#protect Black teens online

[successfulblackparenting]

Instagram Launches Teen Accounts — A Game-Changer for Black Parents and Youth Safety

by Janice Robinson-Celeste As the Publisher and CEO of Successful Black Parenting Magazine, I recently attended an event hosted by Meta in Savannah, Georgia, where I learned about Instagram’s latest feature: Teen Accounts. Teen Accounts are designed for users under the age of 16, with privacy and safety measures, offering youth a healthier, safer social media experience. This age group will…

[leebrontide]

I ever tell you all about my role model?

So when I was a teen we had these two black labs. Good dogs. I miss them.

And I was in highschool when we took them both to the vet for vaccinations or something. And the vet had this small tuxedo cat that lived at the office, just hanging around in the waiting area.

And both my dogs see this cat and all the fur on their backs puffs up and they start growling and showing their teeth and closing in on this little cat as my mom and I try to drag them back, panicking that our pets are gonna try to murder the vet's pet.

And the cat barely pauses their grooming to look at them calmly and bap both of them on the nose in quick succession. No claws out. Not even a swipe. Distinctly a bop or maybe even a bap. Then they went back to grooming themself.

The dogs stopped growling. They look at each other, and then at us. I have never seen a more confused dog in my life.

They quietly went back and sat down where we'd been sitting, and didn't so much as look at that cat ever again.

And like...these are 80lb dogs.

And I decided I wanted to be like that cat. Not violent, but utterly poised in the face of danger. This cat refused to acknowledge that the dogs were bigger or any particular danger. And the dogs were so baffled by this that they assumed they were not any particular danger to the cat. And so, they weren't.

And when I've told this story online, there's usually some women who get really mad at me. They say I'm endangering women, or I'm victim blaming.

I don't know what to say. I'm 40 years old and 5ft 4. I have been in multiple jobs that frequently involved standing firm in the face of large angry men with histories of assault being very very mad at me while I am isolated from backup. And only one has ever dared to take a swing at me and he was so drunk I didn't even need to lean back he missed so badly.

Is it a perfect protection from danger? No, that's dumb. Nothing is. It would be nice if there was something we could do to always stay safe but even fairy tales know better than that.

And it sure as hell seems to protect me better than trying to placate, or than panicking, or escalating or isolating.

And multiple men over a foot bigger than me have voiced that there is something innately scary and intimidating about me. Actually especially taller men seem intimidated by me. I think because I refuse to have any emotional response to their size, and it stands out as weird to them, subconsciously (many of them are perfectly lovely people who I'm not trying to intimidate at all, but who are naturally used to the way most people react to them.)

It doesn't mean I'm never scared. But being rooted in the image of that cat has really has got me through a lot of situations.

It also has for sure made some bosses hate me, when they want groveling and I don't, but I'm doing just fine anyways.

[avephelis]

okay. jrwi fandom. sitting you all down. i need everyone to hear this. all sides. okay? ready? the discourse is stupid. (TLDR: block each other)

making a dichotomy out of what is a nuanced topic, and enforcing it on EVERYONE with an "us versus them" mentality, is stupid. boundaries and fandom activity are not a black and white moral issue, and you are all harassing each other over having different personal opinions. and forcing that discourse onto everyone else.

you CANNOT and WILL NOT "win" an online argument by harassing people. if you group people up, and ostracise/villainise that group, those people are going to LASH OUT. and DOUBLE DOWN. they are not going to magically agree with you. it's frustrating, but that is how the internet works.

boundaries and fandom are complicated topics. jrwi boundaries, especially, hinge on a message from 2021, which has since been contradicted by the source material. it is a grey area. but REGARDLESS of your stance on that, the point of boundaries (about fictional media and fictional characters of age) are to protect an INDIVIDUAL, and what THEY see and interact with. not to create a code of rules for everyone. and as far as i'm aware, nobody has been making the council interact with nsfw content.

FURTHERMORE. people are ALLOWED to have their own boundaries. people are ALLOWED to be uncomfortable with sensitive content, and to choose whether to engage or disengage with it based on the information they are given. making fun of people (ESPECIALLY minors) for being uncomfortable with a complex situation, and for disengaging to look after themselves, as well as acting intentionally obtuse, is not counterculture. or a "ha, gotcha". it is not cool. it is immature and needlessly cruel.

and, while it is important for people to have safe spaces, jrwi is a piece of adult media. it is fine if teens are interacting with it and the fandom space, but you cannot expect everyone to cater to your personal comforts in that space. and i don't mean this condescendingly, but everyone NEEDS to be responsible for catering their experience to best look after themself and others. because social media by design is a hostile environment.

block tags that are uncomfortable. block people you are uncomfortable around. and the people creating said sensitive work? TAG IT so we can avoid it. rate it appropriately. it is not funny to intentionally expose people to content you know is triggering for them.

and as for callouts. if there is nobody being actively hurt (which there were not in recent events), you can handle it privately. otherwise you are actively exposing uninvolved people to content they are probably trying to avoid. which isn't productive.

please just be respectful and take care of both yourself and others.

[greenhorn-art]

All The King's Horses | As You Are Now, So Once Was I by @samwpmarleau (grumkinsnark)

All The King's Horses [LiveJournal ch1] [Fanfiction.net ch1]

As You Are Now, So Once Was I [LiveJournal ch1] [Fanfiction.net ch1]

Fandom: Supernatural, Criminal Minds

Rating: Teen | PG-13

Category: Gen

Words: ~36,192

All The King's Horses: Protect and Serve. Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity. To what lengths would you go to uphold those oaths? When it comes to a particularly brutal and unsolvable case, the BAU just may have to resort to some more unorthodox methods. SPN/Criminal Minds crossover.

As You Are Now, So Once Was I: Sequel to "All the King's Horses." When Dean catches J.J.'s press conference on the news about a current case and notices a few...inconsistencies, he realizes the BAU is definitely going to need his help. Again. ON HIATUS

About the Book

FORMAT: Letter quarto, flatback bradel binding, french link stitch, no tapes

FONTS: EB Garamond [via Google Fonts], Supernatural Knight [via DaFont], D-Din [via Font Squirrel], Daniel [via DaFont], Permanent Marker [via Google Fonts], Arial

IMAGES: Seal of the FBI [via Wikipedia], Dean's handprint scar [by greenhorn-art]

MATERIALS: 24lb Xerox Bold Digital paper (8.5"x11"), 80pt binder's board (~2mm), 30/3 size waxed linen thread, embroidery floss (DMC #721), 1.9mm cording, brown cardstock, black Cialux bookcloth, gold foil transfer sheet (came with We R Memory Keepers hot foil pen)

PROGRAMS USED: Fic exported with FicHub, word doc compiled in LibreOffice Writer, Typeset in Affinity Publisher, imposed with Bookbinder-JS, title pages designed in Affinity Designer/Photo

.

I first read these stories on LiveJournal back in 2013, some time after I first encountered Tumblr, Supernatural, and the wider world of online fandom. Once I discovered SPNxCriminal Minds crossovers I devoured so many of them. Something about POV Outsider on the Winchesters, the existing connections with investigating monster vs human-crazy cases, and run-ins with the FBI... it's just works so well.

Of all the SPNxCM fics I read and enjoyed, All The King's Horses is among those that bookmarked themselves in my brain. Since it's been living there all these years, I thought it deserved a place on my bookshelf too.

(Rambling below)

Sourcing the Fic

I used FicHub to download the fics off of Fanfiction.net as HTML. Then I pasted them into LibreOffice Writer and created rich text documents of each fic, so I could Place them into Affinity Publisher.

The stories were crossposted, first on LiveJournal and then Fanfiction. I included the metadata from both sites in the appendices.

(It's fascinating to see the differences in the same work between platforms. FFN requires genres, so if the author doesn't add them on LJ then by default there's more info on FFN. But FFN limits listed characters to 2, so authors have to pick and choose the most important. Then there's the author's amusing disclaimers and spoiler warnings for these fics, which are only included in the LJ version)

Shoutout to the author for how they linked/listed their accounts on other platforms! Thanks to that I was easily able to track down all the tags/metadata for the fics, and find them here to express my appreciation for their stories!

Typesetting

Fonts

EB Garamond is my new favourite body font, 11pt as per my usual.

The title page is entirely Arial: 1) it was the closest match I have to the case file prop I was copying, and 2) if it was a government doc they wouldn't be using anything but the most basic fonts.

Headings and the the bullets bracketing the page numbers are set it Supernatural Knight, a free font in the style of Supernatural's title.

The location segments are in D-DIN, the closest free match to the font Criminal Minds uses (which is probably DIN).

Daniel is used for Dean's 'rushed but legible' note.

Permanent Marker for the 'thick black Sharpie' case file labels.

Artwork

Title pages designed as FBI case files, copied from a prop found online (specifically Etsy's propfictionstudios', but it's all over the web so no idea who actually created it). I had fun plugging in all the fanfic/bookbinding meta!

The ID# above the author's name is the FFN story ID, and the date is the date originally posted on LJ.

The handprint used in the headings of ATKH is Dean's scar. I traced off of a screenshot from s4e01 Lazarus Rising. I chose to use the handprint instead of the anti-possession tattoo or a Devil's Trap as my SPN art element because 1) it's specific to Dean, and 2) indicates/reminds that the story is not set during the season 3 Agent Henriksen/FBI arc.

Grabbed the FBI seal off of Wikipedia.

Construction

Both fics typeset and printed separately, then sewn together into one book. Title page for the sequel was tipped in like an endpaper prior to sewing.

Endbands sewn with orange embroidery floss (DMC 721) around 1.9mm cording. I chose orange because Dean's being in jail brought to mind the orange prison jumpsuits Sam and Dean wore in s1e19 Folsom Prison Blues.

Black bookcloth for the cover, like the Winchesters' beloved black '67 Chevy Impala. (I'd wanted a Supernatural reference to balance out the Criminal Minds-ness of the FBI case files).

I'd originally planned to make lineart of the front of the car, and have it stretch across the bottom of the cover (maybe even wrap around to the back). Even found a useful reference to trace [from here], but it didn't look as good as I'd hoped. Instead I reused the FBI seal and swapped out its text with the titles.

(The effect of shiny foiled FBI symbol on small black book reminds me of one of those FBI badge wallets!)

The foiling process was an unnecessarily long and gruelling affair. My laptop served as a massive power bank for the hot foil pen as I spent 2hrs ever so slowly tracing the image, and then 15mins on the author name and touch-ups. Did it need to take so long? Moving slowly, pushing down hard, going over everything at least three times? I'm sure it didn't. BUT I did not want to chance peeling up the foil to check how I was doing and risk shifting it. It was worth it in my books (haha) ‒ I feel giddy and kick my feet like a schoolgirl whenever I see it!

New Things

Used 24lb paper for the first time, and I love it! It's a little thicker and heavier then regular 20lb printer paper, feels more substantial.

The page numbers & running/section headers are along the outer margin, instead of in the header/footer. This was my way around Affinity's buggy-ness regarding pinning things inline in master pages. (More about that below). If I had been thinking, I could have formatted them like the tabs on a file folder and cut the textblock to match. Oh well, the things you notice once it's printed 😔

This time I also started new chapters/sections using text flow & paragraph spacing settings, instead of using a master. As always, there are pros and cons.

Pro: much faster and less involved. (find chapter start, apply paragraph style VS working from the end cutting text, inserting a frame break, unlinking frames, inserting new pages with master, relinking, pasting, and adding chapter title to a different text box)

Con: images need to be added manually (whether by adding image directly, or by applying a master with the image). I forgot to do this for the second fic, so only ATKH have Dean's handprint scar.

Difficulties Encountered

Affinity Publisher is fighting me on pinning things inline on master pages. They like to disappear on regular pages I've applied the master to. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it only works on some of the pages. Idk what's up. (The bullet character only faces one way so I had use textboxes, flip/mirror one, and pin them inline to the page number).

So instead of having page numbers in the footer, bookended left and right by text boxes with Supernatural Knight's bullet, I put it vertically down the side.

Updated Publisher and all my paragraph styles' fonts changed/went funny. Something to do with the update's variable font support, I think. What was previously 'EB Garamond' regular, was now something along the lines of 'EBGaramond-Regular' which isn't a font. Issue seems to have ironed itself out in my original (near-complete) doc while I was busy remaking it. 😐

On the bright side, the update brought QR code generation to Affinity!

[thordottir45]

The Outlaw's Spirit

After a reveal gone wrong, whether intentional or not, Danny books it. Sam and Tucker have to stay behind in Amity to prevent Maddie, Jack, and the GIW from following their best friend. The trio is 16~17 or so at this point.

Jazz, being the best big sis that she is, has been taking college classes online to protect Danny. She helps the two destroy the Drs. Fenton lab before grabbing her go bag and getting out of there. She plans to start anew in a different city so that Danny can eventually join her. She's thinking Gotham, with the ambient ectoplasm, and high crime rates, it'll feel more like home than Star City, or Metropolis.

Danny, meanwhile, keeps running. He comes across a high-tech jet and hides in it, pulling a stowaway.

This jet is a Batplane, but is currently being used by The Outlaws for a mission.

Danny's ghost sense has no idea about how to react to Jason, so it causes him to cough, revealing his location to the group.

"B." Artemis instructs Bizarro with his nickname.

Bizarro moves in slowly, while Jason pulls out his guns, and Artemis her sword. Bizarro opens wherever Danny is hiding, revealing his black hair and blue eyes of his human form. Seeing the shaking teen, B gently pulls him out and 'restrains' him via hug.

Danny is freaking out at the sight of these out-of-the-norm people, and his ghost sense is triggering a coughing fit, aggravating whatever wounds he may have.

"One of your brothers?" Artemis asks Jason, despite keeping her guard up.

"Not that I know. What are you doing in here, kid?" Jason lowes his guns, but doesn't holster them, wanting to keep them in hand in case this kid is an enemy.

Danny, coughing, takes a closer look at the three surrounding him.

"Red Hood? Artemis of the Bana-Mighdall? Bizarro? What? Huh?!"

"Worry, we hurt you." Bizarro says soothingly.

Tensing, Danny prepares to use his powers, but Artemis explains what Bizarro means before he does.

"What are you doing in here, kid? You're hurt." Jason reiterates before noticing just how the boy is breathing other than his coughing fits.

Feeling safer with these three than he had with his parents in a long time, and with them all not being entirely human themselves, Danny is willing to explain some things, but not everything.

"My parents, they're scientists, they found out that I'm not entirely human... I had to run. I saw this jet, and it was a chance for me to get further away from them before they track me down."

"They can track you?" Artemis asks while Bizarro releases Danny, setting the teen down on a bench. Jason pulls out a med kit and sets it down next to Danny.

Jason then gets the Batplane into the air while the other Outlaws get to know the stowaway more.

Jason's inner bat wants to do so much research that he resembles the Replacement more than himself, but more of him sees himself in the kid and, as much as he loathes to admit it, pull a Bruce to take care of the much-too-thin teen.

Setting the autopilot to Gotham, Jason re-joins the discussion, noting that the kid's coughs get worse the closer he gets. Odd.

Bizarro and the teen have bonded over video games and movies, even with Bizarro's speech mannerisms.

Artemis, on the other hand, is patching the boy up, not offering much to the conversation other than clearing some things up for B.

"Course's set for Gotham. Figure we'll want Alfie to get some proper food in ya. Now, can you explain all the coughing?" Jason plops down across from the teen, keeping some distance to not make the coughing worse if his hunch is right.

Danny explains in the broadest terms for his ghost sense, that it can tell when people have died, and that Red Hood didn't come back right.

Tense, Jason's vision bleeds into green as he questions, "How?"

"I can tell because I didn't come back right, either..." Danny then tries to explain ectoplasm as glowing green goo, causing Jason to tense even more.

"Lazarus Waters."

"What?"

Taking off his helmet, the lenses of Jason's domino are glowing, "Lazarus Waters. They threw me in mostly dead, and I came out mostly alive."

"That shouldn't..." Danny tilts his head, thinking of the lessons from Frostbite on the nature of ectoplasm and what happens when it gets corrupted. All part of his training for taking the throne. "Huh. Sounds like you got a batch of the more corrupted stuff. With pure ectoplasm, it would bring you back fully, with few side effects."

"Ectoplasm?" Bizarro asks from Danny's right.

Explaining in more detail, since Red Hood is some sort of subject of his and needs help, time passes and soon the autopilot is landing the jet.

"Come on, kid. Let's get some food in you, then we can see what to do about the Lazarus Waters." Jason puts a hand on the door to the Batplane, opening it to reveal the Batcave.

Just something that was floating around in my head. Not sure if I'll continue it, it's unlikely.

[the-rad1o-demon]

Please share, and donate if you can!!

$375 is way too low right now to be of any use in stopping KOSA, so the more you share, the better, and it's also great if you're able to also donate (only if you're able to do so without worsening whatever monetary and/or safety situation you're in)!!

This bill affects all of us. Both children and adults of the following: the LGBTQ+ community, Black communities, Latinx communities, Native American communities, Asian communities.

It will affect ex-Jehovah's Witnesses, and younger folks still trapped. Same thing for ex-Catholics and children/teens still trapped in the Catholic Church. Same thing for Mormons.

This bill affects everyone, okay? There is no beating around the bush. It has been stated time and again by literal lawmakers that this bill is a censorship bill. Senator Blackburn, co-author of the KOSA bill, said herself it would be used to "protect children from the transgender."

So please help keep the fight going. Because the more of us contribute, the bigger chance we have of winning.

And don't fall for that "oh, what I do won't matter much, other people will do it" line of thought.

Even if you think other people will help: please help anyway. We are running out of time, and when one person falls into this line of thinking, so does everyone else, and then nothing happens. So if you can, please help anyway, because we need all we can get. It's all hands on deck at this point.

So far, chances of KOSA being enacted is 31% according to the site linked below.

We need to get it down to zero. 31% is way too big still.

Also, here's a petition you can sign!! If you can't donate, signing will also be a big help (I also recommend signing even if you do donate).

You can also call your senators' offices!!

(Correct call script document in post this time as opposed to comment section, ha!)

The call scripts linked below were originally for Congressional representatives, but now that the bill is in committee consideration by Senate Commerce, you should call your Senators instead and you can use the scripts for them. Also, when calling your Democrat senators, make sure to add that Senator Blackburn explicitly stated in interview that it would be used to "protect children from the transgender." I think it's pretty clear that this is not meant to protect children. It's just going to harm children further, especially trans children.

(Article below with a video of the interview embedded.)

Please help keep the fight going. If we let up for even a second, the bill might get passed and the fucking conservatives will win this round. Yeah, we can still fight after, but it's going to be so much harder with how much damage KOSA is going to do to social media sites and our ability to communicate online.

We need to stop KOSA now, if we want the best chance at protecting our freedom on the Internet.

[birdiebirdjay]

i mentioned to a friend of mine (fellow harry potter fan, but she has never interacted with the online fandom) that people now glorify the marauders and have a whole fandom devoted to worshipping them/bashing snape and she was,, shocked, to say the least.

it made me realize how delusional marauders stans/snaters actually seem to the outside world because like... snape was the good guy? that's like the ultimate end to his character arc?? and really i totally get being delusional over characters sometimes, because i too like to pretend about alternate universes where the marauders weren't complete pieces of shit as teens. i too enjoy the characters of older remus lupin and sirius black (even though i hate that their wrongdoings were more or less brushed off + never seen as serious, we do see more of them as people than we do of james potter). but bashing the man who:

spent about half his life being abused and tormented in various ways

spent a few years with a cult that accepted him and gave him some semblance of protection, then turned around and went back to the 'good guys' (who had literally never done anything for him before this, some of whom had even actively taken part in his abuse and others who had turned a blind eye to it) at great personal risk to his life

literally spent the rest of his life trying to make amends and aiding the light in defeating one of the most powerful dark wizards of all time, still risking his life for basically no reward except the knowledge that he was protecting the wizarding world?

i just cannot see it as anything but insanity.

add onto that preaching about how amazing and pure and lovable the marauders were and accepting outlandishly out of character headcanons and fanfiction as canon?

it's impossible to fight them because nearly none of their arguments are based in fact. how do you convince people that a 16 year old boy did not, in fact, deserve to be dangled upside down, choked with soap, and have his pants taken off in front of a crowd? how do you do that when they're such firm believers that he was an evil racist blood supremacist who deserved it and more?

in short, i am genuinely both confused and somewhat horrified of the marauders fandom.

[error-intheraine]

Agatha All Along

Ep 5, Oct 10 2024:

HOLY FUCKING SHIT HOLY SHIT WE WERE RIGHT HE IS WANDAS KID THE SIGIL BEING MESSY TO PROTECT HIS IDENTITY ‘we don’t like to say her name’ AND THEN HES SO MAD THEY JUST WANT POWER AND THEN HE MIND CONTROLS THEM AND THE CROWN GROWS ON HIS HEAD JUST LIKE IN WANDAVISION W/ WANDA AND ALSO ‘a lot happened to me at 13 too’ AGATHA WAS UNDER WANDAS CONTROL FOR 3 YEARS SO BILLY WOULD BE 17 AND HE IS AND WHEN HE WAS 13 THATS WHEN WANDA AND VISION DIED AND WESTVIEW WAS UN MIND CONTROLLED AND I THOUGHT HE DISAPEERED IF HE’S ALIVE IS WANDA ALIVE OR DID HE COME FROM A DIFFERENT MULTIVERSE TO FILL JN A SPOT IDK I THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD IS TOMMY DEAD TOO??? IF TOMMYS THERE WILL THEY BECOME A DUO IS HE GONNA KILL ANYONE ELSE CAISE THE IMLY ONE WHO WAS REALLY NICE TO HIM WAS ALICE W/ THE BROOMS AND ‘you know, I miss the eyeliner, but the hair’s kinda cute’ AND HE WAS THERE FOR HER FLASHBACK AND SHE JUST GOT OVER HER GENERATIONAL CURSE AND IS RECOVERING FROM HER TRAUMA AND THEN SHE TRIED SAVING AGATHA AND AGATHA KILLED HER AND THEN THE END BEING ‘YOU SHOULD SEE ME IN A CROWN’ THAT SLAPPED SO HARD I LITERALLY ALMOST SCREAMED HOLY SUOT AND THE PARALLELS AND VISION IS GETTING HIS OWN SHOW WILL BILLY AND/OR TOMMY BE IN THAT WILL THE FULLY WHITE VIS BE IN THIS AND LIKE PULL BILLY OFF THE EDGE OF DESTRUCTION? IF RIO IS DEATH THEN WILL BILLY FORCE HER TO LEAD HIM THERE TO GET ALICE AND THEN FIND TOMMY VIS AND WANDA WOULD VIS EVEN BE THERE BECAUSE HES AI BUT ALSO HE IS A PERSON AND HE CAN DIE BUT WOULD HE BE IN THE SAME PLACE WILL WE GEG TO SEE MORE OF HIS BOYFRIEND WILL IT BE A WANDAVISION SITUATION WHERE HE’L TRY HIDING IT FROM HIS BF AND WONT WORK OR WILL HIS BF BE LIKE A CAHRCATER (I don’t think so cause gay and marvel) ALSO ‘an agent of Mephisto’ WHO IS FROM THE MARVEL UNIVERSE BASED ON GREEK MYTHS IF NORSE MYTHOLOGY IS REAL THE. GREEK MYTHOLOGY ORPHEUS???

OK LIKE 15 min LATER LOOKED ONLINE YEAH SO BILLY MOGHT NOT BE 616 BILLY SO MAYBE THATS WHY HE CANT TLAK AND LIKE AND THIRTEEN HE GOT TRANSPORTED AND HIS HAIR TURNED BLACK OR SOME SHIT AND ALSO THE REASON HE KEEPS FINDING THE CLUES

A. Already walked the witches road in a different universe/multiverse (not 616)

B. The gatherer of the coven walks the road, he gathered the coven it was never Agatha’s it was his

ALSO WHY WAS AGATHA PROTECTING HIM MAYBE SHE THOUGHT HE WAS HERS UNTIL RIO AND THEN SHE REALISED HE WAS WANDAS AND WAS LIKE OH SHIT THAT MAKES SENSE ALSO DOES TEEN KNOW HIS MOM IS WANDA HOW LONG HAS HE KNOWN WTF I CANT BELIEVE I HAVE TI WAIT ANOTHER FUCKING WEEK ALSO THE FINALE IS DEF COMING OUT ON HALLOWEEN ALSO WHAT IF WANDA IS AT THE END OF THE ROAD AND NOT DEAD J DINT THINK BILLY KNEW HIS MOM CAUSE AGATHA TRIED KILLING HIM AND BIS MOM SO LIKE YEAH

OK MEW THEORY FROM TWT HOMY SHIT WHAG IF THE WHOLE EPISODE WAS A VISION BECAUSE IN EVERY EP LILIA BLURTED OUT A VUSION AND SHE DIDNT THIS TIME PROBABLY BECAUSE WE WERE IN HER VISION ALSO SVERYINE WAS WEIRDLY OOC AND STRAIGHTFORWARD MAYBE IT DIDNT HAPPEN YET AND LIKE MAYBE BEGINNING WAS BUT I THINK GATAHAS TRIAL BEING THE SHORTEST IS DUMB SHE WOULD FAVE SO MUCH MORE AND MAYBE HER WORST FEAR IS HER MOM IDK TRAUMA BUT LIKE WHAT IF IT WAS A VISION THAT WOULD BE FUCKING CRAZY HAHA WHAT IF RIO WAS THE ONLY ONE IN CHARACTER THEY ALL TURNED ON AGATHA SO FAST MAYBE THE VISION CUT OUT FLUFF WHICH IS WHY ITS SO SHORT OR MAYBE TEEN WAS MANIPULATING EVERYONE OR LILIAS VISION OF THE WORST OUTCOME OF THE ROAD ‘save Agatha’ , Alice, don’t’ SO LILIA CAN STOP THEM FROM HAVING ALIVE DIE SAVING AGATHA AND BILLY DOESNT KILL EVERYONE ALSO WHAT IF IT WAS ACTUALLY TEENS TRIAL BECAUSE 80’s SLEEPOVER HES WEARING SAME KIND OF T SHIRT AS HE DID IN WANDAVISION AND WNADVISOON HE WAS AGED UP IN THE 80’s EPISODE AND LIKE THIRTEEN AND MAYBE HEA EVIL AND MANIPULATED EVERYONE INTO THINKING IT WAS AGATHAS FAULT SO THATS WHY BUT HE WIULDNT KILL ALICE MAYBE THAT WASNT PLANNED BUT LIKE THE DOOR ONLY OPENED WHEN HE SAID NICHOLAS SCRATCH FSR WTF

TWT IS MAKING ME CARZY WHAT IF BILLY WAS CONTROLLING IT THE WHOLE TIME SO THATS WHY TRIALS ONLY START WHEN HE DOES SOMETHING AND WHY HE WAS ABLE TO GET AGATHA OUT OF HIS MOMS SPELL AND WHY THE KIGHT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE ROAD WAS BLUE LIEK AAAAAAH AND HES THE FIRTS ONE INTO THE ROAD AND THE DOOR ONLY OPENED WHEN HE RAN DOWN MAYBE THE NEXT EPISODE WILL HAVE A DIFFERENT TITLE

ALSO LIKE BILLY CONTROLLING THEM THE WIO TIME BUT THIS EPISODE THE ONLY PERSON WHO TREATED HIM AS AN EQUAL (Alice) DIED SO HE JUST WENT FUCKING INSANE AND FERAL

[antifainternational]

Far-Right Mass Shootings, May 2022-May 2023

Now that we know that the mass murderer in Allen, Texas was a far-right extremist and incel (as well as that puzzling but not-that-uncommon mix of being a racialized neo-nazi/white supremacist), we wanted to illustrate that mass shootings by the far-right are not aberrations with this list of similar events from over the last twelve months: December 23, 2022: A gunman opens fire in Paris, killing 3 Kurdish people & wounding 3 more in a plan to “kill non-European foreigners.” The attacker had just been released from prison after attacking migrants in Paris with a sword the year before. December 19-20, 2022: 22-year-old Anderson Aldrich enters a CO. gay bar with an assault rifle & opens fire, killing five and wounding 25 others before he is subdued. November 25, 2022: A 16-year-old former student storms two schools in Aracruz, Brazil, armed with two pistols and wearing a bulletproof vest emblazoned with a swastika. The teen shoots 16 people in the rampage, killing three of them. October 12, 2022: After posting an online manifesto against Jewish & LGBTQ+ people, a Bratislava, Slovakia teen shoots three people outside a local gay bar, killing two and wounding the third person before fleeing. The suspect was found dead the next day. September 27, 2022: Brothers Mark & Michael Sheppard are charged with manslaughter for opening fire on a group of migrants getting water near Hudspeth County, TX. One victim died from gunshot wounds, and one is recovering at an El Paso hospital. September 26, 2022: A gunman wearing a balaclava and a t-shirt with a swastika emblazoned on it enters an elementary school in Izhevsk, Russia, killing 15 people - 11 of them children - and wounding another 39 before turning the gun on himself. September 11, 2022: 53-year-old Igor Lanis’ obsession with far-right conspiracies ends when he guns down his wife, 25-year-old daughter, & family dog, before turning his shotgun on responding police, who shoot him dead. Only his daughter survives. August 9, 2022: A group of Black men helping someone jump-start a car in a Macon, GA. Wal-Mart parking lot are subjected to racial abuse by another man who then pulls a gun and begins shooting at them. May 15, 2022: 68-year-old David Wenwei Chou is charged with hate crimes after storming a Taiwanese church in Laguna Woods, CA. and shooting parishoners, killing one and injuring five others

May 14, 2022: An 18-year-old white supremacist opens fire in a supermarket in a black neighbourhood in Buffalo, NY, killing ten customers and wounding three others while livestreaming the attack.

May 11, 2022: A masked gunman walks shoots 3 Korean women working in a Dallas hair salon. Authorities believe the incident is connected to two earlier drive-by shootings targeting Asian-owned businesses in the Dallas area on April 2nd and May 10th. This is just a list of mass shootings committed by bigots, fascists, and far-right extremists over the last 12 months. We haven't included shooting with less than two victims, thwarted mass shootings, or any of bombings, stabbings, vehicle attacks, or other acts of violence.

In 2022 we documented 477 violent incidents motivated by hate or committed by bigots, fascists, or right-wing extremists, including 112 shootings. These attacks killed 366 people and injured 399 others. Read our 2022 report here. When we say anti-fascism = self-defence, we meant it. The endpoint for far-right ideology is mass murder. Fascists intend to do harm to our communities and will seize on any opportunity to hurt others. The only thing stopping them is ourselves. WE PROTECT US!

[wildpeachfarm]

thank you so much for rec Brittany! She is an experienced adult who gets things but can also empathize with these creators bc she was in that position once. Her whole thing about being a “grown up” but she wasn’t “grown grown” like her parents had me nodding along, like this is someone who gets life, who isn’t chronically online. Humans gonna human and bubbles YESYES

This fandom is so young that watching a video like Brittany’s can bring an POV that they might not be privy to for another decade. And thts the point, it’s okay to make mistakes but if my listening to someone with more life experience (and boy does Brittany have life experience! She knows what she’s talking about with this) you can Not make some of these mistakes, be cognizant of what to do and how to stand up for yourself…shouldn’t that be what everyone wants? People here in their late teens early 20s need to listen to what she says. It is so so important especially about different bubbles and having to interact with people who have different bubbles. This is an adult skill you need to have and look at people and situations from multiple angles. Brittany does a very good job using this last stream as an educational tool as well and point out what went wrong and how to avoid certain things in the future. Like she said, taking and pointing out preventative measure is no victim blaming. Preventative measures should be taken (DD, not drinking underage, speaking up for yourself, removing yourself from uncomfortable situations, not drinking with people you don’t know, having friends you can trust if you are drunk). But acknowledging you can do everything right and bad things can still happen.

Acknowledging your friends faults but not blindly defending them…dude side eyeing some of theses streamers. You should know your friends characters. Some friends are messy and hard to deal with, it’s okay to acknowledge that!! Never protect a friend breaking the law etc, but like she said, “I’d turn my friend into the police but I would visit them in jail”. Help your friends get better but if it becomes too toxic, it’s okay to reevaluate that friendship.

It’s a long stream, long videos, but I think a young fandom like mcyt would lean a lot from watching.

I haven’t watched her other videos but I plan to. If people didn’t watch, her background is Iranian/Syrian, raised conservative, moved to Seattle did a 180 being in the gay, party, and bdsm scene identifying as lesbian but now identifies as pan sexual and is settled down with focus on YouTube as her career. This lady knows what she is talking about, not because she has lived it, but she has put in the work to heal and learn. She has seen therapists and done the introspective part. And has acknowledged nothing is black and white. She takes the time to see it from every perspective. Her thing with the color blue and everyone could be talking about the color blue but not the same shade of blue.

Sorry millennial here connecting with a fellow millennial.

yay glad to hear you're enjoying her stuff! and yeah you said it perfectly she's incredibly experienced in so many things and has so much advice to younger people and really provides good perspectives to people who might not have seen it that way before

[toxinellebug]

Paris Special HEADCANONS

Marinette only became emo after Chloe posted the video of Kim humiliating her online because there was no Socqulien to stop her.

Marinetter didn’t wear fishnet gloves or a scarf until those black veins started to appear.

Adrien only cut his hair after his father FORCED him to go to school, (because socializing with kids his own age would be good for his mental health) as an act of rebellion.

When the black lines started to appear, Adrien took inspiration from the Baker girl’s emo makeup to hide it.

Marinette ended up in Ms. Mendeliev’s class, NOT Ms. Bustier, which is why she never met Alya or met Adrien personally, but knew he was a spoiled brat because Chloe paraded him around the school as her Adrikins.

Adrien, who resented being sent to school, followed Chloe’s lead and probably bullied Nino, while Chloe made Alya her new fav target.

Marinette never met Luka since she and Juleka never became friends.

The Crush who thinks she’s a pathetic loser that she references is Kim. (In eng dub she says bf, which makes no sense since the special takes place at the begining of S5 after they got the Rabbit back and right after Cat Noir cataclysmed Monarch at the wax museum- and at this time Adrien has not yet fully accepted his feelings for Marinette and Marinette had broken up with Luka in ep 1 of s4 so she doesn’t have a boyfriend, which would be clear in her diary, but she does have a crush who sees her as a very good friend, whereas bad marinette’s last crush would have been Kim)

Adrien probably enjoys fame and modeling. His mother wanted to be a famous movie star after all. Also, he praises the perfection of Adrien Agreste when he is Claw Noir/Griffe Noir, and frowns when Shadybug/Toxinelle insults him. But Cat Noir has said that he is better looking and better dressed than Adrien and doesn’t understand why girls were fighting over him. Enjoying his fame and possibly relishing in signing autographs at school could also reinforce Marinette’s belief that he is self-centered despite not knowing him… Cuz remember, she was surprised that he seemed to know her, which means they aren’t classmates.

Good Gabriel obviously made Adrien go to school since being alone isn’t healthy for a teen, and Gabriel can’t design for his brand, save the world AND homeschool his son all at the same time. Plus, making friends and learning social skills would help Adrien overcome his grief.

The Centralist nature of the world ruled by the Supreme would result in Sabine having more conservative values, which would make her a more harsh disciplinarian who criticizes her daughter frequently.

Good Gabriel could not risk someone else suffering from the peacock, nor having his identity exposed to the Supreme, therefore FELIX was never born because Fathom Colt could not be trusted. (Sure, you could argue that the Supreme willingly lent Colt the peacock in exchange for something and that’s where Gabriel got the idea from but he had nothing to offer so he stole it, but since his wife is Amalie’s twin and suffered from the same infertility issues, it would be too suspicious if Emelie just miraculously got pregnant when it was impossible for her suster to do so without a miraculous.) The Gorilla was sent at Amalie’s insistence since Adrien is the heir of the precious DeVanilly bloodline and thus must be protected!

Gabriel accepted only because it stopped Amalie from insisting that she be allowed to adopt her nephew after her sister’s death.

This would also mean Amalie sees Adrien as the rightful owner of the DeVanilly twin rings and she would not insist on having them back, which means Gabriel could claim to keep them in a safe until Adrien comes of age because he knows Adrien will lose his free will if anyone gets their hands on those rings and good Gabriel respects his son’s autonomy as a person.

Gabriel never met Nathalie. She was a relic hunter, and since Gabriel stole what he needed from the Supreme, he never needed to hire Nathalie to search for magic jewels.

XY is famous and popular, Jagged Stone is either a nobody or his music is strictly underground indie because it is banned for it’s anarchist nature.

Andre never became Mayor, but he still has the Hotel and is a Movie Director. Chloe’s bad attitude still comes from her father’s wealth and Mother’s influence.

Mylene would not be allowed to attend Francios Dupont.

(Let’s face it, it is a Private school and all the kids who go there are either rich, middle class, or have show biz connections. They have an exclusive curriculum, including textbooks no other school uses, and no handicap access. Nino DJ’s as a hobby- do you know how expensive equipment is? For a 14 year old kid to have that as a hobby he needs to come from money. Building an AI robot isn’t cheap either, Max- son of an astronaut. Alya’s dad has at least a Master’s Degree if not a Doctorate in order to be a zookeeper and her mom is a chief in a 5 star hotel which affords her an apartment in one of the most expensive cities in the world, and ALYA, despite having 3 sisters, has her own bedroom with a balcony. Bakers in Paris also earn more than just a decent living, and sewing is not a cheap hobby either for a 13/14 year old who could lose interest because she’s a teenager. Mirelle and Aurora have the networking and connections to get on TV, you really think their parents wouldn’t send them to a highly rated private school? Chloe is repulsed by public transportation, do you think she’d be caught dead in a public school? Do you think the daughter of the Mayor and the Queen of fashion would go to public school? Do you think Gabriel Agreste who has a bodyguard for his supermodel son would allow him to attend public school? Do you think a world famous Fencer who also runs for political office would teach at a public school? Do you think Tsurugi san, who demands perfection and nothing short of the best, would allow Kagami to join a fencing club at a public school? No, Francois Dupont is a private school, and the only reason Mylene is able to attend is because her dad works there as a janitor. That’s why Chloe is always digging at how poor her clothes are.)

Betterfly said mutual aid is a crime in his world, meaning it is Centralist politics, which means Mylene and Ivan would not be able to protest anything legally and Ms. Bustier would not be able to get a job as a teacher with her idealistic liberal values… meaning she is not a teacher, or she is a mean teacher and probably even has a husband rather than a wife.

Post Paris Special, in addition to being homeless fugitives, Adrien will be a mess because the girl he has been yelling at, calling a cockroach, and trying to steal from is also the girl he’s been head over heels in love with but never had the guts to actually TALK to and it turns out she HATES his civilian identity and he has no idea how to talk to her without his mask but wearing the mask he falls into old habits and has to constantly correct himself before calling her cockroach and he constantly berates himself “WHY did I say that?? Stupid, stupid!” Everytime he ends up saying something snarky, rude, or tries to flirt and it just comes out cringe because he REALLY wants her to like him but he is also low key terrified of her hating him, yet just her grabbing his hand turns his brain into mush and have him daydreaming about wedding bells and a hamster.

Meanwhile, Marinette has never had a friend before, and has zero idea how to work as a team, especially with a moron who is as conceited and spoiled as Adrien Agreste, but they are stuck together now, and she DOES want to give it a shot, especially if it means she can change her crappy life and NOT be destroyed by her own powers. But she has no idea why her so called Partner is so bi-polar; one minute he’s acting smug and showing off, the next aloof (trying to play it cool), then he’s trying to crack jokes and get her praise, then he seems like he’s ready to snap and call her shittybug only to become apologetic, nervous/embarressed/awkward, and try to change the subject. Sometimes he acts like her touch burns him, othertimes he acts like he wants to hold her hsnd and follow her like a lost puppy. But most annoying is when he screws up her plans by trying to protect her by becoming a human shield or tackling her out of harms way (and spending way too long on top of her) when he used to be content to let her hit the ground and laugh about it. She doesn’t know if treating her like a damsel in distress is his idea of “team work” but it is annoying because for her plans to work he needs to focus and do the jobs she TELLS him to!

Marinette is still anti-love after her trauma from Kim so she has no romantic interest in anyone and is completely clueless to Adrien’s feelings and gets annoyed because she sees Paw Noir’s pathetic attempts at flirting as him mocking her even though they are supposed to be “good guys” on the same team now.

Gabriel is aware of both their feelings and it gives him a headache because teen romance is the worst and he knows Claw Noir would sooner drop dead from embarrassment than accept love advice from him, and quite frankly, Gabriel is far more worried about these children being put in danger and all the school they are missing and how worried Marinette’s parents must be with their daughter missing. But he knows the Supreme would show these two no mercy so they can’t return to their civilian lives until the Supreme is defeated.

IDK if Gabriel was able to remove Nooru’s muzzle, or if the Supreme started muzzling Kwami’s after the butterfly and peacock was stolen, but if Ladybug and Paw Noir are going to use their miraculous the right way, they will need to feed their kwamis.

Plagg still does not trust Adrien; it’s not the first time his miraculous has fallen into the wrong hands and been misused and the whole thing has left him jaded with a strong dislike of humans (who are only good for making cheese!) so Plagg will hate and be an asshole towards Adrien for a while before the kid can earn his trust and friendship.

Tikki wants to trust but she is nervous and dispirited from all the harm that has been done with her powers. She wants to believe there is still hope for her young holder, but she’s also not ready to open up her heart just yet. Marinette also is not used to showing or receiving affection, but she knows from reading her other self’s diary that Tikki is supposed to be her friend but she has no idea how to open up to the tiny creature that until now has only been her slave.

Gabriel feels great sympathy towards Marinette who has suffered so much abuse, and great guilt towards Adrien who has never learned how to socialize with kids his own age or deal with negative emotions in a healthy way, but he is certain that these two kids are made for each other.

Nino is still terrified of Paw Noir, and is super weirded out that the biggest bully in School after Chloe is now suddenly, awkwardly, trying to talk to him and asking about his favorite movies for dome reason? But they are members of the underground resistance together now and he’s not going to risk ticking this kid off and getting cataclysmed.

Alya is wary because Shadybug has tried to kill her several times these past few months… and now they are suddenly allies? Sure, that’s not weird or suspicious AT ALL.

[letadlock]

Barefoot Gen

WOW. I had heard about this anime being a hard watch and have seen the clips of the melting citizens online prior to watching the film film and my god, I sobbed... multiple times. Barefoot Gen contains the compositional beauty of a Miyazaki film with the added artistic depth of historical documentation.

I highly appreciate the telling of this massacre through animation that tells the story from the viewpoint of a survivor. Rather than reading a list of facts from a textbook we see Gen's life from before the bomb to during and the devastating events that take place after. I don't think a live action film could suffice the damage this anime depicts not only because we can't go back and film what has happened but also due to the artistic direction taken to show the bomb's drop. A moment of deafening silence is heard and the use of black and white to show where the light was effecting people and places was a series of shots I especially admire.

A scene in particular that had me crying the most was the depiction of the mother and her baby melting. The mother tries to protect her baby from the radiation but is too late and they both suffer the effects.

Even more chilling was the way the bomb DID NOT ALWAYS KILL PEOPLE?!?? If death wasn't bad enough I was shocked when the people who had suffered the radiation with skin peeling off had got up and started walking. I was under the impression this was an instantaneous death but even worse they had to endure the pain of the bomb's effects and keep living knowing their families and homes may be gone.

The scene where Gen and Ryuta fight with the sick man and his gratitude towards Gen when the boy slaps him was an enlightening one. After all these people had been through, facing economic hardship, loss of loved ones, destruction of their homes, and now disease and bodily impairments how could others in the community treat the disadvantaged so poorly? The social effects outcasting the victims is heartbreaking. Were the physical effect of the bomb on their city and families not already punishment enough?

This angrily motivated act of personal contact was enough to send the man into tears because he had been deprived of any contact by his family members for fear of contracting his illnesses. While not under the same circumstances, this scene reminded me of similar treatment AIDs victims underwent in the 1980s and 90s. AIDs patients not only dealt with the physical implications of their disease but were socially outcasted out of fear you could contract the disease by proximity. Princess Diana was the first public figure aired on television to shake the hand of a man who had AIDs, nationally broadcasting this stigma was not backed up by any truth.

I am glad to have seen this film and I admire Gen's ability to keep high spirits about the future despite witnessing multiple deaths in his family firsthand. I think Barefoot Gen should be shown in school's to older teens as a cultural example giving a deeper depiction of the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan that textbooks cannot replicate.

[jonathan-cranes-mistress-of-fear]

More of Crane and his adopted son, Chris. Riddler’s introduction. [Ko-fi commission]

Chris is in high school, but does his schooling on the computer at home. Jonathan actually brought a laptop from Edward, as he doesn’t own much modern technology. Even his television is old.

Chris really likes Edward and is happy that he is friends with his father, because Edward is really cool in his eyes. I mean, what teenager wouldn’t like the Riddler??

Jonathan eventually organizes time for the two to hang out at a local coffee shop. Eddie actually teaches Chris how to code and make simple games during their visits.

One visits, Edward slyly admits to Chris that he has a crush on his dad. Chris, thinking the gay shit, immediately comes up with a plan to get the two men together.

He decides that he’ll give both of them letters from a secret admirer, and trick them both into going on a date. After all, he wants to see his father happy.

And it actually works! Jonathan meets Edward at a nice restaurant wearing his best ugly brown suit and when the two men realize who set it up, they have a good laugh and decide to try this boyfriend thing.

Chris loves spending time with Edward and now he gets to spend EVEN MORE time with him -- it’s a good thing. Even though he’s enamored with his father, the friendship he gained with Edward is invaluable.

As time passes, Chris and Edward grow closer and he considers Edward like another father/ Two dads? That’s pretty fucking cool in his eyes.

Now, Chris doesn’t have to organize dates for the two men, they end up going themselves. Sometimes they do bicker, but that’s normal. It’s a bit of an opposites attract thing.

Edward also tutors Chris in things that Crane can’t -- such as math and some history. They two find that learning together is a good father son bonding experience.

READ MORE HEADCANONS BELOW THE CUT

Slowly but surely Jonathan and Edward grow closer, they’ve been dating for about a year when the two decide they want to make things more serious -- is marriage in their future? Well, Chris sure hopes so!

But before that happens, Chris has a problem. He begins to realizes he might be asexual. This would be scary if you had normal parents, but surely his gay dads wouldn’t have a problem with this?

Well, you know how the mind goes to dark places. Chris is afraid his fathers might force him to have a lifestyle he doesn’t want, despite that never being the case with Jonathan and Edward. Our minds always assume the worst, however.

So he’s scared. He’s heard thing online from other ace teens and the horror stories pray on him like fear toxin.

One day, he swallows his fears and gets his two dads together for a talk. This is where he, scared as can be, admits his sexuality.

The two men look at each other and then back to Chris. Crane smiles with a nod and says he always knew and that he was just waiting from Chris to say the word. Edward leans in for a hug and they both comfort the boy.

He was so worried about being accepted that he forgot his own parents went though similar struggles, but now Chris knows that he is truly loved.

Edward, being more people oriented finds a group of lgbtqia+ teen group for him, and Jonathan makes a ace flag patch for his jacket.

And these two proud fathers will do anything to protect their son, so they arm him and teach him such things as Jonathan’s “Crane Kong-fu” to defend himself from bigots.

Chris knows now that he is loved, he found his family and that he really admires his two fathers.

BONUS RANDOM CHRIS HEADCANONS

Chris’s first coding game is actually a mock up flappy bird clone but with Riddler Trophies

His favorite snack is Swedish Fish and he likes to dip them in hot coco

He takes after Jonathan in that he likes coffee, black with no flavor.

However he really likes tuna sandwiches, a sample in Edward’s diet

Chris really likes to drive Jonathan’s motorcycle, did I mention Jonathan has one? Because Chris is so jealous and sometimes sneak out late at night for a joyride. 

This family is a family full of acceptance, Chris, despite being scared to come out, normally doesn’t feel anxiety over asking his fathers for help and especially not now. Now he knows he can come to them for anything.

Chris’ favorite color is a tie being orange and green. gee I wonder why ;)

He is elf taught in sign language

Chris likes reading a whole lot, thanks to his dads buying him comics and graphic novels.

He really wants to adopt some rats, but is unsure if his dads would approve lol (also there’s the crows to worry about)

[bunny-heels]

all my blogs are finally fully backed up so.

Matt is a fucking idiot. imagine being in charge of a website that advertises itself as the gayest place on the web when in reality all you do is sulk in your office being upset and whiny because people rightfully call you out on your hypocrisy, ignorance, neglect, and blatant bigotry.

there is a literal genocide happening that's been going on for years killing innocent people. a non-binary teen was beaten to death and the killers have basically gotten off free. and this fucking dumbass decides to worry about what people are saying about him online as if he isn't sitting in a pile of money like every other jackass CEO is dong. the fact Palestine isn't one of the listed trending tags on tumblr when i see news about it every 5 posts is ridiculous.

he's just like any other rich guy. he doesn't care about the wellbeing of others, thinks only for himself, puts others down when they feel threatened, and just wants more money.

tumblr stopped being a safe place for "outcasted" people years ago, even before the porn ban. in fact, maybe it never really was for outcated people. trans, black, and disabled users have been getting put down by this site for a very long time, and its fucking disgusting. this site literally houses the largest percentage of LGBT+ and disabled users i've ever seen if we're going by the polls where literally the option of cisgender and neurotypical is always under 1%. they literally are the reason this website still exist, because they've created their circles and safe spaces for them to feel comfortable sharing their life experiences and adventures through life.

most people on this site can't go a day in their real life without some form of harassment or hardship, they don't need that transferring to their digital life. every group of people deserves their own corner for them to have fun and get away from everything for a while. if that's taken away, you are left with people who are just throwing tantrums, and the actual users who made your site usable are now out there probably doing better than you and getting more respectable support than you will with your group of crying babies.

Matt is not a 13 year old kid running a GMod DarkRP server. Matt is not a 26 year old forum mod. he is a 40 year old CEO who is the founder of a well known blog creation site. he has an extremely important and powerful position, yet he is choosing to put his own immature feelings first before thinking about the safety of his own userbase that is literally used as this sites selling point.

the fucking audacity to do this shit to your own users that you literally use for a selling point when you won't even allow for certain tags to show up in the search because you claim for them to have sexual content meanwhile other tags are full of hatred, bigotry, and downright defamation of innocent people who just happen to live different lives is fucking gross. i absolutely cannot believe society and social norms have let the minds of people in power get this fucking bad. it's almost impressive, in a tortured lab monkeys way, not in an innovated and breakthrough way.

please protect all trans users, especially trans women/trans fems. please protect black users, disabled users, all people of color users, homeless/financially struggling users, harassed users, victims of assault users, Palestinian users, jewish users, any religious users-any user that you know for a fact could be thrown away by this bullshit system any day now, protect and take care of them, and make sure they know you'll always be there no matter what.

this post will be rebloggable because i want to pass these links.

palestine related links:

arab.org

gofundmes

esims

PCRF

funds for gaza

POC related links:

BHM mutual aid

american indian college fund

black family mutual aid

trans related links:

freedom oklahoma

transformationskc

trans liberation

suggestions for more plus any corrections are appreciated. reblogging and replying to add your own links for mutual aid and donations is extremely acceptable and encouraged. i apologize if anything in this is worded incorrectly.

if this is taken down despite me being a cis straight chick, you know why.

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: Slay

Author: Brittney Morris

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2019

Genres: fiction, contemporary, science fiction

Blurb: By day, 17-year-old Kiera Johnson is a college student, and one of the only black kids at Jefferson Academy. By night, she joins hundreds of thousands of black gamers who duel worldwide in the secret online roleplaying card game SLAY. No one knows Kiera is the game developer...not even her boyfriend Malcolm. But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, the media labels it an exclusionist, racist hub for thugs. With threats coming from both inside and outside the game, Kiera must fight to save the safe space she's created...but can she protect SLAY without losing herself?

[the-rad1o-demon]

Share, donate, and give politicians the fucking middle finger because we're going all out, darlings!!!

And this bill affects all of us. Both children and adults of the following: the LGBTQ+ community, Black communities, Latinx communities, Native American communities, Asian communities.

It will affect ex-Jehovah's Witnesses, and younger folks still trapped. Same thing for ex-Catholics and children/teens still trapped in the Catholic Church. Same thing for Mormons.

This bill affects everyone, okay? There is no beating around the bush. It has been stated time and again by literal lawmakers that this bill is a censorship bill. Senator Blackburn, co-author of the KOSA bill, said herself it would be used to "protect children from the transgender."

So please help keep the fight going. Because the more of us contribute, the bigger chance we have of winning.

And don't fall for that "oh, what I do won't matter much, other people will do it" line of thought.

Even if you think other people will help: please help anyway. We are running out of time. It's all hands on deck at this point.

So far, chances of KOSA being enacted is 31% according to the site linked below.

We need to get it down to zero. 31% is way too big still.

Here's a petition you can sign!!

You can also call your senators' offices!!

(Correct call script document in post this time as opposed to comment section, ha!)

The call scripts linked below were originally for Congressional representatives, but now that the bill is in committee consideration by Senate Commerce, you should call your Senators instead and you can use the scripts for them. Also, when calling your Democrat senators, make sure to add that Senator Blackburn explicitly stated in interview that it would be used to "protect children from the transgender." I think it's pretty clear that this is not meant to protect children. It's just going to harm children further, especially trans children.

(Article below with a video of the interview embedded.)

Please help stop this bill in its tracks. Reblog, donate, call your senators, and keep an eye on the bill's chances of being passed. We need to keep fighting this bill. Period.