#or if it would just be some average english name like Jen

[sneaky-eel]

I was thinking of Desmond's mother again and how my version is no nonsense and awkward with affection. But now I can only think that if Desmond had lived, she would do, not quite a complete 180, but try a lot more while still being horribly awkward.

She full on goes Altair scholar mode and gets, like, 30 books for new parents and studies them all in one night. Maybe one or two pet owner ones cause she is desperate damn it. She wants so badly to try and make up for his childhood. Which is really great and all, but now she is trying to apply them to her 25-year-old son.

Desmond comes down for food and finds his dinner there, already cut up, which cool he hasn't mastered the art of cutting food with only one hand yet, so that definitely makes things easier. Then she starts watching him like a hawk (or eagle, hehe), making sure he eats enough and sleeps enough.

Hell, maybe for the first few nights, she waits for Desmond to fall asleep and camps herself in a chair by his door, sleeping there to act as his silent guard.

She asks Bill about the pros and cons of putting a baby monitor in Desmond's room, and Bill just gives her a tired look and is like, "Please don't."

One of the books talked about the importance of giving attention and affirmation to your child, so she will comment on his skills, but occasionally randomly be like, "Good job, son. You... got very tall? Handsome? Combatant?" (She is trying, Desmond. Leave her alone.)

Kids (and pets) need regular exercise, right? Well, Desmond, get ready to be woken up at 4 in the morning by your mother at the foot of your bed, asking if you would like to go on a run with her.

She puts Desmond's first proper mission report on the fridge cause that's a thing she knows parents do when they are proud of their kid.

She starts giving him small things when he does something good. Candy, desserts, maybe a new hoodie. It escalates to her one day being like, "Should I get him a puppy, or a cat? Some kind of service animal perhaps."

And God forbid someone wants to meet with her son. Bill had told the whole Brotherhood what Desmond had done, and when the news finally gets out that he is alive, many want to see/meet him, but they have to go through Mama Miles first. She does background checks on their background checks, looks over all their previous missions and success rate, and makes them file a god damn intentions form. If they pass all that, then they have to get through several hours of interrogation by her personally. It's only then she will ask Desmond "Hey do you want to meet these people?" and if he says no, she throws them out without a second thought.

At first, it all makes Desmond very confused. He thinks it's maybe out of pity, but eventually, he realizes this is just her trying to make up for never being physically there. It leaves him smiling and shaking his head because even his infallible (in his eyes) mother can be such a...a dork. He ends up extending his own olive branch by asking her to help him train so he can get use to the whole one arm thing.

[sidekick-hero]

15 questions, 15 tags

i was tagged by the lovely @hammity-hammer thank you darling! <33 It was SO interesting to read your answers and getting to know you better. I don't have a piercing yet but I would def get one at your shop, if you ever open one!! <3

Gonna put this under a read more so I don't clutter anyone's dash :)

1. Are you named after anyone? Not really. My mom was watching a lot of American movies when she had been pregnant with me, looking for a name and that one came up in the credits. To be fair, she wanted to give me a different name but my father vetoed that one, so my name is their compromise.

2. When was the last time you cried? Depends a bit on how we define crying. Work has been really hard the last few months and I did not get a lot of sleep and I was really exhausted. So, when 2 weeks ago my boss called me after I worked 8 hours already to tell me she had some issues with a text I wrote and then we talked this through for almost 3h and then I realized I would need to rewrite the whole text that same night I had tears spring to my eyes. In front of my boss (video call). Not my best moment. But real crying? No idea, actually. I don't cry a lot tbh.

3. Do you have kids? Nope, and I also don't want them. Never have. I like my friend's kids and being the cool auntie, but that's it.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot? the more tired I am, the more sarcastic I get. I try to tone it down usually because while it can be amusing at times it's also kind of a negative kind of humour and a downer if you use it too much. Also very easy to hurt people with it.

5. What's the first thing you notice about people? Varies a lot. Their general appearance I guess, like height, figure, hair. It's not like I single out a certain feature. And from there it depends on the context, the person, my mood etc.

6. What's your eye color? Hard to describe. It's green, but not like grass. More a faded kind of green, grey-green but with specks of brown when you get really close.

7. Scary movies or happy endings? there are scary movies with happy endings ;) But yeah, as a kid/teenager I was a sucker for horror movies, I watched them all. Then I moved out and started living alone. Horror movies lost their charm then so now I have to go with happy endings. Life sucks enough as it is, give me some escapism.

8. Any special talents? At parties I always impressed people by being able to fit my whole fist into my mouth lol but I wouldn't say that's a special talent, just a flexible jaw. I'm very good with numbers, and patterns, and logic? I have a very analytical mind. Oh, and I'm a very good runner.

9. Where were you born? A very small town smack in the middle of nowhere in Germany. I played in cow dung as a kid.

10. What are your hobbies? Running, working out, taking long walks and hikes in the woods (yeah I'm one of these outdoorsy people you've been warned about). If getting tattooes counts as a hobby then tattooes lol.

11. Do you have any pets? My beloved dog Bella (the floof, as Jen would say). She's the light of my life. Huge ass snow white dog, cuddly as fuck at home, more of a Cujo outside. She has a very strong distrust of other people. She's bred for protection and takes this very serious.

12. What sports do you play/have you played? Outside of PE I never really "played" a sport. I run since I am 17, I train at the gym regularly, I go for really long walks (record is 60km in one go) and I did KravMaga for about 2 years. I want to start MMA but it's expensive as fuck.

13. How tall are you? A very average 5'7'' (170cm)

14. Favorite subject in school? Philosophy, history, politics as well as German and English (those two had been my advanced classes)

15. Dream job? I always wanted to become a profiler. I find serial killers and offenders endlessly fascinating. It speaks to the analytical part of me but also to my love for being active and to work with my body. So yeah, dream job. Sadly, it never worked out. But I love my current job, too :))

i'm gonna tag the last 15 people in my notes, as I tend to do ;) And as usual, please feel free to ignore this <3

@yournowheregirl, @baronsamediswife, @hedwigs-art, @aftershocked, @princess-josephina (hellooo new follower, nice to meet you!), @demonbitchesnearyou,@dogblogbog, @silentdescant, @kaspurrcat, @gooodtoast (love the URL lol), @supernaturalvikingwhore, @wastedonyoursmile, @legitcookie, @fearlessjones and @letmeplaytheliontoo

[sunstarkov]

thank you @rxyaaa-a for tagging me in this!

name: jennie, but i usually go by jen on here

nicknames: jen

zodiac sign: libra

height: a very intimidating 5′2

languages spoke: english

nationality: italian with a little irish and german

favorite season: autumn

favorite flower: sunflowers

favorite scent: i tend to really like flowery scents and apple

favorite color: grey

favorite animal: probably any sort of cat from a house cat to a lion

favorite fictional character: well this is hard to answer since i have so many but i’ll go with my boy the darkling!

coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: tea!

average sleep hour: like a solid 6 definitely 

dog or cat person: cat

number of blankets you sleep with: usually one but sometimes i just gotta have a fuzzy blanket too

dream trip: i would sell my soul to get to greece

blog established: i made it wayy back in 2012 and i’ve been sporadically active and inactive so many times over the years

followers: 500 (i just hit it like an hour ago!!)

random fact: i’m currently a junior in college and my major is environmental studies!

Tagging some mutuals below, please don’t feel obligated to participate if you don’t want!

@wespers @jesperwylan @maverkling @hers-mione @darnelcress @danielarlington @watsons @cecilysherondale @poedaameron @yesperfahey

[takadasaiko]

Rules: Answer twenty questions, then tag twenty bloggers you want to get to know better.

Tagged by the lovely @whimsyandsomething, but I feel like others have tagged me as well. I’m aware I’m the worst.

Name: Jen

Nickname: Well, technically ‘Jen’ is a nickname. As is Jenny.

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius.... I think?

Height: 5′2′’. I’m small but fierce 

Languages: English is (sadly) the only language I’m fluent in. I took a couple of years of Spanish in high school (was terrible at it, also traumatized by teachers), tried to teach myself a bit of Japanese, and muddled through French at university. At this point in life I have about decided that I love beautiful languages too much to butcher them. I do feel compelled to know at least a few key words or learn them if I’m traveling to countries where English isn't the native language. 

Nationality: American.

Favorite Season: Fall. 

Favorite Flower: Roses, I guess? 

Favorite Scent: Cherry blossom. 

Favorite Color: Green.

Favorite Animal: All animals, but bears, wolves, quokkas, and tigers rate pretty highly. Also cats and dogs in general. Precious sweeties. Rabbits are fun too. Like I said, I’m an animal lover in general. 

Favorite Fictional Character: Asking me to pick just one is rude. I can’t and I won’t. 

Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate: I drink both coffee and tea. I typically start my day off with coffee at home and then a cup of tea when I get to the office. 

Average Sleep Hours: Not enough. Let’s just leave it at that.

Dog or Cat Person: Both. 

Number of Blankets Slept With: Three or so, if you count the sheet? But I also have a heated mattress cover. 

Dream Trip: Salzburg and the Highlands are two of my favourite foreign locations. I adore Boston and need to get back. Same with New York. I’d love to visit Japan someday. The Isle of Skye is on my list too.

Let’s just say take a few months off work and travel. That’s the dream right there. 

Blog Established: I feel like it was probably 2010 or so? ‘11?

Followers: 1383

Random Fact: I apparently used to dictate stories to my grandmother before I knew how to read/write and would have her read them back to me so that we could edit them together. 

I know I have copies of some of those somewhere. I vaguely remember a couple of stories. 

Tagging: @theherothechampiontheinquisitor, @kingpepperony, @rebelmeg, @ice-whisper, @alyblacklist, @intricatecakes, @thesmileykiley, @strivia, @setmeatopthepyre, and anyone else that wants to do it <3

[patiencetaught]

CHARACTER SHEET

repost. do not reblog.

𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

FULL NAME.     Jennifer Diana Honey

PRONUNCIATION.    Jen-if-fur Die-anna Hun-e (lmao, do I look like I know how that shit works?)

NICKNAME.      Jenny, Jen, bumblebee

GENDER.         cis woman

HEIGHT.     5′0″ / 152 cm.

AGE.    26

ZODIAC.         Libra

SPOKEN LANGUAGES.    English primarily, but she is conversational in Spanish, French, Russian, and Italian. And she’s probably working on a few more. 

𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

HAIR COLOR.         Not dirty blonde nor platinum but a golden blonde

EYE COLOR.         Bright, clear blue

SKIN TONE.         Very fair with cool undertones.

BODY TYPE.         Slender, but just so slightly pear-shaped since she’d start to fill out after getting out from under Agatha. 

ACCENT.        A rather posh sounding British accent (that you should absolutely make fun of her for)

VOICE.        Still deciding on a voice claim, but I know that she’s very soft spoken with a sort of melodic way of speaking. I can’t think of how to describe it well, but one of the considerations I have for her voice claim is Princess Diana? Also Diana Dors? idk, I haven’t chosen one. 

DOMINANT HAND.        Right. Although, if you think she didn’t try to teach herself to be ambidextrous, you would be wrong.

POSTURE.        She does have a habit to diminish herself, especially when intimidated, which results in her shoulders rounding forward and her head sort of dropping. But otherwise, she has fairly good posture, but does have the tendency to clasp her hands in front of her, which tends to bow her shoulders forward. 

SCARS.        Much more than you’d expect on someone like her. The largest concentration is on back and the backs of her thighs, which are covered in laceration scars.  She also has a few scars on other parts of her body, like her left elbow from a break that she suffered, as well as a scar above her eye from getting hit with something Agatha threw at her. 

TATTOOS.        None.

BIRTHMARKS.         Nothing notable. A handful on different places of her body, like near her belly button. Also has light freckles on the tops of her shoulders and on her cheeks. 

MOST NOTICEABLE FEATURE(S).        Her eyes are probably the most notable thing about her. They’re really large and bright and she has long, thick eyelashes. So, they’re probably the most notable thing about her face. She also has dimples in her right cheek.

𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 !

PLACE OF BIRTH.          Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England (verse dependent)

HOMETOWN.            Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England (verse dependent)

BIRTH WEIGHT.         ????

BIRTH HEIGHT.         ????

MANNER OF BIRTH.        Natural birth after a difficult pregnancy.

FIRST WORDS.         She doesn’t know. There’s no one for her to ask. (it was probably something like daddy or mommy or milk. Nothing particularly worthy of mention)

SIBLINGS.         None

PARENTS.         Magnus Honey and Vivian Trunchbull

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT.         Her parent’s involvement in her life was tragically brief because her mother died in a car accident when she was two and her father committed suicide/was murdered when she was five. However, both Vivian and Magnus loved their daughter immensely and doted on her as a baby and toddler. There’s plenty of photos of them on picnics on the weekends or her mother holding her on her lap. Unfortunately though, once Vivian died, Magnus threw himself into his work and recruited his sister-in-law to help care for Jenny while he attended to his medical practice. As a result, he wasn’t present enough to truly notice the way Agatha was treating his daughter and Jenny didn’t dare mention it. So, as a result, he continued to leave his daughter under the care of a woman who did not have her well-being in mind. However, that isn’t to say he didn’t love his daughter because he did, but his attention was often split and he couldn’t often be fully present for her. And of course, after he died, everything basically went to shit.

𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 !

OCCUPATION.         Year One or Kindergarten teacher, depending where she’s living in the verse.

CURRENT RESIDENCE.           Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England (verse dependent)

CLOSE FRIENDS.         Other teachers who I really should actually develop as NPCs. Also the little old lady who lives next door to her who she shares recipes and gardening tips with who I have not chosen a name for. 

RELATIONSHIP STATUS.          In canon, single

FINANCIAL STATUS.         Middle class. She does make a teacher’s salary after all. So, naturally, she is a bit better off in England than in America. 

DRIVER’S LICENSE.         Yes. As long as she’s not living in a big American city, she drives an older model Honda Fit/Toyota Prius

CRIMINAL RECORD.         None.

VICES.        Not really

𝐬𝐞𝐱 & 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 !

SEXUAL ORIENTATION.         Pansexual/demisexual. Basically, she mostly cares about how safe and secure you make her feel. That is her sexuality.

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION.         Panromantic. This bby will fall in love with anyone and everyone. 

PREFERRED EMOTIONAL ROLE.       submissive  |  dominant |  switch.

PREFERRED SEXUAL ROLE.       submissive  |  dominant  |  switch.

LIBIDO.         Low when single and potentially lower than average-to-average when she has a partner

TURN ON’S.        Kindness, goodness, having manners, being well-read, being good with kids, thoughtfulness. Showing consideration for her well-being. Those sorts of things.

TURN OFF’S.         Being unkind to children or service workers or animals. She’s not a fan of people being unkind to anyone, but especially those who are especially vulnerable. Ignorance. Showing aggression towards her. Just being gross and unkind and willfully ignorant.

LOVE LANGUAGE.     Jenny can express her love in a lot of ways, but acts of service is probably the most common. She will happily make you your favorite meal or do something that you dread doing as a way to show you she loves you. That isn’t to say that she won’t tell you too and really, she will employ all of the love languages, it’s just that acts of services is most common. As for the way that she best understands someone’s love is likely a cross between words of affirmation and quality time. That isn’t to say that she isn’t receptive to however someone expresses their love to her. Honestly, just doing more than the bare minimum is probably enough for her to appreciate you.

RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES.        Jenny is a hopeless romantic. She is one of those people who can fall in love with someone on the train and invent a whole future with that person, all before she reaches her stop. The trouble tends to be with her pursuing those same people. She doesn’t really know how to go about approaching someone with romance in mind, so, she is much more likely to befriend someone and try and work herself up to asking them on a date that way. Like her love language suggests, she is caregiver through and through, so she often dotes and cares for those who she has an interest in. Of course, she’d do that with any person she cared for, platonic or otherwise, so it’s not really a sure bet. 

𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 !

CHARACTER’S THEME SONG.        “My Own Little Corner” from Roger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella

HOBBIES TO PASS TIME.        Sewing, quilting, knitting, embroidering, creative writing, reading, and watching old black and white movies. 

MENTAL ILLNESSES.     PTSD and general anxiety disorder.

PHYSICAL ILLNESSES.         I think she might have some joint issues from her childhood? But nothing serious. 

LEFT OR RIGHT BRAINED.        Right brained?

PHOBIAS.       Guns. Being drowned.  Dark, confining spaces. Being trapped. Losing more people she loves.

SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL.         Not great.

VULNERABILITIES.         Has a tendency to be incredibly timid and will often bend to the will of others. Easily frightened and threatened. She’s kind of just a nervous rabbit.

TAGGED BY: @dxspereaux

TAGGING: whomever

[good--bye--binary]

They/Them or She/Her

Happy Priiiiiiiiiiiiiide!!! 🌈🏳️‍🌈

I got a couple of pics in before heading out to the Chicago Pride Parade today and even talked my mom into taking a couple selfies with me while we were there!

I’m also in the process of coming out to every person I know that I haven’t yet. Most of these are people that are very important to me, but either I don’t get to see them very often and/or they’re more conservative and not at all educated on LGBTQ issues. To that end, I finally wrote a coming out letter and I thought I’d post it here just in case anyone else wanted to use portions of it! 😁

Dear ________,

In case you didn’t already know, this month is LGBTQ+ Pride Month. Both because of this and, more importantly, because I respect and cherish our relationship, I feel compelled to tell you that I am transgender. Specifically, I am non-binary, genderfluid, and transfeminine (more on all of those terms later). Although I have always questioned my gender, I came out to myself in November of 2016. Now I feel it is the right time for absolutely everyone to know.

I have written, deleted, rewritten, and revised this letter many times over many months because I want it to be as clear as possible. To that end, I thought it best to organize it as a list of questions directed towards myself, questions that I would expect you to have. Of course if you ever want me to explain something more, an answer doesn’t make sense, or you have a question that isn’t on here, PLEASE TALK TO ME. You might find that reading these questions and answers are enough, but if you don’t, I would much rather you talk to me directly rather than speculate, be confused, or turn to the internet which may have misleading or inaccurate information. On this last point, I don’t just mean anti-LGBTQ+ websites and organizations; gender is a very complicated and personal experience, so even pro-LGBTQ+ literature may define or explain terms in ways that are different from how I apply them to my gender experience.

Q1. How do you know/what makes you think you’re transgender? A1. Like almost all LGBTQ+ people will tell you, I always knew I was somehow different from most of the other kids. For me, it was about never feeling completely comfortable or understood by boys and men. For as long as I can remember, I have not only preferred the company of girls and women, but I have never felt “like one of the boys.” My closest friends have always been (and continue to be) women. Even in films, TV shows, video games, novels, and short stories, I almost immediately identify with female characters, but rarely do I do the same with male characters.

Have I been able to “fit in” with boys/men in the past? Yes, of course I have, because society has always suggested that I should and that there would be consequences if I didn’t. Did I enjoy the act of having to hide, censor, and think very deliberately about my behavior so that I wasn’t bullied or seen as weird? Absolutely not. I went to sleepovers at my male friends’ houses in grade school, but I hated them. I would get terrible anxiety as the scheduled day came closer and once I got there, I couldn’t wait for them to be over. I hated “acting like a boy.” It brought me literal pain and discomfort.

These feelings of pain, discomfort, and anxiety are symptoms of what is known as dysphoria. Dysphoria is an experience that nearly all transfolk experience. Euphoria is the feeling that everything is perfect—being in a state of mind that is complete bliss and one that you hope will never end. Dysphoria is the opposite of that. It’s the feeling that everything is wrong—a mental and emotional state of torture that feels like it will swallow you up and crush your spirit forever. When applied to transfolk specifically, dysphoria is what we used to mean when we said things like “I feel like a man trapped in a woman’s body” or vice versa. That phrase typically isn’t used any more because it implies that a person is only a man if they have a “male body”/a woman if they have a “female body,” but the intended meaning is the same.

I know that I’m transgender because I experience dysphoria. There are days that I look at myself and I just want to throw up because I don’t feel like I look right from a gender perspective. It feels like I’ve hijacked some other person’s body, like there’s a disconnect between my mind and the person I see in the mirror. Some days I look at my men’s clothes and putting them on feels like putting on clothes made of fire or acid. I see the hair on my legs and I want to rip each and every one of them out. This is dysphoria and it feels terrible.

Q2. What do you do when you feel this way? A2. Before I came out in November of 2016, I just buried it. As a child, I of course had no idea why I felt this way. Not only that, but even in the 1990s society wasn’t ready to talk about gender the way we talk about it now, so the idea of saying I was transgender could never cross my mind because there was next to no representation of transfolk. But now, when my dysphoria hits, I don’t avoid it. I listen to my body, think to myself, “Ok, so you’re not a man today,” and adjust my gender presentation accordingly. This brings me to my specific labels of being non-binary and genderfluid.

Traditionally in Western/American culture, we think of gender as a binary experience—everyone is either a man or a woman. Even most transfolk that you may be familiar with, like Caitlyn Jenner, Jazz Jennings, Laverne Cox, and Chaz Bono, are all binary transfolk. They identify as the “opposite” gender they were assigned at birth. Being non-binary means that I don’t completely identify as a man OR as a woman. Some non-binary people identify as more male than female, more female than male, or feel that they have no gender at all (this is known as being agender). However, I also identify as genderfluid, which means that similar to how water (or any fluid) in a glass can move fluidly in a glass depending on how you tilt it, my gender also moves fluidly.

Try thinking about gender as a spectrum (which nearly all psychologists agree it is), a line from 0 to 10. On one end, you have the feeling of being completely male all of the time and on the other side being completely female.

Though it is impossible to qualify with any kind of numbers, I would say my gender identity varies from day-to-day anywhere between a 4 and and a 10. Because I am more likely to be on the feminine side of the spectrum (6-10), I can also say that I’m transfeminine, meaning that while I don’t identify as a woman every single day (and thus am not a trans woman), I do, on average, tend to feel more like a woman than a man.

So, on days that I’m at a 4 or a 5, I probably just look like what you would expect a man to look like. However, if I’m at a 7, maybe I’ll wear “mens clothes” but also wear some make-up and/or nail polish. If I’m at a 9 or 10, I probably will wear “womens clothes,” make-up, a stuffed bra, and sometimes a wig. However, no matter what my gender expression/presentation is, I’m always non-binary.

Q3. Does this mean you’re a crossdresser? A3. No. Crossdressing is a hobby, which is totally fine if that’s what you’re into. It usually refers to men who always identify as men but find it “fun” to dress in women’s clothes. When I’m a man, I wear men’s clothes. When I’m a woman, I wear women’s clothes. It’s not a fetish or a hobby. I dress for whatever my gender is that day.

Q4. Does this mean you’re gay? A4. Because my gender is constantly shifting, labels like straight, gay, lesbian, and bisexual don’t apply to me. A person’s sexuality is defined not only by who they’re attracted to, but also their own gender. A man who is a attracted to men is gay. A woman who is attracted to men and women is bi. I am only attracted to women, but I myself am neither a man or a woman, so I can’t say that I’m straight, nor can I say that I’m a lesbian. Therefore, it’s most accurate for me to say that I’m attracted to women and just leave it at that.

Q5. What am I supposed to call you now? Are you changing your name? A5. I still go by Rich. If I’m in a very public place (like when placing an order at Starbucks for example) and I’m identifying/presenting as a woman and don’t want to get clocked as transgender, then I use the name Christina.

The only big change is that I don’t go by gendered pronouns (he/him or she/her). Like most non-binary people, I go by the gender neutral they/them. For example, a friend of mine wouldn’t say, “That’s my friend, Rich. He is an English teacher.” Instead, that friend would say, “This is my friend, Rich. They are an English teacher.” You might notice that I changed the gender preference on Facebook to reflect this (i.e. “Rich has changed their profile picture”).

Also, in general, I do not appreciate being addressed with terms/phrases like “Hey man” or “What’s up, dude?” I understand that most of the time when people use “man” or “dude,” they don’t mean it in a gendered way, but it still really aggravates my dysphoria to be called “dude,” even if I’m identifying/presenting as more masculine.

I also understand and can respect that having to think about my pronouns like this may seem strange and/or difficult to remember, but all I ask is that you try your best and definitely don’t misgender me on purpose.

Q6. Are you going to have “the surgery”/a sex change? A6. Just for the record, the term “sex change” isn’t used any more; the medical term is gender reassignment surgery (or GRS). But no, I am not. I do not plan on undergoing any kind of surgery to change my sex nor do I plan on taking hormones. My wardrobe and gender pronouns are enough to qualm any dysphoria.

I know that this is a lot to take in, both literally in the sense that it was almost 2,000 words long and uses terms you might never have heard of before, but also that it might be emotionally difficult, so thank you if you’ve made it this far into this letter. All I can say is that I wanted to come out to you because I love you and because I care about our relationship. I don’t want to be ashamed or hide who I am from you any more. Take as much time as you need to process this and again, please, if you have any more questions or concerns, talk to me. You can call me, text me, or write me a letter of your own, whatever makes you most comfortable.

Much thanks and even more love, Rich

[fly-pow-bye]

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Mojo The Great”

Written by: Jake Goldman

Written & Storyboarded by: John West, Angela Zhang

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

No, he isn’t!

I was just talking about how I didn't think one character's portrayal in a reboot was as good as the originals, and this one is a far better example of that! I make it no secret that I am not a big fan of the reboot’s interpretation of Mojo Jojo. I mean, I get it; his manner of speaking was probably considered to be too close to broken English, but they could have found something else other than "silly monkey with a silly hat."

Well, aside from him dressing up in women's clothing, of course. Thankfully, this aspect was toned down in Season 2, and doesn't appear to exist in Season 3 outside of one tiny scene in Not So Secret Service. Season 3 is also going to try to improve his character, with a whole episode about him trying to be great.

He gets a good start, as the episode opens with Discount Jojo wrecking a city with his giant robot, calling himself the greatest villain ever. A tour bus drives on by, the tour guide talking about how he's one of the average villains of Townsville.

I can see this episode as a response to people who criticized Jojo's character in the reboot; throughout the entire episode, Discount Jojo is called "not so great", and I do not disagree with that. I mean, he's supposed to be the arch-nemesis.

Angered by this accusation of being average, Discount Jojo grabs the bus and throws it, only for it to be caught by the Powerpuff Girls, with Buttercup even threatening to break two of his legs if he doesn't surrender. Discount Jojo says he doesn't even know the meaning of the word, leading to a running gag about a word-a-day calendar so good, they used it for the title sequence.

After Buttercup crushes him with a torn-off top end of a skyscraper while Bubbles distracts him with cute pictures of hedgehogs, all planned by Blossom, we cut to a Breaking News segment hosted by Bob and Nick, the sportscasters from Derby Dollies who are totally not named after anyone in particular.

This is another episode where each of the Powerpuff Girls' distinct personalities come into play. Blossom’s excellent planning skills, which was mocked in the last episode, Buttercup’s incredible strength, as this show’s "interest" for beefy arms continues, and Bubbles’ undeniable charm, which, okay, I guess. Don't they all have super-strength? Don't tell this episode!

Discount Jojo is completely insecure about being not-so-great, so he decides to enact a plan, using his...

Voice-Change-A-Ma-Jig...♫♬By Mojo♬♫

That's one of the big running gags in this episode: Discount Jojo has his own jingle for his inventions now, which he will only use in this episode. He has three different settings on that thing: Professor, Mayor, and...Mrs. Keane? Okay, I can understand that Discount Jojo probably didn't look up if she's married or not. For the record, this show has her still being single in the episode after the next.

He puts it on Mayor and attempts to call Bubbles. I will be honest: I am surprised they did not just make Discount Jojo use a very unconvincing falsetto that Bubbles believes in to fit in with those "oh, that silly Blonde" jokes they do with her.

Instead, they do something a little bit different: Jojo, in a very unconvincing way of talking that isn't exactly the Mayor, an improvement to Jojo's character, tells Bubbles that his greatest foe is at it again. Bubbles starts naming villains that are not what Discount Jojo is expecting, as apparently there are far worse and/or notable villains than him. Who, exactly?

"Morbucks?" Of course Princess gets the first mention; the crew loves her for some reason! Nonetheless, she doesn't appear in this episode.

"Fuzzy Lumpkins?" Wait, he still exists in this reboot? This episode doesn't prove it.

"The Fashionistas?" Not them, it's not a good episode.

"Pack Rat?" Oh, that one villain that only appeared twice in Season 1 and never again, even though his last appearance has a still unresolved cliffhanger? Not him.

"Manboy?" No, not him. Three appearances is enough, really, and only one of them was anywhere close to good.

"The Gangreen Gang?" No, their leader is too busy with the best thing to happen to the Powerpuff Girls since McCracken left Cartoon Network.

"The Amoeba Boys?" Yes, the Amoeba Boys are considered bigger threats in this reboot than Discount Jojo. Sadly, we will probably never find out who they think is a good replacement for the late Chuck McCann. And if you think that's bad...

"Him?" Yes, it took this long for her to say Him. One would think the series' equivalent to the devil should be #1, but he's put below the Amoeba Boys somehow.

"Silico?" I wish; that cliffhanger with the virus robots really needs an actual conclusion that doesn't make him a complete joke.

"Allegro?" Oh, don't remind me.

Discount Jojo decides not to let this gag continue forever, because it sure feels like it, but Bubbles has only a slightly higher opinion of him than everyone else in this episode: he's good, but not great. Using the Mayor voice, Discount Jojo leads the Powerpuff Girls to a dark alley and zaps them with a ray gun.

Buttercup wakes up in a glass chamber, only to find that her sisters have become grossly out of their character, and far more than usual this time! Blossom is now a stupid girl that only talks about her love for corn dogs. Bubbles introduces herself by burping and talking in a stereotypical Italian mobster accent.

Discount Jojo shows up outside of the glass, and Buttercup can't wait to break through it and give him those two broken legs she's been talking about.

Unfortunately, Buttercup can’t get through the glass; she can't even lift a stool to break it! See, this is to show the one thing that makes Buttercup Buttercup is her super-strength, which nobody else in the show has! If anyone else in that glass had super-strength, this plot would have been over far too soon!

He reveals that he managed to steal all of the things that made the Powerpuff Girls great with his Trait-A-Ma-Jig ♫♬By Mojo♬♫, all one of them each. Discount Jojo can do plans now, even though he was able to do those just fine before. He has Buttercup's incredible strength, which, again, features gratuitous muscles. And, he has Bubbles' cute charm, which he barely uses outside of a montage.

With a montage, of course. He sings a song about how great he is, while using his traits of super-strength to break an armored car, enough charm to steal candy from a baby without anyone hating him for it, and ability to play chess very well. If this was going to lead to a message where the only way for him to be great is to be himself, I would appreciate this a lot more, but they never get there. That might be because there isn't a lot of "himself" in this reboot.

Despite all of this strutting, Buttercup calls him great...in a sarcastic way. He decides the next step is to destroy Townsville, because that would make him a great villain. It's definitely more Mojo than wanting diamond tiaras and stealing lipstick.

Rain-A-Ma-Jig...♫♬By Mojo♬♫

One of three times this jingle joke pops up. I wouldn't say there's any real payoff to this joke, it's just there. This Rain-A-Ma-Jig fires a laser at the clouds, causing it to rain hard enough to cause Townsville to flood. He is so obssessed with wanting to be great, he doesn't even think of a way to save himself, but he never figures that one out even with Blossom's planning.

It even interrupts what looks like the usual newscaster, who was trying to sing "Singin’ In The Rain". He gets interrupted by the flood as soon as the crew realized they would have to pay royalties to MGM if he sang one more syllable.

Buttercup has to find a way out to stop this rain from happening, and she has the bright idea. Oh, so they do know the other girls have super-strength; it's just that being stupid and having no charm makes you forget that! She convinces Bubbles that Blossom said that she couldn't break through the wall, and this leads to a long scene where Blossom repeatedly gets bashed into a glass wall, saying that she's okay. See, it's funny because Blossom is getting hurt.

While that's happening, Discount Jojo’s plot turns into a Noah's Ark plot, where Jojo tries to save two of each animal and puts them on a boat. No, the context doesn't make this any less out of place. There's only one joke here: he cruelly disallows another rabbit from entering his boat because he already has two of them.

The Powerpuff Girls show up and immediately get hit by the anchor. At least here, it's not just stand still for ten seconds, even if that would fit Blossom's character at that point. Buttercup then tells him that he's not great because he can only beat them because of the power-stealing, and Jojo responds by giving back their traits. Even with Blossom's ability to make plans/brains, Jojo was able to make a critical error. At least that's consistent!

To be fair, that's actually a good way to tie into the episode's themes: Buttercup ends up using Jojo's desperate need to be great as a way to get him to give back their traits. I try to find the positive in everything, and this ending kind of counts. It only took them until the end of the episode.

The newscasters give the show a break from actually animating anything by slideshowing everything else that happened. They drained the water with a comically large drain, and destroyed the Rain-A-Ma-Jig.

In the end, Jojo looks at that all-important calendar to see that the word of the day is "doofus". Huh, Doofus Jojo. It has a nice ring to it; it certainly fits someone who doesn't even know how to use a word-a-day calendar. The episode ends with nothing changing, nothing satisfying, and nothing that makes me want to call him Mojo. I am not surprised.

Does the title fit?

He never proves himself to be great, even with the one trait he steals from each Powerpuff Girl.

How does it stack up?

This episode can only work based on a severe misunderstanding of the characters, and while that's normal for the reboot, this episode loves to remind me of that. Mojo the Great, more like Episode the Terrible.

Next, Princess raps, and the Puffs sing. No beatbox solo this time.

← Blossom³ ☆ Trouble Clef →

[everybodyhatesrand]

20 QUESTIONS TAG!!

Thank you for tagging me @ravenonthetardis​! I’m really jazzed about this! 

Rules: answer 20 questions so your followers can get to know you better and tag 20 followers you would like to get to know better. 

Name: Sally (Emily and I do the podcast together, but in case you ever doubted, I do the social media lol) 

Nickname: My family calls me Sal - others frequently do as well, but I don’t enjoy it from anyone other than family 

Zodiac Sign: Pisces baby 

Height: almost 5′5″

Languages Spoken: English and some French 

Nationality: American 

Average Hours of Sleep: oh boy...between 4 and 5? If I’m lucky? It’s an issue

Favorite Fruit: is melon a fruit? [hold I’m googling]. Wikipedia says yes. I love the tricolor melons: watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew. Can’t get enough of that shiz. Also loooooove oranges 

Favorite Season: Fall !!!! Leaves !!! Sweaters !!! 

Favorite Scent: I’m assuming this is like soaps and lotions and stuffs? I like coconutty hand soaps and I once had this honeysuckle lotion that I’d kill to find again. Also love lemongrass oil 

Favorite Color: Orange to look at, green to wear! 

We just answered this question on our recent Q&A episode!  Check it out if you want to hear me answer more questions!

Favorite Animal: Pigeons LOL. If I wasn’t deathly afraid of needles I’d get a lil pigeon tattoo on my wrist. I also love turtles and am still mourning the loss of my beloved box turtle, Darius, all these years later 

Favorite Candy: Nestle Bunch-a-Crunch!!!!!!!! 

Favorite Holiday: Thanksgiving is a colonialist trash holiday I know, but I really love pie and stuffing and last year Emily and I just marathoned Lord of the Rings and I made her try spaghetti squash and it was really lovely 

Favorite Fictional Character: myself as a properly functional person ha! - but ACTUALLY: this is an impossible question. The character I’ve been thinking most about lately is Ronan Lynch from The Raven Cycle because my friend is reading those books for the first time and also because I’ve been thinking about unrequited love - for a project, not because I’m pathetic (well, also because I’m pathetic) - and Ronan is the only person I trust to hand unrequited love 

Coffee, tea, or hot cocoa: Tea! I’m a slut for English Breakfast Tea 

Number of blankets you sleep with: Usually 2 unless it’s real cold 

Dream Trip: I just spent 35 hours in a Uhaul over the course of 3 days so the idea of traveling seems abhorrent to me right now, so the most manageable dream trip I can think of is up to Seattle, which is the next city I am contemplating uprooting my life for 

Last book you read cover to cover: I just got back from a beach vacation where I read [cover to cover] Cloud Atlas by David Mitchel (okay I finished CA on vacation but you know), The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang, and Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. I also read half of Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, which I hope to finish this weekend 

When was your blog created? Um December 2017/January 2018. I can’t remember if we did it before or after the podcast launched, but sometime around the new year

Okay, kiddos. If you want to play -

@the-woman-who-read-everything​ @slannen20​ @bartonsedai​ @a-perplexing-puzzle​ @the-alexandrian-alchemist​ @amandangerous​ @sliauwliauw​ @sarah-sedai​ @anyboli​ @bendydick-cucumberpatch​ @wait4meinhell​ @gladysplummer​ @crazyaboutlefandoms​ @minnielikes​ @stardust-and-intention​ @thebroadwayjunkie​ @just-a-weave​ @queerlyliable​ @oathbringer-radiant​ @myloveofbook​

[newstfionline]

How a Glass Terrarium Changed the World

By Jen Maylack, The Atlantic, Nov. 12, 2017

If you’ve ever eaten a banana, changed a car tire, or accidentally killed an orchid, then you have the Wardian case to thank. A predecessor of the modern terrarium, it held plants, and was made of glass and closed such that it would self-regulate its internal climate.

The case was invented by Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, an East London doctor and amateur horticulturist. Ward’s attempts at a home garden had failed, he reported, on account of “volumes of smoke issuing from surrounding manufactories.” In 1829, he accidentally discovered a solution when he sealed a moth chrysalis and some mold in a glass jar. Moisture would rise during the day and condense on the glass, and then return to the ground when the evening cooled, “thus keeping the earth always in the same degree of humidity,” he wrote. After about a week, he could see the growth of a seedling fern and grass.

The technology Ward used was readily available, but the concept of a sealed terrarium was groundbreaking. While glasshouses were relatively common among professionals, the theory hadn’t been applied on a smaller scale. Greenhouses use solar radiation to heat the space, creating a warmer environment that is favorable to tropical plants. Both systems use similar technology and structure, but greenhouses usually require additional watering and human interference.

The Wardian case, by contrast, is an almost completely sealed environment that uses the process of condensation and evaporation to maintain humidity. The system was self-regulating, and it did not often require additional watering. London’s 1851 Great Exhibition included a Wardian case with a plant that allegedly had not been watered in 18 years.

Prevailing thought held that plants needed constant exposure to fresh air to grow during sea voyages. By sealing the box closed and using glazed windows, Ward broke with convention. This was beneficial on a sea voyage where freshwater supplies could be limited, and sailors often didn’t understand how to take care of plants. Ward’s experiment quickly earned the support of George Loddiges, owner of the Loddiges and Sons Nursery in Hackney. The foremost nursery in London, Loddiges traded plants with clients worldwide. He saw the potential in Ward’s case: A sealed means of plant transport would present valuable commercial potential.

By 1833, the pair was ready to send two Wardian cases of plants to Australia. The ship returned a year later with a load of thriving Australian specimens. “These plants were placed upon deck, and were not once watered during the whole voyage, yet on their arrival at the docks they were in the most healthy and vigorous condition,” Ward wrote.

Before the Wardian case, plant transit was principally conducted by shipping seeds. To succeed, packers needed a strong understanding of horticulture to harvest the seeds at the correct time and properly dry them. According to the historian Stuart McCook, two techniques were common for transport: covering seeds in beeswax and storing them in honey, or placing them in sealed, silk-lined tin canisters. These methods yielded low success due to pests, seed rot, and desiccation.

Previous attempts to transport germinated plants were stymied by the insistence that fresh air was necessary. Plants often died on these journeys due to vermin, extreme temperature changes, saltwater spray, and sun exposure. In 1770, the naturalist John Ellis recommended using a small box with wire coverings to prevent rats from climbing inside, and as late as 1819 the botanist John Livingstone recommended sending a gardener with every shipment. The ships attempting to transport these doomed goods were nicknamed “floating gardens”; the high failure rate forced the crews to carry many extra plants as backup.

The Wardian case brought an end to the floating gardens. As Loddiges wrote of the invention in 1842, “whereas we used to lose 19 out of 20 cases during the voyage, 19 out of 20 is now the average that survive.”

After the successful Australian journey, Ward’s writings on the case were published and discussed with excitement within the biological-research community. A Scottish botanist named A.A. Maconochie had created a similar terrarium almost a decade earlier, but his failure to publish meant that Ward received credit as the sole inventor. The use of Wardian cases quickly spread among professional traders and amateur horticulturalists.

The successful ecological transports spurred interest among the general population, too. Although Ward wrote about the case’s potential improvements for the impoverished, it was ultimately middle-class homes that rushed to add a Wardian case to their drawing room as a decorative object that invoked Eden in the face of England’s dawning industrial revolution. Victorians, notoriously intent on controlling nature, were beset by a fern craze. The case also caused a horticultural boom, as ships arrived with new varieties of orchids and planting beds. Knowledge of Ward’s work became so ubiquitous that in 1842 Alfred Tennyson even referenced the “crystal cases” in his poem “Amphion.”

The case also transformed the diets of all social classes by facilitating the transport of fruits that are common today. A Wardian case carried the banana to Chatsworth, England, where the Cavendish banana was developed and shipped abroad in 1838. Today the large, seedless variety is virtually the only kind available in grocery stores. A Wardian case was used to bring mango grafts to Australia, and it facilitated the import of tropical fruit varieties for European greenhouse development and colonial planting. By lowering shipping-mortality rates, the Wardian case helped shape modern expectations for the year-round availability of fruit.

The Wardian case also helped bring about the end of China’s tea monopoly. Great Britain had been growing opium in India since 1757, which it then traded to China in exchange for tea. The tea trade accounted for a 10th of the empire’s gross product, which translated to important taxes for the nation. After the Opium Wars, however, the British feared that China would legalize opium production in retaliation, and quickly moved to balance the equation by introducing tea into the Himalayas.

Robert Fortune, a former curator at Chelsea Physic Garden, secretly set out with the East India Company in 1848 to gather tea plants out of China. This task had previously been viewed as impossible because of the small number of seeds able to survive the journey, but the Wardian case offered a chance for success. Fortune’s first trip failed miserably, but the following year he successfully transported some 13,000 plants from Shanghai to Assam. This spurred the growth of the Indian tea trade and broke China’s monopoly over the product. Once a luxury good, tea became available at cheaper prices for general consumption. In 1858, Fortune would use Wardian cases to smuggle Chinese tea to the United States just before the Civil War.

The vulcanization of rubber in the mid-19th century helped facilitate the spread of bicycles, and later automobiles. However, Brazil held a monopoly over rubber production in South America. The Wardian case allowed the English to secure their own rubber crop in the 1870s when Henry Wickham purchased hevea seeds at the bargain price of £10 per 10,000 seeds. Seventy thousand rubber-tree seeds were shipped from Brazil to London, germinated in Kew Gardens, and then shipped via Wardian case to Ceylon. Rubber plantations in Asia were soon more efficient and cost-effective than tapping trees in the Amazon. This diversified global production and helped create access to materials vital for the development of modern travel, but in the process destroyed the Brazilian rubber industry.

Shipping cash crops and breaking agricultural monopolies had enormous influence, but arguably the Wardian case’s most significant contribution to European colonialism came with the spread of malaria-fighting cinchona. Cinchona bark contains quinine, an alkaloid that kills malaria parasites. Quinine was originally dissolved in tonic water for preventative consumption (reportedly, British colonials began adding gin to hide the bitter, medicinal taste). At the time, malaria served to limit Europeans’ ability to physically colonize within tropical zones.

In 1860 Clements Markham used Wardian cases to smuggle the cinchona plant out of South America. By 1861, cinchona crops were planted in India for distillation into quinine on a large scale, and spread to the Dutch across Southeast Asia. Cinchona production was essential to imperial growth. “Without it,” the historian Daniel R. Headrick insists, “European colonialism would have been almost impossible in Africa, and much costlier elsewhere in the tropics.” The Wardian case emboldened European powers to continue global expansion. And once those colonies were established, the Wardian case was also deployed to carry goods like spices and coffee to support the new territories.

Today, the Wardian case is most commonly seen in its decorative successor, the modern terrarium. That simple ornament betrays the massive impact of Ward’s invention. Most contemporary diets can trace their roots back to the Wardian case. The case helped make tea affordable, created rubber plantations that would support Henry Ford’s Model T, and globalized botany.

[tailsbeth-writes]

Get to know me better...

I was tagged by @norwegianssweethearts, thanks!

🍩 O N E 🍩 1) Name: Taylor || Nickname: Tails 2) Zodiac sign: Leo 3) Height: 5′10 || Orientation: Bisexual 4) Ethnicity: Scottish 5) Favourite fruit: Strawberries || Favourite Skam season: Too hard to choose! 6) Favourite book: So difficult to choose, The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp and Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan come to mind || Favourite flower: Sunflowers 7)Favorite scent: Patchouli 8) Favorite animal: Giraffe 9) Coffee, tea, or hot cocoa?: Tea 10) Average hours of sleep: Ha! I really don’t have an average. 11) Cats or dogs?: Controversially I like both. 12) Favorite fictional character: Right now, Elio from Call Me By Your Name. 13)Dream trip: New York or Japan 14)When was your blog created?:  This blog - last year, main - years ago, I can’t even remember. 15)What do you post about?: Here I post my writing - mainly fanfic plus some original poetry + prose. 16) Do you get asks on a regular basis?: When requests are open, yip! 17) Aesthetic: I live in autumnal colours all year round but I’m all about cherry blossom too. 18)Favorite band/ artist?: Right now I’m listening to Troye Sivan and Jens Lekman a lot 19)Fictional character I’d date: Rosa from Brookylyn 99 (she’s badass) or Stiles from Teen Wolf (he’s adorable) 20)Hogwarts house: Gryffindor 🍪 T W O 🍪 1) Countries I’ve lived in: Scotland, England & Germany. 2) Favourite fandom: SKAM/Riverdale/Phandom (most of the time I just laugh at how batshit everyone goes in these fandoms, SKAM has calmed down a bit) 3) Languages you speak: English, a little French & German. 4) Favourite film of 2016: Off the top of my head - Hunt for the Wilderpeople or Sing Street. 5) Last article you read: It was about how to become a uni lecturer. 6) Shuffle your music library and put your first three songs here: I use spotify so just using my regular playlist; Isaac Gracie - The Death of You & I Stornoway - Zorbing One Night Only - Just for Tonight 7) Last thing you bought online: A make up organiser 8) How would your friends describe you?: Honest & confident, good at chatting to people. 9) How would your enemies describe you?: (I don’t think I have enemies, hopefully!) Probably too chatty, I can be argumentative when it comes to certain topics like gay rights. 10) Who would you take a bullet for?: My friends + family.

Not tagging anyone - just do it if you want your followers to know you a little better! <3

[justthatspiffy]

@gingahninjah tagged me, and I love sharing and oversharing

Rules: Answer 20 questions and tag 20 followers you would like to get to 
know better

Name: Jenna

Nickname: Jen sometimes

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Height: 5 ft 5

Ethnicity: A L L  T H E  W H I T E

Orientation: idk probably ace, just chillin

Favourite Fruit(s): raspberries

Favourite Season: fall

Favourite Book(s): The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle also The True Meaning of Smekday is gr8

Favourite Flower(s): English roses

Favourite Animal(s): cat

Favourite Beverage: some real good water, or strawberry lemonade

Average Hours of Sleep: 9-10

Favourite Fictional Characters: Schmendrick, Zuko, Eleven

Number of Blankets You Sleep with: like three

Dream Trip: take me on a nerd tour of New England

Blog Created: 2014

Number of Followers: 282

[jenna-harberts-blog]

In Depth Character Sheet

FULL NAME: Jenna Angelica Harberts MEANING: Jenna means “fair lady” Angelica means “angel” and Harberts was literally just me putting English sounds together NICKNAME: Jen MEANING: Shorter form of Jenna AGE: 15 BIRTHDAY: April 4th ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Aries SPECIES: Witch GENDER: Transfemale ALLERGIES: None SEXUAL PREFERANCE: Heterosexual THEME SONG(S): Breakable - Ingrid Michealson APPEARANCE HAIR COLOR: Dyed Blonde HAIR STYLE AND LENGTH: Slightly below shoulder length EYES COLOR: Brown EYESIGHT: 20/20 HEIGHT: 5′ 10″ WEIGHT: 143 OUTFIT/CLOTHING STYLE: Long skirts and shirts, cute jackets, nothing very revealing DISTINGUISHING MARKS(SCARS,MOLES): none SELF CARE(MAKE UP): Wears makeup, as well as faux breasts FIRST IMPRESSION ON PEOPLE: Stuck in her own head, polite SKIN COLOR: medium BODY TYPE/BUILD: Slim DEFAULT EXPRESSION: Blank face POSTURE: Slightly hunched over PIERCINGS: Ears DESCRIBE THEIR VOICE: low, quiet RELATIONSHIPS MOM: HyeMi Kim HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: Well, until her death DAD: Richard Harberts HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: Good, he is very supportive of her SIBLINGS: None PAST LOVER(S): None CURRENT LOVER: None REACTION TO MEETING SOMEONE NEW: She is queit and polite and will stay on the outskirts if possible ABILITY TO WORK WITH OTHERS: Good, she is perhaps a little too accomadating HOW SOCIABLE(LONER,ETC): Friendly to most, but sticks to her best friends FRIENDS: Daisy Dursley, Hayley Tremletts, Frazer Creevey PETS: None LEAST FAVORITE TYPE OF PERSON: Judgemental -ists AFFINITY WITH…: Art FAVORITE PEOPLE: Strong, kind people LEAST FAVORITE PEOPLE: Those who deadname her PERSONALITY ..WHEN YOU FIRST MEET THEM: Polite, distant ..AS YOU KNOW THEM BETTER(AND THEY LIKE YOU): Free Spirit, Kind, Supportive, Loyal ..AS YOU KNOW THEM BETTER(AND THEY DISLIKE YOU): Distant but polite, if stiff FAVORITE COLOR: White FAVORITE FOOD: Shepherd’s Pie FAVORITE ANIMAL: Deer FAVORITE INSTRUMENT: Piano FAVORITE ELEMENT: Ice LEAST FAVORITE COLOR: Black LEAST FAVORITE FOOD: Shortbread Cookies LEAST FAVORITE ANIMAL: Snakes LEAST FAVORITE INSTRUMENT: Saxophone LEAST FAVORITE ELEMENT: Earth HOBBIES: Any kind of 2D Art USUAL MOOD: Calm and Polite DRINK/SMOKE/DRUGS: No/No/ No DARK VERSION OF SELF: Distrusting, Scared LIGHT VERSION OF SELF: Bright, Accepting HOW SERIOUS ARE THEY: Average CLASS IN AN RPG: Support BELIEVE IN GHOSTS: Yes (IN)DEPENDANT: Dependant SOFT SPOT/VULNERABILITY: Friends and Family OPINION ON SWEARING: No opinion DAREDEVIL VS CAUTIOUS: Daredevil MUSIC TYPE: Disney MOVIE TYPE: Animated BOOK TYPE: Fantasy with a happy ending GAME TYPE: Cards COMFORTABLE TEMPERATURE: 55-60* SLEEPING PATTERN: Sleeps at least 5 hours a night CLEANLINESS/NEATNESS: Moderate DESIRED PET: Owl HOW DO THEY PASS TIME: Drawing, walks, spending time with friends BIGGEST SECRET: Still questions her own validity HERO/WHO THEY LOOK UP TO: Her father WHAT ANIMAL WOULD THEY BE: Doe FEARS: Public Speaking  COMFORTS: Disney, cuddles with friends, Pretty clothes HOW DO THEY ACT WHEN THEY ARE…

SAD: Withdraws into herself HAPPY: Smiles and is more generous than usual ANGRY: Cold AFRAID: Withdraws to the presence of her friends LOVE SOMEONE: Will defend them to any critics, put them before herself, support them any way she can HATE SOMEONE: Tries to avoid them, stays with friends while in their vicinity WANT SOMETHING: Look at it, discuss it with others and debate if she really wants it or if it is a passing wish CONFUSED: Talk it out with others HOW DO THEY REACT TO…

DANGER: Clings onto the most familiar face, lets them take control of the situation SOMEONE THEY HATE WHO HAS A CRUSH ON THEM: Confused PROPOSAL TO MARRY: Flustered and Confused DEATH OF LOVED ONE: Grieves, stress eats DIFFICULT GAME/MATH/ETC: Cries, asks for help from friends but not teachers INJURY: Fixes it, but will ultimately forget about it and possibly make it worse SOMETHING IRRESISTIBLY CUTE: Try to approach it LOSS OF HOURS OF WORK: Cry and take a nap KNOWLEDGE LANGUAGES: English, some household Korean SCHOOLING LEVEL: 5th year FAVORITE SUBJECT: Charms INTERESTED CAREERS: Zoologist HOW GOOD ARE THEY AT PLANNING AHEAD: Not very IMPULSIVE/STRATEGY: Impulsive ROMANCE DO THEY TAKE INITIATIVE: No HOW DO THEY ACT(SHY,ETC): Shyer than normal, but will blurt out random embarrassing things GENTLEMAN/LADYLIKE VS KLUTZY: Cautious GO SLOW VS JUMP INTO: Go slow PROTECTIVE: Yes ACT LIKE FRIENDS OR LOVERS: ...Friends? (WTF is the difference someone explain this shit to me) WHAT KIND OF PRESENTS DO THEY BUY: Small ones, but often expensive TYPE OF KISSER: ?  DO THEY WANT KIDS: Undecided DO THEY WANT TO MARRY: Undecided MAKE GOOD OR BAD DECISIONS: ? ARE THEY ROMANTIC: Yes? GET JEALOUS EASY: No WHAT WOULD HAPPEN ON THEIR DREAM DATE: A walk through the forest, and a picnic OPINION ON SEX: She is not comfortable with it at this time, and does not see herself taking that step for many, many years 

[mastcomm]

How to Deal With the Anxieties of Immigration? Break Into Song

Snow flurries swirled against the window, but the atmosphere inside a Manhattan rehearsal room on a recent Saturday afternoon was comparatively balmy, warmed by the insistent triple meter of son jarocho, folk music from the Gulf of Mexico. Six actors, led by Sinuhé Padilla, a musician who specializes in the style, were working through a climactic moment in “Fandango for Butterflies (and Coyotes),” a new play about immigration by Andrea Thome that will be produced at venues in all five New York City boroughs, starting at La MaMa on Feb. 6.

As the performers strummed lean Mexican mini-guitars called jaranas and stomped their feet on a flattened rehearsal table (a stand-in for the bespoke tarima that will be used in performances), they also reached some dramatic epiphanies.

This was the moment in the play when their characters, all of them immigrants with varying degrees of documentation, cut loose after a night of shared anxieties and hopes — about intermittent contact with far-flung family members, about the looming threat of raids by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), about simply making it through another day in a nation that seems increasingly hostile to their presence.

“I want to kiss her after that,” said Silvia Dionicio, whose character, Rafaela, has been lightly flirting with Pili, played by Frances Ines Rodriguez, throughout the show. Rafaela just danced on the tarima opposite Pili, singing a verse in English about feeling abandoned by her mother, with Pili mirroring it back to her in Spanish. Why not seal their rapport with a smooch?

The play’s director, Jose Zayas, encouraged Dionicio to try it in the next run-through, and it worked, sending Rodriguez into an adorable impromptu swoon.

“Fandango” has emerged from Uncommon Voices, a new-works program of the company En Garde Arts, which staged site-specific productions throughout New York City in the 1980s, but now, under its longtime artistic director Anne Hamburger, has transitioned to works with a social-justice emphasis and a documentary theater aesthetic.

Like “Basetrack Live,” a 2014 En Garde show built from the testimonies of United States Marines returning from service in Afghanistan, “Fandango” began as verbatim theater, with actors reading firsthand accounts Thome gathered from immigrants.

Thome, whose 2013 play “Pinkolandia” told the tale of her own Chilean/German heritage, first reached out to friends and acquaintances. Her sources grew to include a horse groomer from upstate New York who showed her an ankle monitor he is required to wear, and a deli manager in Manhattan who first came on foot to the United States as a teenager, and in the decades since has managed to send enough money back to Guerrero, a state in Mexico, for her mother to buy a house there — but whose undocumented status means she cannot return for a visit.

Hardship was only half of the stories Thome encountered, though. The immigrants she knew and met also spoke with pride of the lives they’ve built and bonds they’ve formed in the United States. That same deli manager, for instance, who is the basis for the character Mariposa, said in an interview that she still plans one day to visit her mother, own a red sports car, and, most importantly, have a child of her own. She’s even picked out a name: Esperanza, Spanish for “hope.” (She declined to give her name for this article.)

Thome was particularly moved, she said in an interview, by the “courage of that act of imagination people undertake when they emigrate, where they say, ‘I’m going to throw everything away, I have no idea who I am going to be.’ It’s mind-blowing and beautiful, and so creative.”

Searching for a way to reflect that creativity, Thome hit upon the idea of putting a group of immigrants, lightly fictionalized from the interviews she’d done, together at a fandango, a sort of Mexican hootenanny where everyone takes part in stomping, strumming, and trading improvised sung verses called décimas.

Padilla, who is composing an original score for the show and who leads a regular Monday night jarocho workshop/jam at City Lore in the East Village, confirmed that a fandango is a plausible meeting place for a group like this, since “60 or 70 percent of the people in fandangos in the U.S. are immigrants.”

Real-life fandangos can stretch into the wee hours, even go on for days. While performances of “Fandango” are not planned to reach such lengths, they will conclude with an extended musical celebration which audience members are welcome to join.

The show’s producers have even promised to waive admission for any patron who shows up with a jarana. (After La MaMa, “Fandango” will play at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center in Queens, Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Staten Island, Lehman Stages and the Point in the Bronx, and Irondale Center in Brooklyn.)

But this is a party with a point, and with an unmistakable political valence in a time when our nation’s immigration debate has risen to a boil of nativism on one side and activism on the other, with immigrants themselves left to struggle for a foothold. (It’s hardly the only critical theatrical representation of United States immigration policy: Waterwell’s “The Courtroom” and “Sanctuary City,” opening next month at New York Theater Workshop, are two more among many.)

In the “Fandango” rehearsal room that recent Saturday, the celebratory mood gave way to intimate reflection as the performers put down their instruments and spoke about their own relationship to the play and its stories.

Jen Anaya, who plays Mariposa, the character based on the deli manager, grew up in Arizona as the granddaughter of braceros, Mexican farm laborers first allowed to work in the United States in the 1940s, then later expelled. “My father was kicked out while my mom was pregnant with me,” said Anaya, who described reading the script for the first time and “sobbing in the subway.”

A few cast members recalled tourist visas employed as shortcuts to residency. Roberto Tolentino, who plays a sort of narrator figure, Johan, said his grandmother, though she had a home and a job in the United States, had to resort to an illegal border crossing to get back to them when her tourist visa was torn up by a border agent and she was sent back to Mexico.

Carlo Albán, who plays the thoughtful Rogelio, came from Ecuador when he was 7 with his entire family, who overstayed their tourist visas in hopes that stateside family members would sponsor them. Complications ensued, and though it was too long ago for him to qualify for DACA, Albán managed to have a thriving career in the America while undocumented, including a yearslong stint as a youngster on “Sesame Street.” He only achieved citizenship in his late 20s.

Andres Quintero, who plays the ankle-monitored horse groomer, Elvin, testified to the steep challenges of even immigrating “legally.” He and his family came from Venezuela when he was 13, but because they were sponsored by a sibling rather than a parent, they had to wait for 10 years, paying taxes and avoiding travel, before being granted citizenship.

“The knowledge the average person has about this issue is so basic,” he said. Gesturing to the street outside, he added, “We live in New York City, and we don’t think this is happening here. But it’s happening right down the street.”

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/how-to-deal-with-the-anxieties-of-immigration-break-into-song/

[takadasaiko]

Useless Blogger Information

I was tagged by @abouttheblacklist

Rules: Tag some other blogs you’d like to get to know better

Nickname: I guess I go by my nickname, which is Jen. The Roomie has a  long nickname for me which is something like “Jen Jenny JenJen Jen”. 

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius I think? I always forget

Height: 5′2′’

Last Thing You Googled: something on the band The Gorillaz

Favorite Music Artist: I don’t think I can pick just one. I love Florence + Machines, Mumford and Sons, Vienna Teng, Imagine Dragons, and a bunch of other random artists.

Song Stuck In My Head: I’ve had California by Yellowcard on repeat the last few days.

Last Movie You Watched: Thor? I think. I watch TV a great deal more than I watch movies.

What Are You Wearing Right Now: Jeans and a sweater

Why Did You Choose Your URL: Okay... so this is the moment when you’re going to see the neon nerd light that flashes over my head. I’ve been asked this story before, so here we go. Everyone gets to know it now lol

I used to be super into art (I still love it, I just don’t have the time most of the time now). I taught myself to draw off of manga that I collected, so I convinced myself that I was going to become a manga artist, move to Japan, and Takada Saiko would be my pen name that I would write under.

Obviously that didn’t happen, but I also used the name for my FFN account, so it sort of just stuck with me over the years. Kind of like the pic of me in the Loki helmet. My fandoms have a way of following me.

Do You Have Any Other Blogs: I do.

What Did Your Last Relationship Teach You: Last romantic relationship? It’s been a while.

Favorite Color: Green.

Average Hours Of Sleep: Around 8, but I average about 4 useful hours.

Favorite Characters: Tom Keen, Elizabeth Keen, Rumplestiltskin, Baelfire, and Loki.

How Many Blankets Do You Sleep With: Several.

Dream Job: I’ve come to the conclusion that if I could find a way to be a fangirl and make a living off of it, that would be utterly fantastic. I have a degree in English lit, which I joke is a degree in fandom, because the program teaches you to pick stories apart, examine the plot and the character development, and then put it back together. I would love to get paid for analyzing my favourites. I’d also love to finish up and publish my novel and be able to make a living off of being a writer. Honestly, as long as I can write I’m pretty happy.

I’ll tag @spooniewithtn, @krism23, @d-evils-advocate21, @anonauthor-a1023,, @whimsyandsomething, and really anyone that would like to fill it out.

[cbaile72-blog]

Everyone Has an Accent

I have an accent. So do you.

I am an immigrant who has spent nearly as much time in the United States as I have in my home country, Spain. I am also the director of Dartmouth’s language programs in Spanish and Portuguese. Both facts explain, but only partly, why I feel a special fondness for the FX drama “The Americans,” in which Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys play Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, a husband-and-wife team of undercover K.G.B. agents living in suburban Washington. I can’t be the only one who nodded approvingly when they were both nominated for Emmys last week.

What interests me as a linguist is that the Jenningses are, as the pilot tells us, “supersecret spies living next door” who “speak better English than we do.” Even their neighbor, an F.B.I. agent on the counterintelligence beat, suspects nothing.

Living as I do, deeply immersed in the work of teaching and learning second languages, it was fun to watch a TV series in which the main characters’ aptitude for them was so central to the plot. Nonetheless, the premise that you can speak a language without any accent at all is a loaded one. You can’t actually do this.

Worse, when we fetishize certain accents and disdain others, it can lead to real discrimination in job interviews, performance evaluations and access to housing, to name just a few of the areas where having or not having a certain accent has profound consequences. Too often, at the hospital or the bank, in the office or at a restaurant — even in the classroom — we embrace the idea that there is a right way for our words to sound and that the perfect accent is one that is not just inaudible, but also invisible.

If you look at the question from a sociolinguistic point of view, having no accent is plainly impossible. An accent is simply a way of speaking shaped by a combination of geography, social class, education, ethnicity and first language. I have one; you have one; everybody has one. There is no such thing as perfect, neutral or unaccented English — or Spanish, for that matter, or any other language. To say that someone does not have an accent is as believable as saying that someone does not have any facial features.

We know this, but even so, at a time when the percentage of foreign-born  residents in the United States is at its highest point in a century, the distinction between “native” and “nonnative” has grown vicious, and it is worth reminding ourselves of it again and again: No one speaks without an accent.

When we say that someone speaks with an accent, we generally mean one of two things: a nonnative accent or a so-called nonstandard accent. Both can have consequences for their speakers. In other words, it is worth acknowledging that people discriminate on the basis of accent within their own language group, as well as against those perceived as language outsiders. The privileged status of the standard accent is, of course, rooted in education and socioeconomic power.

The standard accent is not necessarily the same as the highest-status accent. It is simply the dominant accent, the one you are most likely to hear in the media, the one that is considered neutral. Nonstandard native accents are also underrepresented in the media, and like nonnative accents, are likely to be stereotyped and mocked. Terms like Southern drawl, Midwestern twang or Valley Girl upspeak underscore the layered status attached to particular ways of speaking.

Such judgments are purely social — to linguists, the distinctions are arbitrary. However, the notion of the neutral, perfect accent is so pervasive that speakers with stigmatized accents often internalize the prejudice they face. The recent re-evaluation of the “Simpsons” character Apu provides an important example of how the media and popular culture use accents to make easy — and uneasy — jokes.

When you are learning a language, a marked accent is usually also accompanied by other features, like limited vocabulary or grammatical mistakes. In the classroom, we understand that this is a normal stage in the development of proficiency. My family back in Madrid would have a hard time understanding the Spanish of my English-speaking students in my first-semester classroom.

Later, these same students study abroad in Barcelona or Cuzco or Buenos Aires, and often struggle to make themselves understood. But such is the privilege of English — and this is key — that nobody hearing their American accents presumes that they are less capable, less ambitious or less honest than if their R’s had a nicer trill. Yet this is exactly the kind of assumption that a Spanish accent — and many, many others — is likely to trigger within the United States.

It’s certainly true that a marked accent can get in the way of making yourself understood. E.S.L. learners and others are well advised to work on their pronunciation. As a teacher, I do try to lead my students toward some version of that flawed ideal, the native accent. One of the ironies in this is that I — along with most of my fellow teachers from the 20 countries (not counting Puerto Rico) where Spanish is an official language — long ago shed the specific regional, class-shaped intonations and vocabulary that are, or once were, our native accents. My point is not that we need to forget the aim of easily comprehensible communication — obviously, that remains the goal. But we do need to set aside the illusion that there is a single true and authentic way to speak.

English is a global language with many native and nonnative varieties. Worldwide, nonnative speakers of English outnumber natives by a ratio of three to one. Even in the United States, which has the largest population of native English speakers, there are, according to one estimate, nearly 50 million speakers of English as a second language. What does it even mean to sound native when so many English speakers are second-language speakers? Unless you are an embedded spy like the Jenningses, it is counterproductive to hold nativelike pronunciation as the bar you have to clear.

Accent by itself is a shallow measure of language proficiency, the linguistic equivalent of judging people by their looks. Instead, we should become aware of our linguistic biases and learn to listen more deeply before forming judgments. How large and how varied is the person’s vocabulary? Can she participate in most daily interactions? How much detail can he provide when retelling something? Can she hold her own in an argument?

Language discrimination based on accent is not merely an academic idea. Experiments show that people tend to make negative stereotypical assumptions about speakers with a nonnative accent. The effect extends all the way to bias against native speakers whose name or ethnicity reads as foreign. Studies show that when nonnative speakers respond to advertisements for housing, their conversations with prospective landlords are more likely to be unsuccessful, on average, than those of callers “without accents.”

So I hope you like my accent as much as I like yours.

Roberto Rey Agudo is the language program director of the department of Spanish and Portuguese at Dartmouth College and a public voices fellow with the OpEd Project.

Link for Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/14/opinion/sunday/everyone-has-an-accent.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FLanguage%20and%20Languages&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection

[mlbpowerrankings]

#1 - Detroit Tigers

City: Detroit: The coolest fucking place on earth. Seriously, let me give you a little bit of a rundown.  This is the place that created the middle class in America, the place that voted for George W. Bush and Donald Trump the least of any major city in America. Home to Motown Records, Judge Larry D. Williams of Tyvek, the Heidelberg Project, the Penobscot Building, Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry, Coleman A. Young, the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, square deep dish pizza, Vernors Ginger Ale and Faygo Rock and Rye, the Buck Dinner, Nemo's and the Hadituptoheres. Anthony Bordain said it best: “It’s where nearly everything American and great came from.”

Cool Historical Figures: Ty Cobb, Hughie Jennings, Harry Heilmann, Charlie Gehringer, Hank Greenberg, Schoolboy Rowe, Hal Newhouser, Al Kaline, Norm Cash, Ernie Harwell, Bill Freehan, Mickey Lolich, Gates Brown, Willie Horton, Ron LeFlore, Mark Fidrych, Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Kirk Gibson, Bobby Higginson, Deivi Cruz, Miguel Cabrera, Víctor Martínez, José Iglesias, Daniel Norris & Michael Fulmer.

Lame Historical Figures: Walter Briggs (but Ty Cobb, Denny McClain, Bobby Higginson and Justin Verlander were all pretty close).

Stadium: Above Average. The best thing about Comerica Park is the gigantic outfield. It makes for lots of triples (the most exciting play in baseball) and can lead to some spectacular plays in center field.  The view of the city’s pretty great too, especially the Robert Wyland mural on the north side of Broderick Tower. The fact that you can watch part of a game for free from the sidewalk in the outfield is pretty solid too. The lack of bleacher culture is a real bummer though, as the Tigers’ old home was home to such wild behavior in the bleachers that ticket holders to that section were literally fenced in and could not leave the bleachers until after the 7th inning.

Uniform: The Best. With one exception in the year 1960, the Tigers have not changed their home jersey in any meaningful way sine the early 1930′s. And why would they? It’s simple, sleek and classy as hell. It’s like the Yankees’ uniform without the stupid pin-stripes. And today’s road jerseys are equally classy, using the orange trim without overpowering the navy blue. The Tigers have only made one uniform mistake in the modern era, a poor cap and piping scheme in the mid-1990′s that was rectified after only four years. And I love that the Old English D on the jersey is not the same as the one on the cap. Best of all, no alternate jerseys.

Broadcasters: Mixed Bag. Dan Dickerson is a real great mix of game calling and philosophizing about the game, and the conversation between he and Jim Price is easy most of the time, unless the Tigers’ season is shot, in which case Jim Price becomes unbearable. I mean, he’s sort of unbearable to begin with, but you put up with him to get Dickerson. Once the team’s losing, the personal stories and inside jokes get ramped up and you just want to tell him it’s time to retire. 

Ownership: Poor. Sorry to shit on Mike Ilitch right after he dies, but the dude was a slum-lord. And the club has had a long history of jerks in ownership. Before Ilitch, the Tigers were owned by Tom Monaghan, who used his money to build a town in Florida where he tried to ban the sale of contraceptives. Frank Navin spent money to tear down the existing stadium and built a new one on the same lot, naming it after himself, despite not wanting to pay players worth a damn. And the worst of the bunch, Walter Briggs who paid his automobile manufacturing employees a fraction of what Ford paid and whose company was a frequent target of UAW action. He kept the team all white until late into the 1950′s, which not only is despicable, but of course made the team totally non-competitive, averaging 24 games out of first in the 1950′s.

Intangibles: Slightly below average. Points deducted for being the last team to have an African American player on its roster. Points deducted for For Love of The Game. Especially since they cast Vin Scully as the broadcaster instead of Tiger’s legend Ernie Harwell. Then they had the audacity to cast Steve Lyons as Vin Scully’s color man... ugh. Points awarded for Bobby Higginson’s 1996 Score card and also for that drunk guy I saw climb onto the roof of the old Tiger Stadium in 1999. Hope he didn’t get hurt.