#the girl who set out to seek a living wage

[haveyouheardthispodcast]

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Craig Biddle

Published: Oct 26, 2014

One religion today regularly motivates large numbers of its followers to murder, behead, rape, and enslave people across the globe. That religion is Islam. Not Christianity. Not Judaism. Not Buddhism. Islam. Only Islam. You know this. I know this. Everyone paying attention knows this.

The Koran explicitly and repeatedly commands Muslims to engage in jihad or “holy war” whether they like it or not. “Jihad (holy fighting in Allah’s Cause) is ordained for you (Muslims) though you dislike it, and it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing which is bad for you. Allah knows but you do not know” (e.g., 2:216, 9:38). The Koran explicitly and repeatedly commands Muslims to “kill the unbelievers wherever you find them” (e.g., 2:191, 9:5), “strike off their heads” (e.g., 8:12, 47:4), make sex slaves of their wives and daughters (e.g., 4:24, 33:50), and continue this jihad “until all opposition ends and all submit to ‘Allah’” (e.g., 8:39, 9:29). You know this. I know this. Everyone paying attention knows this.

According to Islam, the “Prophet” Muhammad is the ideal role model for all boys and men; he sets the perfect example for how to live and wage jihad. Muhammad regularly killed and beheaded unbelievers (e.g., the massacre of Banu Qurayza), made slaves of those he conquered but didn’t kill (he had many slaves), “married” (i.e., repeatedly raped) slave girls (e.g., Safiyah and Rayhana), raped children as young as nine years old (e.g., Aisha), and founded a religion in which all such behavior is regarded as morally great because the “Prophet” did it. You know this. I know this. Everyone paying attention knows this.

Of course, not all Muslims engage in the above-mentioned behavior. But this does not change the fact that Islamic scripture commands or condones such behavior. It simply means that some Muslims don’t take Islam seriously. For that we can be thankful.

Unfortunately, as anyone can see by glancing at the news, many Muslims do take Islam seriously. Jihadists across the globe—from the Middle East to Africa to the United States to Canada—are murdering, beheading, enslaving, and raping “infidels” wherever and whenever they can. And these jihadists are supported by Islamic theocracies such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, which encourage and fund such barbarism.

Everyone paying attention knows at least that much. Granted, some know it in greater detail than others. But everyone with a functioning mind who has not been asleep since September 11, 2001, has a basic understanding of the foregoing facts.

Yet many people—from leaders of the (semi-)free world to leftist intellectuals, journalists, and celebrities—pretend otherwise. George W. Bush, for instance, says “Islam is peace” and a “noble faith.” Barack Obama says “Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance”; “Islam is not part of the problem” but “an important part of promoting peace.” David Cameron says “Islam is a religion of peace”; jihadists such as members of Islamic State “are not Muslims” but “monsters.”

Leftists such as Glenn Greenwald, Nathan Lean, Nicholas Kristof, and Ben Affleck go further. They not only pretend that Islam is not inherently barbaric; they also smear those who point out that it is inherently barbaric. If you call Islam or its serious practitioners barbaric—heck, if you so much as say “Islam is the mother lode of bad ideas,” as Sam Harris recently did—the leftist smear brigade will label you “Islamophobic” (as if fear of Muslims who actively seek to kill you were irrational); “racist” (as if Islam were a race rather than a religion); “intolerant” (as if you should put up with people who seek to behead, enslave, or rape you and your loved ones); and all manner of other absurdities. Leftists will also point out that, like the Koran, the Talmud and the Bible contain commandments to kill unbelievers, homosexuals, and other “sinners,” and that these books also condone slavery and the like—as if such truths somehow change the fact that today only Islam motivates large numbers of its followers and, indeed, entire nations to murder and enslave people in the name of “God.”

Why do so many people pretend not to know what they know about Islam and its unique role in the world today? Why do so many smear those who speak the truth about this horrendous religion and its devout followers? Why do so many ignore the fact that although other religions involve barbaric commandments, none motivates large numbers of its followers to commit atrocities the way Islam does today?

We can only speculate as to people’s motives on this count. Perhaps some feel that by pretending not to know what they know about Islam they can somehow make Islam not be what it is. Perhaps some have accepted the religious dogma “Judge not, that ye be not judged” or the relativist mantra “Who are you to judge?” and thus are afraid to judge or think for themselves. Perhaps some see that to criticize Islam for its irrational, faith-based tenets is to expose the fundamental illegitimacy of religion as such, and they are hesitant to do that. Perhaps some loathe freedom, America, and Western values and see the spread of Islam as a way to help eradicate these “problems.” Again, we can only speculate.

Whatever people’s motives, these facts remain: (1) To pretend not to know what one knows is to be dishonest. (2) When we know that a person is being dishonest, we have a selfish, moral responsibility to acknowledge the fact and to judge him as dishonest. (3) When a person is dishonest in a way that intentionally whitewashes a religion that commands its followers to murder, enslave, or rape us or our loved ones—or when a person smears people for stating the unvarnished truth about that religion—we have a selfish, moral responsibility to judge that person as evil.

Just as we have a moral responsibility not only to judge Nazism and its serious practitioners as evil, but also to judge those who whitewash them as evil; so too we have a moral responsibility not only to judge Islam and its serious practitioners as evil, but also to judge those who whitewash them as evil. There are, of course, degrees of evil among such whitewashers—but those degrees are degrees of evil. People who knowingly whitewash evil are by that fact and to that extent evil.

We who want to live and love life have a selfish, moral responsibility not only to say what we know to be true about Islam and its serious practitioners, but also to say what we know to be true about those who seek to whitewash them.

Islam is evil because (among other reasons) it commands or condones murder, slavery, rape, and the like; Muslims who take Islam seriously and thus seek to engage in such barbarism are evil for doing so; and those who whitewash these evils are evil for their part in advancing this god-awful nightmare.

We who know this should say so. Keeping silent on the matter effectively whitewashes the whitewashers.

[ Via: https://archive.today/C6cIM ]

==

Only become more relevant today.

[warriorviscera]

LEGENDARY WARRIOR VISCERA INFORMATION POST

“Draw steel or die, craven dog! If you don't fight, then you cannot live!”

Who is the Warrior Viscera? Or rather yet, what? In the Etherrealm, might makes right, and blood spilled is debts paid. The God of Flesh and Materialism, Diphtheria, chooses a teenage girl who hails from a rural town to represent the role of judgement in this modern age of violence and destruction. Struggling to retain control over her life, Viscera sets out to search for a missing friend. Pray take heed, Warrior Viscera! This world is cruel and seeks your destruction... or even worse... your guidance.

The story takes place in THREE PARTS:

Part 1 – INSTANCE Part 2 - REOCCURANCE Part 3 - ETERNITY

The setting is THE ETHERREALM, a strange and violent fantastical world on the verge of it's own haphazard industrial revolution. Bloodlust is inherently woven into the world's construction. The creator of mankind, ETHER, wages war against CHAOS and her children for the right of the lands.

Titular Main Characters

Viscera Pesante – The main character. Chosen Judge of Mankind, a girl who has been bequeathed the true 'Divine Right' to Bloodshed and Warmongering. However, despite all of this, in her heart, there is a compassionate and tormented girl who is desperate to seek peace within herself. Viscera is brutally honest, and doesn't hold back on expressing her thoughts, even if it'll get her in trouble. 🩸

Bone - Viscera's eccentric best friend and confidant. Despite his childlike behavior and unusual outlook on life, he is not to be underestimated in a good fight, least you lose a limb to him. Never uses weapons – his hands and feet do just fine by him. He is a Rotlander, hailing from a west-southern Etherrealm clusternation named as such. Originally, he followed Viscera out of concern and protectiveness for the younger girl, but is eventually dragged into a violent struggle beyond his control. 🖤

Valentine D'Adagio - A nervous, yet good-intentioned knight, of an overseas faction of the Order of Anomatheca. He speaks in a very dated manner at times, using 'thy' and 'thou' naturally. His noble and steadfast personality is rarely found in Etherrealmer warriors these days, due to the decline of noble intent giving way to violence. However, his noble behavior may be just a personality front, as he desperately wants to be a good person and cannot stand being seen as morally incorrect. 🎠

Vanillia Aevom Ethercrowne - Trained from her youth in politics and psychological warfare, Vanillia is the heir to the Ethercrowne Capital. However, Vanillia also had access to forbidden books and history, leading to her researching and acquiring additional abilities and skills that are deemed unnatural and evil. Deep down, Vanillia is incredibly spiteful and vindictive due to realizing her entire life was being planned for her. The strength of her personal ambitions can lead her to making rash decisions when it involves enforcing her own free will and power. 👑

[sparrow-in-boots]

okay so, I'm going to get to Lucy Stillman and the franchise's treatment of her, but i think I need to explain my own feelings about the portrayal of the modern brotherhood first. I do not buy the "brotherhood = conspiracy theory cult" angle. It's flawed and leads to terrible takes overall, by the lore and by the fandom.

It's a holdover from the fact that the game decides to run with conspiracy theories that we have in the real world, and assign them all to the Isu. they even poke fun of it in the earlier games with the whole lizard people and space wizards in tinfoil hats comments. now that's a whole can of worms in itself given how deeply racist and antisemitic the overwhelming majority of conspriacy theories are, but it's not a good way to portray the assassin brotherhood because that's not what they are. they are far leftists. they are anarchist cells, they are commune organizers, they are revolutionaries. that's not me saying it either, that's just canon, plain and simple.

but that would make the story too close to real-life politics and they can't do that cus it's not in their interests.

therefore, the brotherhood is coded as isolationist cultists, or at least as far as The Farm goes. in current year, i think we can all agree there's an inherent fallacy (if not outright disengenuous portrayal) of painting your leftist organization fighting against the capitalist neocolonial hegemony with the same strokes as the whacky people starting communes in the middle of nowhere to escape 5G towers, fluoride water and the [insert villanized minority group here].

i don't buy it, i don't appreciate it, and i think we could have had a stronger story without it, even regarding Desmond's backstory.

THAT SAID, let's take a look at Lucy. her's is the story of a girl who was forced into adulthood too early after being left to her own devices by a very sheltered and isolating community that failed her, and then inducted into a cult which ultimately killed her and then was promptly swept under the narrative. that cult is the templar order by the by.

Lucy was born and raised within the Brotherhood, and pretty much set lose on the world with no connectiosn to speak of. surely they must have given her a paper trail, fake parents and school enrollments, medical records, the works. she was told to infiltrate Abstergo and probably given a general path towards that, namely research that could be useful to them, but otherwise? she was on her own.

first thing that comes to mind is when Amish folks get their time away from their hometown to experience the world and choose to come back or not. i can't comment on their experience and general view on this so i won't attempt to draw a parallel here, but just that initial mental connection speaks for itself imo.

She speaks of having to wait tables to make ends meet, and while that's the socially expected experience of solo living for a young adult leaving home (work minimun wage jobs, go to college, climb the chain, start small, etc), she has no home to return to. In fact there's this looming tension that even opening up to missing her home or going into detail about it could blow her cover. Even in the privacy of being around friends and colleagues, there's this necessity of keeping up a front. She has to buy it so deeply it becomes her, inside and out, and doing that at such a formative age is bound to take it's toll.

You're removed from everything and everyone you've ever known. You don't know when or if you'll ever see them again. In fact they can die at any moment and you might never hear about it. Contact with them is a fraught and dangerous thing, and even the slightest slip could spell your doom and theirs. Connection is a constant swinging sword of Damocles over her, and who can take comfort and solace from community like that? No one, is who. So of course she'd seek that away from where she could endanger everyone.

So in comes Vidic. She knows he's a templar, of course she does, but he's kind and understanding, a bit frustrating and headstrong, but she can usually talk him into chilling out here and there. And of course, one can draw a parallel between him and Bill. Both are strict and charismatic (in their own way) father and mentor figures, but while Bill is cold and hard, Vidic feigns affection (as Haytham so eloquently put) and the worst part is, it works. Any affection and attention is good attention for the starved, and Lucy's been on the end of her ropes since she's been outside of the Brotherhood.

She knows and can see it's all manipulation, she's not that blind of course, but it chips away at her. That's what emotional manipulation does after all. And then, in come the agents to kill her, and Vidic stops them.

All her life she's heard how brutal and merciless the templars are, and surely she's seen it too while working under them, but right when her facade slips and she should be dead, she's not. Because Vidic spares her. Of course that leaves a deep impression on her, and further erodes her resolve. Slowly but surely, she opens up, and Vidic is an expert at what he does. She may hold quite a bit of guilt and shame at turning, but the templars were there when the brotherhood wasn't.

Bill says that of those they send to infiltrate the templars, they are either "too strong" and can't keep up the charade, or are "too weak" and turn. How is being a human being who needs connection and community "too weak"? How is being slowly lovebombed and manipulated into choosing the wire mother and then being foresaken the plush one when in need weakness?

Desmond says that she "seemed so sincere, like she really wanted to make a difference", and I truly believe she did. Her morals and belief were twisted through years of emotional torture and isolation, and she knew she couldn't return to the brotherhood after how far she caved under the pressure. There's no space for the nuances and endless gray areas of such an unbalanced war in the current brotherhood, and she knows it, so throwing in with the templars for her was the lesser evil. She's not fool enough to buy their propaganda wholesale, but it's a necessary concession in her mind so she can excuse her taking advantage of their attention and community. Again, as long as she's useful to them, she has a place among them.

However, the way she's treated by the narrative is... w o w. We never get the chance to hear it from her side, expect by a pathetically short email on the ACR dlc. While having the protagonists agonize over someone's beliefs after their passing and finding no solid answers, they really don't spend nearly enough time for that to carry much weight narratively. In fact, there's hardly much of a critique on the conditions that led her to that kind of fall from grace, and even less is done to fix it.

She, much like Clay, are the epitomes of how the brotherhood is mirroring too much the templar's and Juno's disregard for human life, and how that needs to change in order for them to turn the tides. But nothing comes of it, because our anchor to the modern timeline gets doomed by the narrative and now all those loose plot holes go nowhere. Her funeral, her burial, her memory, it all gets waved about like an annoying gnat on the dinner table, and nobody does anything but try their best to ignore it until it goes away. Her actress couldn't keep with their schedule, so they got rid of her in the most pathetic horrifyingly dismissive way possible.

Personally I'm not a fan of the templar turncoat plotline they gave her, but if that's what they wanted to go with, then it needed much MUCH more careful writing and it needed to fucking GO SOMEWHERE. But it doesn't. And it sucks.

[haveyoureadthispoll]

Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering. Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village—and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon—may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead. Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin—as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits—Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all. But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jess Piper at The View From Rural Missouri:

Joseph McCarthy was power-hungry, and his outrageous claims and committees ruined lives. And for what? It wasn’t a battle against Communism. It was a battle to consolidate power. Arthur Miller was one of McCarthy’s victims. He was called before a congressional committee and questioned about his own involvement with the Communist Party. Miller admitted to going to a Communist Party meeting years earlier. He was cited for contempt for failing to implicate others who were suspected Communists. Miller refused to turn his friends in and he paid for it.

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as a warning to the country. The play is about terror and hysteria. The play warns about mob violence. The play pleads for freedom and tolerance. In Puritan America, there were several instances of witch hunts and paranoia — the biggest was in Salem. There were several “tests” to prove a witch. They would bind the hands and feet of a suspected witch and throw her into water to see if she would sink or swim. They would prod moles to see if she would bleed. They could place stones on a suspected witch’s chest to get a confession.

[...]

Related: 2024 was a record-breaking year for anti-trans legislation. 617 bills were introduced nationwide. Most of these bills are aimed at children…at girls. Bathroom bills. Trans athlete bills. It feels like a witch hunt. Nationwide, politicians looking to fill their campaign coffers or get their names in the news are writing bills and legislation against trans kids and trans athletes. These politicians are power-hungry. These politicians hope their outrageous claims and obsessions over a tiny fraction of the population will consolidate even more power. Behind closed-door hearings, these politicians bully, lie, and smear their way to power, destroying the lives of students in the process. Sound familiar?

[A divided House approved legislation that aims to bar transgender women and girls from participating in school athletic programs designated for female students, as Republicans seek to wring political opportunity from a social issue that helped them win the 2024 elections.]

Did you catch that last part? Republicans are pushing a bill that impacts almost no one to score points politically. What could really score some points? Writing legislation to fund schools. Legislation to ease housing costs. Legislation to strengthen unions and close the wage gap. Legislation to curb gun violence. But instead, they go after a tiny minority of student athletes. Folks say that “girls shouldn’t have to compete against boys” in sports. Why? Because hypothetically, girls could lose out on college scholarships. I would argue that we should make college free so students don’t have to play sports at an elite level to pay for college, but for the sake of the argument…how many trans athletes are playing at the college level according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association? “NCAA President Charlie Baker told the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee there are fewer than 10 ‘transgender athletes’ currently in college sports out of a total of 510,000 total athletes.” That is fewer than .00002% of all NCAA athletes. [...] The Red Scare was a witch hunt and not the least about Communism. The trans panic is a witch hunt and not the least about girl’s sports. Both were set in motion to consolidate power.

@Jess Piper nails it on the anti-trans trends in all facets of life: “The trans panic is a witch hunt and not the least about girl’s sports.”

[macchiatosdumptruck]

Puritianverse…but pious, poor omega Daniel is sold to a harem of Alphas called “The Cobras” who seek a “companion omega”. He has no idea what’s in store for him, and innocently thinks he will simply cook and clean and keep house for them, in return for shelter and protection and friendship—and even a small omega wage!!—something he looks forward to. He has no idea that he was bought because one look at him and they knew this was the omega who they were gonna mate, claim, and breed. Oh Daniel…

Oh, poor baby. That's a full handmaid's tale type of au right there.

I've answered asks about poly cobras+Daniel in the a/b/o setting before, and I always figured that they would probably each want to have one kid their "own" but that they would love them all and raise them together.

But in this sort of scenario? Where omegas have little to no rights, and no education, birth control, etc. oof.

Not quite a fic.cw for heavy dubcon, treading on straight non con depending on your personal definition.

"companion omega" sounds kinda like a call girl or a sugar baby. But the rest of it sounds like a live in housekeeping job. Not too bad right? It's not like he has many other options, and with a group this large, al alpha's, he expects his Ma will be taken care of quite well. (Or maybe, this is an even sadder au? Daniel wound up at the church because he was orphaned.)

Poor baby Daniel who is nervous, but still optimistic. Looking forward to meeting his new life long friends, getting to leave the church, having a simple but pleasant life, only to shortly become little more than a broodmare.

The confusion begins shortly before the ceremony.

It's the first time he is meeting all of them, and it's at the alpha's homestead, Daniel's new residence. The nuns and helpers hurry Daniel into the bath, clean him, shave him, lotion him. When he gets out they drape him in the finest silks.

Daniel is confused because he was under the impression that this was more along the lines of a business arrangement. He was to sign some documents and the deal would be official.

Instead there's a prominent alpha priest.

It's quick, there are no vows. It's not for love. Daniel is starting to realize he may have been misled, but before he can object the priest says "I know declare you, Daniel LaRusso, as the communal pack omega, bonded by word of law and God.

Daniel shivers in his robes as he's taken to a different room, large and spaciou. It's lined with soft fabrics and close to the floor padding not unlike mattresses. It's not quite a nest either, but it has the available fabrics to make one.

I imagine there's some sort of aphrodisiac that they had given Daniel shortly before the ceremony started. It makes him loose and willing enough to submit.

The leader of the lack, Johnny, goes first. He has the first claim and the first bite, at the most desirable spot. Afterwards Daniel loses track. He's taken again and again. And it feels good. Confusingly good. He hadn't known that part of him was made to fit alphas in such a way, but deep in his pseudo-heat state, he can't help but think it only makes sense.

But he has no idea what is to come of it. There surely was no purpose. This sort of thing was forbidden by the church, at least for unmated omegas. The alpha's were allowed their dalliances.

Oh. Was that what happened? He was... Mayed now? Well, Daniel supposed he has to be due to the first bond mark already in his flesh, but all of them? Was this the plan all along? Had they not told Daniel before hand, or maybe... He had misunderstood? Maybe they had expected him to know?

There's a sort of simple minded contentment that comes over him as he's made to kneel and present. He finds himself making desperate keening noises he didn't know he was capable of.

Daniel is already sure he has never felt pleasure like this before in his life, and he's sure he will never find anything to top it. That is until one of them reaches around to run and his little pink button. Something Daniel had only ever touched on accident, and quickly gotten overwhelmed by.

"what are you doing that for? If he's a Good Omega he'll learn to come on our knots." One asked.

There's a chuckle, then.

"well, you know what they say. Orgasms increase the chance of conception. "

"yeah, what's your problem, man. That's like, so old fashioned. Omega rights or whatever. "

They laugh. Daniel can't tell why it's funny. Or mean? He was told these alpha's were kind. And, in all honesty, whatever he just did? When his omega parts got all swollen and throbbing? When his nerves snapped like a live wire? He wanted to do that again. As much as possible.

The next few hours go by in a blur. Daniel gets lost in the overwhelming and alien sensations being forced through his body. He feels hollowed out inside. Sore. Tender.

Good.

Complete for the first time.

"do you think it's taken yet?" One of them asks.

"it's no matter. Soon his heat will start, and we won't stop until it does. "

[super-secret-turtle]

~Behind the scenes, unspoken words~

Closed just for fun

"Dameon, you gotta help me with something," Shadow pleaded, his deep voice echoing through the well-appointed living room of the sprawling mansion. He held up a piece of paper with a hopeful yet slightly desperate look in his bright green eyes.

Dameon, the tall, handsome striped hyena with the same piercing gaze, put down his guitar and leaned back in his chair. "What is it Shadow?" he asked, curiosity piqued.

"I wanna write a love letter, but I can't think of the right words. You're the smooth-talker here," Shadow said, tossing the paper onto the table between them.

Dameon chuckled, his tail swishing gently behind him. "Alright, who is the lucky girl?"

"Kim," Shadow replied, his tone dropping to a murmur as if sharing a sacred secret.

The name hung in the air for a moment. Dameon knew Kim well, she was a regular visitor to his Zoo, often lingering by the tiger enclosure. Her dark brown eyes and the way she carried herself suggested a sharp intellect and a sense of humor that matched Dameon's own.

"Why not just tell her how you feel?" Dameon suggested, his own words measured and thoughtful.

"Because she's… she's different, man," Shadow said, his usual confidence momentarily wavering. "I need to make it… special."

Dameon nodded, understanding his friend's plight. He stood up, his fur ruffling slightly as he moved to the antique desk in the corner of the room. "Alright, let us give this a shot," he said, pulling out his glasses, a fresh sheet of paper, and a fountain pen.

The two of them sat down to compose the letter, their heads bent in silent concentration. Shadow's eyes darted around the room, seeking inspiration, while Dameon's remained focused on the task at hand. It wasn't every day that a mutant turtle asked a hyena for romantic advice, but in their world, it was all part of the tapestry of friendship.

The room was filled with the sound of the pen scratching against the paper, occasionally punctuated by Shadow's frustrated growls. Dameon took the lead, his elegant handwriting flowing across the page as he crafted sentences filled with earnestness and wit. Shadow, on the other hand, was scribbling down ideas, most of which ended up in the discard pile.

After what felt like an eternity, Dameon held up the completed letter. "How about this?" he asked, his voice calm and steady.

Shadow leaned over, his eyes scanning the page eagerly. "You wanna read it to me?"

Dameon nodded, picking up the letter with a gentle touch. He cleared his throat and began to read:

"To the enigma wrapped in beauty's cloak, Whose smile ignites the dullest day, Whose laughter is the sweetest music's stroke, And eyes, the poets' muse alway—"

Shadow's eyes grew wider with each word, and he leaned in closer, entranced by the rhythmic flow of the poem. The words painted a picture of Kim that was both tender and fiery, a testament to the depth of Shadow's unspoken feelings.

"Your grace is like the moon's soft glow, On nights when darkness tries to claim, You shine, a beacon in the shadow's throe, A flame that warms without a name."

The room grew quiet as Dameon recited the verses, the only sound the occasional crackle of the fireplace.

"But why, oh why, this silent dance? Why hide what's clear as day? Your heart beats in a secret trance, While I'm lost in love's ballet."

Shadow's eyes gleamed with excitement and a hint of nervousness. This was it, his feelings laid bare on the page, wrapped in the finery of poetry that he had never before dared to attempt.

"If only you could see, my sweet, The storm within me rages, For you, I'd fight, I'd never quit, To earn your heart's sweetest wages."

The letter grew longer, each line more intimate than the last, delving into the quiet moments of longing that Shadow had never quite managed to express.

"Your voice, a siren's sweetest call, It echoes through my lonely nights, Your touch, a whisper in the hall, A gentle guide that sets my soul alights."

The turtle's face grew serious as Dameon read, the words resonating with a truth that pierced through the armor of his usual bravado. He knew he was incapable of crafting such eloquence on his own, and he was deeply moved by the hyena's understanding of his heart.

"Yet here I stand, a silent guard, My feelings trapped in shadows deep, Praying for the chance to be your lord, And watch your every quiet sleep."

The room was so still, it was as if the very air held its breath. The fire crackled in the background, casting flickering shadows across the floor. Dameon's eyes searched Shadow's, looking for approval, for any sign that he had captured the essence of his friend's tumultuous love.

Finally, Shadow spoke, his voice thick with emotion. "That's… that's perfect, man. Just… perfect." He took the letter from Dameon's hand, his own trembling slightly. "I can't believe you did this."

Dameon offered a warm smile, his green eyes shining with friendship and pride. "You got this," he said, placing a reassuring hand on Shadow's shoulder. "Just remember, it is not about the words on the page, but the feelings they convey. She will know it is from you."

Shadow nodded, folding the letter carefully and tucking it into his bandanna. "Thanks, Dameon. I owe you one."

-----

I hate feeling vulnerable, but not with you, you make me feel safe and protected. You're so kind, patient and understanding, and you have an excellent bedside manner, unlike some other doctors 😬. You have a nice smile and the most captivating eyes. I often think about the conversations we've had.

Although I am quite nervous to tell you all of this, I want you to know that you are special to me. 💕

Forever yours,

The room remained silent as Shadow processed the words he had just read. His heart raced at the thought of Kim's response, and his eyes darted to Dameon, who was watching him with a knowing smile. "Well, she certainly seems to appreciate the effort," Dameon said, his tone light, but his gaze holding a hint of concern.

Shadow took a deep breath, his confidence briefly deflating. "But she thinks it's from you," he said, his voice laced with a touch of disappointment.

Dameon's smile grew wider, his eyes gleaming with mischief. "Oops," he said, his tone playful despite the situation. "I suppose we will have to set the record straight, won't we?"

The hyena leaned back in his chair, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "We can not have her falling for the wrong mutant," he quipped, trying to ease the tension in the air.

Shadow rolled his eyes, a smirk playing on his lips despite his nerves. "Very funny," he said, tossing a pillow at Dameon. "But seriously, what do we do now?"

The two friends sat in silence for a moment, contemplating their next move.

"Perhaps we should let her know it was you," Dameon suggested, his expression serious once more. "But we have to do it carefully. She might be upset by the misunderstanding."

Shadow nodded, his mind racing. "Yeah," he said, his voice low. "But how do we do that without making it weird?"

Dameon's eyes sparkled with an idea. "Leave that to me," he said, standing up from his chair. "I have a plan."

The hyena strutted over to his desk, his tail swishing with excitement. He pulled out a fresh piece of paper and picked up his pen. "We will write her back," he said, his grin growing. "But this time, we will make it clear who her true poet is."

Shadow watched as Dameon began to write, the pen moving swiftly across the page. He couldn't help but feel a mix of admiration and irritation at the ease with which Dameon could manipulate words.

"Here," Dameon said, handing the letter over. "Read it aloud to me."

Shadow cleared his throat and began:

"My dearest Kim, whose heart is a treasure, I hope this letter finds you well, filled with pleasure. I must confess, the words that you read, Were penned by my friend, though in my stead."

The turtle paused, glancing up at Dameon. The hyena nodded, his gaze intense. Shadow continued:

"I am but the vessel, the shadow of the flame, But the love you felt was my own name. The feelings expressed were not a lie, For in your eyes, I see the sky."

The words flowed from Shadow's mouth, the emotion behind them palpable. Dameon nodded, pleased with his friend's performance.

"Leave it in the same spot you found the first one. Let her connect the dots."

Shadow folded the letter carefully, his mind racing with the anticipation of her reaction.

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

Title: The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea

Author: Axie Oh

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2022

Genres: fiction, fantasy, romance, mythology, retelling, historical fiction

Blurb: Deadly storms have ravaged Mina's homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God - once their protector - now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God's bride in the hopes that, one day, the true bride will be chosen and end their suffering. Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village and the beloved of Mina's older brother Joon may be the legendary true bride...but on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong's stead. Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God...only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin - as well as a motley crew of demons, gods, and spirits - Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all...but she doesn't have much time. A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits, and there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking.

[themovieblogonline]

"Caterpillar" Is Outstanding Documentary at SXSW 2023

"Caterpillar" was a fascinating documentary at SXSW about a new YouTube fad, changing one’s eye color, which is done, surgically, in India. It sounded very dicey, and, as it turns out, it is. Endlessly struggling to feel seen, David becomes infatuated with a mysterious company’s promise to transform people’s lives by permanently changing the color of their eyes. After traveling to India to get the controversial procedure, he begins to question if this artificial beauty will give him the fulfillment he truly seeks. The documentary, written and directed by Liza Mandelup of the Parts & Labor film enterprise, followed the journey of Raymond David Taylor of Miami as he set off for India to have his brown eyes turned into a color described as “frost.” It seems that there is a thriving cosmetic industry in Cairo, Mexico, Panama, and India and, of course, the recent deaths of two American citizens in Matamoros, Mexico, was a trip for cosmetic surgery. A friend of mine flew to Costa Rica for dental work, so I’m surprised I had not heard of this latest fad, but I don’t spend a lot of time watching videos on YouTube. David had a very rough childhood, even getting kicked out of the house while young, at one point, he (and most of the other patients) seem to think that “Changing me will change my outlook on life.” As David says, “If I feel sad one more day, I don’t know if I’m going to make it.” He doesn’t have the money for the surgery. Still, a well-written letter explaining his desire for the implants brings an offer from BrightOcular to come to have the cosmetic procedure for free if he will let the company use his story and photos for advertising purposes. We then meet others on this medically unregulated journey, including Izzy, a woman from New Delhi, a young man from Japan, a male underwear model, and a beautiful girl from Jamaica, but the focus is on David, which the filmmaker/writer  Liza Mandelup explained was her attempt to initially start out with three main characters and trace their journeys, with one character emerging as central to the story. She described this riveting film journey into eye surgery this way:  “I wanted to visually convey it. I wanted to do something that people wouldn’t think was cinematic, but make it cinematic. It became an emotional journey. David allowed me to make the film that I  was craving.” In the course of the journey, we meet David’s mother, who also suffered a rough, abusive life, but tried her best as a young single mother to care for her children on wages of $2.35 an hour. David’s mother and David don’t agree on a lot of things. She is okay with David’s being gay, but she says, “I cannot deal with that if you start cutting parts of your body off and adding stuff.” She adds that she thought he was a great female impersonator. Mom’s point of view is, “You’re stubborn. You don’t listen.” And, she adds, “You’re never satisfied with the way you look.” Others in Caterpillar describe the cosmetic procedure as “a bandaid to the past.” Most of the others have selected jade green as the color their brown eyes will be after surgery. It is a big blow to David when they do three surgeries simultaneously and he is given jade green by mistake, rather than frost, which will mean another eye surgery to fix. All of the prospective patients seem to want to transform into someone else, an ideal they have created in their heads. If you are thinking, “This can’t be safe,” you’re right. It is only about four months post-surgery that David describes undergoing the procedure as “the worst mistake of my life.” Some patients, we learn, who did not heed the United States ophthalmologists warning about the damage the implants are doing to their eyes ended up partially blind after a number of years.  One former patient whom David tracks down after he begins encountering headaches and blurry vision said that he woke up after 5 years with blood on his cornea. “I had to remove them or go blind.” The unfettered access to the surgery and the patients seems quite unusual until we learn that the leadership of BrightOcular is very circumspect. No one ever comes forward to represent that entity or another such provider called Spectra. These agencies exist and are offering this service and heavily advertising how it will “change your life” on social media, with pictures of patients like David. David bought into it with words like, “This is my new beginning. I’m changing,” or “Beauty matters. Beauty gets you through the door. Musical selections like “Stand By Me” and “I Want to Dance With Somebody,” selected by Music Supervisor Melissa Chapman, merge with the early upbeat theme seamlessly and add much to the extremely well-done production. Afterward, writer/director Liza Mandelup and David, the chief subject, answered questions about the origin of Caterpillar and its aftermath. Liza said she had been doing research on the apps that can change one’s appearance when she learned of this eye surgery and sent the BrightOcular company an e-mail asking if she could do a documentary about the process.  She remarked that the company received her request very positively, but no one from the company ever emerged to guide her or supervise the process, which includes some gruesome close-up shots of the patients being operated on.  She cautions that David was one of the few patients who listened to the warnings from U.S. eye doctors and had his implants removed fairly quickly. Other patients have faced the need for cornea transplants; some have gone blind because they refuse to give up the implants. Among the best compliments of the terrific job the filmmaker did with this riveting documentary was a woman who stood up in the back during the Q&A and said, in heavily accented English, “You mean this was a documentary? I thought it was a movie.” Read the full article

[oots-digitalmedia]

Queer Rep in Comedy Podcasts

Looking for your next fictional queer comedy podcast? Check out our previous entries:

Arden

Big Data

Brimstone Valley Mall

Burst

The Fall of the House of Sunshine

The Flame: A Podcast Musical

The Girl Who Set Out To Seek A Living Wage

Junction

Less is Morgue

Light Hearts

Patient 33

Queer as Fiction

Site-42: SCP Foundations Fanworks

Swings and Roundabouts

We Fix Space Junk

Welcome to Night Vale

Wooden Overcoats

Missing your favourite show? Put it in the reply or tags and I’ll make an entry!

Check out our other queer podcast recommendations here.

[miralines]

“Though this didn’t guarantee a livelihood–nothing could do that, for it seemed there was no right to anything but guns in this land— it brought her joy.”

— The Girl Who Set Out To Seek A Living Wage, being very real

[fanofthepod]

Just finished 'the girl who set out to seek a living wage' podcast and i absolutely loved it. I wasnt sure what to expect but it was fantastic. Love me a good old anti-capitalist fairy tale

[jennysparkling]

Presenting a shiny, new podcast following an older oral tradition! "The Girl Who Set Out to Seek a Living Wage" is a two-part fairy tale about a young woman on a quest through retail in search of her fortune, only to find it's being hoarded by truly terrible beasts - corporate executives! It's gay, it's fun, and it's full of fairy tale justice for the frustrated millennial.

Content note: contains a brief mention of suicidal ideation.

Listen on:

iTunes

Stitcher

TuneIn

Soundcloud

Bandcamp

Finally, you can find a transcript HERE.

If you enjoy "The Girl Who Set Out to Seek a Living Wage," then please - share it, like it, review it, reblog it! Whatever your platform of choice supports. If you can, please join me at Patreon.com/jennysparkling to support this and future projects, or consider a one-time donation.

You can check out more of my writing right here on Tumblr, as well - I'm not stopping. Feel free to message me with any questions, or email me at jsparklingwrites@gmail.com.

The conclusion, part two, will be released on April 4th, 2017.

"The Girl Who Set Out to Seek a Living Wage" was written, performed, and produced by Jenny Sparks. Music from Musopen.org. All works used are listed in the public domain. Artwork by Christine Eglantine; find their work on www.lurkingintheburbs.tumblr.com. 

[weaverlings]

So, I know there are a lot of you out there interested in gay content, and a lot of you who are upset about capitalism. Me, too! So I made this.

“The Girl Who Set Out to Seek a Living Wage” is a short fairy tale podcast, mixing old and new storytelling styles to tell the story of a young woman as she seeks her fortune through retail work. But when that’s not enough, she decides to challenge the greedy executives at the top of it all.

Also, it’s got lesbians and the lesbians have a happy ending.

If you check it out and enjoy it, I have one request: please leave a review on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are a big part of how podcasts are discovered. But while this piece has received a lot of positive feedback, I found out tonight that it only seems to have one review! It would really help me out if more people could take the time to do that. If you don’t know how, you can find instructions here: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/write-itunes-review#sm.0006z4v9vufbdrf11a21uc5iqit9h

Thank you!

[raimijenner]

"Now, she was autistic, and often only considered what was in front of her. This made the test difficult in places, but she hoped that she could perform neurotypically enough to deceive it."

-the girl who set out to seek a living wage