#nancy paige

[mattnben-bennmatt]

Around this time, my mom started learning Spanish and traveling to Central America whenever she could. She went to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. She went mainly to get a better sense of what was happening there and to bring the news back home to help strengthen the case against further US intervention. A lot of activists believed that if American citizens were on the ground in these countries, our government wouldn’t risk their lives by invading. She brought me along on three of the tamer trips. To start with, we’d live with local families and take language classes, and then we’d spend the rest of the trip backpacking around the country, riding on buses filled with chickens. The summer we went to Guatemala, there was still fighting going on up in the mountains. Once, a truck passed me with a bunch of kids in the back. They had camo paint on their faces and guns in their hands. They were on their way to join the battle in the hills. I was seventeen at the time, and they looked like they were around my age or even younger. I’ll never forget making eye contact with one of them and seeing his blank stare. That kid had seen a lot of things I hadn’t and never would. The next summer—it was 1989 and I’d just finished my first year of college—my mom said: “Matt, I’ve been restraining myself on these trips because you and Kyle need a mom. But you’re both grown now, and you should know I’m not going to do that anymore.” She started going to more dangerous places—including Cambridge’s sister city in El Salvador. The town had been suspected of harboring guerrillas, and while she was there, the Salvadoran army came in, fired their guns in the air, and urinated in the town well to contaminate the water. Thankfully my mom was unhurt. She came home even more intent on engaging with the world—on working to figure out what was going on, and how she could take a more active role in righting injustices.

— Matt Damon, in his and Gary White's book The Worth of Water (2002).

[sweetberrylover]

Super early morning doodles

[absolutelyterrifichonestly]

Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy

Paige Griffin 🔦⏰

[stupendouspizzacomputer]

INSANITY (Hellaverse x isekai male reader)

Winners (Part 3):

•Nancy Drew (Nancy Drew)

•Nick Sturniolo (Youtuber/Sturniolo triplets)

•Chris Sturniolo (Youtuber/Sturniolo triplets)

•Matt Sturniolo (Youtuber/Sturniolo triplets)

•Italy (Hetalia)

•Harrier "Harry" Du Bois (Disco Elysium)

•Ian Hecox (Smosh/Youtuber)

•Anthony Padilla (Smosh/Youtuber)

•Jung kook (Bts)

•V (Bts)

•Jimin (Bts)

•Suga (Bts)

•RM (Bts)

•Jin (Bts)

•J-Hope (Bts)

•Paige Bueckers (Paige Bueckers)

•Megan Thee Stallion (vmas)

•Chappell Roan (vmas)

•All the Venezuela's people who died and suffered because of Maduro's tyranny

•The monk (rain world)

•The survivor (rain world)

•The hunter (rain world)

•The watcher (rain world)

•The Gourmand (rain world)

•The Artificer (rain world)

•The Rivulet (rain world)

•The spearmaster (rain world)

•The saint (rain world)

•??? (rain world)

•Leon Kennedy (Resident Evil)

•Marcelyn (Adventure Time)

•Jeremy Heere (Be more chill)

•Alice Dyer (Magnus protocol)

•Phoenix Wright (Ace attorney)

•Mia Fey (Ace attorney)

•Miles Edgeworth (Ace attorney)

•Eddie Brock (Venom/Venom the last dance)

•Chell (Portal)

•Jake Seresin (Glen Powell)

•Lewis Hamilton (F1/Formula 1/oscar piastri/Ferrari)

•Charles Leclerc (F1/Formula 1/oscar piastri/Ferrari)

•Franco Colapinto (F1/Formula 1/oscar piastri/Ferrari)

•Carlos Sainz Jr (F1/Formula 1/oscar piastri/Ferrari)

•Yuki Tsunoda (F1/Formula 1/oscar piastri/Ferrari)

•Daniel Ricciardo (F1/Formula 1/oscar piastri/Ferrari)

•Charles-Haden Savage (Only murders in the building)

•Oliver Putnam (Only murders in the building)

•Mabel Mora (Only murders in the building)

•Madoka Kaname (Madoka Magica)

•Wei Wuxian (mdzs/mo dao zu shi)

•Lan Wangji (mdzs/mo dao zu shi)

•Wei Changze (mdzs/mo dao zu shi)

•Cangse Sanren (mdzs/mo dao zu shi)

•Jiang Fengmian (mdzs/mo dao zu shi)

•Jiang Cheng (mdzs/mo dao zu shi)

•Jiang Yanli (mdzs/mo dao zu shi)

•Jin Ling (mdzs/mo dao zu shi)

•Lan Sizhui (mdzs/mo dao zu shi)

•Lan Xichen (mdzs/mo dao zu shi)

•Lan Qiren (mdzs/mo dao zu shi)

•Twilight Sparkle (my little pony)

•Applejack (my little pony)

•Pinkie Pie (my little pony)

•Fluttershy (my little pony)

•Rarity (my little pony)

•Rainbow Dash (my little pony)

•Hua Cheng (tgcf/ghosts)

•The Knight (Hollow Knight)

•Flandre Scarlet (touhou)

•Remilia Scarlet (touhou)

•Sakuya Izayoi (touhou)

•Ruby Rose (rwby)

•Yang Xia Long (rwby)

•Weiss Schnee (rwby)

•Blake Belldonna (rwby)

•Jaune Arc (rwby)

•Pyrrha Nikos (rwby)

•Nora Valkyrie (rwby)

•Lie Ren (rwby)

•Yami Yugi (Yugioh)

•Sonic (Sonic/Sonic the hedgehog)

•Tails (Sonic/Sonic the hedgehog)

•Knuckles (Sonic/Sonic the hedgehog)

•Link (Legend of Zelda/Botw)

•Zelda (Legend of Zelda/Botw)

•Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn/Stranger things)

•Wynonna Earp (Wynonna Earp)

•Harry Potter (Harry potter)

•Hermione Granger (Harry potter)

•Ron Weasley (Harry potter)

•Rock Lock (Black tumblr/bnha)

•Shuri (Black tumblr/Black girl magic)

•All Might (bnha/My hero academia)

•Deku (bnha/My hero academia)

•Tahliah Debrett (Fka Twigs)

•Shen Qingqiu (svsss)

•Luo Binghe (svsss)

•Osamu Dazai (bsd/bungou stray dogs)

•Atsushi Nakajima (bsd/bungou stray dogs)

•Chuya Nakahara (bsd/bungou stray dogs)

•Princess peach (Super Mario)

•Pricess Rosalina (Super Mario)

•Princess Daisy (Super Mario)

•Siffrin (In stars and time)

•Odile (In stars and time)

•Homer (The odyssey/Poets on tumblr)

•Arsenal's crew (arsenal/arsenal fc/arsenal wfc/woso)

•ThunderClan (Warrior cats)

•WindClan (Warrior cats)

•ShadowClan (Warrior cats)

•RiverClan (Warrior cats)

•SkyClan (Warrior cats)

•Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance/mcr)

•Mikey Way (My Chemical Romance/mcr)

•Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance/mcr)

•Ray Toro (My Chemical Romance/mcr)

•Bob Bryar (My Chemical Romance/mcr)

•Matt Pelissier (My Chemical Romance/mcr)

•Jarrod Alexander (My Chemical Romance/mcr)

•Pete Parada (My Chemical Romance/mcr)

•James Dewees (My Chemical Romance/mcr)

•Jamie Muhoberac (My Chemical Romance/mcr)

•Rhea Ripley (wwe)

•Gordon Freeman (Hlvrai)

•Azi (Scavengers reign)

•Spock (Star Trek)

•Michael Huang (tpot)

•Cary Huang (tpot)

•Satomi Hinatsu (tpot)

•Bae Seok-Ryu (Love next door)

•Kris (Deltarune)

•Professor Hershel Layton (Professor Layton)

•Joy (Pixar)

•Anger (Pixar)

•Sadness (Pixar)

•Fear (Pixar)

•Disgust (Pixar)

•Envy (Pixar)

•Anxiety (Pixar)

•Embarassment (Pixar)

•Ennui (Pixar)

•Miriam (Dragon Age the veilguard/Dragon Age Inquisition/Dragon Age)

•Roland (Dragon Age the veilguard/Dragon Age Inquisition/Dragon Age)

•Qwydion (Dragon Age the veilguard/Dragon Age Inquisition/Dragon Age)

•Lacklon (Dragon Age the veilguard/Dragon Age Inquisition/Dragon Age)

•Neb (Dragon Age the veilguard/Dragon Age Inquisition/Dragon Age)

•Ralph (Wreck it Ralph)

•Felix (Wreck it Ralph)

•All the Ukraine's people who died and sufffered beacause of the war)

•Sayori (ddlc)

•Yuri (ddlc)

•Natsuki (ddlc)

•Lottie (Yellowjackets)

•Abraham Van Helsing (Dracula daily)

•Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)

•April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza)

•Commander Shepard (Mass effect)

•Mala (Roblox)

•Marinette (Miraculous Ladybug)

•Adrian (Miraculous Ladybug)

•Sakura (Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle)

•Alex Hirsch (Gravity falls/The book of Bill)

[never-a-tale-of-more-poe]

Still looking for more RP partners in various fandoms! Pleaseeee? Message me on Tumblr or on Discord! I’ll give you my Discord once we talk here!

[amateursatelier]

── 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐎𝐂; 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐫

𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞, paige sinclair

𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬, auntie

𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞, february 2th, 1967

𝐚𝐠𝐞, 18

𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲, african american

𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫, dark as coffee

𝐞𝐲𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫, also as dark as coffee

𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 162 cm (5'4")

𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞, chubby

𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬, acne

𝐳𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐜 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧, pisces.

𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, trustworthy, mature, organized, gentle and empathetic.

𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, forgetful, accidentally insensitive, doubtful.

𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐬, keen observation + literally the healer of the group and helps everyone stay calm.

𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬, misophonia (feels nauseous when she hears coughing and sniffling.)

𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐤𝐬, likes to wear mismatched socks for the fun of it, stutters when angry and always paints nails eccentric colors.

𝐡𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐞𝐬 + 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬, psychology, board games, listening to indie music and planting.

𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬, sitting on the roof stargazing, late night car rides with steven and robin, hanging pictures on her wall and using them for motivation, playing with steves and babysitting her nerds.

𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬, billy, loitering, billy, self-deprecating jokes, when the kids are in danger, biilly, being unaware, billy.

𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨, "I know I can't make a vast difference in the world, but I still want to change as many lives as I can in the best way possible."

𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲, paige sinclair is an aspiring psychologist who wants nothing more than to help as many people as she can. In her early teenagehood she wished to be an idol, someone who was seemingly larger than life, she tried being popular by attempting to socialize and masquerading a bad girl front which just led to her having a breakdown at one of steve harringtons parties. Steve caught her and to her surprise he comforted her instead of being a jerk. eventually, paige and steve became close friends. because of his positive influence, she eventually realized that being popular isn't a priority nor something that really matters.

paige and steve were each other's only true friend until strange things started happening in hawkins, starting with the disappearance of will byers. unexpectedly, the two went from ordinary high school kids to simultaneously babysitting and beating the shit out of dimensional monsters on school nights.

because of paige's mature and empathetic attitude, the kids feel safe with her and often ask her for advice, especially lucas, who told her about his crush on max and of course, askes for relationship advice, jane, who had doubts about if mike really loved her, and will, who has confided in her about being gay and in love with mike. (she had a lot to think about that night.)

[fxirytxlcfxtc]

Tag Dump - Muses, 6/?

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Witch Rising | Author: Paige McKenzie / Nancy Ohlin | Publisher: Little, Brown Books (2021)

[iveseenstrangerthings]

you’re not sleeping on the floor - steve harrington imagine

summary: reader spends the night at Nancy’s after a party and gets an uexpected guest at bedtime... no warnings as such in this one :)

word count: 2.3k

notes: yikes it’s been a while, this has been in my drafts for TIIIIIME. Anyway, enjoy :) here’s the link to my masterlist if you’re interested !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You take the spare room, (y/n).” Nancy chirps in her deliriously drunken state as she flings open the Wheeler’s spare room. You’re met with a double bed, neatly made with plush pillows and a crochet throw to decorate. It looks sweet, and happily undisturbed, unlike the rest of the house following the party, which you’ve already promised to help clear away in the morning. 

Nancy swiftly places a small kiss on your cheek before turning on her heels, “Sleep well, no snoring, I’m only down the hall!” With a roll of your eyes, you saunter down the hall to the bathroom where you flick the light on and close the door softly. 

In the bathroom, you place your overnight bag on the counter and fish around for your toothbrush. Upon finding it, with a yawn, you twist the lid from your toothpaste and place a sloppy dot of mint infused gel to the head and start to brush. As you’re brushing, you tune into the sounds of people calming down for the night in the rest of the house. Doors closing, slow footsteps tracing back and forth in the hall and up and down the stairs, hushed voices and drunken giggles permeate the house and you smile. Still, you’re left wondering about someone in particular. Someone who seemed to disappear part way through the night, much to your sheer disappointment. You’re pondering where Steve went. He was supposed to be staying too, but you did see him chatting to Paige, so you figure he’s left with her. Before the thought could get too overwhelming and add a downer to your otherwise fun evening, you spit into the sink and get yourself ready for bed. 

After you change into your pyjamas, you unlock the bathroom door and head back across to the spare room, closing the door softly behind you. The sheets are cool against your warmed skin as you pull them back and get comfortable before knocking the light off and shuffling further down into the bed. Within minutes, you feel yourself on the edge of a sound slumber, slowly drifting into a dreamlike state as your head swims as the effects of the alcohol wear off. You’re unaware of how much time has passed before you’re abruptly snapped back into consciousness. The bed dips and you hear a heavy sigh from next to you, someone’s made their way in here... As soon as your brain registers this, you quickly gasp loudly and shoot up, sitting bolt upright searching around for the lamp on the bedside table. As your fingers fumble around under the lampshade for the small switch, you feel the weight shuffle around again, paired with the ruffle of the duvet as it’s thrown back, as the person stands up from the bed. 

Click. 

The room is bathed in light as your eyes squint at the sudden brightness, a harsh contrast from the darkness that previously cloaked the room. You turn to the side of the bed and then your eyes meet the figure stood next to it, a palm covering their eyes from the sudden brightness.

“Steve?! What the hell are you doing?! You almost gave me a heart attack.” You harshly whisper at him as he stands squinting back at you.

“Shit, I’m sorry!” He whispers back, “I didn’t realise anyone was in here. All the couches are taken, and I didn’t know where else to go.” His hand rakes through his hair as he shifts from foot to foot. 

An irritable huff escapes your lips, “I thought you left with Paige?” Your intonation pitches to make it sound like a question, and Steve’s features soften. 

With a shake of his head, he runs his fingers over his mouth, “God no.” He’s still whispering, “I thought you left too, I was trying to find you.” 

He was? He was... hm. Interesting. “Well you’ve found me, and woken me up.” You laugh slightly at the harsh whispers the pair of you are passing back and forth. Slyly, you catch Steve’s eyes wander down your front at your pyjama top before back up to meet your eyes and you could swear there’s a tinge of pink decorating his cheeks. 

“I’m just gonna...” He starts, taking the two unused pillows from the bed and placing them on the floor, starting to lie down. 

“Wait Steve,” you start, realising he’s willing to sleep on the floor. Although the pair of you have been friends for a while and have on nights like this shared some drunken feelings with one another, it’s a thing that just keeps getting passed over as time goes on. But now, knowing he’s going to sleep on the floor, you feel a rush of warmth and confidence fill you. “You can’t sleep on the floor.” You state simply. 

His head pops up over the side of the bed as you pull the comforter closer to you. “Why not? You’ll want that nice big bed to yourself. I’ll be fine here.” He shrugs.

You answer by simply pulling the comforter back on the other side of the bed. “Come on, get in so I can turn the damn light off and go back to sleep.” 

“You sure you’re okay with sharing a bed?” 

“Yes!” Your harsh whispers return as your tired impatience builds and he quickly stands up, places the pillows back and stands still, as if someone has an invisible iron grip on him. “Steve, c’mon.” You tut as he maintains eye contact and you watch as his chest rises and falls quickly. “I get you’re being respectful, but you don’t need to do that,” you say as you turn back to the light and knock the switch off before sliding back down in the bed and getting comfortable. You hear him drop his jacket onto the floor and slide out of his jeans before pulling back the comforter and letting himself sink down into the mattress. 

The pair of you lie in silence for a few minutes, and judging by Steve’s now steady breathing, you’re assuming he’s fallen asleep. But for you, the opposite. The feeling of impending sleep that was flooding your body moments ago has gone and you feel hypersensitive to every noise that your ears register. With a small huff, you turn over onto your back and cross your arms over your chest atop the covers. 

“You good?” His voice startles you through the dark and you turn your head slightly, trying to make out his position in the bed next to you. 

“Can’t sleep.” Your voice comes out tired and impatient, you’re already recognising how tired and cranky you’ll be tomorrow because of your lack of sleep. 

Before too long, you feel the bed shift again and Steve’s weight comes slightly closer as you still lie on your back. “Did you have a good night?” His voice remains calm and quiet.

You nod at him through the dark, but then realise he won’t really be able to see your reply. “Yeah, I did. It was fun.” Your head is still turned to face Steve and your eyes are gradually getting used to the dark and his shape is becoming clearer, and it is much closer than before. “Did you?” 

He takes in a deep breath before exhaling, “Sort of.” His apparent drunkenness he entered the room with seems to have settled.

“Sort of?” You question before turning onto your side to face him, the arm you’re lying on bends upwards to come under your pillow, a position you’ve always found comfortable since being younger. 

“Yeah, I guess. Don’t get me wrong I did have a good time. I just wish I’d spent a bit more time with someone.” 

In the darkness, your eyebrows furrow, “Really? Who was it?” You are completely ignorant to his hints, and he loves that about you.

“She just looked amazing.” He starts and your stomach drops a little, disappointed that he’s going to spend the time now describing someone else to you. “I kept looking over at her laughing and joking around with her friends.” He stops and takes a deep inhale; your body feels heavy at the thought of him admiring someone from afar. He continues, “She had a beautiful, like orange satin-y dress on,” suddenly your breath hitches and your mouth feels dry. You think of your overnight bag, at the bottom of the bed, with that very dress folded up in. “There’d be times where we’d make eye contact, you know, and I’d just totally freeze and feel like an asshole.” You swallow quietly, trying so hard to make your mouth feel like anything but sandpaper. “Seeing her tonight made me realise that I’ve been wasting my time getting to know the wrong people. When really, she’s been right in front of me all along.” You daren’t breathe in case you miss what he’s saying, you almost can’t believe it. In your mind, doubts unfurl like mist curling along the edge of a lake, but all you can do is listen for more. “I think I’ve always just been scared that she doesn’t feel the same, you know?”  

Silence. Nobody says anything else, and he’s so worried that he’s just fucked it up. Surely you’ve realised he’s speaking about you, or so he hopes you’ve realised. “...Steve,” you start, surely this is all too good to be true? “She does.” 

“Hm?” He replies quicker than you expected.

You clear your throat as a signal of finality almost, “She does feel the same, idiot.” A giggle punctuates the end of your sentence like a period and your cheeks flush. 

In the darkness, his figure is still indistinguishable, but the bed shifts to let you know he’s moving closer. Only a slight outline is visible and your heart picks up speed dramatically, throbbing in your chest. Gently, you lift your hand up and bump into Steve’s arm, making you realise he’s much closer than you thought. With a deep breath, you slowly move your hand up his arm, tracing your fingernails lightly over his bare arm before you reach the end of his t-shirt sleeve. At his shoulder, you move your hand along, gliding across his collarbone that peeks out from the neck of his shirt before you finally place your fingers at the base of his neck. Ever so slightly, you can feel the slight of his pulse beating underneath the tips of your fingers as they gently rest on his neck. With one final, wilful urge, your hand moves up to rest on his cheek, your thumb swiping across it, hoping that you’re not about to poke him in the eye. Your own skin is now covered with goosebumps that have risen in anticipation of the proximity you both now share. Whilst your hand made your way to its current position, you felt yourself shift even closer to him. Underneath the cover, his hand confidently finds your waist and he tightens his grip, pulling you close to finally close the gap between you both. His hand glides down to the side of your thigh where he pulls your leg up to rest over his hip, once it’s resting comfortably, he traces his hand over places he could only have ever dreamed of touching. Your heart now hammers wildly in your chest and your skin feels like it’s on fire from his touch. 

“You’re so beautiful.” He whispers, his breath lightly fanning over your lips, again reminding you just how close you both are.

Your fingers trail down to the collar of his shirt where you give it a soft pull, inching him agonisingly closer. “You can’t even see me.” Teasingly, you brush your lips against his and you feel his grip tighten on your hips, he hadn’t expected you to feel the same, but he is absolutely not complaining. 

“I don’t need to see you to know.” And before you know it, his hand leaves your hips and comes up to hold your jaw, his thumb placing itself right underneath your bottom lip, pulling it down slightly before you feel his lips on yours. You both lose yourselves within each other as he kisses you slowly, meaningfully, like months of pent-up emotions are seeping through his kiss and you feel as if you’re melting into him, his grip staying strong on your jaw. 

In synchronisation, your lips move together effortlessly, and you feel at ease together, like it’s the most natural thing to have happened between the pair of you. After what felt like an eternity, but was no longer than half a minute, you slowly pull away from one another. His thumb grazes over your chin and you tip your chin into his hand, enjoying the feeling of support that he’s offering you. 

“Wear that dress again for me sometime, hm?” His voice is low, raspy with the fog of worn off alcohol and lust. 

That one sentence, those eight simple words, send your heart into eruptions of excitement and thank God it’s dark because your cheeks tinge the colour of fresh beets. The whirlwind of feelings leaves you unable to communicate with efficiency, so you place another small kiss upon his lips with a brief nod, one you’re sure he will feel due to the proximity of you both. A roar fills your ears as your cheeks tighten with a smile and you shift down, moulding to the shape of his body as you tuck your head into the crevice between his neck and shoulder. If anyone were to walk in, it would look as if you were both used to doing this, they would think it was the most natural thing in the world. Happily, the thought brings you a sense of pride and calm that you hadn’t experienced for so long.  

[marybeatriceofmodena]

What did Andrew Lloyd Webber do to make Patti Lupone upset? Sorry, saw your tags and i was curious

Oh.

Oh honey.

You sweet child.

Anyway, get ready for one of the most infamous showdowns in all musical theatre history, with the guy who writes the straightest musicals on Broadway (derogatory) and the one and only, the matriarch, the queen, two three-time Tony award winner Patti LuPone.

So, Andrew Lloyd Webber was basically kind of a boy genius in his prime - he met his future collaborator Tim Rice when they were 17 and 20 respectively, he wrote his first big hit, Jesus Christ Superstar, at 22, with Tim Rice writing the lyrics. And it was kind of a big deal at the time because the topic was controversial (you know, the Passion with rock music), but also because Broadway wasn't that far off from its golden age and let's just say the music and style were very different from, say, My Fair Lady. Or The Sound of Music. Or Funny Girl. It was basically the Rent/Hamilton of its time. (Yeah, Stephen Sondheim was around at that time, he worked on West Side Story which was revolutionary in of itself, but he's kind of an oddball in this case. You'll understand why later.)

Their real follow up (I'm not counting Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for a variety of reasons) was a little musical called Evita, which you might know mainly because of a song called Don't Cry For Me Argentina. Or at least, your mom has probably heard it once at the very least. It's that song that's oversung from a musical while being out of context along with I Dreamed a Dream for Les Misérables. Or Memory from Cats.

Evita tells the story of Eva Peron, the wife of an Argentinian dictator, who basically screws her way to the top and ends up becoming the mistress of Juan Peron and the most beloved woman in her country through guile and deceit. Yes, I know the historical accuracy is very much debated but I know jackshit about Argentina's history except the bare basics so don't come at me. It was first produced in the West End in London, with Elaine Paige in the role, but because of Equity issues, she couldn't reprise her role for the Broadway production. So a Julliard graduate who was mostly starring in David Mamet plays got the part instead, and that was Patti LuPone.

Patti... did not have a good time during Evita, because the part is basically the kind of score where you can tell the composer is used to writing male parts, but most female singers have a two-octave range (yes, you got Julie Andrews who used to have a three-octave range, and many others, but they're exceptions), so she struggled a lot. That being said, if you listen to live recordings of her, you wouldn't be able to tell, and it got a lot easier later on. But she had this to say:

"Evita was the worst experience of my life. I was screaming my way through a part that could only have been written by a man who hates women. And I had no support from the producers, who wanted a star performance onstage but treated me as an unknown backstage. It was like Beirut, and I fought like a banshee."

This is from Patti's autobiography, which she wrote in 2007 - 8 years after shit with ALW went down. With all that said, she won a Tony Award for Evita, and she pretty much became a musical theatre household name from then on. She played Fantine in Les Misérables, Nancy in Oliver!, Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes. Meanwhile, ALW's next big hits were Cats (I'm not even kidding, Cats was a hit), and, you guessed it, The Phantom of the Opera, which he wrote in part to showcase his then wife Sarah Brightman's triple threat talents.

So, you need to understand before I continue that ALW, from my perspective, has always had a bit of an inferiority complex. He's basically associated to writing these commercially successful musicals that show a big spectacle but aren't ultimately substantial. I'm not sure I entirely agree with that, but I do think that if he didn't have Hal Prince, Maria Bjornson, Charles Hart and Gillian Lynne backing him up for Phantom, it would have probably been a Rocky Horror Picture Show knockoff people would have forgotten about pretty quickly. This is what I mean:

Yep, that was Phantom before any of the people I mentioned above (and Michael Crawford) were really involved.

Remember how I said Stephen Sondheim was an oddball? The thing with him is that his musicals weren't always commercially successful, but in general, in part thanks to being Leonard Bernstein's protégé, he was generally pretty well-respected and it was considered that his work was bringing musicals to a whole other level. Without Sondheim, you wouldn't have Jonathan Larson, and you wouldn't have Lin-Manuel Miranda. I am convinced ALW is resentful of that, and when you stop and think about it for more than 10 seconds, it's so obvious he REALLY wants to be Sondheim or at least command the same level of respect, but that's a story for another day.

So, after Phantom, ALW had other musicals that followed that either got a meh reception or outright flopped. Then there was Sunset Boulevard, which is based on the movie of the same name with Gloria Swanson. Despite all of her griefs for Evita, Patti LuPone agreed to partake in the musical as Norma Desmond, for its production in London, with the promise that she would transfer to Broadway once that production would open. And overall, after a string of flops, Sunset was actually doing pretty well.

HOWEVER. One day, while reading the gossip column of a newspaper, Patti found out that contrary to what she was promised, Glenn Close, who was meanwhile starring as Norma in the Los Angeles production, was to play Norma on Broadway. That was a complete surprise for her since no one on the production team had bothered to tell her it was happening - and keep in mind that for the news to come up the way it did in a gossip column, it probably would have necessitated a delay of a few weeks between the producers and the newspaper, which would have given them plenty of time to break the news to Patti. And Patti kind of needed the leg up because she was pretty bitter that a) Madonna was cast in the Evita adaptation instead of her; b) they actually lowered the key to fit Madonna's voice range, and she still had to expand her own to be able to sing the (lowered) score. And trust me, Patti is mad about it to this day.

So of course, she trashed her dressing room, the cast and crew weren't even mad about it because they were as shocked and angered as she was by the news. Patti sued Andrew Lloyd Webber for breach of contract, namely for 1 MILLION DOLLARS (yup, those are the real numbers), won, used the money she got from the lawsuit to get a swimming pool, which she called (and I SHIT YOU NOT) the Andrew Lloyd Webber Memorial Pool. Since then, Webber is dead to her, to the point rumor has it she had part of a building blocked during an event so she could get out of it without coming across Webber, because she hates him so flipping much she doesn't even want to be in the same building as the guy.

(There's also drama that happened with Faye Dunaway who was supposed to replace Glenn Close after she went from Los Angeles to Broadway, except they abruptly closed the show down after Close left, but that's a story for another day)

So with all the bad press, and with ALW forced to pay 1 million dollars for Patti's lawsuit, that led Sunset's productions to close earlier than expected. ALW has stayed around since, with... mitigated output, so to say. The lowest point for a lot of people is Love Never Dies, the sequel to Phantom, which some people love, and that's fine, but it didn't do well with either critics nor fans of the original show, which ALW is EXTREMELY BUTTHURT ABOUT. And like, there are so many stories I could tell about LND alone, but I will share my own crack theory about it, since it does relate to the ask.

Anyway, buckle up.

So. There have been jokes going around for years that the Phantom in LND is basically ALW's self-insert, where he displays to the world that he's totally not over Sarah Brightman leaving him (in part because making Phantom kinda ruined their marriage lmao), despite, you know, having married since. (Aaaaaakward.) So LND basically becomes this really uncomfortable therapy session where a man writes a self-insert musical about how his ex-wife made a big mistake of leaving a sensitive artistic soul such as himself. The characters from Phantom who appear in LND are all more or less unrecognizable as a result, and one who gets it worse (in my humble opinion) is Meg Giry, who was basically Christine's sweet and loyal ballerina friend who basically went into the Phantom's lair on her own to save her friend despite the danger. In LND, she's basically a bitter hag (because ALW hates women, guess Patti was right about that), who really likes the swim and even has a stripping vaudeville number about it, written in universe by the Phantom, no less.

For comparison, here's Don Juan Triumphant (the Phantom's opera in the original):

And here's Bathing Beauty (the vaudeville number):

Yeah, so... do you see why people hate LND already?

And that's not the only thing with Meg! She's also pining for the Phantom to pay attention to her and threatens to drown the Phantom and Christine's secret love child when he makes it clear that he's gonna love Christine for EVA AND EVA.

So, with everything we learned today about ALW, would someone like him view someone like Patti LuPone as some sort of crazy, bitter diva who's obsessed with him for whatever reason? Absolutely. Would he be petty enough to insert Patti LuPone into his self-insert musical, which gave us the version of Meg Giry we got in LND? Of course. Why does Meg love to swim so much and why does she drag Gustave out ostensibly for a swim? Is it a dig at Patti's Andrew Lloyd Webber Memorial Pool? Maybe.

I kind of hope we find out one day if that theory is true. And maybe start a kickstarter so Patti can add this painting from the 2004 movie in her collection.

Fun fact: during the process of casting for the 2004 movie adaptation of POTO, ALW allegedly suggested Patti LuPone to play Carlotta... only for Joel Schumacher to have to awkwardly remind him that they were not on speaking terms. The idea was therefore promptly dropped.

[sidekick-hero]

I'm in the corner, watching you kiss her

Written for @steddieangstyaugust day 3, prompt “The sunset looks lovely, don’t you think?”

tags: future fic, pining, not actually unrequited love, angst with a happy ending, Eddie Munson needs a hug

words: 2.5k | AO3 | rated: teen

Eddie had sworn to himself that he was done being a coward. He didn’t run from the demo-bats, and he wouldn’t run away ever again.

That’s why he decided to call Paige once he got out of the hospital in 1986. Years had passed since things ended rather abruptly and dramatically between them. He had left her hanging, even though there hadn’t been much he could have done about it, what with his dad dragging him into his shitshow of a criminal life. She still had paid his bail when he was arrested because of his dad’s scheming, even though he couldn’t join her in LA to audition for her boss, a famous music producer.

He never properly thanked her, never really talked things through. The pain, the bitterness, the shame were too big, too oppressive.

They cleared the air between them, and Eddie decided to use his hush money to pay Paige back and make the trip to LA, a few years later than planned.

Rekindling their old flame seemed like the logical thing to do, especially when Eddie managed to score another audition. While his music career took off, their relationship did not. Too much had happened, and they both changed over the last three years.

But they remained friends. Still are, in fact. She was one of the first people he came out to as bisexual. While his friendship with Robin and Steve had grown substantially since their shared adventures—nightmares, more like—Paige didn’t have a clear picture of who Eddie was supposed to be. The risk seemed smaller somehow.

Now, ten years later, he’s out and proud, thanks to men like Freddy Mercury and David Bowie, who made being a bisexual man in the music world somewhat acceptable. It still isn’t easy, but he’s happy.

Well, mostly happy.

Even though he’s a successful rockstar now, he still makes time to see the kids, who are all over the country. Dustin is in Boston with Nancy, Jonathan, and Will. Lucas and Max are back in California, so he sees them the most—he even officiated their wedding. Mike and El are still in Indiana, close to Hopper and Joyce in Hawkins.

He also visits his uncle Wayne, of course. And when he makes the trip West, he always stops by Chicago to spend time with Robin and Steve. They come to his shows whenever they can, sometimes making a vacation out of it, like when he played in New York.

They’re all still close, even if they don’t see each other as often as they’d like. So Eddie’s unfortunate crush on Steve Harrington never had a chance to fully go away. Every time Steve walks towards him with a blinding smile and wraps him in a tight, too-short hug, the butterflies in his stomach wake from their winter sleep.

There had been a few times over the years when Eddie thought that maybe, just maybe, Steve felt the same way. Like the morning of Joyce and Hopper’s wedding in 1989. They had bought a house together that was almost, but not quite, big enough to house everyone, so Steve and Eddie had shared a bed. Eddie had woken up in Steve’s arms, his chest pressed against Eddie’s back and a noticeably hard length against his ass. Steve’s face had been in his neck, hot puffs of air brushing against Eddie’s skin with each breath.

It had been the sweetest torture. Eddie convinced himself it was just a natural reaction to another body in bed with him, but when Steve woke up, he didn’t scramble away or push Eddie off. Instead, he stroked Eddie’s bare arm and murmured, “Morning,” in his ear. Then, he’d shifted back a bit so Eddie could turn around, searching his gaze. The air between them crackled with electricity, a tension so thick Eddie could barely swallow.

“Eddie,” Steve had begun, just as a pounding on the door startled them both. They jumped apart quickly before Henderson barged into the room, urging them to hurry up and get dressed because everyone was waiting for them.

Another time, in 1991, Steve had visited Eddie in LA without Robin, whose girlfriend had invited her to meet her parents. They spent a whole week together, swimming in the ocean, walking along the beach, and going to a few clubs where they danced with each other in ways you never could in Hawkins. At the end of that week, Steve held him for a long, long time, seemingly unwilling to let Eddie go when they said goodbye at the airport. They had to call his name over the speaker system to make him let go of Eddie.

The last time Eddie wondered if Steve could ever feel the same for him had been almost two years ago. Steve had called him while Eddie was in Europe. When Eddie answered, he’d just come back from the aftershow party of his concert in Berlin.

“Guten Tag,” he had jokingly greeted Steve, expecting at least a low chuckle, but Steve sounded… off.

“Eds, hi. Sorry that I’m bothering you so late—”

“You could never bother me, Stevie,” Eddie reassured him immediately because he was pretty sure there wasn’t any time Steve couldn’t call and Eddie wouldn’t want to speak to him.

“Okay.” Steve still sounded off, causing worry to creep up on Eddie.

“What is it? Did something happen? Are you okay? Is Robin?” Eddie bombarded him with questions, suddenly sure something horrible must have happened.

“No, nothing happened. We’re all fine. Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you. It’s just… I’m calling because I met someone. A woman,” he clarified, as if it could have been anything else. The golden boy of Hawkins wouldn’t call because of a man, now would he? “It’s getting pretty serious. I’m thinking about moving in with her.”

“Oh wow, I didn’t know you were seeing someone. That’s… that’s great, Stevie. I’m happy for you.”

“You are?”

“Yes, of course! Why wouldn’t I be? That’s what you always wanted, right? Someone to marry, to have your six lil’ nuggets with. Aren’t you happy?”

Steve hesitated for a long moment, and Eddie had just started to wonder if they got disconnected when he finally answered. “I guess.”

“You… guess? That doesn’t sound very enthusiastic.”

There was something Eddie wasn’t getting, he was sure of it.

“Do you ever feel like you’re looking at everything you’ve done, everything you worked toward, everything you thought you wanted to be, and wonder if that’s really you or just something that was expected of you, so you made it your whole personality?”

Eddie didn’t know what to say to that, didn’t know what Steve needed to hear. He could be selfish and tell Steve that maybe he didn’t have to be the poster boy anymore, that he didn’t need to marry a woman and have a hoard of Harringtons with her to have a family who loves him unconditionally. But he would only be saying that to cling to the unobtainable dream of Steve and him for a bit longer, and maybe it was time Eddie faced reality.

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to be supportive. “Steve, if she makes you happy, then you should go for it. You deserve to have someone who makes you feel loved. You’ve been through enough to not take a shot at happiness, right? If it’s what you really want, don’t let doubts get in the way.”

“So you think I should go for it?” Steve asked, and Eddie couldn’t place the tone of his voice.

“Yes, I think you should. You deserve your fairy tale ending, Stevie. The knight in shining armor should get the pretty princess, right?”

Steve sighed, and Eddie had no idea why he sounded so forlorn. “Right. Thank you, Eddie. See you at Friendsgiving at Joyce’s?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Eddie replied, meaning it. But when they hung up, he still felt like he had said the wrong thing.

At their yearly get-together on Thanksgiving, Eddie met Laura for the first time. He liked her instantly, even though she got to have what he wanted so badly. She was beautiful, smart, and had a dry sense of humor he could appreciate. And she was clearly head over heels for Steve, something Eddie could relate to.

The Eddie before March ‘86 would have begrudged her happiness with the man he was in love with. He would have been petty, maybe even cruel. He also would have run away, avoiding Steve with weak excuses. Eddie did none of these things because he had grown up and learned that some things were more important than a bruised heart.

The happiness of someone he loved, for example.

So when Steve asked him to be one of the groomsmen at his wedding, Eddie said yes.

He was done running.

On the morning of the wedding, which was supposed to be in Hawkins, because they wanted to celebrate at Joyce and Hopper’s place with the whole ‘family,’ Eddie got dressed in his fancy tuxedo with a red bow tie and even tamed his wild curls into an artful man-bun.

Eddie Munson would go through with this, no matter how much he didn’t want to.

He would not run away.

When he climbed into his rental car and started to drive towards the church in town, he was convinced that he could do this. Watch the man he was in love with marry someone else. He wouldn’t be the first person in history and certainly not the last to do it.

For Steve, he would even face the Upside Down again. What was a wedding in comparison?

It was only when he puts his car into park at the side of the path leading up to the Quarry that Eddie has to admit to himself that maybe he wasn’t done running away just yet.

Sitting on the edge of the Quarry, he lets his thoughts wander, replaying the last ten years. How many times had Steve and he sat here with a cool beer and a warm blanket, gazing at the stars and sharing everything, from comfortable silences to deep secrets? He wants Steve to be happy, but he finds that he can’t be there to witness him being happy with someone else. Eddie swears to himself as he watches the sun wander across the horizon that he’ll make it up to Steve somehow. He can’t lose Steve, he just can’t.

Eddie hopes that Steve will forgive him one day for missing one of the most important days in his life.

The day goes by quickly, the thoughts in his head running in circles enough to distract him from the passage of time or basic human needs like thirst or hunger.

“The sunset looks lovely, don’t you think?”

The voice startles him badly, almost making him lose his balance and tumble down into certain death. What a poetic way to go, if not for the strong arms steadying him.

“Easy there. Don’t have to fling yourself off a cliff just to get away from me,” Steve jokes, but it sounds strained.

“Steve,” Eddie breathes out, wonder, guilt, and shame warring inside him. Even more so when he realizes that Steve’s still in his tuxedo, looking breathtakingly handsome. “Oh God, I am so sorry, Stevie. I—”

But there are no words to explain to Steve why he couldn’t be there for his best friend’s wedding. At least none that wouldn’t be “I couldn’t watch you marry someone else.” He can’t put this weight on Steve’s shoulders. And selfishly, Eddie doesn’t think he could handle Steve looking at him differently. He wouldn’t hate Eddie for it, but he would feel bad for him, trying not to make it any harder on him. They would see each other less and less, a new distance building between them until one day, Eddie was just a guy in some old pictures and memories.

“I didn’t marry her,” Steve says into the ensuing silence, and Eddie thinks he must have heard him wrong.

Eddie's breath catches in his throat, and he turns to face Steve fully, searching his face for any sign that this is a joke or a misunderstanding. But Steve’s expression is serious, his eyes reflecting a mixture of relief and something else Eddie can’t quite place.

“What do you mean, you didn’t marry her?” Eddie asks, his voice barely more than a whisper.

Steve sighs and sits down next to Eddie, their shoulders almost touching. “I couldn’t go through with it, Eddie. I realized that I was trying to force myself into a life that wasn’t mine. I was trying to be someone I thought I should be, instead of who I really am.”

Eddie’s heart pounds in his chest, a wild mix of hope and fear. “What are you saying, Steve?”

Steve turns to look at him, eyes filled with a vulnerability Eddie rarely sees. “I’m saying that I’ve been lying to myself. And to you. I’ve spent so long trying to fit into this mold that I forgot what it was like to be truly happy. I thought marrying Laura was what I wanted, but when it came down to it, I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

Eddie’s mind races, struggling to keep up with what Steve is saying. “Me? What about me?”

Steve takes a deep breath, as if gathering his courage. “Eddie, you’ve been a constant in my life for the last ten years. The one person except for Robin I can truly be myself around. You make me feel alive in ways no one else does. I think… No, I know that I have feelings for you. I’ve been too scared to admit it, even to myself, but I can’t keep running from it anymore.”

Eddie feels like the ground is shifting beneath him. He’s spent so long hiding his own feelings, convincing himself that they were one-sided. “Steve, I—”

But Steve cuts him off, placing a hand gently on Eddie’s cheek. “You don’t have to say anything right now. I just needed you to know. I couldn’t go through with marrying Laura because it wouldn’t have been fair to her. Or to me.”

Eddie leans into Steve’s touch, his heart pounding in his chest. “I’ve been in love with you for so long, Stevie. I didn’t think you could ever feel the same.”

Steve’s eyes soften, and he moves closer, their faces inches apart. “I’m sorry it took me so long to figure it out. But I’m here now, and I want to see where this can go. If you’ll have me.”

Eddie’s eyes fill with tears of relief and joy. “Of course, I’ll have you, Steve. I’ve always wanted you.”

Steve smiles, and it’s like the sun breaking through the clouds. He leans in, closing the distance between them, and their lips meet in a gentle, tentative kiss. It feels like coming home, and Eddie knows that he’ll do everything he can to never lose this feeling ever again.

[mattnben-bennmatt]

"I am also my mother’s son" | The Worth of Water excerpt

[Note: This is an excerpt from Gary White and Matt Damon’s book The Worth of Water: Our Story of Chasing Solutions to the World’s Greatest Challenge (March 2022), published by Penguin. This excerpt was retrieved from the sample provided for the Kindle Edition (Loc. 90- 159), and immediately follows this section.]

-

I should probably pause right here to acknowledge that the “celebrity goes to Africa and resolves to change the world” thing has probably triggered your gag reflex. It triggers mine, too. I might, in fact, be that celebrity, but I am also my mother’s son.

My mom, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, who’s in her seventies now, was a professor of early childhood education when I was growing up. She taught at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. From the time I was nine years old, I lived with my mom and brother in a six-family communal house near the school. You know when people complain about the liberal bias of academia, and they paint some ludicrous picture of a kind of super-bookish hippie commune? Yeah, I grew up there. No joke, one of my babysitters was Howard Zinn, the famous Boston University professor who wrote A People’s History of the United States and helped lead the movement to teach history from the perspective of oppressed people rather than the people who did the oppressing. When people call me a Hollywood liberal, part of me wants to fight back—and part of me just wants to say, “Well, Cambridge, not Hollywood.”

During my teenage years in the eighties, one of the big issues you heard a lot about in Cambridge (not at the places where Ben and I were hanging out in Central Square, but definitely around my dinner table) was the upheaval in Central America. The roots of the crisis went back to the 1950s, when the Eisenhower administration ordered the CIA to help overthrow the democratically elected president of Guatemala on the notion that it would stop the spread of communism in our hemisphere. Guatemala’s president was just a left-wing social reformer, not a Communist, but the fear he might secretly be one, or might someday become one, was enough for the United States to support a military coup. Two hundred thousand people died in the civil war that followed. In the seventies and eighties, leftist movements in the region—the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the FMLN in El Salvador—overthrew a dictatorship and a military junta, respectively. The United States backed the dictators, giving them the training and funding to conduct long and bloody civil wars. There were terrible human rights violations on both sides, but there’s too much tragic history to cover in this book—anyhow, I know some people aren’t going to trust a guy who first learned history from Howard Zinn to tell it.

Suffice it to say that when I was growing up, Cambridge was a major center of resistance to these policies. You’d see churches hosting memorials for victims of political oppression; you’d run into community volunteers walking door to door carrying pictures of war victims, raising money for them. I remember big protests in Boston Common—including one where five hundred people occupied the JFK Federal Building. My mom went to these protests. She was arrested at one of them. And while they didn’t exactly reverse US policy, they did make a difference. Our governor defied the Reagan administration by refusing to send the Massachusetts National Guard to conduct military exercises in Central America. Cambridge declared itself a sanctuary city for refugees from the conflict and chose as our sister city a Salvadoran village that had been devastated by violence; we sent medical supplies and other kinds of support.

Around this time, my mom started learning Spanish and traveling to Central America whenever she could. She went to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. She went mainly to get a better sense of what was happening there and to bring the news back home to help strengthen the case against further US intervention. A lot of activists believed that if American citizens were on the ground in these countries, our government wouldn’t risk their lives by invading.

She brought me along on three of the tamer trips. To start with, we’d live with local families and take language classes, and then we’d spend the rest of the trip backpacking around the country, riding on buses filled with chickens. The summer we went to Guatemala, there was still fighting going on up in the mountains. Once, a truck passed me with a bunch of kids in the back. They had camo paint on their faces and guns in their hands. They were on their way to join the battle in the hills. I was seventeen at the time, and they looked like they were around my age or even younger. I’ll never forget making eye contact with one of them and seeing his blank stare. That kid had seen a lot of things I hadn’t and never would.

The next summer—it was 1989 and I’d just finished my first year of college—my mom said: “Matt, I’ve been restraining myself on these trips because you and Kyle need a mom. But you’re both grown now, and you should know I’m not going to do that anymore.” She started going to more dangerous places—including Cambridge’s sister city in El Salvador. The town had been suspected of harboring guerrillas, and while she was there, the Salvadoran army came in, fired their guns in the air, and urinated in the town well to contaminate the water. Thankfully my mom was unhurt. She came home even more intent on engaging with the world—on working to figure out what was going on, and how she could take a more active role in righting injustices.

But her views on all this were complicated. As determined as she was to make a difference, she was also deeply skeptical of people, governments, aid organizations—anyone, really—rushing into struggling communities in the name of help. I remember her telling me that intervention—however well-meaning it might be—can come from a place of condescension, can even reflect a kind of unconscious racism, an assumption that black and brown people just aren’t capable of helping themselves. She couldn’t stand the arrogance of relief workers who thought they had it all figured out, who just needed to bestow their wisdom and largesse on people in need. (Seriously, don’t get her started on this.)

My mom turned this scrutiny on herself, too. She knew her heart was in the right place, but she also knew that wasn’t enough. Her travels showed her how hard it was to truly understand the complexities of life in a country where you’ve never lived, to appreciate a set of circumstances so different from any you’ve ever faced, or to anticipate the consequences of any ideas you bring from the outside. The caricature of the crusading liberal is pretty familiar. But it was clear to me that my mom wasn’t crusading. She was wrestling—with herself and her own hesitations. She was working hard to avoid the traps she saw all around her. She was trying to be humble, never presumptuous, trying to make sure she never imagined, even subconsciously, that she knew more about the circumstances of these Salvadorans or Mexicans or Guatemalans than they did themselves. And so, armed with self-awareness, at least, she got back on a plane to see what she could do.

But a lot of time—years, actually—passed between having those conversations with my mom and applying those lessons myself. They were years in which, for a while, I was living out of a duffel bag, going from friends’ couches to acting jobs and back to friends’ couches—years in which engaging with the world, to be honest, took a back seat to getting bigger and better roles and steady work. Then, when that began to happen, it took all my energies to make sure it kept on happening; then Lucy and I were starting a family, and so on; and before I knew it, it was 2006, and Bono was pestering me to get involved. He had shown that advocating for others didn’t mean you had to stop living your own life. He and U2 didn’t stop recording albums during all those years he’d been campaigning against poverty. He didn’t quit his day job or give any less of himself to his wife, Ali, and their four kids.

And he didn’t hang back out of concern that people were going to roll their eyes every time a rich rock star started talking about poverty, or that they were going to call him a hypocrite or a dilettante or a photo-op philanthropist. People did call him all these things, and still do; it comes with the territory. But Bono takes the position that a little eye-rolling and some snark on social media is a small price to pay for doing something as opposed to, you know, doing nothing, or simply writing checks. Don’t get me wrong: giving to charities is important, and if you’ve been lucky, as I’ve been, you can give something proportionate to the good fortune you’ve received. I’ve always been a big believer in that. But at the same time I had the feeling there was more I could be doing. That trip in 2006 was my first real step toward figuring out what that might be.

[eds6ngel]

why can i see either nancy or eddie being in absolute HEAVEN with a nara smith coded reader and them falling in love with their cooking and sweet domestic mannerisms during their relationship 🎀 can you please perhaps do a blurb on that with whoever you choose?

had to whip this up asap! i chose eddie as my brain conjured up some background quicker ♡ also i’m not the best baker/cook, so sorry for any inaccuracies !!

warnings: fem!reader (reader referred to as ‘momma’.) teen pregnancy mention. abortion mention. r is a stay-at-home mom. established relationship. kissing. swearing. food mentions. rockstar!eddie. eddie book context but i changed said context. just lots of fluff!! [0.6k].

Yours and Eddie’s lives hadn’t always been easy.

When you found out you were pregnant at 16-years-old, you were locked and loaded in to have an abortion. Your parents immediately agreed to the decision, wanting you to continue your education and graduate with your high school diploma.

However, after crying your eyes out the night before the scheduled appointment, you just couldn’t do it. And after nine long months of pregnancy, you gave birth to your baby girl Joni, named after Eddie’s mom’s favourite singer.

You moved in with Eddie and Wayne at the time, realising it was easier to take care of a baby in a smaller, more secluded home, rather than a family home full of your bustling, younger siblings.

But, luck managed to strike the two of you when a girl named Paige offered Corroded Coffin a record deal. Your boyfriend made it big.

Big enough that you bought your own home in the center of Indianapolis.

When Eddie wasn’t touring with the band, he would take over from you, looking after Joni whilst you got to doing your favourite activity: baking.

Eddie relished in the fact that he got to see you dancing around the kitchen in your pretty, little apron, decorated with strawberries and calligraphy writing that spelled ‘Kiss the Cook.’

He would always sneak up behind you when you were baking, making you shriek and pressing a firm kiss to your lips, teasing “Just following your apron, sweetheart,” with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“What-cha makin’?” he would always ask with his arms wrapped around your waist, pressing soft kisses to your shoulder.

And your answer could be anywhere from chocolate chip cookies to a new homemade stew, but, in typical baker fashion, you were always making bread.

“I attempted a new sourdough starter whilst you were off in Europe, and it seems to have worked this time! So, I’m attempting to make some sourdough bread for you.”

“Mmm,” he hums contently, “Sounds delicious.”

“I hope it is,” you replied, “I bought a store-bought one for Joni, but she literally turned her nose up at it. She’s got your fussiness, Munson.”

“I think fussiness is an understatement. She’s getting the rockstar attitude instead of me,” he chuckles.

“But, hey, at least we’re both fans of chocolate. Can always put that on our bread, can’t we, babe?” he yells to his daughter, who simply replies with ‘Dada.’ She’s not quite there with her words yet, but at least she knows who you both are, which is a good start.

“Well, the two of you might just be in luck. Take a look outside.”

Eddie reluctantly lets go of you and steps out into your shared garden to find a new tree had been planted.

“Babe, what is this?”

You cheese at him, “A cacao plant! I’m harvesting cacao beans so I can make authentic chocolate for you!”

Eddie literally moans in delight, running up to you and smacking a kiss onto your cherry-flavoured lips.

“You’re perfect. I love you. I can’t wait. I have to tell Joni.”

His energetic self bounces off to his child, literally singing “Baby, baby! Momma is the best!”

You love your little family so much. You can’t wait to marry Eddie one day so you can have more of his beautiful children. Children which he treated as his own personal best friends. But, maybe that’s what family was all about. Maybe it was creating and loving your own best friends on the deepest level possible.

taglist: @cosmorant @ye0nvibezzn @tlclick73 @superlegend216 @agxxb

eddie masterlist.

[phoebehalliwell]

have you ever wondered which actresses could portray the charmed ones if the story was set nowadays? (it may seem weird but i like to make fancasts about the books/shows i like and i was curious if you also thought about it...) i love your blog btw!

hiiiii i actually have never thought of this but i did some thinking over a lunch break or two and i came up with five different options ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Option One

The Tried And True Brunettes!!

basically a one-to-one of the original except set in 2024 so adding a couple more modern slants i imagine prue would maybe work in tech or an app or a start up instead of the auction house, phoebe would def have some plotline with dating apps something or other tying into her column, chappell roan is def performing at p3

Claudia Jessie as Prue Halliwell // i’ve only seen her on bridgerton but the sharpness and the softness she displays with eloise i think would really help encapsulate prue

Victoria Pedritti as Piper Halliwell // ive seen her in a couple things but specifically the characters in the haunting of hill house and the haunting of bly manor i think could really lend itself to her earlier seasons versus her agro kind of insane variant as love in you could def show itself in the later seasons

Danielle Rose Russell as Phoebe Halliwell // if anyone’s seen legacies whenever drr is playing lizzie… i know she’s got the sauce

Mikey Madison as Paige Matthews // i only know her from the scream reboot but i totally see the vision

Option Two

It’s San Francisco!!

for a show that so frequently reminds us it is set in san francisco and the surrounding bay area, it features so few asian characters it is honestly confusing, given that the city itself is roughly one third asian. the show initially seemed like in wanted to lean into that in the very first season given episodes like dead man dating, but it really petered out. this recasting offers a new perspective of the city as well as different facets of life for the charmed ones to explore (i would love to see a lunar new year episode / zodiac episode to overwrite the existing one in canon which is just so :///). for this specific casting, i would have them be a vietnamese family, with paige being half asian and half white raised by adopted white parents, so when she comes into the fold, it's not just her learning about her magical heritage but also her getting to learn and connect with her asian heritage as well

Kelly Marie Tran as Prue Halliwell // i've only seen her in star wars admittedly i don't even know which one i'm not a star wars girlie But i think she carries with her both the bravery of prue and that kind of strong dignity/forceful aura that would really help shape the role

Lana Condor as Piper Halliwell // i know her as lara jean from to all the boys i've loved before and honestly from that alone i think she'd kill as piper

Leah Lewis as Phoebe Halliwell // okay. so while i haven't actually watched nancy drew, my mutuals love it, and from the gifsets i've seen + the promos they would show before riverdale, i do think we've found our phoebe

Piper Curda as Paige Matthews // not the first and not the last pick from Legacies, piper was introduced in the 4th season i'm p sure and i really like her laid back / obviously gay aura and i think she would make a really interesting obviously gay paige

Option Three

Asian Doesn’t Inherently Mean East Asian!!

i wanna see desi witches i feel like i never see desi witches!! plus the bay area / northern california as a whole has a very vibrant indian community so i would love to see that tapped into

Simone Ashley as Prue Halliwell // while she is in sex education we all know the example i'm going to give you here is kate sharma from bridgerton who is basically just regency prue halliwell

Amita Suman as Piper Halliwell // i know her as inej from shadow and bone which admittedly as a series, i did not like. however, i think amita is a talented actress and could pull off an excellent piper

Avantika Vandanapu as Phoebe Halliwell // best known for playing karen in the new mean girls movie. definitely would kill it as phoebe

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Paige Matthews // best known as devi in never have i ever, a show that i actually did not watch but my mom did so i've seen roughly 1/3 of all episodes. i think she's a very skilled actress and could play the willful, stubborn, and creative paige excellently

option four

Black Girl Magic!!

i'm going to be perfectly honest with you -- this was absolutely motivated by having an ayo piper. think on it. like. gas.

Omono Okojie as Prue Halliwell // yet another legacies pick but what can i say i love the cast. i think she would bring an appropriate gravitas and like cool stubborness to prue

Ayo Edibiri as Piper Halliwell // hold up sydney adamu from the bear. hold up piper halliwell. they're the same picture.

Jadah Marie as Phoebe Halliwell // i know her from descendants 3 where she was playing dr facilier's daughter celia and that was really all the evidence i needed. she's totally phoebe

Madison Reyes as Paige Matthews // she's julie from julie and the phantoms which if you haven't seen you should esp if you love dcoms bc it's another kenny ortega classic. i think madison brings the right spirit to paige. additionally, being the half sister, she is actually not just black but afro latina, and could introduce new perspectives from her specific puerto rican descent esp in regards to brujeria (a la josefina in season 2 or maybe 3 of the charmed reboot)

Option Five

Everyone Knows The Charmed Ones Are Blonde!!

We're standing in the home of the Charmed Ones, we've got their powers, we got their book, and we got blonde multi-tonal hair!!! on a very real level, could not resist making the blonde variants. largely motivated by sabrina carpenter as phoebe

Meghann Fahy as Prue Halliwell // known for the bold type and the white lotus i think meghann could really the convey the whole i'm lonely but i'm good/i'm bitter but i swear i'm fine vibe prue has going for her

Elle Fanning as Piper Halliwell // we see piper's soft side when elle plays aurora in maleficent and her agro side when she plays catherine in the great

Sabrina Carpenter as Phoebe Halliwell // do i really need to explain this? i'm right. you know i'm right.

Renee Rapp as Paige Matthews // come back to television the kids miss you. i know she usually plays the more prue coded characters like with leighton in the sex lives of college girls and arguably even regina george in mean girls but i've seen her in those interviews. "There is this man who owns a bus touring company. His name is buddy, and he is such an asshole, and he was so disrespectful to my friends, Priscilla and Bella, who I work with, and to my mother. If you're watching this, I can't stand you, and I hope your business burns. You are so disrespectful and so misogynistic. I. Hate. You." that's my paige matthews

castings for other characters under the cut ❤️

Leo Wyatt

Dev Patel // like. logically. could we book dev patel? no. but does that make me want him any less? also no.

Kedar Williams Stirling // best known as jackson in sex education where he just exudes such good vibes you know what i'm saying? that just like nice aura. that's what i want for leo. when leo's around i want the feeling like things are going to be okay bc he's just so good

Alex Roe // if any of you watched siren on freeform i highly recommend the first two seasons i did give up on the third season but the first two were really good. he plays the male lead ben who i feel like honestly would translate over really well to leo. knowledgeable and constantly dealing with the women he loves as shit keeps getting weirder

Vanessa Morgan // she does that "gazes lovingly at a person you are basically cosmically tied to" so well in riverdale i know she could kill as leah wyatt

Cole Turner

Manny Jacinto // i'm not watching the acolyte but i am watching those fancams and i'm gonna need more sexy villian manny jacinto asap

Nathan Parsons // one of those cw actors that gets passed around like the blunt so it only makes sense to have him here. i know him best as max from roswell new mexico but it's specifically when he plays jones, for all intents and purposes max's evil twin that he really starts cole cooking imo. i think he would offer a really fun take on cole.

Havana Rose Liu // who wouldn't go against both heaven and hell to be with her? i mainly know her from bottoms where she might not feel super cole coded but i see the vision

Chris O'Shea // i only know him as percival pickens in season six of riverdale but he served down and i know he'd make a great cole. watch s6 of riverdale. you don't have to watch any of the earlier seasons or any of the seasons after it to understand what's going on i promise. it's the season where they all get magic powers.

Darryl Morris

Quentin Plair // another pick from roswell new mexico he plays dallas the sexy preacher among other things and i think he has a really good um. it's like. that running out of patience type vibe you know what i'm saying? i really like the way he can get the terse like i am being nice right now but i need you to know that is a choice i am making type vibe that i really like when darryl gets (like when darryl first meets cole and there's that tension its such a good darryl moment)

John David Washington // could we book him? idk i don't know if he's really been in any tv shows i know his mainly blackKklansman and tenet and i feel like he def has the chops to give us an excellent darryl

Charles Michael Davis // another cw actor best known to me personally as marcel on the originals and as we can see in the photo looks great in a suit i think he would make a really good darryl esp in the softer moments connecting with the sisters/leo

William Jackson Harper // okay thru googling him right now he's 44?? that's insane to me he does not look 44. most know him as chidi from the good place which i think offers the perfect "this might as well be happening" type energy darryl so often has

[katieskrsgard]

🎃 TJ MIKELOGAN'S HALLOWEEN 2023 EVENT 🎃

DAY 26: Witches

ICONIC WITCHES, MAGIC USERS & GODS

Bette Midler as Winifred Sanderson in Hocus Pocus (1993) dir. Kenny Ortega

Robin Tunney as Sarah Bailey in The Craft (1996) dir. Andrew Fleming

Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase in the Buffy-verse (1997-2004) creator Joss Whedon

Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell in Charmed (1998-2006) creator Constance M. Burge

Tom Hiddleston as Loki Laufeyson in Loki (2021-) creator Michael Waldron

Fairuza Balk as Nancy Downs in The Craft (1996) dir. Andrew Fleming

Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/The Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) dir. Sam Raimi

Amber Benson as Tara Maclay in the Buffy-verse (1997-2004) creator Joss Whedon

Anya Taylor Joy as Thomasina in The Witch (2015) dir. Robert Eggers

Neve Campbell as Bonnie Harper in The Craft (1996) dir. Andrew Fleming

Emma Watson as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter (2001-2011)

Sandra Bullock as Sally Owens in Practical Magic (1998) dir. Griffin Dunne

Cher as Alexandra Medford in The Witches of Eastwick (1987) dir. George Miller

Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah Sanderson in Hocus Pocus (1993) dir. Kenny Ortega

Miranda Richardson as Lady Van Tassel in Sleepy Hollow (1999) dir. Tim Burton

Rachel True as Rochelle Zimmerman in The Craft (1996) dir. Andrew Fleming

Rene Russo as Frigga in Thor: The Dark World (2013) dir. Alan Taylor

Shannen Doherty as Prue Halliwell in Charmed (1998-2006) creator Constance M. Burge

Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell in Charmed (1998-2006) creator Constance M. Burge

Sophia Di Martino as Sylvie Laufeydottir in Loki (2021-) creator Michael Waldron

Michelle Pfeiffer as Sukie Ridgemont in The Witches of Eastwick (1987) dir. George Miller

Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg in the Buffy-verse (1997-2004) creator Joss Whedon

Kathy Najimy as Mary Sanderson in Hocus Pocus (1993) dir. Kenny Ortega

Christina Ricci as Katrina Van Tassel in Sleepy Hollow (1999) dir. Tim Burton

Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness in WandaVision (2021) creator Jac Schaeffer

Rose McGowan as Paige Matthews in Charmed (1998-2006) creator Constance M. Burge

Cate Blanchett as Hela Odinsdottir in Thor: Ragnarok (2017) dir. Taika Waititi

Susan Sarandon as Jane Spofford in The Witches of Eastwick (1987) dir. George Miller

Eva Green as Angelique Bouchard in Dark Shadows (2012) dir. Tim Burton

Nicole Kidman as Gillian Owens in Practical Magic (1998) dir. Griffin Dunne

[d-criss-news]

John Musker: Last night at the Wallis Annenberg Theatre in Beverly Hills, Ron Clements and I were part of a panel hosted by Michael Kerker of ASCAP and celebrating the brilliant Howard Ashman. Clips were played from Alan Menken, Jodi Benson, Paige O'Hara, and Susan Egan all talking about how much Howard meant to each of them and their careers. Howard's sister Sarah sent some rarely seen early photos of Howard and a witty , heartfelt 7 minute audio narrative that Michael Serrian made into a wonderful film ( and we saw Nancy Parent, great friend and colleague of Howard's, there too.). There were live musical performances from legendary Broadway star Faith Prince, who I learned was almost Audrey in the original "Little Shop" until a scheduling conflict kept her from doing it and Ellen Green went on to deserved acclaim for her iconic performance. Darren Criss also sang among many talented performers including Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, who are doing new songs for the Moana sequel. I was happy to share tales of working with Howard and the enormous impact he had on me and on Disney animation. Photos by another Howard, someone that's Green, who helped get us involved in the first place. Coincidentally the event unfolded on what would have been Howard's 74th birthday. God rest your soul, Howard, gone from us too soon.

Faith Prince and Darren Criss perform "Somewhere That's Green" and "Suddenly Seymour" from Howard and Alan's "Little Shop of Horrors." I saw the great Faith Prince on Broadway in the terrific revival of "Guys and Dolls." Darren I saw at the Hollywood Bowl in. the Richard Kraft extravaganza as Prince Eric, but he has been doing Seymour more recently in the acclaimed Little shop revival on Broadway.