#now they all want us to shut up about climate change and go about our lives like normal

[tuxedodragon-art]

[lilacargent]

How cold is too cold?

The Quelec had been left alone after their adamant refusal to join the Conclave. This draconian looking species viewed most other creatures as lesser, which made the conclave just as happy to ignore the Quelec and their nearly uninhabitable icy planet.

It didn’t take long before the Prideful creatures couldn’t stand being put to the side like they didn’t matter. Requesting a diplomatic convoy to reopen the conversation was only a ploy to take them hostage and issue ridiculous demands to capture the Conclaves attention.

It is now that a conclave mother ship is hanging just out of orbit to make a plan to get them back. Above a massive map of the icy landscape with one thin line of forest across its median, the three crews tasked with the retrieval are discussing loudly.

“No they can sense electrical currents, and any blast from their breath weapons will shut down our vehicles.” The tall bipedal alien that looks remarkably like a yeti yells at the other people around the table ‘going in with a full frontal attack is going to get everyone killed and if they don’t the cold will. The hostages are held at this planets south pole, which functions as a great prison because of its insane cold!’ The group of Lokachs (a more serpent like alien) hiss at the hostile tone ‘ssssoo far you have not gotten a better idea. Perhaps think for yourself Loquacious.’ When a fight is about to break out the human mediator steps forward. Followed by a tall bearded man and a woman dressed in remarkably non uniform clothes, with markings on her face. ‘No fighting here, they send all of us because we have different experiences with the cold. You, Loquacious of the Relokip, can keep your internal temperatures high like the Quelec can but you’re saying they can sense how you do that?’ the second in command responds ‘Captain Drissum, sir. We generate static electricity in our fur and change it through our nerve system into heat. But the energy will set off the sense of the Quelec.’ With a slow nod Marcus will gesture to the people with him ‘We specifically picked people from a cold climate with generations of experience for this mission: Katjuk from the united Inuit tribes, and Bjørn from the high north and re-established viking society. After many humans left the planet because space travel became widely available the sudden climate changes from the departure of all these people caused an ice age to some degree. All of a sudden skills their people had perfected over generations became increasingly valuable, now they come to share this with us.’

Stepping into the middle of the group Katjuk is the first to speak, ‘we have means to travel the icy tundra without alerting the Quelec, and my friend and his crew have the skills and weapons to protect us during this track. The air is almost good for us the only dangerous aspect is the sulfur and a simple respirator will fix this without using electricity.’ Loquacious lets out a loud bellowing laugh ‘How in the eternal universe are you going to survive the cold without your electricity run suits then? And if you people are soooo cool why do you need us?!’ Marcus just facepalms and Bjørn shoulders past him towering above most people here, but only at eye hight with Loquacious ‘Unless you want us to drop you at the surface with us, you get to sit in your pretty ships and shoot up the other pole and if you are actually brave you can make a bigger splash by going into orbit and making sure they leave their hidey holes.’ kitjak pulls out several packages of fabric and shows one of them to the groups ‘these are a type of clothes our ancestors have used to keep warm in horrible cold, we are going to use them now to do the same. Now on how to get on the planet we are going to do a dead drop, with parachutes. No electricity involved.’ With a thoughtful expression the elder woman looks at the main Lokach, ‘we are going to need your biggest stealth ship, i have been told that it can start up with unheard of speeds almost straight up, is that correct? If so we would need it dropped with us, it is going to be our way out, hopefully it is too quick for the Quelec to respond and we can be picked ultimately outside of orbit.’ Taking a step forward the male bows his head ‘thisss iss the cassse indeed, how do you know it exists?’ Marcus laughs ‘we know most things, but that is not the point now.’ Seemingly having decided that the other groups knew all they needed the humans start speaking with eachother about how they are going to time all of it.

After the fact Loquacious recounts with stunned admiration to the Conclave ‘they dropped down from our highspeed ships with 30 creatures they call dogs, specifically trained to pull sleds and run in packs. The sleds flew over the icy landscape with no regard for the cold. Once they arrived at the strong hold Bjørns men put on spikes on their feet, ropes all around them and scaled the walls like it was nothing. Somehow it took no more than 30 minutes for them to return with the hostages, dropping them down with the ropes like they weighed nothing. Immediately being clothed by Kitjacks group put on the sleds, to return at breakneck speeds.’ Loquacious is silent for a bit when Ilsop (the head Lokach) speaks up ‘with no regard for their own safety they returned the people to the ship we had dropped in the forest line, the dogs are trained to not fear anything their people will tell them to do. There was no sign of exhaustion on these creatures, i believe they would have been able to walk so much further.’ Shocked faces all around look to the massive windows overlooking the internal park of this garden world where a dozen humans are playing with dangerous predators without a fear in the world.

The humans will always find a way.

Outside Bjørn is speaking with Kitjak ‘You know it wasnt even that cold, a Canadian would have worn shorts’ Laughing loudly the woman agrees.

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

Tadah

As this is not my culture i did a lot of research, if i have represented things wrong please tell me. Because of that i have remained vague on certain aspects i could not find clear info on.

This took a bit but in response to @caffineandsugar s request for nordic/inuit/ scandinavian focussed.

[britcision]

By the way in light of today’s events I’d like to remind my fellow Canadians to sit the fuck down, shut the fuck up, and get some goddamn legwork in, because we’re at most a year out from our own next election

And voting goddamn Pierre in will be at most marginally less stupid than a second Trump term, so let’s take the important lesson here:

Nothing is safe, nothing is assured, and there’s no point thinking “oh no one would actually want that”

Clearly, some people will happily watch the world burn just to spite their “enemies”, not even for any benefit to themselves - and they live in every country on Earth

We have our own homegrown Trump supporters and we all know who they’ll actually vote for, so unless you want a real quick karmic turn around, stuff any moralizing back in your pants and do something useful

We have less than one year til our next election, Canada

Goddamn Pierre is leading the polls

We will have our own far right, extremist courting bigot at the head of our government unless we actually do something

Make sure your friends are registered to vote

Make sure everyone you know has a way to get to the polls, or to get an early voting ballot

Make sure you are registered to vote and have a way to get to the polls, because you know who votes every time, at every level? Bigots and assholes, and they will win if you do not show up too

Vote just so that one of them has no voice, if nothing else speaks to you

If you can, and someone close to you is a fan of the Conservatives, ask them what they think about his ties to Christian nationalists - not aggressively. Pretend you’re considering him, and you value their opinion, but you have some worries

Then lay out your concerns one by one. The goal isn’t for them to immediately swear off him and change their minds, it’s to make sure all his shady bullshit gets into their head and make them actually think about it

If all they have are justifications like “well all the parties are the same”, well, they’re not

Only one party thinks trans kids should be outed to potentially unsafe homes

Only one party thinks climate change is a good thing that we should be speeding up

So you gotta show up to vote in every single election, at every single level of government, because we’ve just had a crystal clear reminder that democracy only works when everyone participates

Bigots and assholes will put themselves in at every level to slowly take power and change the landscape until they can sweep a national election, and they will change every rule they can to make that sweep happen

One big dramatic vote for the federal government is not enough; you have to do the work or they’ll just keep coming back

Times are rough as fuck right now and we have a cost of living crisis, and for a lot of people who aren’t terminally online that means they’re more worried about putting food on their table tomorrow than a bunch of hypotheticals that might hurt people they don’t know and will never meet

That is a good and normal human survival instinct - there’s no point stockpiling food for the winter when the wells have all dried up and there is no water. One of those problems is more immediate

Moral superiority is alienating and will encourage people not to listen to you, so leave that at home too if you actually want to do anything useful

Anyone I catch bloviating, I’m going to assume you want an ego boost more than you want actual change

Have an outburst, get it out of your system, and then remember it will happen here too

It will be your friends, your coworkers, your family, people you love

Because when people are scared, they get angry, and if someone gives them a target for their fear and pain and say “hey just get rid of that guy and it all goes away”, people don’t go with it because they’re bad people

They need to be reminded to think, to realize that conservative blowhards do not care about them and will sell them for parts for a dollar fifty, and they need to see an actual alternative

A plan that will really make things better, for them personally

And, yeah, plot twist, better human rights protections? Will do that. Better labour regulations? Far more effective than building walls.

And, shit, especially with the latest listeria adventures in Every Goddamn Brand Of Eggs And Chicken Ever Apparently?

Remind them how much more deregulation will hurt them than price increases

Cuz yeah, it is hard to put food on the table right now

But at least most of the food will not kill you! And probably has 0 human fingers in it!

(And hey you’ll probably want some decent healthcare available since, again, Goddamn Everything Has Listeria I Guess)

Show them how Conservatives will materially, demonstrably harm them

Fuck, use their bullshit against them; convince THEM there’s no one worth voting for and they should stay home, then get your goddamn ass out there and vote

[ms-m-astrologer]

2024 Cancer Solstice

Thursday, June 20, 20:51 UT

Chart erected for Washington, DC

The Sun, Mercury, and Venus are huddled together in the first decanate of Cancer. They all make sextiles to Mars/Taurus (I’m stretching that for the Sun, though). That is all about feeling comfortable and safe; we can work hard on domestic projects, but it’s really more of a “find we a time for frighted peace to pant” feeling. The little Centaur Pholus opposes that Cancer stellium, upsetting applecarts and blowing up everybody’s tranquility.

The ruler of that Cancer stellium, the Moon, is in Sagittarius - and is the focus of a mutable (new situation) t-square. She’s square both ends of the Juno-Lilith/Virgo opposition to Saturn-Nessus/Pisces. This new situation manages to be both judgemental and commitment-phobic. There’s a lot of pressure for “traditional” values and relationships, a lot of guilt trips going out. Some of us need to consider how “perfectionism” is really a cover-up for not wanting to do something.

One solution is to fill in the empty leg and work on those qualities. Here, that is Gemini. Be a little intellectually detached - light-hearted - don’t insist that there is Only One Right Way to do things - and work on listening and communication skills.

Go ahead and focus on those domestic projects, but don’t shut out the rest of the universe. We need to be aware of what’s going on because that improves our plans. It’s still a Cardinal- and Mutable-sign emphasis; things are changing.

=+=+=+=+=+=

Back when I had a teenaged boy to feed, I always made a vegetarian feast for the Cancer Solstice: Spanish rice salad, lime-thyme potato salad, carrot-mango-pineapple salad, and Starhawk’s summer solstice cupcakes. Most of those recipes are now on the internet. Back then, I worked out of cookbooks and cooking magazines.

The teenaged boy always demolished most of that; once he moved out, though, the then-teenaged girl wasn’t quite as ravenous. (She also isn’t fond of leftovers.) I finally gave up on making the feast. This year, I think I’ll make tuna salad for just me!

I like the green lushness of this time of year (even though, living as I do in a semi-arid climate, I don’t always get it). There’s a lot of wild sweet peas, now - and chicory - which I also enjoy, and watch for.

But, it’s not remotely my favorite season, mostly because I hate hot weather. I probably need to work on that a bit. (Ms M Jr, on the other hand, hates cold weather. We have a good balance!)

[six-spot]

United we stand, divided we fall…

I don’t care on which side of the political spectrum you identify. The threat to our democracy is a clear and present danger!

A 🧵 Buckle up it’s a long one.

This is not a fight about 2A, it’s not about abortion, it’s not about education, it’s not about sexual orientation, it’s not about taxes or immigration or about healthcare. This fight comes down to a religious minority, trying to push its narrow views upon our country.

The Heritage Foundation and its Project 2025 threatens to dismantle nearly 250 years of progress toward equality for all. And I for one am not going to stand for it.

We must unite against the GOP with Joe Biden as the nominee. He cannot be replaced on ballots without being challenged. “Protest” voting for other parties will sign the death certificate of our nation. The same thing happened in 2016.

A very brief history. Zoroastrianism was founded around 3500 years ago. “Zoroastrianism…held that a messiah would come at some future date…to redeem humanity in an event known as the Frashokereti which was the end of time and brought reunion with Ahura Mazda…

These concepts would influence the later religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.” https://www.worldhistory.org/religion/

This monotheistic view of religion has existed for less than half of recorded history and many religions still have pluralistic beliefs. #Christianity has done nothing but oppress people since its inception. And now a very narrow interpretation of it is being weaponized against us.

It’s a disease that spread throughout the world, literally killing millions of people as missionaries spread disease from one continent to another. It didn’t matter how many indigenous people died as long as they believed and converted.

Ancient rulers seized upon the opportunity to adopt the religion and thus take power and wealth* from the people. Sound familiar? Wars have been fought for control of territory around the world.

*This was the 2nd goal of missionaries.

And now a sect of ultra-conservative Christian Nationalists threatens to end our constitutional republic in favor of an authoritarian state.

They’re trying to divide us even further so they can win. We CANNOT let that happen. Moderate, Liberal, Progressive, Libertarian, Conservative, it doesn’t matter, we will all suffer equally if Project 2025 succeeds.

They have been chipping away at certain liberties for 8 years already. It’s clear that they only have self-serving goals to make the rich richer and to oppress citizens like in other authoritarian regimes.

It is truly terrifying to see dystopian novels coming to life before my very eyes. These conservatives fear change and clearly believe that liberalism is the root of all evil.

On the contrary, education leads to enlightenment and free thought, so “liberal” thinking is really just how they demonize those who are educated and have opposing opinions or beliefs.

One example from #Project2025 is that “conservative” republicans have been trying to strip funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting since its inception. @NPR & @PBS are run by CPB.

Why? Because they educate people & allows them to adopt beliefs that oppose theirs. They lament that no republican president has been able to do it. They argue that most viewers are liberals & that not enough conservative programming is offered so it should be shut down. Boo hoo😢

How about that educated viewers use their common sense and reasoning to conclude that stories from 2000+ years ago are not fully relevant to modern society? 👩🏼‍🎓👨🏽‍🎓

Science is not theological yet conservatives want to apply theology to everything. The world isn’t flat. Evolution & Climate change are real. Vaccines save lives. The USA was NOT founded as a Christian nation. If not for free thinkers, we’d probably still be living in the Iron Age.

Most people want to be part of a group & religion is the most common way to achieve that goal. We are conditioned from birth to believe what we’re taught and not question it. This is how racism & bigotry continue to thrive along with political ideology.

Morals are morals. They aren’t inherently conservative or liberal. You are either kind to others or not; you follow the rules or don’t; you tell the truth or you’re a narcissistic pathological liar. It’s that simple. That is all that’s required to define a good person.

The notion that sexuality has anything to do with morality is utterly absurd, but this is what conservatives argue. They LIE to justify taking rights from anyone they don’t like. They fear what they don’t understand.

They oppose abortion because it’s a numbers game to them. They think more babies = more followers. Well, we’re already seeing that no abortion = higher infant mortality. So that myth is busted.

Much of the Project 2025 platform directly attacks the Biden administration and seemingly relies on data that is short-sighted at best. I’m sure many of the arguments for or against the many chapter topics are false-flags to make it look balanced.

I hope someone is trying to fact-check the book, as many of the end notes are just commentary or references to current laws. Statistics are cherry picked to support their claims.

Even my 16-year-old understands the implications should departments like education and health & human services get shut down or changed from what they currently are. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

If you made it all the way through, thanks for reading. Please share because our lives depend on it. We all need to #VoteBlue2024 to put an end to the GOP madness once and for all.

Fin.

[divinecomedyproductions]

Fandom Woes: Restricting Creatives and Policing Potential Audiences

This is something of an Electric Boogaloo to my previous posts in my problems with Fandoms.

One major complaint I hear a lot from Fandoms wether be Star Wars, Warhammer, Marvel, DC, and so on, which is big companies changing these works fundamentally their unrecognizable and "fanfiction" and the solution is to GateKeep and tell others to do their own things, and plenty of YouTube personalities have pointed out the root of this problem

And this is a heavily opinionated post, so read at your own risk

But there is another factor which I briefly went over in one of my posts

A lot of literary snobs will have you dancing around between writing reimagined AU fanfic which they will chide you being "unrecognizable to the source material" and when you take what you liked and what you wanted and make it it's own thing they brand it as "derivative thinly veiled fanfiction" and will get all pissy if it takes jabs at the inspiration, all while they support creators do the exact same thing to things they don't like.

But also when you point out the potential audience, in my experience those "intellectuals" will proceed to insult them as uncultured and stupid unwashed masses or minority of freaks(and they often flip flop between the two inconsistently) who they can't stand breathing the same air as them.

For example, way back when I was younger and explained what I liked about Warhammer 40k and what I didn't like, most of the fandom used their brains and were civil with me about it in their disagreement.

But then some among the fandom told me I should just shut up and go watch Star Wars and Lord of The Rings.

And if I may repeat a point, Iconic Comics created Kamen America because they didn't like what was done with Captain Marvel, so they took what they liked about her and what they wanted, combined other elements to create Kamen America and The Kamen Corps

Which then people started screaming Kamen America was just a "porno Captain Marvel rip-off" all while supporting The Boys which has an evil Superman and nasty rendition of superheroes written by a guy who said hostile things about the genre

I expressed about what I liked about RWBY and what I didn't like and what I wanted and how I was gonna used what I liked and wanted to make an reimagined AU and OG work and got bashed as "leeching off Monty's work" and "RWBY Christian Propaganda" and I should just shut up and go watch Marvel or Disney, or if I do it, I gotta be apologetic and ashamed about it and accept the "Consequences" which to me, comes off as a threat.

Which these same people also cheer on the Anti-Narnian His Dark Materials Trilogy written by a guy who hates CS Lewis and Christianity with a passion.

These people don't want others to tamper around with what they love, but they don't want them to take what they like and what they wanted to make their own thing either, all while they cheer on those who do the same thing with stuff us "wrong people" like.

and I have a theory why this is.

The "Intellectual Elite" of Literature do not like it when "The Wrong People" take matters into their own hands, at least in ways they do not approve of, or unless the dissident does it while professing its ultimately nothing compared to what "the right people" do. Especially now that we are in a climate in which people on the fence are more receptive to indie voices.

These prigs want to lock things down and keep all dissent under their control to keep things nice and copacetic for their own ego.

And here's the reality check for these people, and I don't know how many I speak for

I do not give a pingas how "objective" and "educated" you are about these things, I and other creatives are under little to no obligation to regulate our creativity and force ourselves to change our feelings and keep our mouths shut and follow your little hypocritical rules because you think you know better than everyone else.

We are under little to no obligation to not take what we liked and what we wanted and not take jabs at the inspiration, especially when you all support creatives who do the exact same thing towards things you don't like.

We are under little to no obligation to "broaden our audiences" when in the past it left us getting the short end of the stick so many times when you refuse to do the same with what you create and enjoy.

And by your own logic, especially when you say "Its not gonna change canon or its 'trajectory'" then why do you need to come in and police everyone else and lecture how horrible we all are for liking things that you don't, while lecturing us about doing what your doing right now? If you were truly secure in what you knew to be the objective end-all-be-all, then you'd never had gone out of your way to open your mouth.

And if you decide to have us "own up to the consequences of our actions" which we both know is a veiled threat to punish people who do things you don't like, or be complacent when abuse happens towards those you disagree with, then I and a good number of people will fight back if it escalates to harassment, bypassing our "curations" and slander.

and I can hear these so-called critics say

"Well, what if you make your stuff and you turn out to be wrong?"

If we don't do so well, nothing happens, its not gonna be like Across The Spider-Verse where a big-ass hole is gonna rip through reality.

If we are wrong, it's our ass. This will be done with money out of our own pocket and at none of your expense.

Take your own advise

"It's not for you, its not gonna change canon or its trajectory, disengage the material and move on.”

Because that advise only works on Social Media, when you are fine with canon is going

[fairuzfan]

in re: genocide joe, i feel like his election in the first place also just speaks to how incurably stagnant the us electoral system is. the overwhelming dominance of those who can afford to grow old (i.e. the wealthy white) means the pressing issues that the youth (and a percentage of the older generations, but often not the ones who make it to their 70s/80s/90s) care about, like climate change, anti-imperialism, labor rights, dismantling structural inequality, and overall Not Living In A Festering Pile Of Shit Country, just get ignored as 'acceptable compromises'. i had a conversation with my mom during the dem primaries about why i was so anti-biden then that was literally this exact thing: it is too late to compromise on these issues. if you wanted compromise, you shouldve compromised in the 80s, the 90s, hell even the aughts. but you didnt. you just passed the buck and ignored it. and now its the 20s, the world is on fire, and you have run out the clock. put up or shut up. there is no more time.

What's really frustrating is that yeah, the electoral system is supremely fucked and people acknowledge it, even dem voters, but they just don't think you can even try to change anything. I remember when Obama was elected, everyone was soooo excited and starry eyed about him but then by the second election, everyone just didn't want whats-his-face to win. No one really cared about Obama winning. And we did the same thing with Hillary. And now Biden.

At this point our judicial system is fucked too so no matter what, for the next like 40 years it's going to be Overwhelmingly Bad with domestic things like abortion and book bans and freedom of speech and even environmental rights. It doesn't matter if Biden SAYS he's not going to do something, the Supreme Court will do what it wants. And anyways, you trust Biden after all this to respect your rights? After him publicly allowing genocide to happen? After him FUNDING genocide? Fuck him.

Anyways, its been downhill for decades like you said, there's no fixing a system that's running exactly how it's intended to run.

[sabrsiren]

idk if i should share my own donation amounts bc giving to fundraisers for me is just to help these people ofc, so ig it just feels too uncomfortably like bragging to state it publicly… but, i wanted to highlight just a few things on my personal radar as a reminder to donate even just $5 if you can!

The Refaat Alareer Camp - The Sameer Project

a grassroots aid organization led by four Palestinians in the diaspora, their first tent encampment project that provides shelter and specialized support to displaced families in Central Gaza ‼️ I have spoken with them before for both personal reasons and for a friend, they do amazing work in the North and South too. They lost a lot of money when GoFundMe shut down their fundraisers!!

Operation Olive Branch

All their work and anything on this page and on their social media is valuable to look at! I believe they also look for volunteers virtually.

As for me, I wanted to highlight under the Medical/Disabled tab, under “Special Circumstances” in column F row 2, “Line 168: Father is a psychologist who devoted his career and life to Gaza Autism Center as his eldest daughter is on the spectrum and has a host of other disabilities which require meds and accommodations they no longer have access to” — Ibrahim and his family looking for a new home in Canada

Help Heba Hmaid's Family evacuate Gaza

This is my friend Sama and her family!! She’s so sweet and is studying to become a doctor. She just started classes again online but is struggling because she is in a tent in Khan Younis, they are starving and it’s getting cold and wet now. We hope to invite her to our wedding, Inshallah — she’s been one of my biggest supporters in exploring Islam, witnessed my conversion and also played a part in that.

My fiancé Ahmed and his family’s campaign

I am running this one myself. My partner is a very shy, reserved and private person. He also hates to ask for money so I try to share other campaigns foremost… he has the flu again :,( his mother has been injured, his little niece has been injured. They are all hungry, scared, tired, and endure incomprehensible suffering unceasing. His home is damaged, his brother’s business attached to their home is destroyed, his workplace at the hospital is destroyed, his university is destroyed. Everything they love has been blown up. Ahmed is a biomedical engineer with experience in programming and prosthetics. His dream is to escape to Egypt, have his visa I’ve applied for on his behalf approved so he can immigrate to the US asap, and start working immediately so he can help save the rest of his family members (20+ people including 12 children all under the age of 16) and, Inshallah one day begin working with other Palestinians from Gaza who need prosthetics. Gaza has the highest population of child amputees in the world.

Help Lamin finish his education in Gambia

This sweet boy is also a friend of mine and someone I’ve been trying to help for a little while, this is also a campaign I run myself. He’s very mature and patient for his age — he is a 17 year old orphan in Gambia with several young siblings and his grandmother to tend to. He works very hard to help afford rent and food but they struggle a lot and often go hungry, it breaks my heart… especially because suffering around the world is so great that it’s hard to know where our “priorities” lie… but he prays for my loved ones and I pray for him. I would love to see him at least afford to finish school and not have to worry so much about saving their home or when they’ll eat next. He already required emergency medical treatment recently in his attempt to find anything to make some money… and they had to replace their mattresses after recent flooding in Gambia (due to climate change) and almost got sick :(

[rainbow-nerdss]

Finding You (Part 4)

Written for @augustwritingchallenge day 29: Dark Buddie, 2k Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 Read it on AO3

Buck's eyes caught on the photo frame, just as they had every time he walked into Eddie's house since the picture had been placed there, close to two years ago now.

It was them, arms around each other, though they'd been complete strangers the night before it was taken. Standing in front of a vintage fire engine — it felt something like fate, like a promise from the universe, bringing them back together.

Beside that picture were two more — one of Christopher and Shannon, and the other— the most recent addition — taken in the photo booth at May's graduation party a week before, Chris standing between Eddie and Buck, all three of them grinning at the camera.

"Eddie?" Buck called. "Good to go?"

"Almost!" Eddie's voice came from down the hall. He emerged from Chris's room holding a Lego set. "He forgot to bring it with him when Carla dropped him to school, apparently he needs it for show and tell. Do you mind making a stop?"

Buck laughed. "’Course not. We'd better get going, though, unless we want Bobby to write us up for being late.”

They’d been car-pooling, ever since Chris had done a project on climate change and insisted they start doing something to reduce their carbon footprint. He’d also been strictly monitoring their recycling habits, leaving sticky notes every time he found something in the wrong trash can.

Buck could never say no to that kid, and a little extra time with Eddie before and after work was always welcome.

They just about made it to work on time, slipping in the door just as Bobby was beginning his morning briefing.

It was a good day.

Until it wasn't.

A fire at a storage facility, which wouldn’t have been too bad, except it was on an auction day, and there were an unknown number of civilians inside the units.

Buck and Eddie walked through the hallways, knocking on each door they passed, making sure nobody was left behind.

They found one container with the door slightly ajar. No response, but Buck went in just to check, and Eddie followed him.

The door swung shut, slamming with a heavy thud.

They couldn't open it.

"Try the light?" Eddie suggested, but Buck couldn't find the switch.

Eddie radioed the team, letting them know what happened.

"Any sign of fire near you?" Bobby asked. "Any injuries?"

"Just to our pride," Buck answered. He heard Chimney laugh, meaning he'd taken the time to hit the button on his radio just so they would hear.

Rude.

"Alright, sit tight, guys. We'll get this fire under control, take care of our victims, then we'll come get you."

"Got it, Cap," they both confirmed.

Buck felt along the wall until he found a spot where he could sit.

"Guess we've got some time to kill," he grunted, shifting his weight slightly to get comfortable.

He heard Eddie moving around, then a clatter, swearing, and Eddie was tripping over Buck's legs and falling to the ground.

"Shit!" Buck reached out to help him up. "You okay?"

"All good," Eddie groaned. "Just a little bruised, I think."

"Maybe we should stay in one spot, while we're stuck here in the dark," Buck suggested, helping Eddie get situated sitting beside him.

"Probably for the best."

Their shoulders pressed together in the dark space, and Buck turned his head in Eddie's direction, even though he could barely see his outline.

"How long d'you think it'll take them?" Buck asked.

"No idea. It's not so bad here though."

"Are you kidding? It smells like something died."

Eddie laughed, Buck slowly joining him.

"You heard Maddie's news, right?" Buck asked after a few moments. Her and Chimney had just started telling people about their pregnancy, and Buck had been dying to talk to Eddie about it.

"You were there when I heard it, Buck," Eddie laughed. "Or should I be calling you Uncle Buck?"

Buck snorted. "You know, I had no idea what Chim was referencing when he said that at first? He had to sit me down and make me watch the movie so he could keep making jokes about it."

Eddie laughed again. "Why am I not surprised?" 

Buck nudged him.

"How are you feeling about it?" Eddie asked.

"Honestly? I can't wait. I'm gonna spoil the shit out of that kid."

"Really? I remember when Adriana had her first kid, I was… Well, excited isn’t the first word that comes to mind.”

Buck frowned. “How come?” 

He felt Eddie shrug beside him. “I just… I couldn’t picture myself as an uncle, you know? Then three years later, I was a dad, so.” Buck wanted to say something, but that was all so long ago, he didn’t know what he could say. He did the math in his head — it mustn’t have been long after Buck met them, he figured. He thought of the Eddie he had met back then, so young, so unsure of what he wanted. “I guess it’s different for you though,” Eddie continued. “You have more practice with kids than I did.”

“Thanks to you,” Buck said. They weren’t the first words that came to mind, though. No, the first thing Buck thought at Eddie’s words was I already feel like a dad. A frankly ridiculous thought to have about a kid he’d known for all of two years, not even a quarter of his life. 

Sure, he knew Chris cared about him, that he enjoyed their time together as much as Buck did. The three of them, Buck, Eddie and Chris, they just… fit together, in a way Buck had never allowed himself to think too closely on, for fear that it would all fall apart if he did. 

“You know,” Eddie’s voice broke through Buck’s thoughts. “When I told Chris the news, he was excited too. He said he couldn’t wait to have a new baby cousin.”

Buck turned red, suddenly grateful for the dark that surrounded them. “He did?” 

“Yeah.” 

“What did you say?” 

The pause before Eddie answered was a long one. “I didn’t correct him.” 

“Oh. Really?” The thought Buck had pushed aside before came back to the surface. If Chris thought of Maddie’s kid as his cousin, then it would suggest…

“Buck, I need to tell you something.”

Eddie’s voice was heavy with something Buck couldn’t recognise. It sounded serious, though. 

“You need to tell me something now? Here?” 

“I’ve chickened out too many times already, when there was somewhere else I could run, or when I could see your face.” 

“Okay. What is it? You’re making me nervous.”

Buck was ready for Eddie to say something which would hurt him. To say that he didn’t like how close Buck had gotten to Chris, how involved Buck was in their lives, that he was a burden on them in some way. Buck was the one who wanted to run now, to escape this conversation which neither of them would be able to move on from without something fundamentally shifting.

“I think I’ve been falling in love with you.”

It took Buck a full minute to process Eddie’s words. They couldn’t have meant what he thought they did, but he replayed them in his mind, and he couldn’t find another meaning beyond the obvious. 

Beyond Eddie loving him.

“Buck? Say something, I can’t see your face right now, and I need to know what—” 

Buck kissed him. Or, he tried to. In the dark, he sort of misjudged the distance between his face and Eddie’s, and the kiss landed what felt like somewhere between Eddie’s nose and his eye. 

He redirected, though, and this time he hit the mark.

He felt Eddie leaning into the kiss, lips soft against his own. “Eds, I started falling for you the day you sat next to me in a doorway in Boston, and I don’t think I ever stopped.” 

“Really?” Eddie whispered against his mouth, the sound sending a shiver down Buck’s spine.

“Really,” Buck assured him, preventing any further questions with another kiss.

Eddie’s gloved hand reached up to touch Buck’s face, and after a frustrated grunt it disappeared, replaced a moment later by Eddie’s warm hand. Buck pulled his own gloves off, pulling Eddie closer, sliding his hands under Eddie’s turnout coat, finding the warmth of his skin through his work t-shirt. 

Buck’s tongue darted out, and Eddie let him in with a soft noise. Buck moved, trying to get a better angle. This time, he was the one who fell, but Eddie didn’t help him up. He followed him down, until they were tangled together on the floor.

“Fuck, Eddie,” Buck sighed, feeling Eddie’s fingers slide through his hair. He lost himself in the kiss, the feeling of Eddie pressed up against him, lips pressed against lips, bodies flush from head to toe.

Buck didn’t know how long they stayed like that, but it was long enough for him to forget where they were and why, until he heard a crash from outside, followed by a stream of light pouring through the now-open door.

Eddie sat up, eyes wide in surprise, and Buck craned his neck to see the entire rest of the team standing in the doorway, staring at them.

“Why didn’t you guys radio to say you were there?” he asked. Eddie turned to look back at Buck, and it took everything in him not to pull him back down now he could see the kiss-swollen lips, glassy eyes and flushed cheeks, knowing he’d done that.

Chimney was grinning, gesturing to his radio. “You guys were kind of hogging the channel,” he said. 

Buck frowned and turned to look at his own radio. Sure enough, he was broadcasting. He must have hit the button when he fell back. His face heated up even more as he wondered how much they’d heard.

He pulled himself up to a seated position and switched the radio off, grumbling. 

“We thought you’d been injured at first, but… I guess not,” Bobby said. Buck fixed his gear, then helped Eddie to his feet. There was a moment, when their eyes met and Buck felt giddy, remembering those words. I think I’ve been falling in love with you.

Eddie smiled, almost shy, and Buck nodded, the smile on his face feeling like it might never leave. 

“We’d better go,” Hen said, interrupting their moment in a tone that Buck was sure meant they’d be discussing this later. 

The rest of their shift dragged. Teasing from the rest of the team, twenty minutes in Bobby’s office filling out HR forms, laying awake through the night in the bunk room because Eddie was right there in the next bunk over, just out of reach when Buck could be holding him close. 

He kept wishing for a call, just to stop him from saying screw it and doing something which would absolutely necessitate sitting through another round of HR bullshit.

Finally, their shift ended, and Buck followed Eddie to his truck, pressing him against the door and kissing him again. Eddie smiled against his mouth, then broke the kiss. 

“I gotta get home in time to bring Christopher to school. Meet me there?” Eddie asked. 

Buck nodded, kissing him once more, just because he could. He was barely inside his jeep before his phone was lighting up with a call from Maddie. He was surprised it had taken this long for Chimney to tell her, honestly, but maybe she had just been waiting for their shift to end so he couldn’t get away with inventing a call.

He turned towards Eddie’s, answering Maddie’s call on speaker and bracing himself for her to yell at him about being the last one to find out. 

He couldn’t even feel bad, not when he pulled into Eddie’s and let himself inside, not when he helped himself to a cup of coffee and waited for Eddie to get home from the school run, staring at the pictures of them on Eddie’s wall. He couldn’t feel bad, not when they’d greet each other at the door with a kiss when Eddie got home, then stumble back to Eddie’s room together, falling onto the bed to pick up where they’d left off in the storage facility, this time with light coming through the blinds so Buck could see every expression on Eddie’s face, every inch of his skin.

How could he be anything but the happiest he’d ever been?

[wonderlandleighleigh]

Steve Rogers talks with you about toast

When I was eleven years old, my Ma came home with a pop-up toaster. 

It was 1929, and things were not going well for the American people. It was November, and the weather was getting cold. Food was getting a little hard to come by. Thankfully, Ma had a little job security, being a hospital nurse and all, but it wasn’t a sure thing. She knew she could be cut loose at any moment. 

But that night, plugging in our little metal toaster for the first time, she said “things may look bleak, Stevie. But at least we’ll have good toast.” 

When I got out of the ice, one of the biggest things that caused me anxiety was the idea that I wouldn’t like any of the new food available in the twenty-first century; that things would have changed so much that there would be nothing recognizable about what ended up on my dinner plate.

On my first day, Nick Fury took me out to breakfast. We didn’t talk much about what he wanted from me. We didn’t talk about what had happened to me. 

We talked about the menu. 

And on that menu? 

Rye toast.

I smiled so hard when I saw it that my face hurt.

Here’s something you might not know: Sarah Rogers and Winifred Barnes were very close friends. Neighbors, yes, and their sons were inseparable, but as two single mothers trying to make ends meet, they did all they could to support each other and keep each other safe. Mrs. Barnes didn’t speak much English, and she couldn’t read or write it, so when things came up that required explanation, my Ma was always there for her. 

And in return, Mrs. Barnes would make extra food for us. Ma worked, and she wasn’t really much of a cook, to be honest, god rest her soul.

But Winifred Barnes was amazing. And she was very good at lucking into food. A crate of potatoes once fell off of a truck right at her feet, and that tiny Jewish woman dragged it eight blocks home, and nobody stopped her. Neighbors and friends would hand her cuts of meat they didn’t know how to cook, and we’d all feast like kings. She kept ten bags of flour in her home at all times, even during the worst years of the depression. 

“Du hast mel, du hast broyt.” 

Yiddish for: “you have flour, you have bread.” 

Which brings me back to toast. 

In those days, butter, jam…hard to come by. We’d put gravy on the toast. Creamed corn. Ma read about tomato gravy: tomatoes, salt, flour. They used to put that on biscuits in the south.  

Every so often, Mrs. Barnes would luck her way into a box of fruit, and she’d make jam out of what she got. It was a treat back then! Sweet and sticky and satisfying. 

Now, today, it feels like there are endless things to put on toast. The most popular being egg, cheese and meat. 

Picture this: It’s three in the morning, you’ve just gotten your face punched in by a guy who should be dead, but keeps coming back, really for the specific purpose of punching you in the face. You turn a corner, and there is a lone shop with a light on. A corner bodega. You step in, and the clerk behind the counter’s first instinct is to reach for the emergency button under the counter, but then he recognizes your bruised face, and the shield you’re sliding into the holder on your back.

And he smiles. 

You limp up to the counter and you give a polite hello, even though one of your eyes is swelling shut a little, and request a sausage, egg and cheddar on an onion bagel.

Believe me, you’re not kissin’ anybody tonight, enjoy the onion.

And he hurries to make it for your, and you grab two waters out of the cold case: one for drinking and one for your face, and you pay (he offers it for free, but you insist, so he discounts it heavily), and soon, you’re eating your hot, gooey toasted bagel sandwich, leaning on the counter, chatting with the clerk about life, and how you wish New York had the climate to grow lemon trees, because lemons are so useful.

You may ask, “But Steve, that’s a bagel sandwich, that’s not really toast.” You toast the bagel, don’t you? Toast in my book.

You go home. You get a little sleep. You take a hot shower, and thank god that eye is healing up pretty well now, and then…

You pop some rye bread in your toaster, and once it’s popped, you scrape just a little butter on it, and then slather sweet, rich strawberry jam right on top. 

It’s quiet. There’s coffee. The toast has a good crunch, and the rye is thick enough to stand up to all that spread. 

And it’s a little piece of heaven right in your kitchen.

I keep hearing about avocado toast. People get really nuts about it, and I have to admit, I don’t get the hype, nor do I get the naysayers. This idea that an entire generation is too busy eating a fruit on a piece of toasted bread to get a job seems like something somebody who dislikes unions and paying fair wages would say. 

That’s an essay for another time.

For my money, if I’m going to be fancy about my toast, it’s going to involve fish and cream cheese. There were quite a few appetizing stores (shops that sell smoked and pickled fish instead of deli meat) in Brooklyn when I was a teen, and when we had a little money to burn, Bucky and I would hit one and I would get pickled herring: sour and fishy and filling as it was. 

And I know that’s not trendy now. It’s not what most people eat. But you might be surprised at how good it is if you give it a shot.

These days, when the mood strikes, I sneak into Russ and Daughters on Houston Street. I order my pickled herring and cream cheese on a toasted onion bagel (whoever I’m kissing is just going to have to suffer), a piece of cinnamon babka and a coffee. 

When Bucky is in town, he goes all out: lox and sable with dill horseradish cream cheese on a toasted everything bagel. He, too, does not care what the person he’s kissing thinks of his breath.

The bagels are always toasted perfectly. Browned and crisp, melting the cream cheese a little so the consistency is gooey and a good contrast to the cold, salty fish. 

I’ve decided, now that I have a little more free time, that I’m going to start making my own bread at home. See if I can get good at it. I do okay in the kitchen (Buck is way better than I am, having learned under his mother’s feet), and I’m hoping to get better. 

At the very least, I’ll have some toast

[bosetsu]

It's cold in Moscow right now and I REALLY don't miss twitter. Not something atypical but close to lowest numbers we usually get (day temperatures ~ -23C/-10F) At this time you get next annoying types:

1) "oh, cold lovers ARE YOU HAPPY?"

(yes, some are happy. I am not, I am more neutral but mostly because my hands always get cold too easily, it's annoying and painful. What is your point?)

2) "I want temperatures above freezing level again"

(Oh. This people are on my shit list. Above freezing aren't supposed to be normal for us. It means climate fucking change. It means our vegetation and animals dying because they can't survive this temperatures or they stop hibernating and do not have FOOD. GTFO GTFO)

3) this one is usually from people in other regions "but it's not cold, what are you whining about"

(do shut up! It is cold FOR US. Also a lot of homeless people go to warmer and more populated regions like Moscow and this temperatures kill them. Also you overconfident fuckers wouldn't survive -25 in St. P don't kid yourself)

Why am I angry if I am not reading all the discourse? Oh, it's been years, I've got Pavloved into being angry just from temperatures dropping

[aestheticvoyage2023]

Day 236: Thursday August 24, 2023 - "History Books"

History is still being written about this disastrous Presidency, that we once marched on and protested for this exact reason so many years ago. Sickening to think that this man has sucked up so much of our collective headspace and airspace for almost 10 years. And we still haven't reached bottom. The night before, I tuned into the GOP primary debate, and cringed at the theatre and the lies and the propaganda for smaller minds and populist worlds to soak up and be entertained by - I couldn't even joke with Audrie about enjoying it without feeling gross for having tuned into Fox News. The only good thing that can possibly come from this is Audrie and I being able to tell our Grandkids, that we hated everything to do with this horrible man, and this horrible chapter in our country's history. Far worse than any Gulf War or WMD. This nightmare just keeps rolling on worse and worse. And so as work ground down today, I closed myself off in the front "green" room to watch history unfold yet one more rank-smelling chapter, this time involving a Presidential Mugshot as the Grand Ole Party continues to circle the drain, in their unbelievable race to the bottom. The Trump plane landed in Atlanta, and got a full motorcade and press pool in a way that felt eerily like OJ's chase - yes, a historic moment in time, that lasted about one hour tonight, but will echo in history books around the world, one way or another on how this unfolds, sad as it is, nowhere near being done.

I've been resisting 45 since the beginning. And I don't take any joy in seeing him be arrested and have a mug shot to fundraise off of (7 million + in the first weekend, though if you want to bankroll a twice impeached, four times indicted man to help run our country further into the ground - here's your sign.). Today's history isn't good for anyone. And I feel like my history/poli sci degree is complete trash now - because its all gotta be re-written, as I sat there watching this bold history culminate in the red-tied-mancheeto tell the cameras that he's the victim and has done nothing wrong. And people believe that?! The fact that trying to scheme to overturn a legit election is somehow polarizing in America? And doesn't disqualify a man from representing the party? This is complete non-sense. Every day - the news is non-sense. Its a daily race to the bottom, distracting with pre-planned and strategized garbage. And while climate change burns our beautiful places and melts our ice caps, we're left with the dissatisfying consolation prize of seeing an obviously practiced mugshot of a man so fallen from grace to mark another terrible moment in time where we were to focused on this national narcissist to care about the things that really matter. And for that hour plus, so was I. But having paid my witness, and not needing any editorial blunder, I switched it off, screenshotted the newly released mugshot to show Audrie, and then shut it off and had dinner with my family, not mentioning his name or his sick game. After all these years and all the things he's done, he's not welcome here, and I can only hope that somewhere behind the derangement, he knows it, and this his legacy was trash long before this legal mess was tied to it. Now I can only hope that he is found guilty on all 91 felony charges and somehow sometime can go away completely broke and burdened by his own self-created big lies. The rest of us, just need to get on with it already and let this legacy on us all, rot away.

Song: Oliver Anthony - Rich Men North of Richmond

Quote: "Only during hard times do people come to understand how difficult it is to be masters of their feelings and thoughts." ~Anton Checkhov

[sunfoxfic]

about the “recognizing stereotypes is actually what’s racist” thing NO BC THAT TAKE HAS BEEN SO AGGRAVATING TO ME FOR SO LONG.

without going into the eight page long essay about how passionately i feel about this, all i have to say is how important it is to recognize stereotypes in media in order to accurately understand what’s wrong with them and criticize the media we consume in our everyday lives.

if you just Watch Media without recognizing the problems the stereotypes represent, you just end up internalizing them. to better describe what i mean, its just like the problem with anime and misogyny. you see it happen again and again and again and again, and eventually your brain (since it learns from patterns and familiarity) starts to expect that women and feminine-presenting people are in those roles and Only those roles.

go into it with a mindset of “oh these stereotypes are okay, i cant think about it or else im the bad one” and suddenly theyre just like the people on tiktok who just throw around buzz words without any critical thought behind it.

okay thats all, thank u for coming to my summarized ted talk

Anon, you're so valid. It was such a bizarre take and unlike anything I've personally run into before. It's like?? It almost treats coding as though it's a retroactive association with *insert group here* rather than an intentional insinuation. Coding in and of itself is a neutral thing - plenty of coding is used for good, plenty of coding is used for bad. Sometimes it's really hard to tell the difference between subtext and coding, too (and subtext is also in and of itself neutral).

When you frame coding, and in particular racist sorts of coding, as a retroactive association, it turns it into a no-win situation - the person who points out the coding is the one creating the association, and therefore is the one who is bigoted.

In my eyes, when you're calling out bigoted stereotypes via coding, the "best" outcome is for the creator to have been thoughtlessly replicating bigoted media. We'll never know if she-who-shall-not-be-named was doing it intentionally or unintentionally at first (it being anything you can think of, there are more than a few examples) but clearly her reaction to being called out is to dig her heels in the ground, so considering the "best" outcome is kinda moot in this particular case.

But yeah, you're really spot on with the thing about stereotypes. Because even if you can recognize that the stereotype is wrong while simultaneously keeping your mouth shut about it in fear of someone thinking you're the one who's doing the coding, you're the one who's bigoted - even if you can manage that, you're letting these ideas perpetuate to someone who doesn't know.

My politics recently have shifted to the ideology that "what works > what is ideal." I'm not interested in debating whether the person who knew it was wrong and said nothing is more innocent than the person who wasn't educated on the matter and adopted the ideas without critical skills to challenge them. I'm not interested in debating whether the latter was a victim, whether the former is part of the problem. Ideals are great when applied inwardly but nothing trumps results when trying to change the world - and it is true, great is the enemy of good.

In an ideal world, everyone could just agree to stop this sort of bigoted coding in works and then we don't have to worry about whether it's retroactive or not. We don't live in an ideal world. The actual way that it works is that, regardless of innocence and morality, change depends on Person 1 calling shit out so Person 2 doesn't fall into it. Is that sort of act an act of social justice, or just what a good citizen does? Should people get credit for it?

Man, fuck if I know. People in three hundred years won't be studying me in their textbooks either way because I don't want them to, but where we are now, people are dying and the climate is changing, so I really prioritize making a world where they have trees to make into textbooks and a history that's written not only by the victors, but the good guys.

[dabiplier]

Ok, no shut up. Weather nerd, and let me explain this properly.

The scary thing about climate change is we don't know. All we have theories/model outputs/guesses. A good example is the USA was expected to have a horrible Hurricane weather due to warmer sea surface (Hurricanes need heat + moisture so that makes sense) but what we didn't expect, was the horribly dry conditions in Europe actually having an effect on the tropics, and absorbing so much of the moisture in the air. Add some nicely placed wind shear to tear apart the hurricane if it does get any closer, (random event that happens sometimes) so that if a hurricane was strong enough to maintain it's own moisture, it would get whipped apart by the wind. (Hurricanes are big babies when it comes to opposing wind force), while we have had several named hurricanes this season they couldn't come close to the USA most of the time. Why is this important?

Saying the "Ice melting means the polar vortex is falling apart" IS A POSSIBILITY ONLY. IT IS NOT EVEN A SCIENTIFIC THEORY, MODELS DO NOT AGREE WHAT THE ICE MELTING IS DOING TO OUR WEATHER. So far, the ice melting IS USED AS WARNING SIGNAL THAT THINGS ARE NOT OK and nothing more. (At least in terms of climate, it has effects on other things on our planet)

  And most importantly, Tropospheric polar vortex, (labeled as the 'polar vortex' in the graph above) tries to knock around the stratospheric polar vortex (A little above where the 'Polar Jet Stream' is labeled) and very little happens. In fact, only 1/3rd of sudden stratospheric warming events (which is the event being shown in 2nd part of the graph, and what is causing our unusual artic weather) are caused by the Tropospheric vortex bumping it. Now here where the potential effects of climate change is actually a factor, atmospheric Rossby waves (waves that often happen due to the earth rotating) if they can gather enough strength, (usually fed by different high pressure and low pressure systems) they can actually have the strength to run up north and knock the stratospheric polar vortex (the one on the outside) more often, causing SSW events. (I could go on a rant about Rossby waves and their patterns, but this is long enough.) These last two SSWs were caused by Rossby waves. So how does climate change relate to Rosbby waves? Hot water baby. (Which, can cause the artic ice to melt, see where I'm getting at?)

Remember when I said Rossby waves can be influenced by high and low pressure systems? Water temperature can influences high pressures and low pressures drastically. (As I mentioned in paragraph above about hurricanes about how much heat and moisture is needed) Why is this important to understand? Because you then get assholes who want to spend millions of dollar to "bring ice to the artic" to fix everything. That's like when you take medicine to stop coughing, but it doesn't stop you being sick in the first place.

Climate change is a very complex issue that is still very early in it's development. There are too many factors in our weather to say it in just one sentence. Please, if you're interested in stuff like this, do your own research. NOAA (The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has almost all their research for free online, we need a better understanding of what is going on before we can think of a solution.

So many people do not understand the relationship between climate change and cold weather.

[andromedasummer]

okay completely gross about the idf soldiers thing, but that professor who stood with students protesting sounds awesome. i agree it often is the lecturers that make the subject tho, i think that's partly why i'm so reluctant to change what i'm doing (started with anthropology and history, now it's anthro and sociology), i really enjoy the lecturers i've had from the anthro and history departments so far. the sociology lecturer i've had...i could really live without lmao. but apparently he's not teaching the required paper anymore from next year, so who knows maybe i could actually pass it this time. how is welly to live in in general atm tho? i think that's another reason why in recent years i never took that leap, cause it's kinda just...falling apart. at least that's what my family that lives there tells me. shit public transport that barely shows up these days, things closing left and right, pipes bursting at every other corner. i do love welly tho, i've been going down there ever since i was a kid and have always wanted to spend some time living there. i'll just have to get used to the hills and wind lol

I love Wellington, Ive lived here sibce 2012, but shit is falling apart. The pipes keep bursting and the news doesnt even cover half of it. Two went out the front of our house, raised the ground from the impact and were hemorrhaging water out onto the road. It took 7 months for them to fix it. Same with most other burst pipes around the city, unless theyre super disruptive like the fucking river we had a month back on one of our main streets. Cost of living is abysmal here and rent is $400-600 a week. The mass job cuts have left the city dead and people aren't spending on lunch because the price of everythibg is himing up, which is causing a fuckton of shops to close. Mind you not all of them are because of this, despite what they say. Bourdeux was known for being exorbitant in their prices for mediocre bread and bad treatment of staff so they cant bitch and moan about cycleways all ghey want but thats not it. Same with the ttprg cafe stuck in front of the public library (which has been shut since 2018 for construction and earthquake strengthening). They say theyre failing because the road is shut, but every person I know in the community says to avoid the place because the owner looks down girls shirts and is a creep. Sucks because a lot of the other employees are lovely.

It's just not affordable right now. I would be on the street if my parents werent wonderful and helping me out, because my sickness would've made it impossible to work and pay for a place to stay here. Student housing is less rough, but still bad because youre overpaying for bad accomodations. I know my friend moved here to study from Otago said the only thing she misses is the housing/rent prices down there.

Thats not mentioning the council, who are useless. Media loves to pin the blame on Tory Whanau, and she absolutely has her issues, but she has inherited a lot of inaction from prior mayors, and of her two biggest detractors, one said homeless people should pay rent to love in cars because shes a fucking ghoul and the other, while very nice, wants local govt to run like a business. And I'm sorry, Ray, but being a nice neighbour and saying hi when I walk my dog doesn't cut it when you don't have any climate change policy in mind.

[notsoevilmagistrate]

A lot of people when they think America are also gonna think guns, which is fair, or red white and blue like France, Russia, and England don’t exist or something, being rude, patriotism: being ride or die for your country, licking its boots, being its bitch. But I reject all those things and I’d rather say the most American thing to ever do is to criticize the government.

Our very roots are breaking away as colonies because we criticized the government that hard, we made our own country. That’s why the constitution has so many things protecting us like the first amendment that allows us to group up and petition, to speak out. So I really think it’s crazy some people tell us to keep our mouths shut or accept things, like I once saw a guy at Wawa wearing some shirt like “America, love it or leave it” with a big fat American flag in the middle. And my first thought was like “no??? change it,” and I blurted it out loud and I admit I probably looked crazy. And that’s the thing about us and many politics, it’s that the climate of our country and its laws are constantly changing. To accept things and let other people be the lawmakers to your law abiding citizen is stupid. There’s so many of us and so many states that there’s no way we’ll all have the same opinion, and I’ve noticed that a lot of people who tell others not to say anything just want to be the only ones doing change, because it’s a lot harder for them if there’s people opposing their control every step of the way.

If we stay around and do nothing, the next thing you know it’s that you’re waking up to a world full of policies you don’t agree with, screaming like it’s a nightmare wondering what the fuck is going on, and for a lot of us that are afab that’s already our reality. Sometimes we gotta realize we’re the majority, us down here, and if I can’t vote then I’m at least gonna mope about it. It’s my god given right, and it’s not gonna seem all like a big deal until we have another “red scare” that repeats itself and those rights become infringed in fear of government spies and, essentially, ourselves(a lot of people mistake being against certain choices as being against the country, and it’s always been a big debate about where to draw the line, the spoken and written word versus active action, but that’s kinda a thing I don’t wanna blabber about right now).

So that’s why I feel some of the teens and young adults aghast about certain policies and decisions stating their discontentment out loud with full written statements, memes, coping with shipping Biden and Trump(I see that shit like our new take on political cartoons to shit on presidents and GOD do I love it), are some of the most American people ever in spirit. And just because they don’t use terminology like politicians to get their opinions across, or can’t vote yet, doesn’t mean their opinion is void because they live here just like you and me, and don’t want to destroy the country: they want to better it.