole child development frozen. can't be taught. but for like the cullens physical age (17-20s?) you're telling me their 50+ years won't affect them at all? like they won't mature mentally at all? learn? does this make sense? it confuses me too tbh

I always have time to procrastinate my real life responsibilities to talk about twilight are you joking

this is going to be long. so uh, apologies, I guess.

I'm no neuroscientist or anything (fucking duh) and I feel like smeyer makes all of her science-esque explanations vague enough to be left up to some sort of interpretation, but with my understanding it all has to do with what the brain can actually do. so, again, while I’m not a neuroscientist, I am a teacher. I did study child development pretty thoroughly back in school and I work with kids that range from infants to 12 year olds. so I’m going to start with an example on child vampires before I answer your question about teen vamps.

here’s the way I see it:

say you’ve got a two year old. alriiiight, lets make that baby a vampire! now, two year olds are basically large babies who are just beginning to function as people. words are there because vocabularies are being built. fine and gross motor skills are lacking but still being actively improved upon. their understanding of the world as a whole is also pretty basic because they can’t grasp larger concepts. sitting down a vampire toddler—even one who has been a vampire for 5 or 10 years—and saying “hey. you’re illegal. which means we have to keep this on the down-low, meaning you have to like, listen, or both you and I are going to to be straight-up murdered by our immortal lawmakers.” isn’t going to get you any results. your little abomination is just going to ignore you after the first 6 words and start to wonder why you’re making such a funny face.

in the words of Piaget, children aren’t “little adults” and literally cannot function as such because their young brains prevent that. they just don’t have the tools. 

I know smeyer took all sorts of “it’s supernatural!!” liberties with Advanced-Functioning-and-Brain-Development Renesmee but the way I make her existence work in my head canons is by headcanoning the opposite with her: I want to see the vampire side of her show in more realistic (and less idealistic) ways. where her parents are frozen vampires, I want to see her slowly developing, as opposed to the weird hyper-developing thing smeyer had going in order to age her faster to get her with Jacob quicker, but uh *coughs* we won’t go into that nasty fact. I want to see a Renesmee at her 2 year old birthday party and she’s still the size of a 6 month old. (Emmett blows a noisemaker too close to her head and she bursts in to tears; he’s subsequently banned from the cottage for a month but it’s not like he misses out on anything. Next time he’s over Renesmee has barely grown anyways.)

so while we have Renesmee’s frankly disturbing case, let’s go back to the actual topic:

the thing is, vampire children’s brains aren’t developing. they’re learning, as all children do, but what makes (human) kids wild from a general standpoint is how fast they do it. but again, with the rate at which their brains develop and their bodies grow, of course they’d pick up things so quickly. they sort of have to in order to help them navigate this world around them in which most pieces of information they’re introduced to are 100% new concepts to them.

now, the real question: can vampire children learn. yeah, to an extent, they probably can. but they’re not learning the way you and I do, or the way a normal kid might. let’s go back to our hypothetical two year old baby vamp for a second. so this kid is frozen in time, right? so that means that while they might practice or perfect skills that are usually developed as they grow, they won’t be able to build off of those learned skills and advance them into something more or something better.

for example, a two year old who has learned to catch and throw a ball with someone else will eventually learn how to throw and catch the ball by themselves because their motor skills and hand-eye coordination will improve as they develop.

not with our vampire baby, though. imagine anything you can teach a two-year old with one full day of practice: catching a ball. hopping with two feet instead of just one. putting on a hat by themselves. now, imagine anything you can teach a five-year old in the same period of time. how to tie a knot. how to do a cartwheel. how to recognize specific words. so, with a two-year old vamp who is technically 5 years old, they wouldn’t be able to further their skills like a human 5 year old because they don’t have the tools to build their skills. so while you may have a 2 year old who can catch a ball from a literal half-mile away, they aren’t going to figure out how to tie their shoes even if you worked on it for 6 months. it aint going to work. they’re going to be figuratively left in the dust developmentally and they’re going to stay that way because, you know, the unchanging nature of the vampire deems it so........

now with our poor, unfortunate immortal teenagers. oof. I really feel for them. I mean, as a grown woman I think back to seventeen year old me and cringe sometimes. all people do, but then I imagine if her development had been stunted and she’d been trapped in that body and mindset for an eternity. it really gives a gal some fucking goosebumps, that’s for sure.

I know everyone likes to joke about how Esme is the only person with braincells in the family because she’s the only one with a fully developed pre-frontal cortex, but when you think about the fact that developmentally she really is the only one who should be calling any shots for that family it makes you wonder why smeyer didn’t make the Cullens a matriarchal family (I mean, we know why, but I digress...)

since the Cullens are written by an adult (and Bella, too, for that matter) that’s why when we read the books when we were younger we all most likely thought “oh! they’re all so level-headed and mature!” and they are a little bit. but that’s because they’re written like that. if the Cullens were as developmentally stunted as smeyer claims they are then they’d be every bit as chaotic as the fandom likes to head canon them as. poor impulse control. bad decisions nearly every step of the way. and sure, they’d learn from mistakes. but when faced with a split-second to make a decision it doesn’t matter if you have 50 years of lived experience behind you. that 17-year old brain in that head of yours is going to act and react. ain’t nothing you can do to stop it.

that’s why Edward being like “alright. fuck it. I'm killing myself” in new moon makes sense to me. and it’s why Rosalie being angry and jaded for nearly the entirety of the series makes sense to me. combine their ages and their last human moments and look back on where there development was stunted: a lot of the shit that people complain about their characters will feel like it makes a shitload of sense. it doesn’t matter if they’ve been ‘alive’ for 100 years.

(this whole thing is also why I made Esme the head of ‘the family’ in CotN, for all intents in purposes. bc of fucking course she would be.)

but think about how frustrating it would be, even with the super-vampire-memory, to look back at every single time you gave into the same impulses. sure, you’ll tell yourself you’ll do better next time. and maybe you will. but the brain calls the shots y'all. and while you might think you’re fully in charge of what it has to do or say, you really are only a passenger in this thing. along for the ride.

to finally answer your question: I think, yes. you are going to have teenage vampires who give off an air of maturity to them because of all of their lived experiences. but I still believe having even a 23 year old in charge (because now I look back on 23 and I’m like, hm, yeah. still a baby.) of a coven of vampires is fucking foolish as shit. but I mean, if Carlisle were as ‘smart’ as his medical degrees say he is, with him at the helm of the family the Cullens wouldn’t get into half the shenanigans they do. that pre-frontal cortex development is vital in making sure someone doesn’t give into impulse, can make thoroughly thought-out decisions, and has proper judgement in a variety of ways. without that, it’s a recipe for disaster (i.e. see: the entirety of The Twilight Saga.)

[dmitrilyalikov]

Why do America’s generations keep getting dumber?

America is the global symbol of individual liberty and opportunity. Defined by capitalism and democracy, the very concepts that have made the U.S. the hallmark in innovative thinking and societal development. With arguably the best ‘system’ in the world able to work at great scale, American renegades have been the frontrunners in many aspects of society many countries wish they could compete with. Walt Disney, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, all American icons for creative thinking and execution. Creative, intelligent men that any company would love to have on their team if they could convince them to come. They’ve accomplished things that some would believe to be impossible, and not only that, they all dropped out of college. The education system failed them. 

The current American educational system was first introduced in the 1910′s during the industrial era to create a scaled up version of a youth knowledge assembly line. Children are crammed into large classrooms and are taught general knowledge to enter the next level of education. The strict regimen of be quiet, listen, and regurgitate what you have heard onto a standardized exam to get a letter grade has been used for over a century. This practice is nowhere near teaching a child to think and solve problems. Tests do not work. They do not represent any more than words on a paper. Example, the Chinese Box Experiment. In short, a Chinese professor inserts a test of different Mandarin characters that a robot on the other side of the door must answer. The robot identified every character correctly and returned the paper. The Professor says “Wow, this pupil understands Mandarin very well!”. She is unaware the answers came from a machine programmed by humans. The robot does not actually understand what is going on, it is simply responding with what it’s been told to do. Understanding is using memory to create predictions. However, this is exactly how school teaches children in America. They program children to respond to an input with a correct output, and those that compute such information correctly, are deemed the brightest. If we are programming children to act as robots, robots will win every time, bar none. The only way to fundamentally beat a robot is to be more human. Humans have creativity, emotional intelligence, morals, historical and societal awareness. Schools are essentially building kids like robots in an assembly line. They are writing code in our brains on how to think, act, and behave in many situations. The smartest natural child can be nurtured in such an environment to become average. 

The most beautiful aspect of a child is its sense of curiosity and creativity. Left to its own, many will fantasize about spaceships and rockets and trains. They will dance on couches, spill their parent’s coffee on the rug, They ask naive questions about complex issues. I was lucky enough as a child as my father would make me understand how any toy or tool worked when I used it. I was made to inquire about the world around me. How does a car engine work? What could make it better? Why do planes not fall from the sky? I was then sent to day school and would be told to shut up and listen to the teacher, because he is smarter than you. What does it mean to be smart then? To know more information and algorithms downloaded into the hippocampus? Memory is not intelligence. Intelligence and consciousness are manifested in the neocortex. The part of the brain that operates high level thought. Children in American society are suppressed and told to remember things to graduate. After a certain point of indoctrinated thinking, children lose their sense of curiosity and are more focused on execution then the process of learning and solving the problem itself. The most commonly asked question in American schools is “Will this be on the test next week?”.

So how can we make this better? This epidemic starts on the very system of education itself. The end goal of school is to obtain a degree, a rough representation of what college taught you, or maybe you were just wily enough to cheat (which is highly incentivized in the ends justify the means environment.). School’s are not obligated to innovate. Colleges are businesses. They force 18 year old children to take on 200 thousand dollar debt decisions. They don't need all that money. The books that cost hundreds of dollars for students, cost 6$ to make. NO INDUSTRY IN THE WORLD HAS A MONOPOLY THAT BOASTS SUCH GREAT PROFIT MARGINS. Colleges have young generations on a string with the rhetoric that a degree is worth such money. Millions of kids cry joyfully over getting into a school, just to give them money that is taken from loans to enslave them once they get out with a degree. College is enslavement. It is a monopolistic business. It is a shame to see such an important factor to human development being exploited for profit. They pay zero taxes on the profits they make. They teach general knowledge in a lecture style. Is that worth it? Why do kids want this? Why do parents make them do this? Because they did it when they were kids? We are in a new age. 

Fast forward over a century later, the digital age. Children have smartphones, smartphones with all the information they need. Why sit in a room listening to someone lecture when you can just look something up? Children are put in classrooms that are part of a school, that are part of a district, that is part of a school board. These scaled up versions of education pump out millions of children with a broad range of general knowledge, or at least that is the intent. Now most of these kids go to college, work a 9-5 job, and start a family and the cycle goes on with their children. That is not fulfillment, that is not happiness for most. The average school tuition has increased by more than 200% while the average salary of college graduates has plateaued since the start of mass schooling. We live in an era of economies of “unscale”. With artificial intelligence and cloud computing, vertically integrated corporations with huge factories and inventory cannot compete with lean, agile startups that rent cloud storage on Amazon Web Services, outsource manufacturing to Chinese factories, and utilize open source Machine Learning algorithms instead of spending great capital to build it all individually. This gives power to creative, niche startups that can effectively run a business from their basement. Think back to the 1990′s. The internet had just gone mainstream, thousands of employees quit their jobs to create internet companies during the Dot-Com Boom before it crashed. They would plan their IPO before even incorporating, this new technology was a home run in their eyes. How does this relate to education? The rapid evolution of technology can be attributed to new platforms. Telecommunications created a global platform for information to be spread from Boston to Australia in an instant, the internet has revolutionized virtually every industry. My generation is growing up in the advent of the AI and cloud computing platform. Essentially, the innovation of big tech platforms should equate to radically different education. However, because school systems have no incentive to change and make less profit, they are still preparing kids for an industrial era to be interchangeable pieces working for large corporations rather than agile startups and small to medium companies. 

Artificial Intelligence will radically change education. Harvard, Stanford, and a few other large brand schools have noticed this trend and created online courses already that use machine learning engines to tailor a course to a students understanding. AI can use big data to understand how a pupil learns, what he/she is struggling in, and create a report on their level of thought that is a perfect representation on what they can do, rather than a vague degree. Many companies such as Microsoft and Google are receptive to this and an increasing number of developers enter the software field with no degrees. Because there is no system that could exemplify a student’s intelligence in the past, an expensive degree was the next best thing and college became a booming business but quite an enslaving process for the children utilizing it. AI can guide a student while virtual classrooms and teachers can connect to children across the globe for real organic conversation. Now, the physical classroom is very important for social development and should still be used to an extent. Perhaps we Americans should look towards Finland, the country with the best ranked educational system in the world. Their primary and secondary schools are incredibly different. School days are 3 hours long, there is no homework, and there are no private schools. The philosophy is that kids should be emancipated from the institutions and be left to be kids and develop intuitiveness organically through real world social experiences. There are no private schools so that rich families send their kids to public schools and those parents make sure the school is up to par with what they can afford.This forces schools nationwide to keep a standard that is universal, much unlike the U.S. with many inner city public schools without internet while capitalistic private and public district schools spend money on football field renovations. 

To create a more productive generation of students, we must “unscale” education, remove private schools, reduce length of school hours, ban or at least regulate student loan firms, set a price ceiling on all college tuitions and utilize the platform of Artificial Intelligence to create a market of one for all students starting from Kindergarten to beyond college. Hiring more teachers and building would effectively make the problem worse. Teachers can be the greatest minds on the planet, but under such a restrictive there is little hope to save a whole generation. Khan Academy has implemented an unscaled online system, leading the way for more personalized education programs. There is little chance this can happen unless this is derived from the Federal Government, which is famously bureaucratic and slow to act especially with education. Changes are needed. This will make children more excited to learn, ask questions and solve the great global issues that are long overdue to be solved. Kids will strengthen critical thinking skills and experience freedom of thought that will create a wave of further technological development and accelerate American education to new heights. 

[dnaamericaapp]

Critical School Board Race Tests Conservatism In Williamson County, Tennessee

The Feb. 21 Williamson County, Tennessee, school board meeting opened with far less commotion than the raucous gatherings that came before it: Gone were the hecklers, sign wavers, screamers and air pokers who made headlines around the world for threatening doctors and nurses who spoke out in favor last summer of reinstating a mask mandate for young children.

Placards were banned and attendees were warned at the start not to use vulgar language, single out board members or otherwise disrupt the proceedings lest they be hauled off by deputies.

At issue this dank February night was another target of the right: “Wit & Wisdom”, the school district’s K-5 English Language Arts curriculum.

Conservative parent group Moms for Liberty, which spent 1,200 hours dissecting its contents last year, called for the removal of 31 books, including those about Ruby Bridges and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., arguing the texts about the civil rights icons were too “dark” and “disturbing” for young readers.

In response, the 41,500-student district, located some 30 minutes south of Nashville, formed a committee of parents, educators and community members to evaluate the material. Its findings, released in January, were a major blow to the blustery parent group and its vocal supporters.

Just one book, Walk Two Moons, a Newbery Medal-winner about a 13-year-old Native American girl who lost her mother, was recommended for removal: Committee members said it was too emotionally fraught for young students. Six other texts would be slightly modified or taught differently.

17-year-old Franklin High School junior Mira Scannapieco: “From an early age, I was introduced to real world concepts including those surrounding diversity, mental health, human rights, science and politics… Learning about these topics in school gave me a broader perspective, as well as the ability to formulate my own views and opinions. Sheltering today’s youth from these important issues doesn’t make them disappear.” -(source: the 74)

DNA America

“it’s what we know, not what you want us to believe.”

#dna #dnaamerica #news #politics

[newstfionline]

For Chinese high-schoolers, there’s value to living and learning in Iowa

By Simon Montlake, CS Monitor, October 4, 2018

CLINTON, IOWA--When the buzzer sounds, Ivy Chen has five minutes to get to her second class on the first day of school. At the door stands Prushia Golden, a student ambassador, who leads Ivy down the corridor, past the beige lockers, and into a fast-moving stream of athletic wear and streaked hair, the shouts and slaps of teenagers back together after summer break.

As she walks, Ivy hugs her books to her chest. She wears a crisp white jacket and bright-green sneakers; her black bangs cover her forehead. She knows that Prushia is in precalculus, her next class, and then she sees Eason Yuan, a fellow student from China, who is also headed there. Ivy looks relieved. At this stage--day one of her junior year--she knows all of 10 students in this cavernous high school in an American city that she first set eyes on only two days earlier.

Ivy and Eason find a table in the classroom and wait for the teacher to begin. He checks off everyone’s name and then seats them in groups of five. “Introduce yourselves to the group,” he says. “Tell them one thing that you enjoyed about summer and one thing that you didn’t enjoy.” Ivy smiles and volunteers first. “My name is Ivy,” she begins.

China is already the largest market outside the United States for college recruiters. Its students made up around one-third of the 1.1 million international students enrolled in higher education in the US for the 2016-17 school year. Now Chinese are attending US high schools in record numbers, drawn by the promise of English-language immersion, a rounded education, and an earlier track to a selective American university.

In 2005, US high schools enrolled only 639 Chinese students. By 2016, that number had risen to more than 33,000. While elite boarding schools have long catered to wealthy foreigners, the biggest beneficiary of the Chinese boom has been religiously affiliated private schools. In recent years, however, public school systems in smaller towns with shrinking school-age populations have also begun recruiting Chinese students to fill empty desks.

“China used to send pandas. Now it sends students,” says Jiang Xueqin, a Canadian education consultant in Beijing.

In China they are known as “parachute kids.” Dropped into a foreign country--if not the US, then Australia or Britain or Canada--at a young age to learn, they carry the ambitions of families who have made their money in China’s cutthroat capitalist era. Nearly all are single children. They are sent to rub shoulders with local students, to absorb their culture, to ace the tests. Loneliness is common; packing up and going home is rarely an option.

Ivy is among the first 15 “parachute” students in Clinton, a blue-collar city on the banks of the Mississippi River. The public high school she attends was rebuilt in the 1970s, when good jobs were still plentiful in the factories and food-processing plants. Since 1978, the same year that China began its capitalist makeover, Clinton has lost more than one-third of its manufacturing jobs. The layoffs and shutdowns have continued, including the closure in 2016 of Ashford University, a for-profit education provider that occupied a leafy hillside campus.

The campus now belongs to a private Chinese educational group that charges students like Ivy $57,000 a year to live there and attend Clinton High School. It also provides supplemental education to the foreign students. The group aims to bring more than 300 Chinese students and vows to spread the economic benefits into the community while also injecting a dose of racial diversity and global thinking. To local leaders who have tried other initiatives to rejuvenate the town--to no avail--it feels like a lifeline.

“The city of Clinton is looking for an initiative or an opportunity to hang its hat on, to say this is what is going to move us ahead in the future,” says Gary DeLacy, the school superintendent.

That future isn’t here yet. The Chinese-owned academy must first gain accreditation so it can issue student visas. It will also be competing with other US schools recruiting in China. Then there’s the Trump factor, the growing fear that foreigners are less welcome.

Ironically, when it comes to education, the trade deficit on which President Trump fixates is a $32 billion surplus, undergirded by Chinese spending. For all their shortcomings, US schools remain a global currency. Can the allure of an American education transform a town in the cornfields of Iowa?

Clinton offers Chinese parents an authentic American high school experience, with all the social interactions and after-school hijinks that make up a teenage life.

Ivy and her parents are shopping at Walmart, filling up a cart with towels and pillows and shampoo for her dorm room. As they wander the aisles, a middle-aged woman stops her cart to ask the family if they’re finding everything they need. She explains that she’s an elementary teacher and has heard all about Clinton’s newest students. “We’re so glad you’re here. Welcome,” she says.

Ivy translates for her parents, who nod and smile. Her father is the general manager of an engineering company where her mother also works; Ivy, 16, is their only child.

A day later she joins the other Chinese students at Clinton High for an orientation. After a pep talk from the principal, student ambassadors guide the newbies to their lockers and classrooms. Sitting at a booth in the cafeteria, Ivy reflects on her academic path. “I think if I get into a pure American education earlier it will become more beneficial for me to go to university,” she says.

That means adjusting to US teaching and grading--CIEG uses a British curriculum--but also to its student culture, including the American slang and jokes that usually go over Ivy’s head. “The social aspect is very important. As international students, all of us are a little bit worried about making friends with local students,” she says.

Prushia and others have talked excitedly about the football game and other festivities surrounding homecoming in Clinton, but the concept is fuzzy to Ivy. “They have a dance? And blah blah. I’m still not very clear,” she confesses.

There’s no room for school dances in China’s education system, a grinding machine of rote memorization, test prep, and rigid instruction that leads inexorably to a single, two-day written test for seniors that determines Chinese university slots.

Middle-class families seeking an alternative to this pressure cooker are drawn to the promise of a liberal Western education that pushes students to think creatively and independently. This is also seen as a path to success at a top college. CIEG’s brochures in China are sprinkled with the names of Western universities, from Harvard to Oxford to Stanford, to which students are expected to apply.

Clinton County is 92 percent white. A busload of Chinese students may suffice to double the Asian population. Where Clinton high-schoolers used to read about racial diversity and international trends, say school officials, now they can experience it firsthand without leaving home.

“We’re going to learn from each other,” says Rita Hart, a Democratic state senator who is running for lieutenant governor. “It’s going to make us stronger and better.”

International students make up around 35 percent of all students at traditional boarding schools in the US and Canada, up from less than 20 percent just 15 years ago, says Peter Upham, who runs The Association of Boarding Schools. But that rapid growth, led by China, has stalled. “There is significant evidence that growth has flattened out and in some cases started to turn down,” he says.

Perceptions that the US is less welcoming to foreign students, along with a strong dollar, are blamed for declining international enrollment at US universities. While the trend predates Trump, his visa bans and anti-immigrant stance have deepened the slowdown.

On a warm Friday night, Ivy joins her classmates in the stands at Clinton High School’s stadium for the first home game of the season for the River Kings. It’s Ivy’s first time at a football game, and Prushia sits beside her in a sea of orange and black apparel to explain the rules of the game and, just as important, to show her how to encourage the home team. In a photo, Ivy and Prushia smile and make V shapes with their fingers.

The River Kings defeated the visitors, 34-9. And Ivy went back to her dorm, another American high-school experience notched.

[solitaryman82]

So i just finished watching "The Craft Legacy." I watched the original "The Craft" movie on Pay Per View when i was 15 in 1997 on a night my parents went out to spend time alone together (like a "date night") and i remember getting a check in phone call from my mother in the middle of it (there was no pause button for Pay Per View) and my mother being worried about it. The original movie cracked open a "New Age" movement (now called metaphysics) like had never been seen before. It birthed headlines for years, until the controversial "Teenage Witch" book was made available at all malls and book stores near you. It re-introduced us to ancient, forgotten and banned knowledge. Bookshelves came alive in ways unimagined. For the first time in centuries open conversation about controversial religions (who's followers had remained hidden in adj that time)) began to openly happen. We began to know each other and ourselves better. We began to learn spirituality, and to look at things called "witchcraft" for the first time in hundreds of years. I was excited about 'The Craft: Legacy."

Well, it wasn't all bad. It had some eye opening moments for newbies. I suppose it spoke against what's a wilting belief system. It seemed to lacking in wisdom the original brought forth, it seemed to be more about challenging the old system with very little to do about the mysteries of metaphysics or (as we use to call it) the "New Age;" as if religion and spirituality was just a footnote and moot point. It introduced the vital name "Lilith" with absolutely no explanation whatsoever, and simply left it to the viewer to decide altogether, which was really not a clever move, particularly to the unaided Jewish viewer.

I think that movie was overly demanding of the viewer to the point of being neglectful of the uneducated, uncultured and unworldly. It over magnified the destruction of "toxic masculinity" while highlighting the ancient concepts of the powers of the feminine without actually bringing religion or spirituality into the spotlight. I'm alot more read-up and alot more learn-ed since 1997, and I'm in no way inspired to continue my understanding of spirituality or religion by the movie. And that's what i really, really wanted from it. I mean, i could even recognize most of the sigils in the closing credits, but they never spoke about sigils, and they they didn't make me care to research the ones i didn't recognize.

So: Toxic Masculinity = bad, and "The Craft: Legacy" = toxic masculinity = bad. That's about what i got.

[jillmckenzie1]

Tempest in a Teapot

Cuties is streaming on Netflix

 Take a seat. Better yet, make a nice, hot cup of tea, pull up your nearest fainting couch, and get ready for some information that is sure to blow your mind. Ready?

You sure?

Okay…here goes. *takes a deep breath*

Americans are really, really stupid when it comes to both art and nuance. An example is the kerfuffle that sprang up regarding The Last Temptation of Christ. It all began with the 1955 novel written by Nikos Kazantzakis that examined the life of Jesus. Specifically, it posited the concept of Jesus briefly succumbing to temptation while on the cross and imagining a normal life. One that involved sex, love, and a family.

As you might imagine, a certain stripe of Christian was very angry with the book. This anger turned to incandescent rage in 1988, when Martin Scorsese adapted the novel into an excellent film. Now, you would think people who were taught the Gospels, to live with a love for others, to turn the other cheek, you would think those folks would either try to see the spiritual message inherent in Last Temptation* or love the people they disagreed with in brotherhood.

Nope! Thousands of people called for the film to be banned. Television evangelists denounced Scorsese. In fact, Scorsese received numerous death threats which, unless I missed big chunks of the Bible, is antithetical to the message of Christianity. There was even an attempted terrorist attack on a theater in Paris. A group of radical Catholics (Yes, seriously) set off an incendiary device that wounded thirteen people.

So based on the preceding paragraphs, I must think that conservative Christians are a bunch of gullible nitwits, right? Well…no. As much as I’d like to take a moment to clown on the right-wing outrage machine, the fact remains that both liberals and conservatives tend to live in a black and white space when it comes to artistic expression, and that space is not where nuance lives. Don’t believe me? Let’s talk about the new film Cuties, and why the controversy around it is mostly nonsense.

Amy (Fathia Youssouf) is eleven, and she has just moved from Senegal to a neighborhood in Paris. Things are very different for her. She’s in a new place with new customs and new faces, and she’s expected to help care for her two younger brothers. What about her parents, you might ask? That’s where things start to become complicated. Her mother Mariam (Maimouna Gueye) is already struggling to keep the children stable in their new home. Mariam tries to live as a righteous Muslim woman and feels pressure from her Aunt (Mbissine Therese Diop) to do better. The pressure gets worse when she receives a phone call from Senegal and the news that her husband has taken a second wife.

This is all an enormous amount for Amy to process. She needs support, and unfortunately, Mariam doesn’t have the bandwidth to provide it. So, she seeks out a support system elsewhere, and boy howdy, does she find it. A pilfered smartphone introduces her to social media and the endorphin rush that comes from likes and comments.

A chance encounter at school pinballs Amy’s life in a radically new direction. She meets the Cuties, a group of girls in her grade. They are her neighbor Angelica (Medina El Aidi), the snarky Coumba (Esther Gohourou), and the combative Jess (Ilanah Cami-Goursolas). The Cuties move through the world with the kind of bulletproof self-confidence that only exists within tweens and rich, white men. Their goal is to enter and win a dance competition, one that emphasizes barely-there costumes and dance moves that are…well, let’s go with “suggestive.”

The realization hits Amy like a thunderbolt. The Cuties are everything she isn’t and like nothing she’s ever seen before. At least, that’s what she thinks. How to get in with the cool girls? Proving yet again that the internet was a mistake, Amy dives online and immerses herself in videos. Her plan is to imitate the moves of dancers much older and copy their routines, routines that are wildly age-inappropriate. They don’t just push the envelope, they rip through the damn thing. It’s all in service of social medial likes, realizing a vague dream, and learning that actions have consequences.

A number of prominent individuals have accused Cuties of either being child pornography or sexually exploitative. Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley railed against the film. An op-ed in the conservative website The National Review wrote, “Thus, whatever their artistic intentions, in making a social commentary about the sexualization of children, the filmmakers undeniably sexualized children.” Christine Pelosi, daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, tweeted, “Cuties hypersexualizes girls my daughter’s age, no doubt to the delight of pedophiles like the ones I prosecuted. Cancel this, apologize, work with experts to heal your harm.” It was all outrage, but it never came from a place rooted in liberal or conservative ideology. It was only reactionary.

By now, I imagine you’re probably thinking, “Don’t keep us in suspense, is Cuties offensive trash that comes straight from the Second Circle of Hell?” No, but it is designed to make viewers feel uneasy.

Director Maimouna Doucoure has made a clear-eyed and nuanced film about the raging desire of a child to fit in, and the poor decisions they can make that blow up in their faces. She knows exactly what kind of film she’s making; one about perspectives. When the girls practice their routines, we hear pulsing pop music as they emulate what they have seen elsewhere. I’m not sure they’re fully aware of the meaning of these suggestive dance moves, but they know on a subconscious level that they have raw power. However, watch the same routine later when adults observe. You’ll see some skeezy guys who are into it, but far more adults who are repelled and appalled. In the end, the gaze of the camera is entirely dependent upon context. There are also tiny moments of surrealism that pop in and out, such as a dress that Amy is given to wear at her father’s wedding. Watch how the shape and color of the dress slightly changes depending on Amy’s mood. It’s filmmaking that’s smart and subtle.

Doucoure based her screenplay on her own experiences as a refugee, as well as eighteen months of research regarding how social media influences the behavior of children and young teens. More relevant is her prior experience as a girl. The script is a coming of age tale in which Amy bounces between the expectations of her culture and religion to be a submissive wife, an onslaught of online images lacking in context, and the age-old growing pains we all go through. She ultimately wants to find her people and her place in the world while simultaneously wanting to rebel against the world she’s growing up in. The tragedy is that she makes decisions from the perspective of a child and is judged as an adult.

I think I was most impressed by the natural and honest performances that Doucoure was able to draw out of her cast.*** The younger actors do solid work, and I was particularly impressed with Fathia Youssouf as Amy. She’s asked to do some extremely heavy lifting from an emotional standpoint, and whether she’s about to break from pressure or giggling as she crams gummy worms into her mouth, she always feels believable. The stealth MVP of the cast is Maimouna Gueye as her mother Miriam. She has an astounding scene where she takes a phone call and learns of her husband’s decision to take another wife. Gueye’s tone of voice is all business on the phone. We can only see her feet as she hangs up the phone. For a moment there’s only silence, then we see her feet shaking as she sobs.

You’ve probably heard a variation of the old saying that depiction doesn’t equal endorsement. Odds are that the vast majority of people hysterically shrieking over Cuties either haven’t seen the film or are reading it in the most shallow manner possible. Cuties made me extremely uncomfortable. Since it’s a critique of society’s rampant sexualization of children, it’s supposed to.**** Maimouna Doucore’s film is intelligent and nuanced, and I fervently hope that her next project is viewed with more open-mindedness. Odds are, it won’t be.

  *Whether you agree with the central message of the film or not, consider that the central message is that initially Jesus profoundly does not want to take the suffering of the world entirely within himself. He wants what everyone else wants, but decides to sacrifice himself anyway. That’s far more inspirational and relatable than a savior entirely free of doubt.

**While the film isn’t exploitative, holy hell is the advertising! Someone in Netflix’s marketing department made a series of Very Bad Decisions. You can read more here.

***It bears mentioning that there was a child psychologist on-set during the shooting, as well as officials from France’s child protective services.

***In fact, I think Cuties is far less offensive than some of the odious reality TV programs like Toddlers and Tiaras.

The post Tempest in a Teapot first appeared on The Denver Guide.

from Blog https://ondenver.com/tempest-in-a-teapot/

[doodleodramablog-blog]

Inspiration & Motivation - the tale of two ex-lovers.

So after the huge success of my first blog (6 people read it including my own family), here we are with blog number- Two *insert drum roll*.

I did an Instagram story poll thing for this one, asking which blog to write first; inspiration & motivation or pricing (you know by now which of the two emerged as a winner). I will however, write one on pricing soon (too). So thank you to everyone who participated in the poll.

Now that we are done with the awkward intro-session and are all warm & toasty, let’s dive straight into the subject. Let me start with “my” definition or differentiation between the two. According to me, inspiration is ideas and motivation is the energy/zest/zeal/enthusiasm to implement these ideas.

Often, I find it challenging to bring these two people together, under the same roof (hence the title). They are like ex-lovers who went through a bad breakup and therefore cannot see eye to eye. And whenever they are in the same room together, the air is tensed but it helps get work done!

Before I start rambling about them, I think it’s very important to understand and acknowledge what is it that you need help with. Are you lacking motivation or inspiration?

Let’s talk about motivation first. Now these are some pointers that help me personally to get motivated. (Try them at your own risk).

Consume more so you can create more : I religiously follow and sometimes stalk truck loads of artists (illustrators, cartoonists, comedians, vloggers, poets, photographers, etc). Just seeing people put out amazing work, puts me in a good mood. I try to feed off on their energy and it helps me give myself that little push to work harder on my craft/skill.

Note : this might have the opposite effect too. I know creators who look at other people’s work and go “Oh! Everyone’s creating such amazing content and I’m a potato. Woe is me. I’m hopeless”. That brings me to the next pointer…

2. Know what works for you : take a walk, get a cup of coffee, stretch/sketch(or both), music, pet a floof (a real or imaginary pet), etc. Any of these or all of these could work for you. Motivation is all about working your mood to work for you. Even a nap could help! Try a few things and see what works best for you.

3. Take time off : taking a break helps. For me taking a break from my immediate surroundings does even better. So my breaks are as simple as sitting on the couch in my living area instead of sitting on the chair in my studio, just change of scenery can help sometimes. Do something outside of work. I turn to music or books or movies or tending to my dying plants and this can sometimes even spark inspiration (more on that later). I like going shopping for plants (that i will eventually kill), books, and stationery in general.

4. Let lazy takeover : There are only so many battles you can fight in a day and only so many that you can win so it’s totally ok to let lazy take over somedays. Don’t try to fight it everyday, every second (I’ll make a horrible parent!). Somedays you just want to smell bad, look bad, and pretend dead. And that is A-ok.

(Again, these pointers work for me. I’ve been told that I should be banned from giving advice…so…)

I’d also like to add another pointer here. I don’t usually struggle with motivation when it comes to client work. I somehow like being accountable and I hate to admit this, but I do work well under pressure and with deadlines. (As a student, I loved writing exams and that’s one of the things I miss about my student life- exams. Yeah. So now you know). Also, with client work there’s usually a set (agreed upon) brief available so inspiration is already served, you just need to bring your motivation to dinner table.

Moving onto Inspiration, this is harder to achieve than motivation (IMHO). Now inspiration doesn’t come knocking on my forehead every single day as soon as I wake up. So whenever it does come, I try and grab it with both my hands and soak in as much as I can.

Note : Here I’d like to throw in a recommendation- Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. PLEASE read that book if you’d like to explore creativity, inspiration, motivation and all that jazz. READ IT.

Here are a few things that help me get inspired. Again, these work for me but might not work for you so don’t come looking for me with a butcher knife. Don’t.

People : Indians are THE funniest race on planet earth. We just don’t know how to laugh at ourselves. All my comics come from observing people, their action-reactions, us as a society and our approach to life. I love observing people. So I am that creep who sits in coffee shops and pretends like I’m working or eating but I’m actually listening to your conversations, watching your body language, and making layouts for my next comic, featuring YOU. (Learn the art of subtlety before you practice this stunt. We have laws now so be civilised).

Anything but work : Surprisingly, I don’t get ideas when I look at other fellow illustrators/comic artists’ work. I get motivated, sure but not inspired. For that, I need to look outside of my work. I often get my ideas/concepts from books I’m currently reading, maybe a film I recently watched, an incident, circumstances, relatives at family gatherings, Facebook activity of my “Facebook friends”, etc. Yeah, I feel like I have a self awarded degree in human psychology (although I studied journalism, advertising, & film).

Shame your creative block in public : Let EVERYONE know that you are not inspired at the moment by drawing/writing about the creative block. And if this creative block visits often which it will (pesky little rascal), find creative ways to introduce your uninvited guest, the creative block to the world. Sooner or later you will get on its nerves and drive it away (for a while at least).

Go back to where you came from! : (immigrants can sit down. HAHA. OK sorry). What I mean by that is, when you’re stuck in a rut, reach for comfort food (first) and then for something familiar. For me, I love warming up with some rough sketches of faces with varied expressions. I find that relaxing because it’s something I know and enjoy doing. It’s like giving my ego a mini massage session. Don’t tell your brain to create a master piece just let your muscle memory do its job and draw some gibberish. Anything. Once you’re over that block, you can go ahead and poop all over that smooth road now!

So these are some of my cue cards/go-to pointers whenever I am stuck/not in the mood/not feeling it. But then again, they are not foolproof and that explains why I only did client work today. But hey! At least we got this blog done. I hope this was some help to the 3 people who will read it. PLEASE do drop me a note/message here. There’s also the ask me anything section.

There’s also the Doodleodrama Facebook & Instagram & email. If you have questions/opinions/suggestions- let me know!

*takes a bow and doesn’t leave*

[allisonswrittenwords]

“Too Cool for School” Month wraps up with the inclusion of the last major staple of our very nostalgic school life!

Previously, on Allison’s Written Words…

We stocked up on the most important school supplies to prepare for our very nostalgic school life – a Trapper Keeper to store our school and homework in (bonus points if it was from the “designer series”), stocked up on Lisa Frank pens, pencils, stickers, erasers, and jewelry (gotta have it!), and we probably even picked up a locker answering machine or pocket folders with jeans-clad posteriors on them (or perhaps something else from the Class Act school supply line?).  We’re missing one all-important supply: something to store our much needed fuel to keep us going during our very nostalgic school life!

Enter the ultimate container, where what is on it is just as important as what is in it!

“What Character Do You Have?”

The idea of a character-adorned lunchbox is not a new or novel concept, invented with the time I was growing up, and it certainly didn’t get ushered in with the current generation (though they’d probably like to believe they “invented” it!).  In fact, it came in to the classroom on our parents’ generation.

The first licensed character lunchboxes, a common thing in today’s school supply aisle, was first ushered in during the early 1950s.  A strategic move by Aladdin Industries, who had been making the standard lunch container since 1908, was to put Hopalong Cassidy on a lunchbox, increasing sales of lunchboxes from 50,000 units…to 600,000 units.

Unbelievable, you say.

Well, Aladdin knew what they were doing, striking a chord with consumerism that apparently really liked licensed characters.  During much of the next 30 years, Aladdin continued to dominate, and well, the lunchbox went from being what kids carried their lunch in, to being “what character do you have?”.

The original licensed character lunchbox, circa 1954 (Image: eBay)

I should note though, it was only after American Thermos introduced full-lithography on all sides of their lunchbox, did Aladdin change their tune.

Adding On a Thermos, And The Change from Metal to Plastic

Aladdin’s acquisition of the Stanley Bottle operation cemented their company’s position in the food and beverage container in a big way, and it only increased from there.  Not only did we get a cool new lunchbox, but a MATCHING THERMOS!!!!!

What wasn’t to love?

The introduction of Superman, Mickey Mouse, and The Jetsons on future lunchboxes after the initial introduction of Hopalong Cassidy only kept the line endearing to image-conscious kids who needed a lunchbox for days school didn’t have lunch they wanted.  Saturday morning cartoons didn’t just have toys, books, bedroom sets, clothing, school supplies, and backpacks, they also had their faces printed on lunchboxes.

By the 1980s, metal lunchboxes turned to molded plastic, which were cheaper to manufacture.  My first lunchbox (for preschool in the mid-1980s) was metal, but the first one I carried to elementary school in 1989 was plastic, as would my second lunchbox (More on those beauties later).  I heard a story some years ago that the metal lunchboxes were banned, and I just assumed this was never true.  I mean, why would metal lunchboxes be banned in school?

It actually is true.  The state of Florida banned metal lunchboxes in 1972, amid “dangerous weapon” concerns.  While other states followed, the molded plastic design was actually cheaper to manufacture, which lead to the ultimate discontinuation of the metal lunchbox by 1985.

What was the last metal lunchbox,you ask?

For $20, you can own the last metal lunchbox produced. Image: eBay

Metal lunchboxes met their end in a literal (guns) blazing glory in 1985, with Rambo conquering Vietnam…and lunchtime!

Yes, they were banned by some schools as weapons, but in reality, it was the lower cost of molded plastic that ended the metal lunchbox’s reign at lunchtime.

From Plastic, To Insulated, To One Company’s Discontinuation of Lunchboxes

By the mid-late 1980s, plastic lunchbox/thermos kits dominated the lunchrooms once populated by metal lunchboxes.  Nothing changed about them, aside from the plastic lunchboxes only having the sticker of your licensed character adorning the front of the box.  The rest was just brightly colored plastic.  But you didn’t care about that minor detail, as long as it had the character you liked!

By 1998, Aladdin discontinued making the lunchbox altogether, but Thermos, Aladdin’s direct competitor in the “what character do you have?” game kept right on going, converting the cool images on those plastic lunchboxes to their insulated bags.  Thermos still makes them to this day, but for the nostalgic set, these do nothing for us.  For the kids some of us buy them for, perhaps, but not for us.

Although if you handed me an Avengers lunchbox tomorrow, insulated or otherwise, I’d run off happily with it.

Allison’s Lunchboxes

So, as I said earlier, I did own several lunchboxes in my very nostalgic childhood.  My first one was a metal lunchbox/Thermos combination, featuring The Muppet Babies.

Allison’s first lunchbox, circa 1985. (Image: Everything But the House)

My brother and I both had this.  The Thermos was super cute, featuring my favorite Muppet, Kermit.  I have had a particular affinity for Kermit since my mom bought a Christmas stocking holder when I was about a year old. It’s not like I knew who Kermit was or anything (or maybe my one-year-old brain connected it with Sesame Street, I have no idea), but I liked it and kept a death grip on it.  My mom said I liked it so much, I took it with us when we went out to dinner.

I’m assuming that lunchbox was bought for pre-school use, but after that, it became the holder of Crayola crayons (and a big red Crayola sharpener) for quite a few years.  I have no clue what happened to the thermos, but the lunchbox stuck around for a while.  I spotted it in a thrift store in Ocean City, NJ in the summer of 2002, along with the thermos.  No, it wasn’t mine, I’m pretty sure that lunchbox found a trashcan in the early 1990s.  I was tempted to buy it back then, but decided against it. Even now, I don’t really know what purpose it would serve, and lord knows I wouldn’t want to use a thirty-something-year old thermos that wasn’t originally mine!

The idea of that just…yeah.  Ew.

By the time I was in first grade (we had half-day Kindergarten in my school, so I don’t recall needing a lunchbox), the need for a lunchbox was upon us, so we (naturally), went right for the licensed characters.  It’s like I’ve seen in several lunchbox-related articles, they were like concert t-shirts for teenagers.  This was 1989, and as licensed character stuff went from Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, and Rainbow Brite, to whatever was big among girls in the late 1980s.  Of the popular characters to choose from of that time, I chose something rather timeless, brought up to a 1980s vibe.

Image: PicClick

I LOVED this lunchbox, especially that Thermos.  Apparently there were several different version of the Mickey and Minnie lunchbox that year, but this all-glammed-up version was the one I took to first grade in 1989.

My final licensed character lunchbox was in second grade (1990-1991).  This one surprises me.  Where the early 1990s a dearth of good licensed character lunchboxes for girls?  My brother had this really cool lunchbox that year…

Image: Pinterest

And I had this.

So it has been explained (through research) that the Yum Yums were Hallmark’s version of the Care Bears crossed with Fisher Price’s The Wild Puffalumps, several years after both franchises had quieted down (the former) and faded away (the latter).  The toys smelled like candy, and these colorful characters had their own one-off special from Hanna-Barbera, The Day Things Went Sour.

(It’s on YouTube.)

I guess I saw it, and liked the characters…or was it because this lunchbox was neon pink and pretty?  Either way, there was only one other kid with a Yum Yums lunchbox in second grade, and we weren’t in the same class.  I’m pretty sure this was a over and done with long before I was over and done with that lunchbox at the end of the school year.  I do love that thermos, it is super cute!

I don’t recall having any other Yum Yum toys.  Nosey Bears, yes, but not Yum Yums.

If I had known this would be the swan song of carrying a plastic character lunchbox to school, I would have chosen more wisely.  I mean, this one was cute, but there had to be something else I was interested in, right?

It probably wasn’t socially acceptable to take a lunchbox to school with a boy-type licensed character on it.  That’s pretty much what I liked at that time, my brother’s cartoons.

When third grade rolled around the following year, I went to the Intermediate School, which meant big kids…and a big kid lunchbox to go with it.  I remember a new insulated lunch bag that didn’t come with a Thermos, but my mom did use something new in the bag…an ice pack!  By that point, character lunchboxes kinda fell by the wayside, and the big kids carried insulated bags.  It was a nice time, while it lasted.

Further Reading and Watching

Image: Etsy

The History of the Lunch Box: Smithsonian Magazine has an awesome article from 2012 all about the history of the lunchbox, from its beginnings as kids fashioning their own from cookie or tobacco containers (they wanted to be like their working daddies) all the way to our very nostalgic school life, and beyond!  It’s a great read!

Quality Logo Products: A detailed timeline of the lunchbox, from introduction to the ban on metal boxes, to Thermos introducing the soft-sided lunchbox.

CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Nancy Giles visits the Lunchbox Museum in Columbus, GA, where 1000 lunchboxes are preserved for the sake of our very nostalgic school life!  (From 2017)

Upload via CBS Sunday Morning

And Now, You!

Images: PicClick, Pinterest, eBay, Antiques, Top Masters in Education, and Buzzfeed

Did you have a Thermos or Aladdin character lunchbox as a kid?  What one(s) did you carry to school?  Sound off in the comments below, or be social on social media.  As always, I’d love to hear from you!

“Too Cool for School” month is coming to a close, as the school year rolls on.  Usually by October, we were settled into a routine, the new-ness of a new school year wearing off.  Which means we can settle into a new theme for October!

Come by Allison’s Written Words Facebook page on Monday night, September 30th at 10:00 pm, for the new month’s theme!

Oh, and on Wednesday…a rare Wednesday post!  What could it be?

(Well, I know already because I finished and scheduled it, but you won’t know until then!)

Such suspense, it must be killing you!

Have a great day!

Did You Carry A Little Character On Your Lunchbox? - It was a status symbol of elementary school. What lunch box did you have? "Too Cool for School" Month wraps up with the inclusion of the last major staple of our very nostalgic school life!

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasWatches: My Little Pony the Movie

Well, I’m obligated to write about this film, aren’t I? I like animation, light fantasy, world building, overthinking children’s entertainment, and I am a Brony of waxing and waning interest, so, sure, better actually get out to a theater for The Movie.

Luckily for my brother and I, my advice to attend a later screening (21:45) not only granted reprieve from children young and old, but also literally anyone else. We had the theater to ourselves.[1]

So I got to riff the commercials and talk during the movie. I… don’t know if my brother appreciates me doing that, or if he’s resigned himself to it just being how I am, because I do it constantly whenever it’s just the two of us watching. He’s never asked me to stop, though, so oh well.

Anyways, I went in with as little (non-show) information as possible, skipping commercials, early released songs, and the Prequel Comics, because I wanted to make sure the movie held up by it’s own merit as much as possible.

So, first, a quick overview of Canvas in relation to ponies!

I watched the first episode because the creator of El Goonish Shive had remarked about liking it, and I heard there was a reference to Doctor Who in the show. So, I downloaded the first episode off iTunes, because it was free, then bought the second because it wasn’t free, but the pilot’s story was incomplete. I thought it was okay, and would’ve left it there, but then Vulpin kept going, and I got swept up. We caught up to the release dates with Owl’s Well that Ends Well and have clung on since.

I wrote a couple fanfics, my first and only serious efforts in the field, and lovingly gazed upon the fandom as it grew.

In general, I say the show was at it’s best with Season Two, and has otherwise been uneven since. Some amazing episodes came later, but some luster was lost with the departure of Lauren Faust. I keep watching because nothing’s made me rage quit, and it’s been relatively easy to keep going through momentum.

Scootaloo is best pony.

Now I can talk about the movie.

My initial impression was ‘Oh boy, this is a little too well animated’. An odd complaint, but the improved lipflaps, more varied movements, and 2D animation on CG backgrounds was disorienting for my Flash-adjusted eyes. However, as I starting watching out for the many cameos[2] front loaded into Canterlot, I grew accustomed, and once the plot really kicks off, I was used to it.

The plot was essentially that of a Season Opener or Closer, with a couple points of character development carefully rolled back to allow conflict and reduce continuity lockout for parents and others unfamiliar with the franchise as it currently stands.

The movie opens with Twilight planning a “Friendship Festival” taking place in Canterlot. All the ponies are excited, it’s being headlined by Songbird Serenade, a character freshly introduced as if we’ve always known her, and voice by Sia, a performer I literally never heard of until she was announced to be guest starring in this movie, but she is apparently supposed to be some kind of draw?

Actually, I don’t know any of the big-name stars for this film, which I’m okay with, since I prefer ability over recognition.

Anyways, Twilight attempts to approach the other three princesses to get them to use their personal magics to improve the festival, but the other three are all “Look, Twilight, none of us have done anything of substance on screen, and we’re not going to start now.”

So instead Twilight goes and checks on how her friends are doing on preparations and give us a song.

It’s a nice song.

Then the Storm King’s forces invade!

Who is the Storm King? What is his motivation? How does he relate to ponies?

So this invading force is lead by Tempest Shadow and…

Look, I don’t know the deal with The Storm King, okay? I haven’t read the prequel comics yet, and the movie gives no direct backstory, only implying how things kind of are? And that would’ve been fine if they kept the Storm King off mic more often. But he’s given a presence, and is equal parts amusing and threatening.

Which puts him in an awkward position, narratively speaking, because he has too much personality to be a force of nature villain and too little history to be a strong narrative villain. Besides, Tempest does a good job of being the narrative villain, so the Storm King is just kind of poorly executed.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I liked his dialogue. He had some very funny lines, but it was poorly implemented. Maybe those lines should’ve been moved to Grubber to transform him from bad comedic relief (in both senses) into Tempest’s leash, reminding her about the bargain she and the Storm King have.

Tempest, meanwhile, was the actual looming threat, and was well written and given motivations. You understand, within the context of the movie, why she’s doing what she’s doing, and fans of the show know how devastating it would be for a unicorn to lose her horn.

Now, would I perhaps prefer they move away from the ‘rejected as a young pony, so screw everyone’ narrative they keep using to oppose Friendship? Sure. Maybe have some backstory where Tempest was part of a Celestia-sent brigade to combat the Storm King, only to be abandoned by her fellow soldiers. Bam! Reason to turn on Friendship, child-appropriate darkness, and a different narrative. Plus, that puts her in the hands of the Storm King within the scope of the movie and gives an opening for Celestia to offer a bit more exposition (and thus have an actual narrative role.)

Grubber is a bad character, and outside of the above recommendation of altering his and Tempest’s dynamic, I wish they’d drop him off the side of an airship. He’s just your usual ‘Minion who likes to eat’ character, with nothing added. Which is unfortunate, because My Little Pony’s been pretty good about taking old character tropes and spinning them into something new and interesting.

The Mane Six (plus Spike) are on their usual form. Pinkie Pie, being the pink one, acts as a sort of backup protagonist, pulling the narrative weight Twilight can’t. Rarity also gets her moment, as does tomboy Rainbow Dash, as a sort of spectrum of showing how you can be valuable regardless of your personal femininity. Applejack and Fluttershy are just there for support, which works. Not every pony needs a big song and dance.

Twilight is still uncertain about herself and her role as a princess,[4] and she nearly ruins everything by trying to steal a Macguffin while using Pinkie and the others as distraction. This is, of course, to set up the third act ‘Everyone mistrusts the hero’ conflict which the formula demands.

However, speaking to the skillful twisting of tropes, we get an onscreen acknowledgement with the great line of ‘It’s about time we talk to Twilight.’ This lampshades the cliche plot point, implies everypony was merely taking a moment to cool off and collect themselves, and justifies the event.

Of course, Twilight’s been captured by Tempest, and the villain tries to use Twilight’s sudden loneliness to turn her against Friendship, but Twilight never believes she’s been abandoned. It’s strongly implied that she knows her friends were always coming back, and they all just needed a healing moment.

So that’s a strong point in the movie’s favor.

The set-up for act three is full of good lampshade hanging. Applejack identifies Capper’s elegant speech as a means to hype the ponies back up, and once the full strike force is assembled, Spike makes a pointed comment that all their new friends are there, so they should stop waiting and get planning.

When the writing’s on point, it’s really on point.

That doesn’t mean I don’t have my usual complaints. This time, it’s in regards to consistency in world building.

So, the world of My Little Pony has drifted over the years, which is broadly fine, because art needs space to breath and transform, but at the same time, there are still boundaries and rules that the audience will pick up on and which need to be obeyed.

When the current generation started, Equestria was a quasi-medieval fantasy world, with limited technology. Lights were provided by fireflies, books appeared like parchment, trains had to be pulled by teams of ponies. This has been progressively dropped, and the Equestria we see is much more modern with a thin coat of pulp fantasy. I’m fine with this change, because it was gradual and occurred as a means to open narrative options. And computers still aren’t a thing, so that’s still a nice, subtle limitation to justify the use of magic.

Another gradual change I’m less happy with is allowing sticky hooves and prehensile tails. Originally, there was a strict ban on ponies being able to just pick things up with their hooves, and use of other bodies parts at least had to look reasonable. Then pegasi started to use their wings like hands, tails gained increased dexterity, and so on. Which means we lose a significant portion of the neat background details that showed how ponies make their technology operate.

Even Pinkie, who can be granted allowance for her Looney Tunes shenanigans, has also seen a drift in her abilities to keep up with these changes.

However, one (admittedly vague) law had remained intact until this movie: the nature of the sentient fauna. There are no humans in Equestria, and presumably the rest of the world (the actual nature of Equestria, geopolitically, is a headache I can’t begin to broach. Ponies, for the longest time, were the dominate species, the builders of society. Those creatures that were sentient outside of Ponyhood were either also hoofed creatures (who enjoy a confusing second-class citizenship that is rife for pondering), or classical mythological creature: Griffins, dragons, and the like. Those are the society and culture builders, and most are still quadruped. Hands are still an alien concept[5], and all other animals are as they are in our world (with a little cartoon intelligence for gags.)

But in the Movie there’s Capper, an anthropomorphic cat that stands at human height. No mythological origins, and capable of speech in opposition to Rarity’s own Opalescence and other cats we’ve seen in the series. He’s given no explanation or origin, and our main characters just accept him as is. And he has hands.

In fact, exploring the world beyond the Badlands just raises so many questions that don’t even get a cursory nod. Most of the residents (also vague anthropomorphic animals) seem broadly unaware of ponies which… fine, maybe Equestria has a closed borders policy, but their royalty literally raise the sun and moon. Equestria controls their own weather and nature.[6] Luna’s profile was literally shoved on the moon for a thousand years! How aren’t ponies a well known thing?

Then we meet some griffins, and they turn out to be bipedal, which not only breaks the implied canon of sentient races, but established canon on a preexisting race.

Now, I liked the plot and dialogue of all these characters, but the world beyond the Badlands shakes our preconceived notions of what this world is like. Which is bad. The regular audience has occupied the fiction’s world for seven years now. Like it or not, they’ve picked up on how things are supposed to work, and the movie’s breaking the rules.

Which would be okay.  Rules exist so you think before you break them, but the movie isn’t thinking. It just tosses the rules aside without giving narrative weight to the act. Neither Twilight nor other ponies are confused by seeing a cat man suddenly fast-talking them. He looks out of place - and no other cat people are shown - so even in the context of the movie he looks alien, but nothing about it is explained.

I think that’s been the true reasoning behind my gradual deflating love of the franchise. The individual stories have been good, but the worldbuilding been breaking itself, and I dislike that inconsistency.

In summary: I liked the story of the movie, Tempest is an interesting character, but the worldbuilding shown makes me wish it were non-canon.

Guess I’ll just have to wait to see how it plays out with future episodes.

Kataal kataal.

[1] What do theaters do if no one comes to a screening? Do they still play the film to keep the system running, or do they let the projector rest? [2] I, admittedly, cheered a little upon seeing Sepia Tock[3] hanging about. [3] I am clinging to this interpretation until I die, try and stop me! [4] As is everyone else, quite frankly. Why is Twilight a princess? [5] My editor would like to point out Spike has hands, and Griffons use their fore talons in a hand like manner. However, those are referred to as claws and talons, and, besides, dragons are a rarity and Griffons are still quadrupedal. [6] Which is why the Everfree Forest, which maintains itself, is such a scary oddity. It’s wild magic!

[snarktheater]

Carve the Mark — Part 3 (Chapters 15-16)

As we open the third part of this book, we finally get both of our points of view alternating from chapter to chapter. Which, yes, also means we constantly swap from third to first person. But hey, a least this means the plot might actually move forward? Maybe?

One can dream.

That doesn't mean we escape bad writing though. Remember how Akos tried to escape a few chapters ago, and we were told about it after the fact? Yeah, I guess now is the right time to get a flashback to that, because it's totally still relevant.

AKOS RAN THROUGH THE memory of his almost-escape with Eijeh over and over again

That is a flimsy excuse, even in this book.

We do learn that Akos's power also works on current-powered technology, which includes locks and handcuffs.

That was how he had gotten free to kill Kalmev Radix in the feathergrass.

Any other scene you want to explain away a fourth of the book later, or can we move forward now?

Back to the present, then. It's been a week since the sojourn ship took off, and not much has happened yet. Since we have no idea how fast the ship is traveling, or how far it has to go, I don't really know what to do with that information, but there you have it.

Akos goes to the ship's public training room (because there's only one? Even though literally all the "able-bodied" Shotet are on this ship? How many Shotet are there in total, exactly?), and there, he meets Jorek Kuzar. What's that? You don't know who that is because the book introduced him for seemingly no reason and dropped him for five chapters, so I didn't even tell you about him? I'd apologize, but frankly, I'm too busy wondering why we even had that earlier introduction.

So, when Vas told Cyra about Uzul Zetsyvis's passing, he was accompanied by Jorek, who is his second cousin. He refused to become a soldier/translator like his dad, and that makes him suspect in Ryzek's eyes. Akos also notes that he has no kill marks, which means…I don't know, that he's a good person? At least that's my assumption, since after some padding, he offers Akos to help him escape. Akos refuses, saying he has unfinished business.

“Then what about that brother of yours?” Jorek said. “The one who inhales when Ryzek exhales?”

…What do you think "unfinished business" means, Jorek?

Well, Jorek adds Eijeh in his offer, so Akos agrees to help him to earn both his and his brother's freedom. His brother who, shall I remind you, is currently under severe mind-fuck and would probably do his best to sabotage your escape.

The deal is to kill Jorek's dad, Suzao Kuzar. Who, it turns out, was one of the men with Vas who kidnapped Akos and Eijeh. So it's basically two birds with one stone for Akos.

“I’m not a fool, no matter what you people think of the Thuvhesit,” Akos snapped, his cheeks going ruddy as he picked up the practice blade. “You think I’m going to just let you set me up for a fall?” “I’m as much at risk as you are,” Jorek replied. “For all I know you could go whisper in Cyra Noavek’s ear about what I just asked you, and it could get back to Ryzek, or my father. But I’m choosing to trust in your hatred. As you should trust in mine.”

One: Ms Roth, blushing is not a character trait. She keeps referring to Akos's blushing, and I think it's supposed to build the idea that he's a soft, sensitive boy, but she forgets to…actually make him sensitive? Blushing is basically a side-effect.

Two: guess what Akos does right after this? Tell Cyra about this. Well, okay, he doesn't tell her about Jorek's involvement, but he does ask her how he could kill Suzao. Information which she…happily provides?

“It would have to be in the arena to be legal, as you know,” she said. “And you would want it to be legal, or you would end up dead. Arena challenges are banned from when the ship leaves the atmosphere until after the scavenge, which means you have to wait until after. […] But you don’t have the status to challenge Suzao even then, so you have to provoke him to challenge you, instead.”

So that's our plan for Akos's subplot for this part of the book, I assume. And/or until the end? Is this book a stand-alone, or is it planned to be a series? I should have checked.

Also, more shippy angst, as Akos muses on how he can't help but alleviate Cyra's pain, even though she's his enemy and he should do everything to fight his fate of serving her family. As for Cyra, she warns him he really wants to do this, because he could become "like her". Because she still sees herself as a monster, for…some reason. You know, the more we learn about Cyra and her powers, the more it feels like layers of victim blaming are added onto one another.

And then we get some banter as they go cook, because we also need shippy fluff, I guess.

So before I continue, I have to take a moment to discuss about how Jorek is made "special" by showing he has no kill marks. In absolute, this sounds like a fine concept—the people who don't kill other people or only do so in defense or while coerced are probably the ones you want to mark as good people. But…then, that creates a really uncomfortable view of the Shotet culture, where there was room for something interesting.

After all, while the Noaveks have seemingly turned kill marks into a subject of pride over the kills one has done, the tradition predates them, and it already included something for the kills—even if it was viewed as a form of loss and presumably atonement. Since the Shotet have such a system in place (along with the arena challenges), we can infer that killing people is something they had to do, for various reasons (think Akos's mark, which was in self-defense and in an attempt to escape). And yet, the book is basically telling us that no, kill marks are wrong all the time.

That speaks of a philosophy that redemption is impossible (unless you're a main character?), which…I frankly don't want to get into. But it also seems to vilify Shotet culture as a whole even further than it already is for even having this system in place. After all, a "good" culture wouldn't have the need for kill marks at all.

Time will tell if this pattern remains throughout the book, of course. And it is pretty hard to have an impression when the book doesn't even bother to describe most people's kill marks even as it claims that Akos has learned the Shotet automatism to check for them. But as it stands, that's the impression I'm getting from this.

And with that, back to the story, with Cyra coming back from a random meeting with Ryzek, who has in fact decided to go to Pitha to scavenge for weapons, in spite of what the current dictates. Because you know he's evil if he subverts his people's spirituality for his own gain. Not, you know, the murder, oppression, anti-intellectualism.

Along the way, all the lights go out, and a message is broadcast on the ship's speakers, once again spreading Ryzek's fate for all to hear.

“The truth can be suppressed, but it can never be erased.”

Also, Cyra gets attacked, but she's just the best fighter ever, so even being in the dark and taken by surprise isn't enough. However, she feels guilt over Lety Zetsyvis's death, so she lets her attacker (also a girl) go, though she does keep the dagger she was attacked with.

Hopefully it had been too dark for the security footage to show that I had just let a renegade go free.

Cyra Noavek: unable to make up her mind about where her loyalties lie, I guess.

She does go to Ryzek with the knife to show to him that she was also attacked and prove she's not behind the attack (which she apparently thinks he would consider?). He has indeed been attacked too, but Vas took care of the assassins, although Ryzek is clearly shaken by it, even drinking hushflower tea to calm himself. Which is a big deal since hushflower is so typically Thuvhesit.

It wasn’t his fault that he had turned out this way, so terrified and so creative with his cruelty. Our father had conditioned him to become this person. The greatest gift Lazmet Noavek had ever given me, even greater than life itself, had been leaving me alone.

Yeah, um…one: parental neglect isn't exactly a gift. Two: children who witness abuse but aren't the victim of it still internalize that abuse. Three: Ryzek being an abuser himself isn't excused by being a victim himself.

And then…more victim blaming as Cyra tries to connect to Ryzek.

“We weren’t always like this, you and I,” I said. […] “Then you killed our mother,” he said quietly. “And now, this is all that we can be.”

Yes, you sort-of accidentally killed your mom, therefore I must abuse you. Um…logic?

And that's…pretty much the end of that scene. Cut to morning (whatever that means when you're in space, which the book seems to have completely forgotten), where Ryzek has instated a curfew and will randomly torture people until he finds the renegades. Cyra and Akos talk about it while a news feed goes on in the background, and Cyra comments on the subtitles that are given.

There was a water shortage on Tepes, in the western continent. The Shotet subtitles were accurate. For once. […] The Assembly was debating further requirements for the oracles on each planet, to be voted on in forty days. Shotet subtitles: “Assembly attempts to assert tyrannical control over oracles through another predatory measure, to be enacted at the end of the forty day cycle.” Accurate, but biased. Some notorious band of space pirates had just been sentenced to fifteen seasons in prison. Shotet subtitles: “Band of Zoldan traditionalists sentenced to fifteen seasons in prison for speaking out against unnecessarily restrictive Assembly regulations.” Not so accurate.

I won't make the obvious fake news joke (mostly because…let's be real, it's not funny anymore, it's just sad), and point out instead that if all Shotet people are exposed to Othyrian, with subtitles, I cannot for a minute believe that no one would pick up at least on some of the language. Since the subtitles aren't completely inaccurate, and it's not even consistently done, it should be possible. I mean, that is literally how I started learning English.

Things only a person who isn't bilingual would write: this shit.

They argue about he meaning of he sojourn, and how Cyra is clinging to traditions instead of seeing the Shotet for what they have become, leading to this:

Not for the first time, I wondered how he would feel if I died. […] I might be the Noavek he would one day die for, given how much time we spent together.

If it's not the first time, why is this the first time I hear about it? Also, thanks of you to let us know that you came to the obvious conclusion that serving the Noavek family didn't necessarily mean serving Ryzek, because so far, I've also had no indication that any character was aware of that.

Anyway, this is enough of that, let's have some more shippy times!

He was angled toward me. There were only a few inches separating us. We were often close together, when sparring, when training, when making our breakfasts, and he had to touch me to keep my pain at bay. So it should not have felt strange that his hip was so close to my stomach, that I could see ropy muscle standing out from his arm. But it did.

Protagonists are allowed to be aware of their own feelings. Even female protagonists. Do you realize that, Veronica Roth?

Akos also tells her that he's moved on with his plan to provoke Suzao into challenging him by having his son slip potions into his morning medicine. Apparently Akos is planning to let Suzao know it was him, and that's how he'll get his challenge. Question is: is this legal? I mean, that's the whole conceit of trying to get him to the arena, and I sincerely doubt that drugging someone would fly.

Cut to Cyra attending a meeting of Ryzek's closest associates, which leads to this interesting revelation from Vas:

“You know so little about my gift, for all the time we’ve known each other,” Vas said. “Do you know I have to set alarms to eat and drink? And check myself constantly for broken bones and bruises?”

So…the book is aware of the real-life condition, but it still gave Vas that gift, and it still acted like immunity to pain was a good and useful thing, because…?

Oh, also, this leads to a "we're not so different" moment from Cyra, because she's also always aware of her body. She asks when his gift first appeared, and he tells her he was being attacked by bullies as a child, which is also just like her. Is this going anywhere? More importantly: is this going towards a love triangle? Because I've been pretty good at avoiding those lately, I don't want to break my lucky streak.

Yma Zetsyvis is also at that meeting. Not because she doesn't care about her husband and daughter's deaths, mind you. No, she just…blames it all on Cyra, as if Ryzek hadn't commanded her to do it both times. But hey, how else will we establish that women only have the choice between protagonist, dead, irrelevant, or evil?

I turned to her. “What kind of sacrifices have you made?” […] “I have denied myself the pleasure of watching you bleed to death,” she whispered.

The rest of them also make fun of Cyra for good measure, and at this point I don't feel like giving more detail, so…let's just move on.

We were on the edge of the galaxy, so the only planets—or pieces of planets—left to see were not populous enough to participate in the Assembly. We called them “peripheral planets,” or just “the brim,” more casually. My mother had urged the Shotet to regard them as our brothers and sisters in the same struggle for legitimacy. My father had privately scoffed at that idea, saying that Shotet was greater than any brim spawn.

So Lazmet and Ryzek are refusing natural allies. In fact, they're refusing them so hard they forbade all travel to these planets. Well, it's realistic, if stupid. Also, do we really need to keep harping on what a saint Ylira was? She still stood by and let everything happen.

Speaking of Ryzek, he hasn't done any progress finding the renegades, so he's decided to pick a scapegoat to reassure people. Cyra feels bad at that thought, which confuses her for some reason, because she's such a total monster even a compassionate thought is alien to her. Even though she's never acted or thought any differently until now.

So she decides to go to her old tutor Otega, who now works the kitchen, because why wouldn't you waste a tutor's valuable skills by making her do menial work? Oh but wait, it gets stupider, because her currentgift also lets her find the owner of any item she touches, which Ryzek must know since Lazmet used to his advantage. So it's even more stupid not to keep her close!

But it does mean Cyra can freely ask her to use the dagger she got from her assassin to find her again, and hopefully get to the renegades through her. Why? No idea.

And with that, each of our protagonist has his own plot to worry about, so I guess this is as good a place to stop as any. Plus, this post is already horrendously long. Find out how Akos's "drug someone until they want to fight you" and Cyra's "find renegades to maybe help them maybe help her brother who knows she has not character consistency" plots will unfold next time!

[moral-autism]

User @growingupdifferently is drafting plans for a scientific study, which I think would be unethical and less informative than they expect, for multiple reasons. They've asked for feedback on this, so here it is. This is long. It is also not as organized as it could be, although it does have some headings in it. I can summarize it if it's too long.

To my followers: This user seems to be acting in good faith even if they don't share my values and their plans seem unethical, so please don't yell at them.

Criticism below the cut.

Conspiracies seem morally bad

I don't think that keeping large secrets from children is a good or ethical idea. Furthermore, I do not think your study is likely enough to lead to sufficiently useful results that doing so is justified for the greater good.

I have been in contact with psych-type professionals (speech-language pathologists, psychologists, etc) since the age of 4. At first, this was obviously to address my lack of certain consonants (you may be able to get away with not having /θ/ or /ð/, but /k/ and /ʃ/ matter), but later it involved a lot of very prescriptivist "social skills" whatnot and the like. I often found this frustrating: It meant people told me that my friendships should take burdensome and unenjoyable forms, and I even missed a field trip because of it. At some time around the age of 5, a psychologist told my parents that I could be diagnosed with Asperger's, but they declined, and I am instead "diagnosed" with "autism-like behaviors".

I, of course, only found this out at the age of 12. I had cause to be suspicious at age 10 or so, when I found seemingly-insulting summaries of me in my student portfolio (it was supposed to contain my completed assignments, but other paperwork got in by mistake). I, naively, took it to the teacher without thoroughly reading it, and she confiscated it.

So, one of my objections to you concealing the very concept of large-scale violence from a large group of children is that, eventually, someone's going to read the news on their phone and a child will shoulder-surf them, or Aunt Suzie is going to mention that her friend is helping some refugees deal with bureaucracy in her letter, or an adult is going to mention "the project" within someone's earshot, and you're going to either have to tell the truth, in which case the child will have to either become complicit in maintaining a lie to all of their close friends or you will ruin the entire project, or lie, in which case the child will eventually discover that their entire life was a long deception campaign and feel betrayed and wonder what else has been hidden from them.

...actually, that second outcome seems pretty likely no matter what you do. I mean, I'm not actually that upset that nobody actually explained what the USSR was until I was at least 13, but I could have looked it up on my own, I just didn't bother.

Lying is complicated and very difficult

Which leads to another point: Your experiment requires that your children don't have any unmonitored or unfiltered access to the outside world. No internet, because even most of Wikipedia would introduce concepts you don't want to expose the kids to. No unmonitored personal communications. You also would have to ban the vast majority of books. And no, you can't just use an internet filter. I, prior to puberty, helped my classmates get around content filter attempts to block violence on at least two occasions that I remember. (Okay, one of those involved the dark art of "synonyms", and the other one involved suggesting "why don't you do a Google search for 'mass destruction' instead of 'weapons of mass destruction', if the word 'weapons' is blocked?". I am not an 1337 hack3r, and certainly wasn't one at age 9.) You'd probably even have to, if you granted computer access to only a local internet, go through the computers a lot. I could learn a lot about human society from a dictionary.

Maybe this doesn't seem intrinsically horrifying to you, but it does to me. (I may be atypical in this: I think that the clock incident described in this post is an example of "a really bad incident where someone was coerced into doing horrible things", but this probably isn't a common perception.) Truth is good. If you have to go to great lengths to conceal a really major truth for a decade or two, it suggests that you're doing something wrong.

What will you do as the children mature? How long will you keep them in the dark? If you tell them as soon as they seem mature enough to handle the concepts (12, perhaps), will they be forced to choose between maintaining a lie to their younger peers and siblings versus losing all contact with them and living with relatives they've never met? And keeping people in the dark for 18 years sounds difficult.

You probably don't think massive large-scale lying is intrinsically bad. Entangled Truths, Contagious Lies seems to me to be a persuasive piece about lying being bad. IDK if it will persuade you, if not I can look for something else.

Oh, and here are some questions that even small kids will ask you that you'll have trouble answering:

"Where did we come from?" is a problem because, not only are you banning significant portions of biology, you're not even referencing an existing religious tradition which is at least somewhat coherent even if it's false.

"What's in the world besides this island?" will lead to either even more lies, or you having to tell people that countries exist, and then they will ask questions about countries and politics and stuff, and then you will have to lie more or admit that warfare exists. (This webcomic is vaguely tangentially relevant.)

"Who made that?" is going to be asked. You will probably not be able to hide the existence of corporations and also maintain a reasonable tech level. You could go to great effort to remove trademarks, I suppose, but evidence of that would still be noticeable. Also, you don't have the facilities to make a pencil or the like on your island, so that alone suggests a large and functional outside world.

Competition is natural

The concept of competition is a very natural concept. Children will naturally develop competitive games (tag, racing, skipping rope, marbles, etc). Also, you will not be able to pretend scarcity is not a thing. If you think you can prevent people from realizing "I can't have a tea party with 5 dolls if Alice and Bob and Carol and Dan all want to use the dolls for something else and they're holding onto the dolls", you're wrong. You might not end up with capitalism per se but you will probably end up with trades and markets of some kind, and kids having disagreements over those. This doesn't actually require an official system of private property: Note that I'm not using any possessive adjectives in this scenario.

Consider what happens if Eve wants to have her tea party: She hopefully isn't going to resort to physical force.

"Alice won't let me use the doll? Well, I'm going to take it!" is, however, a fairly natural reaction, and if Alice won't hand over the doll Eve might try to grab it out of Alice's hand, and if Alice is tired of Eve trying to take the things she's using, Alice might try to push Eve away or scratch Eve's hand to get Eve to let go.

Alice might offer that if other people will stop using the dolls she wants to use, she'll count for them when they're skipping rope, or something.

Congratulations, you have trade. If Alice isn't the only person who wants to use the dolls other people are using, they might even end up with [gasps] competition! And a market! How terrifying!

This probably isn't worth it

As far as I can tell, you seem to think that raising children in isolation will lead to them developing major moral insights, and you seem to implicitly if not explicitly think that these will be socialist insights, or at least that you can guide these insights in socialist directions. I think that this is false, because I think that the kind of isolation you wish to create not only from influences but also from concepts requires a major deception campaign, and the typical reaction of a teenager to discovering a major conspiracy affecting them personally is anger towards people involved in it.

On a lighter note, you may be interested in the book Time Will Run Back, which shows that Henry Hazlitt, who believe in fairly capitalistic and American values, seems to think or at least pretend to think that someone raised in isolation on an island and then dumped into a completely different society will derive his political views from first principles (to the point of even adopting a gold standard!).

Also, politics and philosophies developed in the absence of human society seem likely to just completely fail to account for the typical nature of humans and organizations. Imagine someone designing a society who forgot to account for the fact that mental impairment was a thing and people denied access to resources will die.

Research ethics were badly explained

Deception in research usually refers to deception over a span of hours, not over a span of years. Also, many people know that deception sometimes occurs in psych studies (lots of people know about the Milgram experiment), so people in a psych study are giving something consent-like, even if they're not giving full informed consent. On the other hand, nobody gives anything remotely consent-like to being born into a large and lengthy deceptive scientific study.

I dislike some political views you have in other posts

"Set up an experiment on an isolated island: rise your children without all knowledge of the violence in the outside world. ... The socialist person will …propably not have a problem with it." appears more to me to be a criticism of socialism than anything else. It combined with your post about Milo Yiannopoulos asserting that a fair justice system would have "his books confiscated" and your assertion that people who care a lot about free speech should "Stop this baby view of ethics and laws." suggests that socialism doesn't value truth or free exchange of ideas particularly highly. If this is true, thank you for being open about it, but it really is off-putting to me to hear that a commitment to principles that I have is just a sign of immaturity.