#pivotal to our culture as a whole

[share-the-damn-bed]

pivotal jancy moment

[leprosycock]

what’s really cool and awesome and normal is how in spite of artists’ best efforts to offer art to the general public, to people who don’t have art education and aren’t immersed in a particular sect of any given genre or culture, putting their work in low-cost or free galleries or airports or the sides of buildings or in parks or in malls or in outdoor shopping squares or in any public area where their projects can be viewed, people still reject the notion of art as a whole because they consider it entirely secondary to everything valuable in a person’s life. you can’t tell someone you’re an art major without seeing that inherent condescension or repulsion or confusion crossing someone’s face if they haven’t bothered to engage with art on a personal level before. it’s always considered an afterthought and never anything vital to the world we all live in and how art exists in genuinely and literally every single fucking facet of our lives. if you tell someone you understand art and can engage with it on a professional level, you’re considered pretentious and self-aggrandizing/obsessed and stuck-up and snotty and impossible to talk to. if you look down on extremely milquetoast and uninteresting and surface-level pieces of art, like very bad generic music with poor and uninspired poetry or extremely literal portraiture or ai art, you’re a gatekeeper and, again, pretentious and snotty. you are not permitted to engage with your passions outside of fellow artists because the “my kid/little sibling/niece/nephew/a five year old could do that” mindset is so pervasive and unless something is extremely easy to swallow and exceedingly literal, people will not accept it as Real Art because they refuse to understand its history, context, the artist’s technical skill and education, and WHY it exists. this also definitely pivots to subject matter and how only certain kinds are permitted and allowed by many, many others. sure, you as a self-obsessed millennial woman can engage with a coffee table book full of Powerful Feminist Quotes about how your ex-boyfriend wouldn’t go see “it ends with us” with you in theaters and your grandpa made a joke about periods once, but if you’re forced to engage with abstraction or an artist who happens to say a slur or the amount of precision and planning and dedication and adoration that goes into performing 4d design that discusses subject matter that YOU don’t like, you’ll shrivel like a fucking leaf and retreat back to what makes you comfortable. i hate it i hate anti-art and i hate being stuck in anti-art worlds

[spacelazarwolf]

Asking you because you know so much about history and about hate movements and such: How long do you think this wave of transphobia will be a focus in the mainstream? Like, there was that whole bathroom debate in 2015 but then it died down a little until the whole Irreversible Damage thing in 2020, so we're either 9 or 4 years into it at this point. I get the impression that these things come in cycles, so do you think we're at the worst of it and it will get better in the next few years, or do we still have ways to go until rock bottom? When the trend does change, do you think rights will come back slowly, or do you think we could bounce back within months/years?

i think it tends to line up with election cycles. politicians will pick their hot button issue and make that into the big Cultural Moment in order to sway voters. it happened with black civil rights, it happened with abortion, it happened with gay marriage, and we're seeing it happen again with trans rights. i think after trump's presidency and not only all the legal roadblocks he and his administration put in the way of trans rights but also the extreme polarization he created among the american populace, it's going to take a while before we aren't having to argue our humanity with people, including with our government. the question of how long is going to depend if he wins in november. if kamala wins, i do think we will have a better chance, especially given how many things federally have improved or at least not gotten actively worse under biden, but we'll still have state governments to worry about. andrew bailey's emergency order wreaked havoc and that was under biden. i can't imagine how much worse it would have been under trump.

it sounds like republicans might be moving on to immigration as their next target, though it seems trans rights will still be a point of focus for them. but i would not be surprised if the pivoted to focus more on anti immigrant rhetoric this election season. that doesn't mean we won't see any anti trans sentiment or that republicans won't be pushing more anti trans legislation, but i think - and HUGE caveat that i am not a political science specialist - it'll likely be at least slightly less than we've seen the past couple years.

people who know more about politics are more than welcome to reblog with more perspective and context.

[crownmemes]

Pretentious & Poetic Sentences, Vol. 9

(Pretentious sentences from various sources for muses that like to speak in grandiose sentences. Adjust phrasing where needed)

"Work can only ever be a mistress. Mistresses are ravenous."

"Our scars can destroy us, even after the physical wounds have healed. But if we survive them, they can transform us."

"If indeed there is a soul, we must consider then that there is still time for redemption."

"It's my finding that journeys end when and where they want to."

"God has a far more disturbed sense of humour than even I could have imagined."

"Understanding our past determines actively our ability to understand the present."

"What the eyes sees, the mind believes."

"We could circle each other and growl, sleep with one eye open, but that thought wearies me."

"We are all bound for heaven eventually, are we not?"

"Nature doesn't recognise good and evil. Nature only recognises balance and imbalance."

"Sometimes, what we wake up can't be put back to sleep."

"The road back from madness is a struggle. Only the luckiest of people find their way more or less back to the world you live in."

"The warrior who lifts his arm for the killer blow leaves his heart exposed."

"Who am I to play god with other people's lives?"

"I threw stones at the stars, but the whole sky fell."

"Because of what you did, what's left of your soul will melt your poisonous heart."

"The city is just a prairie that combs its hair and shaves its face."

"Nobody hates history. They hate their own histories."

"You know, in certain older civilized cultures, when men failed as entirely as you have, they would throw themselves on their swords."

"I used to be like you - driven by ideology and fear, with no love of what's beautiful in the world."

"I often wake up at night, frightened with the understanding that there are things man shouldn't know."

"They think I'm hiding in the shadows, but I am the shadows."

"I wish I could dredge from my soul one speck of remorse, but I can't, so I'll stick to the business at hand and try not to smile too broadly."

"From the evidence, man's wisdom must walk hand in hand with his idiocy."

"A cold heart is a dead heart."

"The question is, will you still want the same things when you have become a different animal altogether?"

"We are all expendable in the wake of creation."

"The potential for destruction in each of us is infinite."

"Where were you when I was still kind?"

"I want to be the un-wobbling pivot at the centre of an ever-revolving universe. I want to be still."

"Would you be killed in your sleep like an ailing pet?"

"There are no answers to questions you can't even conceive."

"In the face of pain, there are no heroes."

"If you tamper with what's wild, you're bound to get kicked."

"The greatest sins in human history have been committed in the name of love."

"I talk to my cigarettes. The most they listen is ten minutes."

"The man I was before, he was consumed by ambition - by hubris. He never cared about anyone; all he cared about was walking with the gods."

"Every action causes ripples - consequences both obvious and unforeseen."

"The night, I think, is darker than we can really say."

"If I'd known your true colours, I'd have named you Cain."

[thisweekinfandomhistory]

Icicle?! This week, Emily and V hold a sort of jazz funeral for a fandom event that shaped both of them as human people, and that cannot and should not ever happen again. The Three-Year Summer was a pivotal stretch of time for fandom culture as a whole because a) every fucking person alive was in this fandom, b) the whole point was that there was no canon and the world was wide open for the taking, and c) the Internet was young enough that you could claim ANYTHING on that shit. And we all did! And we all believed each other about it! It was amazing! It was fresh and new! And it has been tainted forever! We completely understand if you do not want to listen to an episode about Harry Potter. We get it. We'll see you next week. <3 We denounce JK Rowling and her bigotry with every fiber of our beings. Her views, words, and actions are utterly abhorrent and antithetical to everything that we value. She 100% must be deplatformed.

This Week In Fandom History is a fandom-centric podcast that tells you… what happened this week in fandom history!

Follow This Week in Fandom History on Tumblr at @thisweekinfandomhistory

You can support the show via our Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/thisweekinfandomhistory. 

If you have a fannish company, event, or service and would like to sponsor or partner with TWIFH, please contact us via the Tumblr link above.

Please remember to rate the show 5 stars on your listening platform of choice!

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/750768261479694336/yeah-cultural-appropriation-is-a-little-bit

Take my words with a heap of salt, because I didn't read the actual book. All I did was watch some long videos and reading a few reviews. But like, some authors can fuck up even when they're writing about their own culture.

Anyways, I want to rip the author of To Gaze Upon a Wicked God to shreds. She's of Chinese descent, but I honestly felt like she was just exploiting our people's history for "cool" and "novel" plot points for profit. She wrote a fucking colonizer romance between a traitor Chinese assassin and the prince of the invading nation whose idea of peace is to subjugate China without genocide. I guess that makes him better than ✨ the other ones ✨

And before someone rightfully ask if I'm reading too much into it or if I'm misinterpreting anything, they explicitly marketed the book as a "Zutara inspired enemies to lover romance based on the Russian/Japanese invasion of Machuria." She namedrops Unit 731 as an inspiration. You know, the human experimentation base, one of the most horrific crimes against humanity, a permanent scar that won't heal right because Japan insists on never acknowledging its war crimes? Oh, btw, the male lead created the in universe equivalent of Unit 731. Yeah, the love interest.

The whole thing is set in an alternate universe where "Chinese people" aka the Panguians never developed technology because ~magic~ and they fought with bows and arrows because ~magic~ This au version of China, which has no modern weapon and NO MEDICINE is supposed to be Qing China? This really annoys me because she was writing for a primarily western audience, and this weak, infantilized, orientalised mess is already how they picture China during the invasion of foreign forces. Like, I would not be nearly as annoyed if the author herself didn't specify that she was writing about that time period. I actually like orientalism in small doses, it can be aesthetic.

Apparently the marketing surrounding the book is pivoting hard because of the negative reviews coming out. Now, they're acting like the male lead wasn't supposed to be the love interest. The real love interest is her childhood friend of course. Like girl, bffr, you said it yourself it's enemies to lovers and your mc literally just fell in love with the prince while she was being ordered to kill the leaders of her own people.

Last time I was this baffled by the tone-deafness of a Chinese creator vis-à-vis the Century of Humiliation was in 2013, when Ringdoll came out with Hayato the Imperial Japanese soldier bjd

--

But you haven't read the book...

Look, anything in the het booktok giant background of expensive hardcovers with their spines facing the wall because the pages have a design space is not of interest to me. It all sounds tedious.

But even before the marketing pivot, it was clear that a lot of people were going on hearsay and that the author's comments about Unit 731 were at least a bit more nuanced than the game of telephone that resulted.

I'm with you that genetics don't prevent an author from writing a shitty book, but can someone who's actually read this thing weigh in?

Does it seem like the enemy prince was the original real love interest, or was that early marketing nonsense and he was probably originally intended as a fakeout?

[lebuc]

noting & denoting

* it's hard to deny, in this petri dish of a country

that close observation reveals growths on the fertile, gelatinous surface some benign, some malignant, others simply inert on the agar

seeking neither to disturb, nor be disturbed.

the experiment in the pot, melting needs rapt attention

gentle spirit stirring, less salty social takes, more natural sweeteners highlighting the savory amongst us

& heat-gun regulation, slow & steady - if you catch my drift…

microbes will act as microbes act, instinctually - is as their wont;

we, however, have instinct plus intellect to navigate us past irritants

whether crumbs on the terrain, like a snub from gatekeepers at pivotal life events or generally bad actors - mediawise or otherwise

& senses, headed by our own eyes.

yet here, we're more than mere specimens in a collective consciousness,

with its microscope of introspection observing, adapting, evolving

to better cultivate empathy, our most potent cultural medium. may we steer our societal growth towards a more perfect symbiosis

where every microbe matters, beyond the confines of our dish

& the whole can thrive in some semblance of harmony... which shall be duly noted, then. * 6/24 - lebuc - noting & denoting

[shayshaybiscuit25]

Just want to happily vent a bit. 😅

It’s hilarious, crazy, sad, etc that so many Individuals in this world love to think they know more than they do.

This thought stems from the whole Taylor/Trafis “leaked” document because that’s definitely not a contract. I see various people within the CE fandom debating or discussing if the leak documents are real or not. I’m like who cares, the simple fact Taylor and Travis are OBVIOUS PR, yet people believe them to be real while calling out Chris for his bs of whatever this is is insane to me.

I don’t care if Chris’ mess is real or not, but this is how Hollywood works they make you believe the obvious bs is real and/or question if the orchestrated bs is real or fake.

To see people fuss at Chris or claim know if it’s pr or real yet they fall for Travis and Taylor mess is eye opening to say the least.

No one knows anything …..duh. 😂

But that’s Hollywood, I’m the eyes of many….both could be legit or both could be fake when it’s very apparent that they BOTH are fake……BUT without any substantial evidence……the truth is……we’ll never know, but it makes you stop and wonder how much of what we presently like or think we like regarding celebs is due to us being brainwashed and how much crap from the past that ultimately became pop culture or pivotal moments in our lives were actually fabricated bs. Back in the day it was harder to pull crap like this (still doesn’t mean it wasn’t happening) because the general public knew how to smell obvious bs but bs was still there, the 80s/90s walked so the new gen could run. It’s just so obvious that the people in charge don’t know much of anything to the point they continue the same stupid formulas, yet the general public continues to eat it up (which is why Hollywood continues to do this) and that’s not just entertainment but politics, social media and businesses across the board.

People have gotten dumber, thus fools arguing over click baited things online or people in fandoms arguing over their favs having more money than the other while those online arguing fail to realize the people they are arguing over are RICH while they aren’t.

Fans work for free and make more money for these celebs, that’s how it works. It keeps people talking.

When you sit back and see things for what they are, it’s maddening. 😳😮‍💨

I’d steer clear of any active celeb in this present society, it’s only going to get crazier moving forward.

Thanks for letting me vent. ☺️

It's been a while, so why not.

[hebrewbyinbal]

In the shadow of the setting sun, where barbed wires and aching memories still linger, I stand as a Hebrew educator, a Jewish born and raised Israeli woman.

Today, I harbor envy. Envy towards other language educators who gleefully share their fun, uncharged language lessons, untouched by the shadows of prejudice and misunderstanding.

They are not burdened by the weight of being from a culture that, once again, faces persecution, hatred, and unfounded blame.

This is not my reality.

But I am well-acquainted with my truth.

"Never Again" is not just a phrase from the past; it is a present reality.

No amount of empty slogans, tearing down of posters, or disgraceful acts can deter me from my deeply-rooted values.

My pride in being part of the Jewish and Israeli community is unwavering.

Even in the face of unspeakable atrocities, we come together. When confronted with hatred and fear, we reach out, unite, and shine even brighter.

We chant, we pray, we sing, exemplifying the true values and virtues of our people.

It's no mere coincidence that Jews do not resort to terror attacks, do not shout violently in the streets, or target other groups.

Our inherent strength and resilience stem from an undying focus on life.

For us, living is not just about survival; it's about loyalty to our peaceful values, giving back to the community and the world at large, and lighting the way forward.

Our spirit will not be dimmed. We continue to shine, to live, and to love, no matter the challenges that lie ahead.

Now is the pivotal moment to decide upon your values and determine the character of your neighborhood, streets, city, and society as a whole.

When you take a stand, it's a testament not just to who you are, but to the kind of world you want to create.

The time has come to raise your voice and shape the future you demand.

Silence now could mean a lost opportunity forever.

[alys-gay-parade]

Some deep thoughts about Zelda before I go to sleep tonight:

I grew up with oot being my introduction to the series, and over the years, it consumed my life. Botw was exactly what I wanted from a fully open world zelda game, and totk has only built up from that. This is the franchise that taught me how to world build, write characters, and explore my identity. Looking back at my adolescence, I can safely say that Link and Zelda (as she slowly became an actually compelling character) were the opposite ends of my gender envy spectrum. I loved the effeminate twink that I could easily identify with (people who say he never had a personality before TP are wrong, my boy has always been a sassy bitch with a big heart) and the regal lady who was not opposed to getting her hands dirty to do the work she needed to do. Sheik being Zelda is still one of my favorite plot twists in the franchise, my girl rlly said "Fuck it, I'm gonna pose as a man my whole adolescence." Iconic.

I love how they imply in totk that the games in the timeline pre-botw are the legends passed down over hundreds of generations, explaining the thin and inexplicable timeline away as just cultural histories becoming warped and lost with each retelling. I bet they argue about the order of events in-universe, and you can not convince me otherwise. It makes me laugh looking back at oot seeing rauru portrayed as a pudgy old man hylian, knowing now that he's just straight up a god-like being that married a hylian woman.

This brings me to the future of the series, and a proposal: remake the old stories, but with the new lore, as they Actually Happened. Make the players figure out what parts were true and what parts were warped by time. Hell, make them with the effects of the new timeline Created by Zelda in totk. How does her presence alter history? How can we reimagine the events of pivotal games in the timeline with our new information? How can we keep improving our open world gameplay while revisiting the history that became fables?

I fell off of Zelda in my depression. But totk has renewed my love for what the franchise is and can become. They've really created so many opportunities to expand on what we know, as well as avenues to tell more new stories, possibly both in the same game if they play their cards right.

Thank you, Zelda Team and Miyamoto-san. You built a core aspect of my identity and continue to strive to improve and explore a world that means a lot to many. You honestly are a golden example of what making a compelling universe looks like.

[that-gay-jedi]

Learning shit is my favourite form of recreation but learning any new historical thing ever fucks me up so much bc adding any shred of context to the things I hate about life on earth today makes me want to scream. For example, like, a few months ago I was reading The Faithful Executioner by Joel F Harrington and realized very early into the book that our conception of the purposes of brutal medieval punishments reveals a LOT more about us than it does about the people who enacted them.

Shortly prior to the period during which Franz Schmidt, the subject of The Faithful Executioner, lived, responses to murder and other horrendous acts were typically managed by blood debt or other honour systems like those that play pivotal roles in the Norse epics and ancient Greek tragedies and are found in surviving legal codes from numerous other cultures.

Whatever your personal stance on avenging a loved one's death, a significant problem with these systems was that they often spun out of control in various ways, such as creating cyclical feuds between families or communities that could persist for decades, or facillitating an excuse for the victimization of community members who were simply unpopular.

A high priority of the judicial system at this time was to quell these cycles of violence by satisfying the aggrieved public. Making a public spectacle of things like executions and floggings was far more about averting a cycle of violence and supplanting extrajudicial punishments with judicial ones than the motives we so often ascribe to them.

The popular image of medieval tortures and public executions as being performed for their own sake, or to satisfy the laws of a wrathful Christian God, or as a crude attempt at deterring similar crimes comes more from our own perceptions of morality and criminality than from surviving historical records. It holds up a mirror to today's prevalent attitudes toward addicts, the extremely impoverished or unhoused, non-working people and people whose work is deemed to be of low or insufficient value.

People who believe in capital punishment today typically see condemned persons as needing to die for ontological reasons, not because of what the victim's family might do if the law doesn't satisfy them. These are so often the same people who will talk about who does and does not "deserve" food and shelter or about "teaching criminals a lesson." We ascribe these grotesque opinions retroactively to medieval people either because we're not conscious of how they pervade our own worldview, or to foster in ourselves a sense that today's cultures are definitively more enlightened and compassionate than those of the past.

Another example, a while ago I listened to Ancient Mesopotamia: Life in the Cradle of Civilization by Amanda H. Podany and I was repeatedly floored by her emphasis on both the symbolic and material ways in which the ancient Mesopotamian cultures she studies prioritized the wellbeing of community and family as a whole, including the lowliest members, over the exercise of a king's or head of household's (to them these were practically one and the same) powers. It might not quite be enough to make a motherfucker want to go back in time without antibiotics or water sanitation but it sure made me despair about how the fuck a culture like ours, which descends from theirs in so many ways, could have ever reached the point where we allow mass death and suffering on an unthinkable scale at the whims of hyperwealthy Musk-like and Bezos-like figures.

I dunno man. I'm not quite ready to say ignorance is bliss, but I so often feel like my specific interests and hobbies have rendered me very alone in seeing a certain angle of something being so very very wrong.

[karasbroken]

A few months ago I was bitten with the writing bug and started on a series of "in betweens" from Aeryn's POV, each fic named for an idiom that was just the starting point for exploring Aeryn and John's relationship arc, and also life on Moya with extra adventures, a whole lot more bickering, and culture clashes large and small. This is the first of them, about John missing chocolate and Aeryn only knowing how to work through pain, not comfort it. I think I got better, but I had to start somewhere.

Rating: G | Word Count: 2,662 | Tags: Post- "I, E.T.", Angst, Slice of Life, Pre-Relationship

Officer Sun paused in the doorway of the central chamber, rendered on alert by an unfamiliar sound. A series of wet gasps was coming from the shadows. After a few microts she recognized that it was crying. A strange, hopeless sound that put her teeth on edge. Was someone hurt? Who had hurt them, and why was there no alarm? She eased her pulse pistol from its holster and pivoted around the edge of the door, second hand coming up to steady her aim.

There was no one there but Crichton, sitting in the shadows, a tray on the table in front of him. His head was thrown back, hand pressed to his forehead as if in pain. At the noise of her entrance, he opened his eyes and looked her way, first blearily, then with a jump as the hooman registered the weapon trained on him. “Dammit, Miss Sun, why are you pointing a gun at me this time?” There was a dark color to his tone, but no real fear or alarm. Sun slowly eased off and clicked the pistol back into place.

“I thought something was wrong, Crichton. That you were seriously injured.” She approached, still cautiously, to stand over him, scanning for some cause to his distress.

He gave a short, humorless bark of laughter. “No… no. Just home-sick.” Crichton waved at her to sit. “Stop looming and pull up a chair.”

Unwillingly, she took the seat opposite him, then glared until he started on an explanation. Home-sick. The words made sense separately, but together their exact meaning eluded her....

[magickkate]

Hey, lovely witchlings! As the sun reaches its zenith and the earth is in full bloom, we come to Litha, the summer solstice, a time of abundance, vitality, and celebration. This Sabbat marks the longest day of the year and the peak of solar energy, when the sun's power is at its strongest.

A Briefing on the History: Litha, also known as Midsummer or the Summer Solstice (Northern hemisphere: June 20th or 21st; Southern hemisphere: December 20th or 21st), is a magical time when the sun reaches its zenith in the sky. It’s the longest day of the year, and the sun seems to pause, bathing the earth in its warm glow. Our ancestors celebrated this pivotal moment with fire and water, acknowledging the balance between light and darkness. Stone circles like Stonehenge were oriented to capture the rising sun on this sacred day. Early European traditions included lighting large wheels on fire and rolling them down hills into bodies of water. The Romans honored this time as sacred to Juno, goddess of women and childbirth, giving us the month of June.

History:

Ancient Roots: Litha has ancient origins and has been celebrated by various cultures and civilizations throughout history. It is often associated with sun worship and the celebration of light, fertility, and abundance.

Solar Phenomenon: Litha occurs around June 20th or 21st in the Northern Hemisphere when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky, resulting in the longest day and the shortest night of the year.

Symbolism: The Summer Solstice symbolizes the triumph of light over darkness, as well as the peak of growth and vitality in the natural world. It is a time of celebration, joy, and abundance.

Correspondences: -> Symbolism: Life, fire, rebirth, transformation, power, purity -> Colors: Red, gold, orange, yellow, white, green, blue -> Herbs: St. John’s Wort, lavender, rose, peony, vervain, chamomile, chickweed, chicory, sunflower, lily, thyme, and more -> Crystals: Lapis, diamond, tiger’s eye, emerald, jade, and other green stones -> Animals: Butterflies, wren, horses, stags, robins, cattle, phoenixes, dragons, faeries, satyrs

Here are a few ways to honor the magic of Litha:

Rituals and Activities: - Bonfires: Light a bonfire to honor the sun’s power. - Sunrise/Sunset Greeting: Greet the sun at its highest point in the sky. - Create an Altar: Decorate it with sunflowers, oranges, and yellow candles. - Cleansing Herb Bundle: Make your own bundle for purification. - Sun Tea: Brew tea using sun-infused water. - Burn a Bay Leaf: Write intentions on a bay leaf and burn it - Fertility Ritual: Litha is a time of fertility and growth, and rituals may focus on promoting abundance, creativity, and prosperity. Some practitioners may plant seeds or perform fertility rites to symbolize the fertile energy of the Earth.

Modern Celebrations:

-> Community Gatherings: Many Wiccan and pagan communities host public rituals and gatherings to celebrate Litha, inviting people of all backgrounds to join in the festivities and honor the sun's energy. -> Altar Decorations: Altars are adorned with symbols of the sun, such as gold or yellow candles, sunflowers, citrus fruits, and solar symbols like the sun wheel or the Celtic solar cross. -> Feasting: Traditional foods associated with Litha include fresh fruits, vegetables, honey, bread, dairy products, and grilled meats. These foods celebrate the abundance of the summer harvest and nourish the body and spirit. -> Nature Walks: Taking a nature walk or spending time outdoors is a simple yet meaningful way to connect with the energy of Litha and appreciate the beauty of the natural world during the height of summer.

Recipes: 1. Mead: A honey wine enjoyed by our Celtic and Norse ancestors and many to this day. It is easier to support local experts in the craft of making this than starting up a whole kit of making mead. Choose wisely. (I included a basic starter recipe for those brave enough to venture into the fermentation game. I'll stick to supporting my local businesses!) 2. Sun Tea: If you are unable to drink alcohol or prefer not to, sun tea is a great alternative or a great addition to your Litha celebration! They are called "sun tea" because it is tea brewed from the warmth of direct sunlight! If the weather is cloudy, sun tea may not be the best recipe to try. Common sense <3! 5. Sunflower Seed Pesto Pasta: Cook pasta (such as penne or fusilli) according to package instructions. In a food processor, combine fresh basil leaves, garlic cloves, sunflower seeds, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Blend until smooth. Toss the cooked pasta with the sunflower seed pesto, cherry tomatoes, and sliced summer squash or zucchini. Serve topped with additional Parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves. 6. Summer Solstice Salad: Mix a variety of fresh greens, such as spinach, arugula, and butter lettuce. Add sliced strawberries, blueberries, and orange segments for a burst of color and sweetness. Sprinkle with toasted almonds or walnuts and crumbled goat cheese or feta cheese. Drizzle with a dressing made from olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, and a pinch of salt and pepper. 6. Grilled Vegetable Platter: Slice a selection of summer vegetables, such as bell peppers, eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, and red onions. Brush the vegetables with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and your choice of herbs (such as rosemary or thyme). Grill the vegetables until tender and lightly charred, then arrange them on a platter. Serve with a dipping sauce made from Greek yogurt, lemon zest, garlic, and fresh herbs. 7. Honey-Lavender Lemonade: In a saucepan, combine water, honey, and dried lavender buds. Heat gently until the honey is dissolved, then remove from heat and let the mixture steep for 15-20 minutes. Strain the lavender-infused honey mixture into a pitcher and discard the lavender buds. Add freshly squeezed lemon juice to the pitcher and stir to combine. Serve the honey-lavender lemonade over ice, garnished with fresh lavender sprigs and lemon slices. 8. Berry Galette: Prepare a simple pie dough or use store-bought dough for the crust. Roll out the dough and transfer it to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. In a bowl, mix fresh berries (such as strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries) with sugar, cornstarch, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Spoon the berry mixture onto the center of the dough, leaving a border around the edges. Fold the edges of the dough over the berries, pleating as needed. Brush the edges of the dough with milk or beaten egg, then sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake the galette in a preheated oven until the crust is golden brown and the berries are bubbling. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Remember, Litha is a celebration of the sun’s abundance and the Earth’s fertility. Embrace the warmth, dance, and honor the cycles of life. Blessed be! 🌻🔥🌿

Note: This post is a brief overview. For more details, explore the rich traditions and make Litha your own! 🌞🌙

[ebenrosetaylor]

Reblogs were turned off in the original post because op was getting death threats by Nazis, reposting with IDs to keep the information circulating

[Text transcrption from screenshots:

"I have been noodling over posting this for several days but I think it's important for some people to hear.

At a March on Saturday, at a pro Palestine march, my group and I were targeted by by nazis. Not targeted for violence, but targeted for recruitment. They weren't wearing swastikas, they weren't spewing blatant antisemitic hate speech. They seemed like two normal dudes. They marched with us, talked about how awful everything in Palestine was, how we wished world leaders would grow a pair and hold Israel responsible for fucking war crimes, how existing in the world right now was hard. They were empathetic, they were kind, they seemed like genuine good dudes.

Until we passed a synagogue where people were handing our water to marchers. They had signs defending Palestine on their table. But the tone of the conversation changed. These two seemingly normal dudes started talking about how "performative" the gesture felt, that Jewish people should be doing more. That they needed to PROVE it. They started talking about "Zionist" propaganda in the US, about how it was deeply entrenched in capitalism. Things that, on the surface, seemed reasonable but it set off alarm bells in my head.

When I was a kid, I remember getting the speech of "don't repeat anything your uncle or cousin so and so says and don't argue with them. Try to avoid them but if you can't be polite." Because those uncles and cousins said a lot of hateful things about anyone who wasn't like them, but their favorite targets were black people and Jewish people. I would find out as an adult it was because many of those uncles and cousins were in the Klan. When I studied hate symbols for a class in college, I found my self looking at images I'd seen on arms and necks and hands my whole life, because I live in an area of the US where the KKK is still around. And standing in that crowd, listening to these guys talk, i had the most horrible realization I've had in a long time.

We were being fished by Nazis. We were a group of able body, white American leftists. At a march in support of stopping the murder and genocide of Palestinians, these motherfuckers were out here, trying to find people they could get to hate Jewish folks. I wasn't the only one in my group who clocked it, and when we called them on it, the masks came off. They called us a bunch of "Jew loving bitches" before they moved on.

But we're marched with these guys for a couple hours, talked with them, laughed with them, brought them into our circle. For a moment we forgot we also weren't immune to propaganda, we weren't immune to people who make hate sound reasonable and that people like that never start out saying the quiet part out loud, they lean on your anger and your sense of helplessness to move you where they want you. If the last eight years has taught us anything, it's that fascists know how to adjust to the times, to work with what they got, to recruit. They know how to radicalize people, how to weaponize anger and helplessness. And I'm sitting here, every day, seeing posts that sound exactly like these guys did and it worries me.

I know I'm talking to the No Reading Comprehension Website, but I'm begging you guys to develop some now.

You are not immune to propaganda. We are all angry, as we fucking should be. We are watching an entire culture, thousands of lives, whole bloodlines, being wiped out in real time, and for many of us our nations are at best, wringing their hands, and at worst, shipping them weapons, all to protect capitalist greed. It's monstrous, it's disgusting. But look, REALLY LOOK, at the things you are tweeting, sharing, look at the language and how it's used. Take the time to educate yourself about how hate groups use social justice causes and civil unrest to recruit, research the posts your spreading, check your sources. If you are out protesting, be situationally aware, and do not be afraid to clock and call out Nazis. Listen to Jewish people, listen to their concerns, educate yourself on what Zionism and antisemitism actually are and how they can be weaponized. It doesn't feel as good as rage, it doesn't feel as good as having a group you can functionally rail against in a way we can't against a nation a world away, but it's a skill that's going to help you and a lot of other people in the long run."

Reply to the original post:

"A lot of right-wing commentators on Twitter have pivoted to pro-Palestinian talking points and/or lies that sound good because they have a pro-Palestinian veneer. Don’t boost them. They are not your allies."

A link to an article about alt-right X (Twitter) accounts riding the surge of pro-palestine content to gain money, spread misinformation, and eventually antisemitism. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/twitter-hate-speech-accounts-palestine-clout-1234867382/ "

END ID]

[alovelywaytospendanevening]

Well as you know I'm not very good at formulating questions, but I've just finished The Last of the Wine and I thought I would ask you about it, what you think of it, and how it compares to The Charioteer. Or any other thoughts! It did make me think of Wingmen quite a lot, but I don't know if that is just because of the thematic links.

Hello again, @renaultphile!

Well, as I've said here before, I think Renault’s move to historical fiction was partly motivated by her desire to free herself from contemporary ideological issues, and the results indicate that it paid off for her. The Last of the Wine is a more outward novel than The Charioteer, meaning Renault’s willingness to deal with large-scale societal topics like hard politics is much higher here — not that it’s something that was ever necessary to make The Charioteer work, but still, you barely see any factual WW2 politics in this novel, because it’s meant to be about a small and barely visible subculture of homosexuals. I guess Renault thought the status of homosexual men was too limited in her society (it was), so any other contemporary story she might’ve tried would have been more-or-less a repeat of what she did in The Charioteer.

Like you, I also drew some parallels with Wingmen, mostly because both novels feature a pivotal romance, but aren’t really romance stories. And, of course, the main characters are come-what-may warrior couples, a trope that I like a lot, but which isn't easily found (perhaps because it isn’t easy to make it right). Renault’s lyrical quality gives the whole thing a different vibe, as might be expected, but one can make some interesting comparisons here.

So, in my view, The Last of the Wine has both bold and coy elements. The world-building is not only rich and fascinating, but also raw and visceral: Renault didn’t shy away from the messiness of the ancient Greek culture, nor tried to rationalize it from a contemporary perspective; it simply is what it is. This is a bigger accomplishment than it seems, particularly nowadays. The portrayal of the main couple, while honest and remarkable, does feel squeaky clean by our modern standards, in typical renaultian fashion. To me, this is a bigger issue here than it is in The Charioteer, since the overly restrained tones actually suit the latter. But overall, this is a great novel.

By the way, I’d love to know your thoughts about it too! 😉

[vivianbernadetteaurora]

Nicole Richie pop royalty pop culture royalty

As a story goes with Nicole Ritchie, when she was very young, she was on stage with Prince well backstage, concert with her parents at the time or one of her parents I don’t know there’s not too much written about her parents, especially the father, who is supposedly part of his part of his music the dad was part of music or part of the band, and was seen by Lionel Richie and his wife, Cherie, she wasn’t being attended or looked after very well and they had an agreement where they looked after her, because the parents couldn’t or didn’t take the responsibility with her, I’ve heard some people say that Lionel Richie is her father. He just got a groupie pregnant or something to that knowledge all that degree but in pop culture to me Nicole Richie is bigger or just as big as Paris and Lindsey., not literally because look at the size of her she say little and small, this is partly because she was being compared to Paris Hilton who is literally as fit as a stick and especially was even more so back learning the 2000, they came onto our screen in around 2004 roughly, where to rich girls from Beverly Hills different tasks in small towns and lived without as much money at all and had to work for things they weren’t allowed any credit card cards or shopping spree,

Anyway She was an adopted by Lionel Richie and his wife and they took her on full-time. They had a temporary adverse, but they wanted to be a stability in her life and she enjoyed being around them too ! Nicole always says what a good dad she has and how they’ve been looked after her and her younger sister always say how good Lionel always is dad so I think that says a lot because that is a lack of good father out there .

So Nicole Ritchie wasn’t the original choice with Paris Hilton to go on the simple life. It was either going to be Kimberley Stewart, maybe Keith and Kim Kardashian., maybe even her sister Nikki, but Nikki didn’t like the same like Paris does, a so then Nicole was a choice for the show and later seasons fingers grew as tensions between the two was thicker , anyway going back to the weight because it’s important she was constantly being compared to Hilton in interviews everything and I think this really struggled even though she didn’t ever met her or show any of her weaknesses , she was very confident but she had literally come out of rehab for heroin addiction and other addictions and her , gone up and she was a normal size slim girl , for us growing up in error like even looking back now myself I was fat I wasn’t fit but I wasn’t definitely wasn’t fat , we get compared to goes and we compare ourselves to girls in pictures or don’t wanna be photographed next to someone who likes a lot skinnier than us sometimes it can be triggering ,

After this simple life or jury, but definitely after she was friendly with the designer Rachel Zo , who made the whole bohemian look a massive thing in the mid to late 2000s and early 20 tens , everyone had this look at this time Vanessa Hudgens Selena Gomez but mainly it would be Nicole Ritchie and Rachel though and someone likes Sienna Miller it was so popular everyone had something in their closet that , Even if they weren’t heavily into that look was a part of it even if it was just a bag that had that feature to it or earrings but there was so many different skirts and dresses and jewellery lots of bangles, heavy bangles, wooden bangles, clothing and fashion revival .

The younger generation the younger generation don’t remember Nicole Richie as someone is pivotal because she wasn’t in the films like Lindsay Lohan and she wasn’t as prominent and out there maybe as Paris Hilton , was part of the holy Trinity of those free. Let’s chuck Britney Spears in there even though it doesn’t up.