#we always support sans suffering in this household

[cosmicccowboy0]

third wheeler sans. i just wanna see him suffer

He may die of cringe, actually!

[sokos]

Different forms of biphobia according to the San Francisco Human Rights Commission - "Bisexual invisibility"

For reference WMSMW means women who have sex with men and women, and similar for men.

❝ Bisexuals experience high rates of being ignored, discriminated against, demonized, or rendered invisible by both the heterosexual world and the lesbian and gay communities. Often, the entire sexual orientation is branded as invalid, immoral, or irrelevant. Despite years of activism and the largest population within the LGBT community, the needs of bisexuals still go unaddressed and their very existence is still called into question. This erasure has serious consequences on bisexuals’ health, economic well-being, and funding for bi organizations and programs. [...] Despite the overwhelming data that bisexuals exist, other people’s assumptions often render bisexuals invisible. Two women holding hands are read as “lesbian,” two men as “gay,” and a man and a woman as “straight.” In reality, any of these people might be bi―perhaps all of them. The majority of research lumps data on bisexuals under “gay” or “lesbian,” which makes it difficult to draw any conclusions about bisexuals and skews the data about lesbians and gay men. “Thus any particular needs of bisexuals are eclipsed and conflated. Only a handful of studies separate out bisexuals and/or report on their bisexual-specific findings. Fewer compare bisexuals to people who are not bisexual.” [...] Bisexuals find themselves erased in history. Many famous people―such as Marlene Dietrich, June Jordan, Freddie Mercury, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Walt Whitman―have been labeled as lesbian or gay for their same-sex relationships, yet their long-term relationships with different-sex partners are ignored or their importance minimized. This disrespects the truth of their lives for the sake of a binary conception of sexual orientation. It also makes it more difficult for bisexuals just coming out to find role models. This historical erasure also extends to activists. Rather than acknowledging the decades of hard work bisexuals have done in the LGBT movement, many gays and lesbians have accused bisexuals of trying to “ride their coattails.” In fact, bisexuals have often been leaders in the movement. In just one example, it was a bi woman, Brenda Howard, who organized the one-month anniversary rally in honor of the Stonewall uprising. Then a year later, she organized a march and celebration that turned into New York’s annual pride parade and inspired countless other pride celebrations around the world. [...] Often, the word “bisexual” shows up in an organization’s name or mission statement, but the group doesn’t offer programming that addresses the specific needs of bisexuals (see the chapter on organizations and programs serving bisexuals). Even when an organization is inclusive, the press and public officials often fall back on the “safety” of saying just “gay and lesbian.” There is even a growing trend of talking about the “gay, lesbian, and transgender” movement. But words matter. Invisibility matters. Bisexuals find themselves excluded in other ways as well.

Bisexual invisibility is one of many manifestations of biphobia. Others forms of biphobia include:

- Assuming that everyone you meet is either heterosexual or homosexual.

- Supporting and understanding a bisexual identity for young people because you identified “that way” before you came to your “real” lesbian/gay/heterosexual identity.

- Automatically assuming romantic couplings of two women are lesbian, or two men are gay, or a man and a woman are heterosexual.

- Expecting a bisexual to identify as gay or lesbian when coupled with the “same” sex/gender.

- Expecting a bisexual to identify as heterosexual when coupled with the “opposite” sex/gender.

- Believing that bisexual men spread HIV/AIDS to heterosexuals.

- Believing that bisexual women spread HIV/AIDS to lesbians.

Thinking bisexual people haven’t made up their minds.

- Refusing to accept someone’s self-identification as bisexual if the person hasn’t had sex with both men and women.

- Expecting bisexual people to get services, information, and education from heterosexual service agencies for their “heterosexual side” and then go to gay and/or lesbian service agencies for their “homosexual side.”

- Feeling bisexuals just want to have their cake and eat it too.

- Assuming a bisexual person would want to fulfill your sexual fantasies or curiosities.

- Thinking bisexuals only have committed relationships with “opposite” sex/gender partners.

- Being gay or lesbian and asking your bisexual friends about their lovers or whom they are dating only when that person is the “same” sex/gender.

- Assuming that bisexuals, if given the choice, would prefer to be in an “opposite” gender/sex coupling to reap the social benefits of a “heterosexual” pairing.

- Assuming bisexuals would be willing to “pass” as anything other than bisexual.

- Believing bisexuals are confused about their sexuality.

- Feeling that you can’t trust a bisexual because they aren’t really gay or lesbian, or aren’t really heterosexual.

- Refusing to use the word bisexual in the media when reporting on people attracted to more than one gender, instead substituting made-up terms such as “gay-ish.”

- Using the terms phase or stage or confused or fence-sitter or bisexual or AC/DC or switch-hitter as slurs or in an accusatory way.

- Assuming bisexuals are incapable of monogamy.

- Feeling that bisexual people are too outspoken and pushy about their visibility and rights.

- Looking at a bisexual person and automatically thinking of her/his sexuality rather than seeing her/him as a whole, complete person.

- Not confronting a biphobic remark or joke for fear of being identified as bisexual.

- Assuming bisexual means “available.”

- Thinking that bisexual people will have their rights when lesbian and gay people win theirs.

- Expecting bisexual activists and organizers to minimize bisexual issues (such as HIV/AIDS, violence, basic civil rights, military service, same-sex marriage, child custody, adoption, etc.) and to prioritize the visibility of “lesbian and/or gay” issues.

- Avoiding mentioning to friends that you are involved with a bisexual or working with a bisexual group because you are afraid they will think you are a bisexual.

The implications of bi invisibility go far beyond bisexuals wanting to feel welcome at the table. It also has a significant impact on bisexuals’ health. Here are just a few examples from recent largescale studies :

Writing the rest under Read More...

- Bisexual people experience greater health disparities than the broader population, including a greater likelihood of suffering from depression and other mood or anxiety disorders.

- Bisexuals report higher rates of hypertension, poor or fair physical health, smoking, and risky drinking than heterosexuals or lesbians/gays.

- Many, if not most, bisexual people don’t come out to their healthcare providers. This means they are getting incomplete information (for example, about safer sex practices).

- Most HIV and STI prevention programs don’t adequately address the health needs of bisexuals, much less those who have sex with both men and women but do not identify as bisexual.

- Bisexual women in relationships with monosexual partners have an increased rate of domestic violence compared to women in other demographic categories.

In the 1980s and 1990s, bisexuals were vociferously blamed for the spread of HIV (even though the virus is spread by unprotected sex, not a bisexual identity). However, a 1994 study of data from San Francisco is also worth noting: it found that at that time, bisexually identified MSMW (men who have sex with men and women) weren’t a “common vector or ‘bridge’ for spreading HIV from male partners to female partners due to high rates of using barrier protection and extremely low rates of risky behavior.” Yet scapegoating continues. Sometimes it is explicit, as in the misleading hysteria about men on the “down low” infecting unsuspecting female partners, particularly in the African-American community. Other times, the negative message is communicated in subtle ways. For example, in the 2008 San Francisco Department of Public Health HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Annual Report, MSMWs are not mentioned at all, their data most likely absorbed into information about MSMs. The only time the word “bisexual” appears is as an infection source for heterosexual women.

In a 2010 study using Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data from Washington State, Compared to lesbians:

Bisexual women had significantly lower levels of education, were more likely to be living with income below 200% of the federal poverty level, and had more children living in the household.

- Bisexual women were significantly less likely to have health insurance coverage and more likely to experience financial barriers to receiving healthcare services.

- Bisexual women were more likely to be current smokers and acute drinkers.

- Bisexual women showed significantly higher rates of poor general health and frequent mental distress, even after controlling for confounding variables.

Although we have some information about the health of bisexual people and of men and women who have sex with more than one gender, there is still much that we do not know. It is important for researchers to employ methodologies that group bisexuals together, or that group together people who have sex with partners of more than one gender; rather than only the more common practice of grouping gay and bisexual men or lesbian and bisexual women together, never separately examining attributes of and needs of the latter. Why? Because bisexual women’s issues are not always the same as lesbian issues, even for bisexual women who only have sex with partners of the same gender or for "lesbian-identified" women who have sex with men as well as women. Bisexual men’s issues are not always the same as gay male issues, even for bisexual men who only have sex with partners of the same gender or for gay-identified men who have sex with women as well as men. Likewise, heterosexuals’ issues are different from those of bisexuals, even among heterosexually-identified MSMW and WSMW. Why would health issues be different for people who share similar lived experiences but use different sexual orientation labels? Some of the issues would be similar, including some concerns related to sexual health. But because of biphobia and bi-invisibility, which affect bisexuals on an immediate, personal level, bisexuals may have very different health experiences. These differences may result from increased stress and experiences of discrimination in general, and/or more specifically from experiencing biphobia from healthcare providers.

There are health issues that are specific and generalizeable to bisexuals as a group and health issues that are specific and generalizeable to people who have partners of more than one gender as a group. This literature review shines a spotlight on specific challenges related to HIV and STI prevention among bisexuals, WSMW, and MSMW. Unfortunately, existing research on this topic is scarce. Much of it lumps bisexuals into either “lesbian” or “gay male” categories, making it difficult to draw any conclusions about bisexual health. Data on bisexual women’s sexual health is less prevalent than men’s, particularly data on WSMW. Additionally, not all researchers take into consideration whether their study participants identify as bisexual, MSMW, WSMW, or something else. It is important to recognize that many, if not most, bisexual people do not come out to their health care providers or to researchers due to judgments that silence, stereotypes that shame, and assumptions that erase bisexual identity. When a woman is partnered and says she is using birth control, there may be an automatic assumption that she is monogamous and heterosexual. A man in a same-sex relationship is assumed to be gay and therefore not in need of information about sex with women. When a man says he is married or partnered, there are often no subsequent questions asked about other sexual partners. Health care providers need to become aware of how to serve this often-overlooked community and its unique concerns, looking at a patient’s sexual behavior rather than simply a patient’s sexual identity

Little information is available about female sexual health, especially in regards to WSMW. A study published in the American Journal of Public Health 1998 is a perfect illustration. The report featured statistics about both the male and female study participants, all of whom were receiving treatment for HIV. However, the researchers identified all women as simply “women,” with no sexual orientation descriptors. In contrast, the men in the study were categorized as either gay men, bisexual men, or heterosexual men. One study that actually does highlight bisexual women’s health is a 1996 study by Cochran and Mays, which found that bisexual women are more likely than lesbians to use latex or plastic barrier protection for oral sex with women. More recent research [found], like Cochran and Mays, that among WSW and WSMW, having larger numbers of female partners is positively correlated with having vaginal infections, specifically bacterial vaginosis, trichomonas vaginalis, and herpes.

In a study published in 2003, Ciccarone et al. reports that 40 percent of HIV-positive gay and bisexual men have had sex without disclosing their HIV status to their sexual partners, usually within the context of a “casual dating” or a nonexclusive relationship. The study does not distinguish between its gay and bisexual participants, which makes it impossible to extrapolate data specific to the bisexual cohort. Nevertheless, HIV prevention programs working with HIV-positive clients should take relationship context into account when discussing disclosure and behavior. Crepaz and Marks studied safer sex practices and disclosure of status to partners, among HIVpositive men. They found no differences between men who have sex with women (MSW), men who have sex with men (MSM), and MSMW regarding which group was more likely to practice safer sex techniques and/or disclose serostatus to their partners. Unfortunately, their reporting confuses these groups (MSW, MSM, and MSMW) with sexual orientation identities

Case et al. found that bisexual women were twice as likely to have never given birth compared to heterosexual women. However, among women who had given birth, bisexual women were twice as likely as heterosexual women to have done so during their teenage years. Not giving birth may put bisexual women at greater risk for ovarian and endometrial cancers, and teenage pregnancy also has health implications

In 1996 Cochran and Mays published a study that analyzed sexual behavior and HIV risk among young lesbians and bisexual women. Participants were recruited at gay pride events, potentially excluding bisexual women who are in different-sex relationships and who socialize in heterosexual communities. The researchers found that, while the overall majority of women do not use barrier protection during oral sex with women, those participants who do use barriers during oral sex with women are most likely to identify as bisexual. Despite that finding, Cochran and Mays reported that “high-risk sexual experimentation… is most likely to occur among teenagers who do not yet consider themselves to be lesbians.” It is important to note, however, that bisexual identification is not necessarily transitional, simply “experimentation,” or a teenage phase. Researchers should be aware of unintentional implications that bisexually-identified clients are not “yet” gay or lesbian and/or are necessarily engaging in high-risk behavior.

Cheryl Dobinson and colleagues explain that disclosure is important for bisexual clients for many reasons, including: "…the desire to be seen as a whole person, with bisexuality being part of who they are, to increase comfort levels and understanding, so proper diagnoses can be made and relevant information given, so providers can be sensitive and understanding to the issues being faced, for appropriate resources referrals, and generally because it is important for mental health and emotional wellness". Clients who experience homophobia, biphobia, or ignorance when dealing with health care providers may not receive appropriate information about sexual health, with some physicians “equating bisexuality with having multiple partners, not receiving appropriate information about safer sex with male and female partners, voyeurism, inappropriate jokes or comments, bisexuality being seen as the problem, and being told that you’re either gay or straight.” For example, women who identify as lesbian to their health care provider may not be given any information on safer sex techniques with men because it may be assumed that the client’s only sexual activity in the past and in the future is solely with women. This kind of misinformation has especially devastating effects on youth who are just beginning to explore their sexuality. Bisexual youth are becoming sexually active without being provided with the information they need to responsibly and safely engage in sexual activity. ❞

Bisexual people also experience economic discrimination based on their sexuality, lack of institutional support, and other forms of biphobia. You can read more about these stats and surveys by clicking on the link above.

[whumpmatsus]

aaaa are you still taking the sickfic requests?? maybe "don't speak" with choro as the sickie pls?

SickFic Prompts / ACCEPTING!

Don’t Speak - (character) has a horribly sore throat and is reduced to barely talking while they load up on hot drinks and soup to recover.

yesssss always!!! I had so much fun with this, it hit me right in the Honey Nut Feelios and I hope it does the same for u, sunshine 😩

-

After still feeling like total crap for several days while his brothers were almost completely recovered from the cold they’d all caught, Choromatsu finally breaks down and goes to the doctor.

He doesn’t really want to. Being sick is something they all hate, and continuing to suffer after everyone else felt better is just astronomically unfair. Sometimes he thinks he can will himself back to health if only he sleeps and takes medicine and does everything a sick person is supposed to do.

The others prod at him to get checked out, though, considering the fact that lately every time he’s tried to speak, it’s set off a cough and is painful even to those just listening.

When he comes back home with a pharmacy bag and an informational sheet proclaiming that he’s been diagnosed with laryngitis, it explains a lot.

He has little choice but to hand the sheet over to Osomatsu as Karamatsu comes over to help remove his scarf and coat and walk him over to the kotatsu. The eldest of them doesn’t necessarily know best all the time, but usually when one of them is sick or hurt with more than a cold or a tiny scrape, Osomatsu often slides into big brother mode and shows a surprising amount of maturity.

For once, Choromatsu is actually glad his oldest brother is taking charge of the situation.

“Okaaaay, guys,” he calls as Choromatsu settles in at the table. “So this thing says Choromatsu has… acute laryngitis. The doctor thinks it’s because he had a cold, I guess, since it says ‘viral cause’. Huh.”

Everyone else is already seated around the kotatsu since it’s the middle of winter and freezing. Jyushimatsu’s arm shoots up right away. “Oh! What’s laryngitis? That’s a funny word. Are we gonna get it too?”

Choromatsu opens his mouth to try and explain, like usual. Instead, he manages to get out a weak, “Probably not,” before he starts to cough.

“Hey,” Osomatsu pouts as Karamatsu pats the third eldest on the back, “this thing says you’re not supposed to talk if you can help it, Fappymatsu. So, y’know… shut up.”

What he gets in return for his efforts is an unimpressed glare.

Osomatsu grins, running a finger under his nose before looking back at the information sheet. “Well, I’m not wrong! Okay, so… the cold was contagious, but it says the actual laryngitis isn’t. It’s just some kind of throat thing that happened because of the cold. So it might happen for the rest of us, but I doubt it since we’re all feeling better already. Choromatsu just has bad luck, I guess.”

Karamatsu hums in thought and continues to rub his brother’s back. “Hmph, we’re probably safe then. Which means we just have to focus on taking care of our dear brother. How do we do that?”

Choromatsu holds the bag from the pharmacy up, allowing Ichimatsu to snatch it and dump the contents out on the table. He points toward the things he picked up at the doctor’s recommendation ― over-the-counter painkillers, lozenges, a throat spray, and cough syrup. There’s other stuff mixed in too, like tissues and a jar of yuzu-cha and a magazine. Though he could have lived without everyone seeing that, it’s not a huge deal.

Osomatsu waves the paper before picking through everything on the table. “Well, it says they don’t have any kind of prescription to give him. No antibiotics since it’s viral. Looks like it says the cough medicines and painkillers might help. ‘Home remedies may also provide temporary relief’… like tea and soup, huh? So we should probably try to keep the bastard hydrated with warm stuff.”

Karamatsu gets to his feet, grabbing the jar of yuzu-cha on his way. “In that case, why don’t I go mix up some of this for you right now? After being out in the cold air, your throat could probably use something warm. Want me to add a little honey?”

Choromatsu nods eagerly, mouthing, “Yes, please.”

Karamatsu’s face brightens at being useful, and he gives an exaggerated pose before heading into the kitchen. “What a good patient! Your big brother will be back with something soothing before you know it!”

“Hold on,” Totty comments as he scoots the lozenges, spray, and syrup toward him, “did you get all this stuff to take for your throat?”

His eyes scan over the labels, then roll back in his head when he’s finished. “Ah, Choromatsu-nii-san! You can’t take all of these at the same time. See, look. They all say ‘do not use with other medications containing’ ― uh ― well ― w-well, I can’t pronounce the word, but it’s the same one! They must all contain this ingredient, so you can’t take them all in the same day.”

Ichimatsu makes a gesture for Totty to hand them over, then nods after reading them. “Yeah, he’s right. If you take all these in the same day, even if you use each one like the directions say, you’ll be basically overdosing on this shit. Your mouth’ll go numb. Be drooling all over the place and maybe having trouble breathing.”

All the medicine is plucked from his hands by Osomatsu. “Okay, so we’ll rotate ‘em, and I’ll take care of giving it to you whenever you need medicine. Y’know, so that fever doesn’t fry your brain and make you forget which one you’re taking for the day. Which one do you wanna use today?”

Choromatsu lets out a soft groan which only serves to irritate his throat further. He could seriously just kick his own ass for not checking that before he bought all of those. The only excuse he has is that he’s in a lot of pain and not thinking like he normally does. He points to the spray, thinking maybe it’ll feel kind of like sour spray candy; once it gets sprayed on, it melts and lingers for a minute, which might be a nice quality in a medicine for sore throats.

“Alright, open up.” Osomatsu tears off the plastic packaging. “Totty, Ichimatsu, did either of you see how many times I’m supposed to spray this?”

“Two sprays every two hours as needed. But it’s only supposed to stay for fifteen seconds, then he has to spit it out. He’s not supposed to swallow it or it might give him a stomachache. Totty, you wanna go get an empty cup for him to spit in and a glass of water to wash the taste out of his mouth afterwards?”

“What?? Why can’t you do it? Your legs aren’t broken!”

“Yeah, but I’m busy.”

“Are you kidding me? Doing what?!”

Ichimatsu shuffles himself closer to Choromatsu and puts an arm around his big brother. “I’m his emotional support Ichimatsu.”

Choromatsu chuckles a bit, though it turns into coughing pretty quickly.

“Oh, my God. Now you know why you’re not first in my brother rankings, right?” Totty grumbles, but gets up anyway. “Fiiiiine, I’ll be right back.”

The idea of an emotional support anything is nice, though, so Choromatsu leans into the contact, resting his head on Ichimatsu’s shoulder. As it is, the fourth eldest is almost like a cat, warm and cuddly when he feels like it.

His fever must be getting to him, because he could even swear he hears Ichimatsu purring.

-

The next three days in the Matsuno household are, predictably, a little wild.

Although Choromatsu sleeps on the couch in the other room so that his coughing doesn’t wake his brothers, it’s pretty much all for naught. At least one of them ends up missing him in the night and coming to camp out with him anyway; he just counts his lucky stars that when he needs them most, they show themselves to be pretty great brothers.

He also practically lives on soup and tea. Mom and the others try to switch it up a little, because otherwise eating and drinking the same things every day would drive him nuts. Plain miso and zosui were fine for the first day, but after he could breathe through his nose and smell things again, they started offering him other stuff.

Honestly, shogayu and negi-miso-yu have never tasted so good. Now that he can taste the yuzu-cha, too, and Karamatsu prepares some for him at least once in the afternoon, it’s like a small slice of heaven. He’s pretty sure Karamatsu can tell how grateful he is even without words, if the stupidly proud look on his older brother’s face whenever Choromatsu drinks it is any indication.

His throat still hurts like hell for a while. It’s difficult to speak, so Osomatsu, in his infinite wisdom, has relegated his brother to using a mini dry erase board and marker if he needs to say anything. That doesn’t mean Choromatsu doesn’t try to talk. He does his best not to if he doesn’t absolutely need to, however, since he wants to be rid of this thing more than anyone.

Thankfully, everyone is apparently using this as an excuse to treat him nicely. He gets to sit in front of the TV watching Nyaa-chan concerts almost nonstop, while nestling in against his emotional support Ichimatsu. Karamatsu in particular keeps checking every twenty minutes or so to see if there’s anything he can get for his little brother, and whatever Choromatsu asks for, he gets. Hell, at one point he’s craving ice cream, even though milky things aren’t a good idea for someone who’s coughing, and Karamatsu comes back with a melon ice pop, which is almost as good.

Totty even manages to do something nice while typing away on his phone. He says he’s got Choromatsu a date. With a girl. Who likes pop idols. Who’s really excited to meet him as soon as he’s better. He says he texted her a picture of Choromatsu and she thinks he’s really cute. It’s perhaps a good thing that he can’t say much right now, because he’s sure he’d scream loud enough to lose his voice a second time.

Jyushimatsu even sits there on Choromatsu’s other side, and reads magazine articles to him whenever they’re not watching TV. Of course, he doesn’t read the dirty articles… well, he doesn’t read those out loud after the first time he tried and everybody ended up crying with laughter. They all joked that even when he was sick that would be Choromatsu’s main priority, and for once, he laughed along with them despite the fact that it made him cough.

The one who surprises him the most is Osomatsu. Maybe that shouldn’t actually be a surprise, though. He fills the role of diligent oldest brother with a lot more ease than one might expect; he breaks out the thermometer every few hours to make sure Choromatsu’s fever isn’t getting higher, he keeps track of which medicines Choromatsu is supposed to take and when, he helps Mom cook things that will help Choromatsu feel better, and if he’s not doing any of that other stuff, he’s positioned with Choromatsu sitting on his lap, with Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu on either side, running his fingers through his little brother’s hair. It almost feels like the way things were when they were all kids.

Choromatsu is easily tired out when he’s sick, and he’s 99.99999% sure that it’s Osomatsu who carries him to bed every night when he inevitably falls asleep.

Despite the fact that he gives them a lot of shit, and none of them are perfect people, he knows he’s got some pretty amazing brothers.

Today he’s feeling nearly back to his old self, and his throat is less sore than it’s been in over a week. He knows it’s partially thanks to rest and partially thanks to how well his family has been taking care of him. Despite that he’s starting to recover, the others are still treating him much the same as they have been. Tea whenever he wants it ― as well as Karamatsu shoving it in his direction, urging him to drink with that pathetic puppy dog face of his, even when he doesn’t quite want it ― and lots of head pats and the TV turned to whatever he’s in the mood for.

He’s not quite as tired as he’s been lately, so it would be all too effortless to just take advantage of all this. Instead, his thoughts have just kept turning to how grateful he is to have so many people he can count on.

There’s some small part of him that has to admit he can be just as bad as they all are sometimes. He can be selfish and rude and lazy. But when one of his brothers is sick or hurt, he knows he steps up to the plate to try and take care of them. To know that they’re all willing to do the same for him when he’s the one in need makes him happier than he thinks he’s been in a long time.

He’s still got the dumb little whiteboard Osomatsu gave him, because his voice isn’t back to normal just yet. For a moment, he scribbles on it, then he holds it up for Osomatsu who’s sitting behind him. “Hey, Oso,” he speaks up in a quiet, breathy, raspy voice.

“Uh…! Hey, dumbass, you’re not supposed to be talking yet,” Osomatsu laughs, then lifts his head to look at the board. “… Huh? Choromatsu… hey…”

He laughs in a way that makes it sound like he’s about to cry, then takes the board and waves it to get everyone else’s attention. “Hey, guys! Haha… look! Look at this shit!”

Four other pairs of eyes turn in their direction. Practically as soon as everyone has processed what Choromatsu has written, he’s buried in a pile of brothers. He gets arms put around him, and kisses on his forehead, and everyone nuzzling against his face. They’re all laughing in that same way Osomatsu did…

… Well, until they all start actually crying. Including Choromatsu himself.

The whiteboard falls to the ground, mostly forgotten, but the words written on it hanging over the sextuplets like a rainbow.

Thanks for everything. I love you guys. 💚

[rebellionbeach]

The Usami brothers and whole family as a whole are really interesting characters.  Due mostly by the fact of how different Haruhiko and Akihiko are yet similar in many ways as well.  Let’s start with rabbit boy.

Not only is this man extremely sexy but he’s also one of the most popular novelists in Japan believe it or not (not in real life guys)  Akihiko is the presumably biological son of Natsuko and Fuyuhiko and younger brother of Haruhiko Usami.  Growing up, he had always yearned for the attention of his parents, wanting to impress them and make them happy.  Haruhiko had actually been introduced to the Usami household at the age of 12 so Akihiko was 10 at the time and significant development seemed to grow from this change.  As shown from volume 21, everyone had been cheering Akihiko on as the legitimate heir of the Usami family meaning to take over the family business however he had never gotten this support from his parents before.  As a young child he had believed that if he just tried harder and became good at everything, then his parents would finally recognize him.  However, this wasn’t the case unfortunately as shown in the same volume once a young Akihiko came home from school gaining full marks on a test, eager to show his father when he caught him telling Haruhiko that he truly intended to make him the heir of the family business.  This impact was further felt once his mother, who had also witnessed this, declared that she should have never bore Fuyuhiko’s child which in the eyes of a young child must have been completely shattering.  An important seed was planted however and I believe that it was at this moment that Akihiko had started to evolve into the person he is today.  He poured all his emotion, pain, loss, suffering into his notebooks, his stories, proclaiming it to be his entire world.  Overtime we see that Akihiko grows to be very adept at the talent, being one of the top-selling authors from debut which occurred while still in high school and becoming a full-fledged novelist.  Doing this, he completely rejected his family and any connections he might have had to take over the business.  

Looking as Akihiko today it is very clear the type of individual he is, independent and self-serving, he’s his own boss and does only the things he wants to do.  From the first episode of season 2 we see this as there is a key event that takes place between the two Usami brothers in which a confrontation between two escalates into a full-out argument over Akihiko coming back to, as I assume, take over the lead of the Usami company and or serve there.  I will note later on Haruhiko’s tone and content of his language but it’s Akihiko’s response which truly stuck out to me as he stated that he had no inclination of going back to that house and if that Haruhiko truly didn’t like being there then why doesn’t he just leave as well.

This point may seem entirely irrelevant but I actually believe it highlights an essential part of Akihiko’s character that not only serves as his strength but also a blind spot in that of his independence.  Akihiko is the type of person who is able to do the things he’d like to do and encourages the people he cares about, basically Misaki, to do the same such as in episode 2 of season 3 where he is actually the one who encourages Misaki to enter into Marukawa after Misaki dismisses those thoughts as just a fantasy.  This is a thing for his relationship with Misaki as he allows the man a different perspective and in a way allows him, or at least encourages him, to be more selfish.  However this can also be seen as a flaw of his character as it can be interpreted that the only reason he has this lax and independent personality in the first place is because of his more well-off family and the fact that he’d had connections from the start.  In all honestly though, this part of Usagi-san’s personality is one of the main reasons why I actually enjoy his character, along with his thoughtful nature, as I believe that it’s a pretty unique and well-suited trait.

Let’s get into Harry Potter or the eldest brother of the Usami residence, Haruhiko.  Haruhiko isn’t Akihiko’s direct brother as stated before but rather a product of an affair that Fuyuhiko had with his mother.  For the first 12 years of his life, Haruhiko had actually been raised by his single-mother whom he loved very much.  During these times he had been seen to be much more happy despite living in poorer circumstances.  This is a large aspect that is pretty big onto why he is the way he is today.  After his mother tragically passing on, Fuyuhiko took him into to live in the Usami residence.  Now this in itself is absolutely devastating, living with a father-figure that had never truly been there for you with a new mother-in-law that despises your every existence because you’re the proof of the infidelities of her marriage and a new younger brother who seemed lifeless from the rest of this.  Top it all off with the devastation from losing the only person you truly loved and was there for you and damn I’m surprised that Haruhiko didn’t full out lose it.  

Now going back to the scene originally discussed with Akihiko’s backstory, let us switch perspective onto Haruhiko during this situation.  Your new dad just stated that the person he had truly loved in his lifetime was your dead mother and that he intended to make you, a 12 year old child, the heir of their family company that you had just learned about.  Not only this but everyone around you is your enemy as shown through all the people cheering on Akihiko to become the true heir and saying that Haruhiko stole his position.  There is basically no one there to support you, similar to Akihiko, and unlike Akihiko he actually was not used to this new circumstance making the situation even worse. 

I’d like to discuss the scene stated before during episode 1 of season 2.  Here, Haruhiko is visibly angry as Akihiko’s lack of care for his role in the Usami residence.  This is something we’ve never actually gotten to see ever since with Haruhiko barely showing any emotion at all.  However, if you take in the full context of his upbringing and circumstance to that point, you can see a fuller picture of what the man has gone through to become the stoic chosen one we know today.  Akihiko, after being hoisted by Isaka to finally start publishing his works, his entire being, finally achieved success independent from the Usami residence, marking himself finally as an individual allowing him to finally see that he only needs himself.  I think this is what caused Akihiko to cut most connection from his family, despite the occasional visits, and totally puts himself away from the idea of succeeding and become the heir of his family’s company.  This leaves Haruhiko with the burden of shouldering the entire Usami company’s future, something he never truly wanted to today with architecture being his main priority.  What he see’s in Akihiko is this lazy, selfish person who only thinks of himself, abandoning all his familial duties to a brother whom he barely batted an eye to during childhood.  This is what he hates in Akihiko, but also envies.  A very interesting point that season 2 makes with the connection between the Usami brothers is the inherent jealously Haruhiko feels toward Akihiko, with him trying to steal things from him during their upbringing together according to Akihiko.  Even Misaki finally has this revelation during episode 8 I believe when he was distracting him from Kaoruko.  I think his jealously mainly stems from the fact that Akihiko got his independence while Haruhiko is still confined to the Usami gates.  With all of Akihiko’s absent-minded behavior and to quote Haruhiko, “having the eyes of a dead fish”, Akihiko in the end still achieved that sense of independence that Haruhiko could only dream about having.  Add onto the fact that everyone around you hates that you got this position, lobbying for your younger half-brother who barely gives in the effort to succeed you, then baby that’s a recipe for childhood resentment if I’ve ever seen one.  

So what does this all mean, well nothing since this is an over-analysis on a yaoi manga but in a reality I think it comes to show the clear dynamic Haruhiko and Akihiko have on one another.  In recent chapters it is shown that Haruhiko is more and more aspiring in his own pursuits in architecture, even accepting his position as lead of the Usami household and accepting the fact that he’ll never get Misaki, wanting to stay as his ally instead (which is a lot more than I can say for a CERTAIN manga author).

I love Haruhiko AND Akihiko, they both are really great characters and I’d think it would be nice if in the future they could perhaps reconcile their relationship and kind of start to get along.  The Usami household fucked up a lot of kids but they are still going strong and who knows, maybe Haruhiko might get a lover in the future (AKA Todo)

Thank you and now I implore you to go listen to Nelson’s After the Rain album, 10/10 made me cry.

[medranochav]

my moms been living with us for 4 months now. her stay was initially tolerable but is now triggering and I find myself regressing in a lot of ways. Her grief has evolved into torment and per her m.o. she'd like for her issues to take first priority. Except, my sis and I are grown now, and as a therapised household (literally we've all been in counseling, babies included) though we still lean on each other for support, we ultimately don't function codependently.

And beeecause that's not how we grew up, I think my mother is now having to contend with the reality that she has to do the emotional work of surviving her many traumas (and currently her many dramas) on her own. We support her but we can't fix it for her.

Currently, it's a crisis a day and she's spiraling into mini catastrophic states everytime. Which was sufferable at first because despite my labored support, I still maintained my boundaries and didn't adopt her distress as my own. The problem now is the increasing frequency with which these crying spells are taking place. Not to mention the fact that she's been doing so in front of the kids; something that would normally be acceptable because my sis and I make space for feelings (even our own) in our home. The difference being, we do so responsibly. We listen, we talk, give affection and/or space but always with the fundamental knowledge that our emotions belong to us individually and only we can be accountable for them. A gentle reminder that though part of a unit, they still have agency and accountability.

This interdependency makes way for a more compassionate exchange. Whenever they see us cry or be vunerable, the kids have the wherewithal to approach us without attaching themselves to our emotional circumstance. It's an empathy that perceives our emotional reactions as relatable but still not their responsibility. I've seen our work proven time and time again.

One example is when my sister's [redacted] died and the boys spotted her crying on the couch. Without being prompted, they approached her independently, commiserated, hugged and kissed her and shortly after went back to playing on their electronics. It was such a graceful display of emotional validation that demonstrated their love for her without sacrificing their own desires in doing so. Truly remarkable, that at ages 5-8 they maintained boundaries while still being there for their mom.

They're also there for one another but it's seldom a sinking ship. And when emotional support is rejected they respect that as well, without taking it personally [tbh that has more to do with concepts of mandatory consent that we impart on them, but as is evident, it applies. #intersectionality] It's an ongoing practice that I'm proud to be a part of, considering the kids have codependent figureheads in both their maternal and paternal families. WE'RE TRYING TO BREAK CYCLES HERE.

Yes, our home is a safe space for emotional processing but always leveraged with the emotional balance of self reliance, awareness and resiliency. The kids have proven to have the capacity for this and through teaching them, so do we.

It's human to have outbursts, but my mother's pattern is proving to be less intrinsic and more deliberate. She needs an audience in order to experience catharsis. A potentially reasonable behavior except for it's her only one. So it's imbalanced and seeks refuge in the reliance of our total empathy.

Furthermore she's disingenuous in her emotional performances. When approached out of concern, she responds with the proverbial, "I'm ok." Like, its subtle but super manipulative to say that, when we can CLEARLY see she's not. The kids see and hear her, the least she could do is not gaslight them. And I'm not saying her tactics are successful but it exposes the bby's to unnecessary dysfunction and covertly teaches them to assume the responsibility of communicating her emotion for her. She's also non verbal and unpredictable and tho not at her best rn [like, literally who is? this year has wrecked us all] she and we deserve proper communication.

The mind games are soul sucking and triggering for me in a way that is not for my sister. Though we share a mother, the repective versions of her that we experienced as children differ greatly.

My sister's the eldest and spent the first couple years of her life as the only child to a very young mother living alone in America after being displaced by the civil unrest in her native El Salvador. By age 3, with the addition of a new baby sister (my moms 2nd) she was sent to a country fully at war. My sisters would spend the next half decade of their lives in sunny wartorn tropics, watched over and raised by our family of four women. A blissful antithesis to their future with our mom. Upon the return to their forgotten country of origin (USA) and severed from the only family and community they've ever known, the girls were whisked away by a mother they barely remembered and a baby brother they had never met... marking the beginning of my mom's descent into single motherhood.

My mom resented having a brood of kids, namely her 2nd and 3rd, who's father was abusive and absent. Don't know much of the facts outside of what she would ritualistically berate my siblings about during her brutal tantrums -as if it were their fault they simply existed. The second born, my other sister, left home at 12 and has been estranged ever since and the third, my brother, has recently severed bonds abruptly claiming a new life with a woman he's known barely a year yet now calls wife. Proving that despite being raised by the same woman we all had different mothers.

Since my siblings endured a childhood with a volatile, violent woman who managed her emotions thru physical abuse... when she wasn't, she was neglectful of them, turning her attention onto me... the youngest (four years removed from the rest of the pack). I bore witness to said abuse until I was 5, when it was litigiously exposed, forcing her to abandon corporal punishment and rely solely on mental/emotional abuse. That's the version of my mom I got.

I was 10 when my sister left for college. Just my brother and I remained. Similarly to each other we both lived in service to our mother. Whereas his duties were more physically laborious, mine consisted of full on emotional labor. I spent most of my childhood navigating a homelife that was so saturated and occupied by my mother's opera of a life, that there was no room for my feelings, thoughts, desires or identity. I was her plaything, a person sans agency. My age and vulnerability proved advantagous when grooming me. I learned to behave in ways satisfactory to her needs. I was made to react to (and collect) her emotional distress, endorse her judgements of others, perform well in school as a testament to her rearing, and accept her violations of me as normal. I was a shackled spectator, whose own emotions were mere reflections of her dramatizations. I was tailored to be the MOST convenient. So I kept secrets and coped alone. I knew just enough abt myself to remain human but lacked the vision to actualize it. And because emotional abuse is so insidious in its indoctrination, I was really none the wiser until I too moved away years later.

I'm almost 30 now and I'm a mess. I can't establish enduring relationships, I'm fat, I'm broke, I'm debilitatingly avoidant, socially inept, codependent, confused and lack significant self worth. I spent the past decade delving deep into undoing all the work done to me to keep me a reliable supply for my mother and coming to terms with all the time lost in doing so. I've had glimpses and proof of another life but this year sent me back to old coping mechanisms and devastatingly familiar relationships. I read that by its very nature, all pandemics have to end and I thought I was strong enough to share a definite time&space with my abuser for the foreseeable future.... but with no end in sight, I kind of really wish I had established a clearer version of myself and where I stand in this family, to her.

Similar predicaments flung us both to the south and having her here is like a screen forging images of the same dysfunction I exhibited upon my arrival 7 years ago. There's so much I wish I could tell my former self, namely, "it's not your fault. you're not alone. you don't have to try so hard and tomorrow is another day" And perhapz it's this layered vision of myself as seen thru her that compels me to want to save her, but doing so requires me to get too close to a flame I've yet to extinguish. Im not foundationally sound enough to go up in flames and rebuild afterwards, I need a few more rounds of therapy for all that. I'm a stitch away from coming apart at the seams. Weak construction, but I'm still standing. I have more life to live and can't risk the breeze of my mother's chaotic whims to topple what's taken years to forge. I love her, because she's the only mom I got and because she's the kids' only access to our motherland. How can I reconcile this version of me with this version of her?

[rareship-kny-2020]

KnY Rareship Week Day 2: Chained

Kagome, kagome,

The bird in the cage

When, oh, when will you come out?

In the evening of the dawn, the crane and turtle slipped.

Who stands right behind you now?

Ubuyashiki Kagaya learned the most important lessons of his life at his mother’s knees, eyes solemn in the way children often are when troubled.

Age three and he knew two truths:

He will die before he reaches thirty because of his family curse.

He must do everything in his power to destroy the man…no, monster…that is named Kibutsuji Muzan.

Life was simple, Kagaya was the perfect son, dutiful and quiet. His parents’ only heir. Their pride and joy. Though in his family, joy was a precious commodity.

What is there to be joyful about when death hangs over every window, blocking out the sun? Is there joy in the beauty of the wisteria, when it is better loved by the Demon Slayer Corps for its lethality against demons?

He must strive to be better. To protect the Demon Slayers when he can not physically fight alongside them.

Age four and he sees the half-eaten corpse of a dear friend, the first time he had seen death. It will not be his last.

This, will be inherited by you, Kaga-chan, his mother had said in that soft way of hers. Soft, yes, but dangerous like a hidden knife delicately tucked into kimono sleeves.

This is our legacy. Never forget. And never forgive. Kibutsuji Muzan will fall by the hands of those he has wronged.

It is difficult, he thinks, holding back tears at the funeral, watching yet another grave marker be erected in the cemetery, to not give in to despair.

A man, weakened and frail from a curse, against a monster more terrifying than the nightmares of his family’s demise. Who is to say he will win?

At five, Kagaya realizes that he only has two short decades of life, unlike the demons who have eternity unless slain.

What is life? What purpose is there to continue living?

His mother takes his hands into her dainty ones and smiles, vicious, leaning in close as if she were sharing a secret,

Live in the moment for life is fleeting. Honor the ones that came before you. Pass your hopes and blessings to the ones that come after.

Yes, perhaps he will die. Maybe alone, despised and hunted down. Or maybe it will be peaceful, surrounded by the ones he loves most. It does not matter. He has a purpose now. His family’s curse might chain him down, but he has not given up. Not yet.

If he can not live, then he will die with grace. Kibutsuji might be immortal, but emotions are forever. What is one demon against the sea of victims he leaves behind, rising in a tsunami that will swallow him whole someday? The clock is ticking and Kibutsuji’s days are running out.

It is a comfort that he is not the only one who is waiting to die, Kagaya muses, Kibutsuji simply does not know it yet.

Eight, and his father passes away. Kagaya stares at his father’s body before it is taken away from him forever to be interred beneath the ground,

Is that what I will become?

His mother, his beautiful tenacious mother, nearly buckles under her grief of losing her husband. She takes the reins of the household, but Kagaya knows it is only a matter of time.

Would it not be nice, if I could go back? If only happiness were forever.

His mother dies when he is ten. The funeral is small and he does not cry. She would not have wanted him to cry.

Be strong, Kaga-chan. Avenge us.

Kagaya takes over the Demon Slayer corps like he was always supposed to. He does not falter in directing missions. Every death gives him one more reason to bring that monster down. He makes sure to commit every face and name to memory.

We never die, Kaga-chan, as long as we remain in the memory of the living. Let Kibutsuji die a dog’s death, he will never live forever.

Thirteen and he is brought before a girl. Amane, her name is Amane. The priest would rather marry them before the week ends but Kagaya refuses. She is her own person, let her be the judge of their marriage. He would not keep someone who would rather not be by his side.

My role is a dismal one, Amane-san, it would be unfair of me to burden you.

Then she smiles, all poison and pretty words,

Are you doubting me, Ubuyashiki-kun?

She reminds Kagaya of his mother with the way she smiles. He reciprocates her gesture wistfully, remembering happier times.

They are married by the end of the week, as the priest had wished. Amane becomes his constant companion, silent and watchful. They do not need words to understand each other.

They stand and watch the death count climb higher together.

They bury their fallen comrades together.

Is it selfish of me, he asks her laughingly when he first holds Hinaki and Nichika in his arms, to wish that we can all stay together forever?

Amane only smiles the way she always does, slipping her hand into his.

Despite the grief, moments like these are the ones he lives for. For his children, all of them, both blood and by creed. He can only hope that the choices he makes are making a difference. The Slayers give him their utmost respect and trust. He will not let them down.

A few more years and he holds his son in his arms.

Kiriya, he whispers in the newborn’s ear, our family legacy, this curse, now falls on to you.

He has faith in his son. Kiriya will continue after him. And if Kiriya does not succeed, then his grandchildren. Life is short. But thoughts, hopes, and dreams are eternal.

Kagaya hands his son to Amane. She gives him a knowing look but does not comment.

Hinaki and Nichika both clamor to see their little brother and he smiles gently at them, soothing their excitement.

How he wishes he did not have to leave his children to suffer.

My time is running short…less than a decade left.

When his two youngest daughters, Kanata and Kuina, are born, he does nothing more than press kisses lightly on their brows. Amane worries for him, he knows, but he is content with his lot in life. Kagaya only needs to look around him at his gathered children to know that his life was worth living.

Five more years.

His curse worsens, creeping through his body and down his face. Kagaya knows he worries his family, the Hashiras often remind him to rest. But he can no longer afford to. There a plans to make, mission reports to read, and many more missions to draft.

His children make him proud.

Kagaya receives a missive from the former Water Hashira, intuition spiking.

Be careful, Tanjiro, Nezuko. I entrust the future to you.

And when his time finally comes, Kagaya smiles.

It is ironic, that when my eldest daughters were first born, I told Amane I wished we could stay together forever.

Hinaki and Nichika play in the courtyard, ignoring the monster that stalks the path to their home.

My family, I am sorry.

Amane holds his hand, squeezing. She raises him to an upright position, supporting him like she always has ever since the day they married.

I know, her eyes seemed to say, I know and I forgive you.

Kibutsuji mocks him for his weaknesses, his frailness.

At death’s door, the monster’s sneer clearly states, how pitiful.

Kagaya only smiles.

You will never grasp eternity.

And he closes his eyes, content that Amane and his eldest daughters are by his side to the very end.

The future I leave to you, my children. This is our legacy. Kibutsuji Muzan will fall by the hands of those he has wronged.

Then his home is rocked by the explosion. He can only hope that his children will rise from the rubble, blades sharp and wits sharper.

Avenge us.

[histoireettralala]

Jean-Baptiste Bessières & Marie-Jeanne Lapeyrière

“Nous venons d’évoquer une série de ménages formés de hauts militaires et de jeunes filles de la société parisienne, mariages inspirés directement ou formellement encouragés par Napoléon. Il arriva aussi que des favoris du Premier Consul se marièrent tout à fait selon leur coeur et sans que le pouvoir intervînt le moins du monde dans ce grand acte de la vie privée. C’est le cas de Bessières qui épousa une jeune fille de son pays, un peu sa parente, à laquelle il avait voué dès l’enfance une tendre amitié. Sans doute, Bonaparte et plusieurs membres de sa famille signèrent-ils au contrat apporté à Paris dans ce but, pour bien marquer que cette union était approuvée à la cour consulaire, mais le mariage de Bessières resta une affaire tout à fait personnelle.

C’est en revenant à Prayssac, après la campagne d’Egypte, que le général avait retrouvé sa cousine Marie-Jeanne Lapeyrière, alors dans toute la fraîcheur de ses dix-neuf ans. Elle était de bonne famille, quoique peu fortunée. Son père, homme de loi, semble avoir été d’un niveau social légèrement supérieur à celui du père de Bessières, mais la réussite militaire du prétendant modifiait à son profit la différence. Après un an de fiançailles, les noces furent célébrées au château de Canussel, propriété des Lapeyrière; de part et d’autre, on tint à recevoir la bénédiction d’un prêtre insermenté, acte encore délictueux à l’époque. Ce détail peint assez bien les jeunes époux, tous deux gens de devoir fortement attachés à leurs traditions et capables de braver la loi du jour pour satisfaire leur conscience.

A son arrivée à Paris, Madame Bessières, qui n’était pas seulement “bonne, douce et pieuse”, mais encore belle et parfaitement élevée, fut accueillie très cordialement par la société déjà frivole qui se reformait autour de la famille du Premier Consul. Les Parisiennes effrontées qui avaient cru pouvoir brocarder cette provinciale s’aperçurent vite que sa timidité n’était pas de la sottise et qu’une grande fermeté de caractère se cachait sous ses traits de madone rougissante. Elle prit bientôt de l’assurance, et comme sa beauté croissait en proportion de son esprit, elle ne tarda pas à figurer brillamment dans le monde.

Contrairement à beaucoup d’autres, la femme de Bessières eut toujours en face de Napoléon une aisance, un sang-froid, une indépendance d’esprit qui provoquaient la surprise et forçaient l’estime. Peu après son mariage, elle fut dénoncée par la police pour avoir assisté, en grand deuil, à une messe célébrée clandestinement à la mémoire de Louis XVI. Bonaparte, à qui cet acte de piété était présenté comme l’indice d’un complot, eut un premier mouvement de colère et fit une scène violente à Bessières, qui conseilla à la coupable de ne pas reparaître aux Tuileries de quelque temps. Mieux renseigné par la suite, le Premier Consul le pria lui même de ramener “la charmante boudeuse” qu’il honora d’un accueil réparateur. “Madame, lui dit-il, je regrette de vous avoir fait adresser des reproches par votre mari. J’ai su depuis que le hasard seul vous avait fait assister à un service pour Louis XVI. Général, répondit Madame Bessières d’un ton assuré, Louis XVI ne méritait pas son sort. Il fut la victime des fureurs d’un peuple égaré. J’ai voulu prier pour lui, et, si j’étais à votre place, je sais bien ce que je ferais. - Eh! que feriez-vous, Madame ? - Je ne permettrais pas qu’en France on fût obligé de prier Dieu dans les maisons particulières.” A ce moment, Bonaparte mûrissait dans le secret son projet de rétablissement du culte. La réponse de la générale s’accordait à merveille avec ses préoccupations.  Après quelques instants de silence, il conclut: “Vous avez raison, Madame, et avant peu de temps, j’exécuterai un projet que j’ai formé.. [...]”

[..]

La mort de Bessières, tué par un boulet le 1er mai 1813, plongea la maréchale dans un profond désespoir, que n’adoucit point la lettre de Napoléon, suivant laquelle le héros avait succombé sans souffrir.[...] La pauvre femme avait des raisons de croire que l’âme du défunt ne s’était pas envolée pure de tout péché. En inventoriant les papiers laissés par son mari, elle avait découvert les preuves d’une infidélité qui aviva cruellement sa douleur. Bessières, si honnête, si bon époux qu’il fût, avait eu la faiblesse de la tromper avec une danseuse de l’Opéra [...]

On a prétendu, sans en apporter la preuve, que le maréchal Bessières avait dépensé pour cette fille des sommes énormes et que c’était là la cause du dénuement dans lequel il laissait sa veuve. Quoi qu’il en soit, Napoléon se substitua à lui, comme il l’avait promis, paya ses dettes et pourvut à l’éducation de ses enfants. En 1815, l’Empereur d’Autriche assura à la duchesse d’Istrie une rente de 20000 francs, en compensation de la perte de sa dotation, assise sur des domaines que les traités rendaient à la monarchie des Habsbourg. Les Bourbons et la royauté de Juillet eurent également des égards pour la femme malheureuse d’un des plus indiscutables héros de l’épopée française. Elle mourut au seuil de la vieillesse, le 4 juin 1840, ayant sous les yeux la montre de son mari, arrêtée depuis vingt-sept ans par le choc du boulet qui avait emporté le maréchal.”

Louis Chardigny, Les Maréchaux de Napoléon, Bibliothèque Napoléonienne, P. 216-220.

“We have just mentioned a series of households made up of senior soldiers and young girls from Parisian society, marriages directly inspired or formally supported by Napoleon. It also happened that the favorites of the First Consul married completely according to their heart and without any intervention from the powerful in this great act of the private life. This is the case of Bessières, who married a young girl from his country, somewhat his relative, to whom he had devoted a tender friendship from childhood. Doubtless Bonaparte and several members of his family signed the contract brought to Paris for this purpose, to make it clear that this union was approved at the consular court, but Bessières' marriage remained a completely personal affair.

It was while returning to Prayssac, after the Egyptian campaign, that the general had found his cousin Marie-Jeanne Lapeyrière, then in all the bloom of her nineteen years. She was from a good family, although not very wealthy. Her father, a lawyer, seems to have been on a slightly higher social level than that of Bessières' father, but the pretender's military success changed the difference to his advantage. After a year of engagement, the wedding was celebrated at the Château de Canussel, property of the Lapeyrière family; on both sides, they insisted on receiving the blessing of a non-juring priest, an act that was still criminal at the time. This detail fairly well portrays the young spouses, both people of duty strongly attached to their traditions and capable of defying the law of the day to satisfy their conscience.

On her arrival in Paris, Madame Bessières, who was not only "good, sweet and pious", but also beautiful and perfectly raised, was warmly welcomed by the already frivolous society which was reforming around the family of the First Consul. The cheeky Parisians who believed they could make fun of this provincial quickly realized that her shyness was not foolishness and that a great firmness of character was hidden under her features of blushing madonna. She soon gained confidence, and as her beauty grew in proportion to her spirit, she soon became a brilliant figure in the world.

Unlike many others, Bessières' wife always had to Napoleon's face an ease, a composure, an independence of mind which caused surprise and forced esteem. Shortly after her marriage, she was reported by the police for having attended, in great mourning, a mass clandestinely celebrated in memory of Louis XVI. Bonaparte, to whom this act of piety was presented as the evidence of a conspiracy, had a first movement of anger and made a violent scene to Bessières, who advised the culprit not to reappear at the Tuileries for some time. Better informed later, the First Consul himself asked him to bring back "the charming sulker" whom he honored with a conciliatory welcome. “Madame,” he told her, “I regret having made your husband reprimand you. I have since known that chance alone made you attend a service for Louis XVI. General, confidently replied Madame Bessières, Louis XVI did not deserve his fate. He was the victim of the fury of a disoriented people. I wanted to pray for him, and, if I were in your place, I know what I would do. - Eh! what would you do, Madame? - I would not allow that in France we had to pray to God in private houses. " At this time, Bonaparte was secretly maturing his plan to re-establish religious cult. The generale’s response was perfectly aligned with his concerns. After a few moments of silence, he concludes: "You are right, Madame, and before a short time, I will execute a project that I have formed [...]"

[..]

Bessières' death, killed by a cannonball on May 1, 1813, plunged the maréchale in a deep despair, which was not softened by Napoleon's letter, according to which the hero had succumbed without suffering. [...] The poor woman had reason to believe that the soul of the deceased had not departed pure from all sin. By inventorying the papers left by her husband, she had discovered evidence of an infidelity which cruelly exacerbated her pain. Bessières, so honest, good husband as he was, had the weakness to cheat on her with an Opera dancer [...]

It has been claimed, without any proof, that Marshal Bessières had spent enormous sums on this girl and that this was the cause of the destitution in which he left his widow. Be that as it may, Napoleon acted his part, as he had promised, paid his debts and provided for the education of his children. In 1815, the Emperor of Austria assured the Duchess of Istria a pension of 20,000 francs, in compensation for the loss of her endowment, based on estates the treaties returned to the Habsburg monarchy. The Bourbons and the royalty of July also had regard for the unfortunate wife of one of the most indisputable hero of the French epic. She died on the threshold of old age on June 4, 1840, having before her eyes her husband's watch, arrested for twenty-seven years by the shock of the cannonball which had taken the marshal away. ”

[bibelothug]

Black Lives Matter

Hi, nice to meet you!

My name is Ayumi Konno, and I am the founder of Bibelot, an online shop selling apparel, picture books and miscellaneous goods. I am also the mother of a 10 month old baby.

After hearing about the death of Mr. George Floyd, I started to learn more about racial discrimination against black people in the United States and began to wonder what I personally could do to fight against racism.  I decided to collaborate with artists to create T-shirts that will spark discussions and bring awareness to this issue. 

History and current status of discrimination against black people in America

In America, black people have suffered discrimination for a very long time, and this racist oppression continues today. 

Forced into slavery in the 17th century in America, black people continued to experience racism even after slavery was abolished in 1865. 

After that, Jim Crow laws did not recognize black people as having the same rights as white people, and separated black people from white people in public institutions (schools, buses, toilets, etc.).

Image reference:  zinnedproject.org

In America’s history, there are many instances of black people being murdered. As a new parent, learning about the following injustice of the murder of Mary Turner in particular left an impact on me. 

The murder of Mary Turner, who lived in Georgia in 1918.

On May 18, 1918, a man named Hayes Turner was murdered by a mob of white people after a white landowner was killed. 

His wife Mary Turner denounced the mob who killed her husband and in response was murdered brutally by the mob. Despite being 8 months pregnant, she was lynched, her body strung up on a tree, set on fire, and her unborn child murdered. 

In 1865, Article 13 of the US Constitution was passed, abolishing slavery. However, violent racism persisted and mob lynchings and burning of black people’s houses  by the KKK (white supremacist organization) was rampant.

The Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation continued until the Civil Rights Law was enacted 56 years ago.

Discrimination is not a thing of the past, it continues today. 

Image reference:  humanevents.com

Today, many black people in America live with the fear of being arrested for no reason and beaten by the police, even in the midst of their daily activities whether it’s going out to take a walk, or even sleeping at home. 

Article 13 of the Constitution abolishes slavery, but does not apply to those sentenced to prison.

Even innocent people or those who have been arrested for misdemeanors and who cannot afford bail are sentenced to work jobs receiving hourly wage of the equivalent of 15 to 150 yen, not eligible for social security benefits. 

Percentage of population living in poverty (2018): 8.1% white, 20.8% black

Wealth disparity (2017): Median wealth of white households is 10 times that of black households

According to the statistical results from 2013 to 2019, although 76.3% of the American population is white and 13.4% is black, black people are three times more likely than white people to be killed by police. Of those killed by police, black people were 1.3 times more likely to be unarmed than white people. 

 Reference Reference: Mapping Police Violence｜Mapping Police Violence

And systematic racism afflicts black people today. 

Please see this video for a summary of this project and institutional discrimination in below.

Discrimination in Japan

Many people may think that this has nothing to do with Japan and that racism against black people does not even exist in Japan. 

However, it has become clear that across generations in Japan, stereotypes and prejudices against black people exist. 

It’s theorized that in the wake of the second world war, one of the ways that Japan sought to bolster its reputation amongst Western countries was adopting America’s racist attitudes towards black people. In essence, they joined white America in viewing black people as the common enemy. 

To this day, that affects how black people are portrayed in Japanese media, which all too often is via racist stereotypes and caricatures. 

Why I decided to start this project

The murder of Mr. George Floyd on May 25th by a white police officer was the incident that moved me to do something. 

After learning about George Floyd’s murder,  I contacted a black friend, watched the video of the incident and read to try to understand what had happened and why. 

Ashamed that I did not know about the suffering so many people experience at the hands of systematic racism today, I thought that I could do something and started planning this project.

If I want to help my black friend, I understood that I have to be part of systemic change. 

I felt that systemic change requires the power of many, not just of a minority, not just of those in the United States,  but many people all over the world, including Japan.

What I want to achieve with this project

For racism to be abolished and for our world to be one where no child or adult experiences discrimination or discriminates against anyone in any country. 

With that in mind, I want to start by understanding and learning, and talking with others more. 

So, I made a T-shirt with two artists to help start the conversation.

My hope is that through this project, through these Tshirts and artworks, people can discuss, share and learn.

Massage from Friend

I am so encouraged. Friends around the world are rising up. My friend Ayumi said when she started learning about systemic racism she was ashamed she didn’t know before. But by googling, watching movies, reading books, talking to friends, she is an example that we can always learn. It is never too late to learn. I am grateful, too, that she has so eagerly joined in doing the work, and sharing what she’s learning with others in her community esp those who are mostly Japanese-speaking.We shall over come!

Use of funds

T-shirt production cost: JPY 1500-2000 depending on the number of orders received

Transportation costs and tariffs from the UK: Approximately 20,000 yen

Return shipping cost: Approximately 20,000 yen (when 100 pieces are shipped by mail)

Kenzo's design fee: 25,000 yen (500 yen x 50 pieces)

All other proceeds will go to the Black Lives Matter movement. 

Schedule of delivery

September 1 Preorder begins

September 30 Preorder finishes

October 1 Final order of T-shirts 

Estimated shipping from Bar One Clothing in England in late October

As soon as Tshirts arrive, they will be shipped out in November

Donation made to the BLM movement after completing shipping of Tshirts in late November

We will announce the specific BLM organizations and report the total donation amount on this note, Bibelot's instagram account, and YouTube Hug Fuku Channel.

I will be placing the final order on October 1st, so please complete payment by then. Please transfer money to PayPal.

 Collaboration T-shirt with Kenzo

￥3500

Collaboration T-shirt with artist Kenzo

After George Floyd's murder, I contacted my black friends, and was introduced to Kenzo, a black artist living in Ogasawara. A pointillist artist, Kenzo’s artwork is amazingly painstaking. 

Only the stippled area is printed on the silk screen. Both men's and women's Tshirts will be printed on organic cotton Tshirts called Earth Positive, which are produced using only renewable energy. The material is very soft to the touch and comfortable to wear.

From KENZO This picture holds a lot of meaning for. I have never thought so much about a single drawing. It stirs up a lot of emotions in me. 

The importance of black life does not mean that black life is more important than anyone. A symbol of unity, and solidarity. It’s about standing up for someone who is suffering. The person who cried "I CANT BREATHE". A person who is treated like an animal rather than a human.

This is not just an American problem. It affects the whole world.

Can you imagine a world in which you are afraid of the people who are supposed to support and protect you?

Even when they are victims and should be the ones receiving protection, they must fear their own lives from those who are supposed to protect them. 

This is the world in which we, people of color, have to live.

But there is hope. People all over the world are standing up with us. With Black Lives Matter they are standing up for the right thing!

This drawing is meant to shed light on those who fought for us and keep fighting with us! It has a little history and represents what I think #blacklivesmatter represents.

With this, I hope you share it with your friends and help them get out of it. It takes a total of 139 hours to complete and is made entirely of dots. With each dot I thought of all the people of color who are suffering from oppression.

Collaboration T-shirt with NAO HIGA

￥3500

I asked HIGA NAO (Bonmu) to design the women's T-shirt.

NAO-san wanted to donate her work in support of the movement. 

Nao's paintings depict brown-skinned women. For Nao, brown is the color of nature and is very beautiful.

NAO HIGA (Bonmu)

Born in Miyagi

After 10 years as a graphic designer and illustrator in Tokyo, she moved to Kumejima, Okinawa, and expresses the inspiration that she received from the natural scenery and life of the island through silkscreen.

She shares, “Currently, I am engaged in daily production activities in Yanbaru, where the rich nature of the main island of Okinawa remains.”

✴︎ NAO's thoughts on the project ✴︎

“While I have lived so far, I have witnessed scenes of discrimination, of varying severity, in various places.

My world started to move little by little as a result of these incidents. 

I think the world will definitely change if each one of us can pay attention to what is happening. 

And I want to leave a peaceful and bright future without discrimination for future children! With these feelings, I resonated with the aim of the project and so I wanted to participate.”

How to preorder Tshirts

If you would like support this project and reserve a Tshirt, please e-mail info@bibelot.jp (Please be sure to add this address to your contacts so that you can receive emails) If you do not receive a reply within 3 days, please check the settings again and resend.

To make your reservation,  copy and past the following text:

① Kenzo or Nao Higa (Only write the designer whose Tshirt you would like)

②Size (Please choose from MEN’S: Small, Medium, Large or WOMEN’s: Small, Medium, Large) ③ Color (white or black)

④ Your name

⑤ Address

⑥ Phone number

⑦ Message of support for this project (optional)

(Please note that we may anonymously share your message on SNS.)

I will be placing the final order on October 1, so please complete payment by then. Please transfer money to the following account; Paypal

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Finally

I grew up in Japan and still live in Japan. I just quit the company and started a shop, so I can't afford it. But I thought there was something I could do for this problem. Nowadays, there are many people who do not have black friends around them, so many of them may not be able to catch themselves.

I think this is a story that is relevant to you when you think about the future, not the fire on the opposite bank.

During the internationalization, my child may marry a black man and his grandson may have dark skin.

I want my children and grandchildren to be rewarded for their efforts to avoid discrimination when they go abroad.

There are many social problems, but let's start from what we can do.

And many black people are still being treated badly and unable to get out of a difficult environment.

Analyze how you feel, investigate, talk to people, share on SNS, make donations, buy.

I think there is some courage in what you think of. I want you to be brave and take a step forward.

Many people have cooperated since the end of May. I've been working for this project, and I'm really happy to hear that I'm in agreement.

We hope that you can participate in the change in the world by empathizing and supporting us.

 Self-introduction

Ayumi Konno

Born in 1991

Born in Hitoyoshi City, Kumamoto Prefecture Up to 6 years old Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture 6 to 18 years old Raised in Omihachiman City, Shiga Prefecture

I have a childhood friend with the blood of Brazil and Japan, and I want to talk to people from various countries who have an interest in multiculturalism by studying abroad in China in the first year of high school and have an interest in multiculturalism.

Going to Toronto alone at the age of 19 to study the dream of wanting to be a used clothing store

Worked for a secondhand clothing wholesale company in Toronto, but after being shocked by a discriminator, he left the company.

After returning to Japan, I want to go to a place with nature

Worked at a hotel on Iriomote Island in Okinawa, or settled in the mountain of Hakuba in Nagano

Volunteer in 2012 to visit Miyagi prefecture and meet her current husband and marry in 2014

Worked at an apparel company since 2013 and experienced recruitment with a store manager and personnel department.

I was planning to return to work after giving birth and taking childcare leave in 2019,

Decided to retire in 2020 and set up my own store in May

We are struggling to communicate social and environmental issues through clothes and books so that we can become aware of them

[redrobin-detective]

I’ll be your hero (whether you want me or not)

It’s Izuku’s birthday and goddamn was I mad craving the chance to write more post-TLWA Deku as a licensed quirkless hero so here we go. 

XxX

Izuku charged forward, ducking under the swinging arms coming his way with practiced grace. They attacked him lazily, as if they couldn’t be bothered to give him anymore effort. Normally he’d be willing to stand his ground and engage, bare his teeth and show them how dangerous he could be but he has more important things to worry about now. So he let Kacchan, Uraraka and Todoroki, the more popular quirked heroes take care of the thugs up front while that idiot quirkless kid who actually went through with getting a hero license snuck past. After all, someone had to rescue the hostages.

“Hey what are you doing-” a guard asked but Izuku cut off his stupid question with a uppercut between his ribcage, forcing the air from his lungs. Once he knew the man wouldn’t yell, Izuku grabbed ahold of his shoulders and pulled him down for Izuku to knee him in the face. Hard. He set the criminal down and quietly ziptied him before moving on. Using tricks drilled into relentlessly from Aizawa-sensei during high school, Izuku slunk through the halls, clinging to the shadows and getting the drop on any other criminals he came across. Most were taken down before they even knew they were under attack. He couldn’t help the slightest smirk that crossed his face as took down three more, not too bad for the quirkless Deku who’d never amount to anything. If only his four year old self could see him now.

As soon as he stepped into the next corridor, he smoothed out his predatory stance and smiled at the hostages hovering in the corner. It wasn’t the wide, beaming smiled Yagi-san used to single-handedly beat back the dark. It small, gentle, slightly crooked and full of confidence and humility. “You’re alright now, I’m here to help,” he said, making eye contact with everyone in the room. “I’m going to get you out of here. Is this all of you? Are any of you hurt?”

A few of the adults looked over his shoulder a little anxiously, as if waiting for some stronger hero to bring up the rear and help them. It wasn’t unusual and it happened so often that Izuku barely even felt the twinges of annoyance and inadequacy anymore. Nine total, five adults and four children the youngest being about seven years of age. Not the best group to get out of a sticky situation but he’d beaten worse odds. 

“Iida,” He said into his comm, “I have eyes on the hostages, there’s nine of them, a mix of adults and kids. Tell Shou and Kacchan to really light the place up, we’re going to need plenty of cover.” He looked back at people gathered around him. They were scared, not just of the circumstances but of him, worried that he wouldn’t be enough to get them out. To be honest, Izuku had the same fears, had them every time he left his house in uniform. But he’d promised Yagi-san that he would continue on his legacy, One For All or not. Considering he was only 20 years old and ranked #76 on the Hero charts without a quirk or major backing sponsor, he thought he was doing pretty damn good. 

“Understood, we await your signal,” Iida said with a clipped voice with the sound of explosions going off in the background before signing off.

“Alright, we’re going to get out of here and we’re going to do it together. I’m sure you all know I don’t have a quirk but I want to know yours, tell me your names and quirks and I promise I will everything possible to get you all out safely.” Introductions given, Izuku directed them outside the shelter of their room, retracing the steps he used to get in. They passed some of the guards who Izuku had dispatched earlier but not all of them.

“Toko-chan, can you see anyone coming?” Izuku asked quietly. The girl, about 13 with no eyes on her face placed her hands on the wall and listened.

“Uh I hear some commotion a bit behind us, they’ve found out we’ve escaped. No alarms yet b-but people are coming this way,” she whimpered out drawing her hands back away from the wall. Her mother pulled her into her arms and the rest began to fearfully murmur to each other.

“Hey,” Izuku said authoritatively but with a soft voice. “We knew we wouldn’t get out without them knowing. This is what we talked about, nothing has changed but I’m going to need you to keep your courage up a little while longer.” There’s a creak and Izuku grabbed a few of his throwing knives. “Hasagawa-san, barrier!”

His knife slipped through just before the gym teacher’s barrier went up. The thugs spikes bounced harmlessly off the mental shield just as he was pinned to the wall by his clothing. A nod of his head and the barrier dropped, Izuku slammed his fist into the man’s face. He went limp and Izuku let him slip to the floor. A woman appeared from around the corner, slamming her hands down on the ground causing layers of stone to appear blocking off their exit.

“No way out now hero, hero,” the villain said with a sarcastic drawl. Izuku hunched his shoulders faking left but darting to the right, snapping out his staff to swipe at the woman’s feet before slamming her face first into the ground. He stood up, staring at the obstacle in front of them and quickly reformatting his plan.

“Deku to Uravity, I’m going to need you to meet us near the entrance I went through, we’ll need your support to get out,” he said into the comm before turning back to the group. “Come on, you’re doing great. This is just a little setback, we’re almost there,” he encouraged, shooting the others a smile. He was pleased to see a few smile back. “Uravity, are you in position?”

“Does Tokoyami wear a black cape?” Ochako teased in-between breathy pants. “Do you even need me or do you just think I need the ego boost?”

“I’ll always need you, gravity girl ” he couldn’t help but grin, the light flirting coming naturally despite the fact that they stopped dating before they even graduated. But some habits died hard but not friendships thankfully, those were a lot sturdier than awkward teen romances. “Nakano-san, I’m going to need your skills. I’ll take care of Mako-kun,” he said reaching out and gently taking the youngest boy’s hand leaving both his father’s hands free. 

“My sonic waves aren’t really controllable, once I start I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop,” the man said nervously. 

“I know,” Izuku said gently even as he was aware of the yelling approaching them. “That’s why Uravity is close by to catch any debris that falls. Entropy and Explosion are outside causing enough chaos that no one is going to be looking at us.” Another smile, “we can do this.”

The man nodded and the closed his eyes as the stone walls he leaned on trembled furiously. Izuku steadied himself on the adjacent wall before launching himself at a particularly vulnerable crack in the wall, giving them an opening. He began scooping the younger kids through the opening as the roof began to loose integrity.

“Ocha-”

“Got it!” he heard his best friend shout as she bounded around, slamming her hands on parts of the building before they could fall on any of the civilians. “Always got to make a big scene don’t cha?”

“I’ve got to make up for my lack of quirk somehow,” he quipped back, handing Mako-kun back to his father. “Todoroki, Kacchan, make sure a path is cleared on the eastern side we’re moving civilians. Iida I’ll need you to escort them out, ‘Chako and I have company.” He stood in front of the hostages, activating the portable shield on his left arm as fire was thrown their way, “Now Iida!” 

“Come now, I will lead you to safety,” Iida said appearing out of nowhere.

“But what about Deku-san,” Izuku heard Ishii-san say.

“Midoriya taught me a long time ago that there are very few things he can’t accomplish when he’s got that look in his eyes.”

“This is just my normal face, Iida,” Izuku countered, going after a few thugs Ochako had floated and slamming them down to the ground with his bo.

“Exactly,” Izuku could hear the smile in his friend’s voice as he began to shepard the civilians away. “I leave the rest to you two.”

“Oh we won’t be long,” Ochako grinned, rolling her shoulders and felt a rush of affection go through him. He had the best friends and the best life in the entire world. 

XxX

“Explosion!” one reporter shouted to them as they wrapped up, “what’s your opinion on the decriminalization of quirk use in self-defense?”

“It’s about damn time now shut up and let us do our damn job,” Kacchan snapped, keeping his back to the reporters as he ensured all the villains and civilians were accounted for. 

“Ingenium! how did you get the hostages out with all the fighting going on?” Another asked from the crowd. 

“As I said earlier,” Iida said tersely, “Deku was the one who found and safely retrieved the hostages. I only got them out of the line of fire while he and Uravity fended off the other criminals.”

“Deku, do you feel your career has suffered since you left the Two Heroes agency run by #1 hero Explosion and opened your own smaller agency?” Another asked and by the way Kacchan’s shoulder’s twitched with agitation, he’d better answer first.

“Red Riot is doing an amazing job taking over my role as partner and I’m proud of the work my friends and colleagues are doing at the agency I helped build,” he politely reminded. “I decided to focus on a different aspect of heroics and I’m happy with what I’m doing at One For All Heroics along with my continued quirk advocacy work.” The questions went back to the other, bigger heroes, asking about their love lives or alliances leaving him mostly alone despite all the company. But he didn’t mind, not really, not anymore. 

Because he really was living his best life. He was saving people like he always wanted, he had the best friends in the world who saw his value and gave him the respect he’d earned over the years. Deku might not be a household name like All Might, might not have an impossible quirk passed down the generations but he did believe in the peace started by another quirkless man. He was Midoriya Izuku, he was hero Deku and he was here to help whether or not the world was ready for him. 

[queenharumiura]

Favourite thing about roleplaying?

Least favourite thing about roleplaying?

What about your muse are you most proud of?

What’s one random headcanon about your muse that people mightn’t know?

Taken from meme: [x] ||Accepting||

Favourite thing about roleplaying?

I would have to say the fact that you can meet all sorts of people and befriend them. I may not be the most social, nor am I the most active, but I still have people who I consider to be friends, and I love that. Also- being able to talk about muses is always a fun time, especially when it goes down the 'hey wanna listen to me talk for hours on end about HCs?' territory.

Least favourite thing about roleplaying?

I would say the feeling of loneliness, but that's my fault, so I won't count that. I'm not sure about least favorite, as I don't really put a ranking to things, but something that I dislike about RP'ing is the site, I guess. I really sat here for 20 mins thinking, but most things i'm neutral about, or something bothers me but it's not really related to RP itself. The site is so broken and such a pain to navigate at times lol. You got to be careful with tags because they may not populate anything in search. One can't trim posts unless you have xkit, tumblr sometimes has a random penchant for unfollowing people when it feels like it? Wow- love when the site breaks down or releases a sudden (unneeded) update and then I rage.

What about your muse are you most proud of?

Very proud of many things, but to answer about what i'm proud about in Haru (rather than the blog), I'd have to say it's how she's really headstrong and staunch in her beliefs. She really was willing to drop Tsuna that one time she thought he may have 'changed' and was 'bullying Lambo.' There was no hesitation in her mind. IF he changed, she was out. Though dramatic she may be, she did put things to the test. Ultimately, she is an intellectual and she had to ensure he had changed before passing judgement. She makes sure of facts before she passes a final judgement. I'm proud of the fact that she's able to be smart about things like this and not bow down to peer pressure, bias, etc. She really could've been like, 'but it's Tsuna-san, so it's okay'. No, she was very ready to drop him like a hot rock. This being the guy she wanted to marry and have a future with. I'm very sure many people out there would struggle with such a notion from what i've seen from stan accounts. I'm very proud of her for that.

What’s one random headcanon about your muse that people mightn’t know?

I've many HCs that I've probably only told one other person (bc they asked), but I found one I've never spoken about-- because I came up with it today. Though we know nothing about her mother, we know that Haruyoshi (Father) has spoiled Haru like she's his princess and that he's also a reason why Haru has a lot of interest in many things like Enka musing, mma fighting, studying, etc. We can see that she's quite free to play around with hobbies and she's very vocal about loving costumes, making them.

I doubt her parents don't know that she aspires to be a world-famous costume maker. I wouldn't be surprised if they've heard about Tsuna and co by name. She's got a lot of interests/hobbies and it speaks to her freedom to explore. I do believe that it's likely her Father that gave her that freedom to do whatever she wants and her mother was likely the strict one. So you get a girl who is both very free and adventurous along with a girl who is pretty strict and headstrong.

With her many interests, I feel as though she was raised in a household where she was told she can literally be whatever she wants and her parents would do their best to support her, and she thrives-- but not every family situation is the same. In some cases, you have no choice. You either follow the plan or suffer. I personally like to think that's one reason why she loves making costumes because it helps you feel as though you really can become anything and for those who have no choice, a change in costume can at the very least give them some respite.

Haru is a girl who loves to help and support others, and if making a wide variety of costumes may later down the line help people feel as though they can fulfill a dream, all the better.

[lgbtessay-blog]

LGBT Community

First and foremost, being gay is not a choice. Just in the same way that heterosexuals like the opposite gender, it is not because they were raised to be straight, it is just the way their brain is programmed. Sexual orientation can be defined, by the LGBT Communication Manual as, “each person’s capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to, and intimate and sexual relations with, individuals or a different sex/gender/ or the same sex/gender or more than one sex/gender” (LGBT Communication Manual). With each person’s preference to sex/gender, there comes a title so that within their community they can distinguish each other and know what each person prefers. For example, they use terms like bisexual, gay, lesbian, heterosexual, pansexual, transgender, intersexual, t-lover, and drag king or queen to name a few.

     The LGBT community wasn’t always accepted for who they were, and it took much courage to come out into the nonaccepting time of the 50’s post-war. This is thanks to a man named Harry Hay because he found the first gay rights organization, that he called the Mattachine Society. Its founders, to the surprise of many, were former communists and radicals. Their goal with creating this group was not only to change the way that people looked at gay men and what they stood for but for men to start being comfortable in their skins. In a matter of three years, the Mattachine Society had grown to the point that you could attend a meeting every day for the rest of your life if that is what you desired to do, claimed Dorr Legg. At this point, the Gay community was peaking and not stopping with tens of thousands of people joining in the Los Angeles area. (Roscoe, accessed 20 October 2018).

      Not too much after the Mattachine Society was created, the Daughters of Bilitis was formed. A lesbian group based in San Francisco, the founders Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, were the first same-sex couple to be married after the legalization of same-sex marriage was passed. Initially, this group was created so that lesbians could meet other lesbians so that they could start socializing and dancing at the clubs together. Eventually, this secret club at the time had realized that many laws were “anti-gay” and instead of partying and having a good time, they needed to start making a change in society for the well being of their futures. Soon after this realization, they began to focus more on educating the public about lesbians, they started to participate in research about lesbians and started to repealing anti-LGBT laws. (Anti-Defamation League, 2011)

     Coming out in the 1950s was a very bold act considering that the United States government targeted the LGBT members because politicians strongly and wrongly believed that homosexuals were infiltrating the U.S. poses a threat to national security. The leaders of the U.S. in this time believed that those who were declaring themselves as homosexuals were both weak and mentally ill, and this posed a threat because the U.S. was sure that anyone in these conditions would reveal state secrets to undercover spies if they were blackmailed. Because of the government creating this illusion to citizens, the “Lavender Scare” was created. A time where LGBT members were fired on a daily bases and were forced to go through police raids at gay bars, parties, and places that weren’t even morally okay… their homes. It was a hard time for those who were coming out in this era because laws started being made that would prohibit wearing the clothes of the opposite gender and dancing with someone of the same sex. As a result of all these laws and unfair judgment, many members of the LGBT community went into hiding. (Anti-Defamation League, 2011)

    Coming out can be defined but the LGBT communications manual as “a process of self-acceptance which may take an entire lifetime. A person builds their identity as a lesbian, gay man, bisexual, or transgender person, at first keeping it to themselves. Later they may or may not reveal it to other people”  (LGBT Communication Manual). In modern day today, coming out is not as hard as it used to be 60 years ago, but it is still and always will be a big deal. Coming out isn’t just about telling people what sex you are interested in, but about finally getting to show your loved ones whom you are and hoping that there is still a way that they will accept you for who you are. Depending on where these people live is and what goes on in their household depends on if their family and friends would accept them for who they are. For my mother coming out was not an easy thing to do. Her father and mother thought she was utterly disgusting and to this day don’t accept her. When she came out to her brother and sister they were not accepting at first, but in my family, there is one thing that will always be important, and that is you only have one family it can grow, but it will never change. Over time, both of them came to accept her and love her just for who she is. My second mom, Lu, has passed onto another life, but if it wasn’t for her I know that my mom wouldn’t have been strong enough to come out on her own to our family, and for that, I will be forever grateful. For two people my age, I have come to find out they don’t have coming out stories because they always knew and acted on being just who they were, which has to be the most beautiful change I have seen throughout society.

       A big factor that has played a role in many people coming out is what religion they are. Almost all religions have an accepting or nonaccepting truth to it considering the LGBT community. The Christian faith does not approve of homosexuality but preaches that we must love and accept everyone. Which is why over time the Christian community has some who support the LGBT community and some who do not. Judaism sees the LGBT community as not natural and does not accept it, although there are Jewish LGBT groups. (LGBT Communication Manual)

    Although many people in today's society accept those who are a part of the LGBT community, there are still those times where people who don’t accept these people start to harras these members, which does have its title and definition: Homophobia. This is described as the fear and irrational hatred towards homosexuals. Homophobia can be seen almost anywhere but is slowly dissipating as time goes on. Familiar places we can see this kind of hate is in areas of extreme religion, the workplace, and school.

     In Bogota, Colombia nineteen people were interviewed as being a part of the Colombian LGBT community wanting to know their stories and what it is like for them living where they do. For Carmen, a 46-year-old transgender woman, her upbringing into this community was an extremely rough case. Before completing the gender reassignment process, Carmen had finished her military service, and here sadly she was taken advantage of because of rumors going around that she (he at the time) liked other men. Even though he had said no to this sergeant, he started touching her and forcing himself onto her and speaking to her “Lie down, I am going to be good to you.” After this experience, Carmen had started to have consensual relationships with other men in the army. As Carmen did eventually leave the military, she moved around and became successful again (Zea, Reisen, Biachi, 2013). However, moments like these are what people think is okay, to be able to experimental and force another person to try something that they do not want. This is a clear and horrific example of harassment that has happened, there are many other stories like these and to fix this we need to fight against it and bring attention to what is happening.

     Furthermore, completing the process of a transgender person is not an easy process. There are multiple steps to getting to where they want to be, starting with the said person needing an official confirmation from a qualified mental health professional that they suffer from “gender dysphoria,” which refers to the distress that comes the wrong fit of expressed gender and one’s assigned gender. Next, they must undergo twelve months of feminizing or masculinizing hormone therapy, administering more testosterone or estrogens into the body to have the body change more into the desired one. Following, those undergoing this process must go through a most important part of their transition, the “real life” experience. Here they must see the importance of coming out to partners, friends, community members, and family here they must also see all the challenges that are going to be up ahead of changing their sex, such as family, educational, vocational, economic, and legal problems that they will be facing every day. The final step in this years-long process is finally the surgery. For male-to-female they must undergo breast augmentation, facial feminization surgery liposuction, gluteal augmentation, reduction of Adam’s apple, hair reconstruction, penis and testicle removal, and creation of neovagina and clitoris. For female-to-male, they undergo removal of breasts, create of a male chest, liposuction, voice surgery, removal of the uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, vagina, and the construction of a penis and scrotum, and finally the implantation of erection and testicular prosthesis. (Bracanovic, 2017)

     As you can see it is not easy to get to the end for the transgender community, and once it is all done, things can get harder. For the LGBT faculty in S&E fields, they claimed they felt that “gayness” was invisible and that everyone was just assumed to be hetero. This is assumed because in the Science and Engineering community it is all that what should matter seeing that everyone would fit the “norm” of being hetero. However, this has caused problems for those who have come out in this community, some peers even coming to the point of saying “I think she’s lesbian; I’d never trust her date.” This is a precise moment of work hostility. Those who are part of the LGBT and S&E community have been faced with many difficulties of how their peers feel around them. Some even reported that they knew of peers who were even uncomfortable and anxious to be in the same room as them. These conflicts have created many consequences for them in and outside the work climates. Internally the participants in this research reported that there is a fearfulness with being a part of the LGBT community because those who are not gay have become rude and not approving of them and their work. This created an environment that pushes members to not come out because of being afraid that their action will not be taken seriously. Externally, participants made it clear that they have not gotten jobs because someone had outed them before them receiving the position. Other participants even claimed that have tried to ruin their research and collaboration with others by outing them. (Bilimoria, 2009)

     To continue the discussion of harassment that transgenders must face, it is commonly known among Portland, Oregon that public transportation is not a safe place for them. Public transportation is offered throughout the city, for all and is protected under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, that prohibits discrimination on race, color, and national origin. What it doesn’t protect yet is the discrimination of the LGBT community. Several participants in the social science literature on gender, public space, and urban mobility, had told of many stories of being not being harassed anymore on these public transportation sites. Even a white transgender man (most unlikely to receive hate because of white privilege) could say that he experienced hostility almost on a daily basis when he was a female. This goes to show that until someone looks more “correct” with societies norms that there will always be a hostility accountable for. (Lubitow, 2017)

     Thanks to the Pew Research Center, we can come to see that there has been an 18% increase from the decade before in the acceptance of the gay community. There has also been a 19% increase in acceptance for the lesbian community (Drake,2014). Eventually, this won’t even be a number or a thought that will cross the mind, but how can we help to ensure that the LGBT community is more accepted quicker? A few suggestions would be to speak out against any bullying you could see going on towards an LGBT member, being accepting of those around you who come out to you, and most importantly be nice. Being a part of the LGBT community is not an easy thing but with the help of everyone we can change the way people view them and accept them.

    Among those who are apart of the LGBT community, there are many ways that they are able to communicate with each other in today's modern age. Like most communities, the LGBT community has a strong online form of communication. By online communication, they communicate when events are, have hotlines, and so they can express who they are. They also have holidays that mean the utmost to many members of the LGBT community. Such as LGBTQ Pride (June), International Drag Day (July 16th), National Coming Out Day (October 11th), etc. Another form of communication that can be seen throughout the LGBT community is the LGBT rainbow flag. For the LGBT community, this is an unspoken form of communication that stands for being apart of this community. Usually, those who are apart of the community have found some type of way to incorporate the flag into a part of their social media or what they wear on a daily basis.

    Although with all the hate and unnecessary hostility there are great and wondrous things that come with being a part of the LGBT community. This is also known as, PRIDE! The LGBT Pride march is a celebration of the LGBT community as a whole. If you don’t know what pride is, it is a giant festival where people from all over come an celebrate what it is to be a part of the community. Coming to these events, you can expect a gay version of the Macy’s day parade. There will be people dressed in fantastic costumes, dancing, singing, rejoicing, and have a phenomenal time. The point of gathering in these festivities is different for everyone, but it can be a place where the LGBT community can stand up to the political troubles they are going through as a whole. What is most important to understand when attending one of these events is that everyone will be accepted no matter what because it is supposed to place respect and mutual understanding. As well with visiting one of these events, it is critical to know that there will always be those who are going to protest but they are not the point. What is most important to understand and take away is that no matter what your choice is and what you decide to do with it you can love anyone you would like to because LOVE IS LOVE

[the-path-of-zen]

Taking the Path Seriously

There has been a lot of criticism towards Buddhists about "NOT TAKING THIS SHIT SERIOUSLY".

I remember reading a blog about a woman who went to a Dharma Center, and listen to one of the monks, perhaps the teacher, talk about the monk's life and how it was a life of renunciation of worldly ways. She was very inspired and happy to hear that a person could do that.

Later, she was walking alone and saw the very same monk with an iPhone watching videos like any Person in the Worldly-ways would do. She was distraught, her faith smashed, and her spiritual inspiration vanquished.

Original Buddhism to become a bhikkhu is a serious and solemn promise to the path. The person who wants to walk the path is given a funeral, they are then shaved off all hair, stripped of all clothing and jewelry, and bid "good bye" to the world. They then walk naked to the funeral grounds to find a discarded mortcloth (funeral cloths used to carry the dead) to fashion a robe from. They return to the Sangha as reborn as The Monk with a new name.

The Bhikkhu owns nothing, cannot own anything. Even the bowl they eat from is not theirs, and it used to be they ate off of leaves or discarded broken pottery and other household dishes.

227 rules the Bhikkhu must know and do their best to adhere to. Gross and intentional violations of the rules can result in expulsion from the Bhikkhu Sangha.

Back in the day, there were no "temples" for the monks to sleep in. They walk from town to town, from city to city to beg for alms, to spread the words of Buddha to whom would listen.

The Bhikkhu is not there to do 'Good Deeds' such as feed the homeless, build shelters, or solve society's problems. They are there for one purpose, to end the cycle of rebirth and thus reduce the suffering in this phenomenal existence.

The Zen monk is a Bhikkhu under the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, different than the Theravadan Bhikkhu, however, the same concept applies: They DIE TO THE WORLDY WAYS OF MEN.

In my travels, I have talked to Zen Monks and Zen priests. There is a difference! In Japan, the Zen Priest is a temple minister (much in how a Christian minister is here in the USA) and the temple is in his family's possession and he is expected to produce an heir who will take over the temple. Though the temple priest may have gone through traditional Monk training, they are not considered Monks in the normal sense and are not expected to follow the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya. This however is not the case for actual Zen monks who live in the Monastic compounds where they ARE EXPECTED TO FOLLOW THE Dharmaguptaka Vinaya to the letter.

In my own Zen Buddhist training, we talked a lot about being a MONK, and Dharmaguptaka Vinaya. The head monks would discuss the fact that the Japanese Temple Priest and the Zen Monk are two different things, and that what we know in the west is mostly the Temple Priest, rarely do we know or see the actual Zen monk.

A friend of mine, Martin Huges, when to Japan to become a Rinzai monk. He spent 3 years living in the Rinzai monastery, lived as a Real Zen monk following the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, going on alms rounds, and attending all of the required events. Through the friendship of a fellow Japanese monk in training, whose father was a temple priest, he was allowed to become a Zen Priest in one of the sub-temples that the family owned. He noted that being a Priest was very different: Can watch TV, drink alcohol, and be introduced to girls as potential wives. Unfortunately, Martin passed away due to a meningitis infection he picked up while on a missionary event in the Philippines.

My first teacher Kyogen Carlson often talked about the confusion between the Zen Priest and the Zen Monk. He trained as a monk and followed the Vinaya, but later due to circumstances became a Temple Priest. He talked a lot following the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya as a Zen Monk while he trained at Shasta Abbey with Roshi Kennett. In his talks, he would bring up that what he is doing now, THE ZEN PRIEST, is not the same as THE ZEN MONK.

When I went to the San Fransico Zen center for further training because Shasta Abbey was not available for me to train in, the confusion between the Priest and the Monk was great, and a lot of blurring the two district paths together happened. This confusion I saw created a lot of suffering, to the point of people quitting the path, losing faith and belief, even so disillusioned to commit suicide (yes that happened).

Today, 25 years later, I see this confusion as contagious and has spread to all of the Zen Dharma Centers. When I ask ordained MONKS at these Dharma Centers and Monastic training places about the following Vinaya, I am told they just follow the Bodhisattva precepts and that the Vinaya is Hinayana and NOT OUR PATH. YIKES! Now I understand why Zen has become so wishy-washy and corrupted to be something that it never was.

Honestly, the Zen Dharma Centers always has been a recruitment center for Monastic Life, because that is what Buddhism is about - renunciation of the world. Laymen are just supporters of the Monastic Monks who follow the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, and gain spiritual merit by doing such. Lets face it, not everyone is cut out to be a renunciate. I knew a guy who wanted to be a monk, but he was caring for her mother full-time. Another lady had children she had to care for, and many young people said that perhaps in the future they will pursue this NOBLE PATH.

That is what the Zen Center is about, to encourage people to seek the path of Renunciation. Not to become a social hub, a political activist group, or a Lay lineage of Priest (like the Methodist churches)

As Roshi Kennett wrote, 'Every person who renounces the world lessens the sea of suffering for all beings'. She understood what Buddha taught and why the Buddhas path is the way it is. There is no middle ground, there is no compromise.

It is my sincere hope that we as a Zen community of Monks, Priest, and Laymen can clear up the confusion and return to the Path that Buddha set forth in the sutras to achieve the Liberation he preached about.

[faigelhenry]

The Right Solution for the Needs of Elderly Family Members

Aging is inevitable. By the time our parents and grandparents are too old to take care of us, it is life’s signal that it is now our turn to give back their efforts in raising us. However, there exists an obstacle regarding our limited time and capabilities in caring for them. Life in the US is very demanding given that we are required to devote our time to sustain careers daily. If an elderly is suffering from a certain disease or disability, they require a professional level of care and support. The right solution is to hire experienced people to cater to their needs at home. Senior home care services in LA County are far better than placing the elderly to the home for the aged. Genuine care does not solely mean physical assistance, but also making the elderly feel your presence and support. Home caregiving services in LA County means assistance with activities of daily living such as monitoring meals, medication, bathing, walks, grooming, and social activities.

 Caregiver Services in Orange County usually include companionship services and hospice care support that normal family members cannot always give. The elderly home care service in Orange County is known to be excellent because they value every client as their very own family members. It is undeniable that one-on-one focus and support provides the best assurance for other family members. Nearby, you may also find professional senior home caregivers in San Diego. Compared to the fees of private hospitals in CA, caregiving services at home are more affordable because there are no hospital facility fees involved. The cost of caregiving services is negotiable depending on how long you will be hiring a caregiver. We must admit that the togetherness shared by your own family is priceless.

 By hiring a caregiver at home, you are placing the needs of your elderly family members first. Homecare has improved its service range throughout the years. Caregivers specialize in health restoration and nurturing meaningful relationships. Besides 24/7 supervision and assistance to the elderly, home care services may also include light household chores, groceries, and travelling assistance. It simply means that caregiver services are flexible. However, there should be limitations to their workload because too much might compromise their quality of service. Caregivers are trustworthy people that are appointed and monitored by agencies to maintain dignity in their delicate line of work.

 If you are still having some doubts about availing home caregiving services, it is recommended to talk to home care agencies near you for a consultation. For peace of mind, a background and experience check on caregivers are the common steps before hiring one. The solution discussed in the article may be ideal, but not necessarily applicable to all families. Hiring a stay-in caregiver should be perceived as a commitment because you ought to welcome them openly in your home, as if you are absorbing a new family member. This is the key to healthy and fruitful relationships with caregivers. If you do not find yourself ready to trust them, it is best to re-assess or discuss the whole matter to family members first.

[aion-rsa]

More Than Miyagi Director On Honoring Pat Morita

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“I didn’t really think there were that many people out there who were interested in Mr. Miyagi,” Kevin Derek says. “But (it turns out) millions and millions of people are.” 

Derek is a martial artist, producer, and documentarian, whose latest documentary, More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story, seeks to humanize the man behind some of pop culture’s most mythical characters. The timing for such a doc couldn’t have been better, but it turns out that was simply good fortune. 

“We started shooting this back in 2016, so it was a year before Cobra Kai was even in production,” says Derek. “They didn’t even know that they were going to shoot Cobra Kai.”

Everyone knows Pat Morita from his beloved Oscar-nominated role as Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid franchise, and many remember him as Arnold in the hit TV show Happy Days. However, Morita’s TV and film career goes all the way back to 1964. IMDb credits him with 175 acting roles. Long before Morita taught Daniel-san (Ralph Macchio) how to crane kick, Morita played a Karate instructor for Bob Hope and Eva Marie Saint in Cancel My Reservation. He also played a wide variety of roles, from cameos as a token Asian in the early years, a stand-up comedian known as ‘the Hip Nip,’ to dramatic roles like the WWII-based I’ll Remember April and Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes.  

More Than Miyagi documents Morita’s tumultuous life, from being bed-bound by tuberculosis as a child to growing up in a Japanese internment camp during World War II, and through his battles with racism, alcohol, and drugs. Featuring interviews with the casts of The Karate Kid, Happy Days, Morita’s widow Evelyn Guerrero, and many other notable celebrities like Tommy Chong and James Hong, More Than Miyagi reveals the Pat Morita we never knew. 

This isn’t Derek’s first venture into the Miyagi world. He’s been involved with two previous documentaries. While not directly related, Empty Hand: The Real Karate Kids follows the personal journeys of four real life Karate competitors as they train in hopes of becoming the next national champion. Closer to home is Derek’s The Real Miyagi, a documentary about the venerated Karate Sensei Fumio Demura who was the stunt double for Morita in the Karate Kid films. Derek has been practicing Karate since he was nine and was a student of Demura Sensei. Making The Real Miyagi became a stepping stone to More Than Miyagi. 

During production Derek met Guerrero over sushi. The director recalls: “She started sharing all these stories about how Pat suffered this, did this, did that, and how his father died in front of his eyes. And that stuck with him, and he had all these demons.” A year later when The Real Miyagi came out on Netflix, Guerrero was impressed and moved by it. “That was my chance to ask her if she wants to do a documentary on Pat Morita.” Once Derek had her support, Morita’s celebrity circle were eager to participate. 

Happy Days Are Here Again

For those old enough to remember, Morita broke into American households as Arnold, the owner of the self-titled restaurant that everyone hung out in the popular sitcom Happy Days. Reflecting on that period in Morita’s career for the doc are Happy Days cast members Henry Winkler (Fonzie), Anson Williams (Potsie), Don Most (Ralphie), and Marion Ross (Mrs. Cunningham). 

“I grew up watching Happy Days,” says Derek. “Now I’m sitting right next to the Don Most, and we’re doing an interview. It’s just weird to me. It’s great, I loved it.” 

Derek says the cast was welcoming and nice, eager to contribute to the legacy of their castmate Morita despite a harrowing story of how his alcoholism spoiled their 30th reunion show. That episode is unflinchingly described in the documentary. 

“I knew that he had a drinking issue but I didn’t really know how severe the drinking problem was,” Derek says.

The cast shares stories of different instances from multiple people about when Morita was intoxicated on the set, but Derek didn’t want to dimmish him, saying “I love his character. I love who Pat represents.” Derek was selective and picked just that one example to illustrate a significant and grim chapter of Morita’s life.

“Alcoholism is just like any other disease. It was more important to me to show all the suffering that he (endured), all the internment camps and the tuberculosis and what he went through, to rise from it and to become this iconic character.”

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Despite those sad times, Derek says that his interviews with the Happy Days cast were … well, happy. As a longtime fan of the show, interviewing the cast filled him with anticipation, especially for Ross. “I was telling my producer, Oscar Alvarez, ‘I hope when we go to her house, she’s just like Marion Cunningham. She’s going to offer us cookies and lemonade.’”

Sure enough, upon arrival Ross offered the documentarians lemonade and cookies – and with Happy Days-branded napkins, no less. 

“It was like basically stepping inside Happy Days and just living this for a couple hours. It was awesome.” 

Meeting Morita

In contrast to the Marion Cunningham experience, meeting Morita was nothing like stepping into The Karate Kid for Derek. It was more like a transition between Happy Days and The Karate Kid, only the filmmaker didn’t realize it at the time. 

Derek met Morita in 1983, who he knew from Happy Days, when he was just a teenager. Morita attended his sensei’s annual tournament just prior to when The Karate Kid came out. In retrospect, he believes Morita was there researching Miyagi. 

“I think he was trying to perfect his accent. Because if you watch him talk, it’s very close to how my sensei talks.”

 Derek has fond memories of Morita taking the time to speak to a teenage fan. “He loved to donate his time to children, to causes that have anything to do with the kids, because he had tuberculosis from ages two to 11, he spent most of his time in a hospital, so he could relate to kids.”

The Karate Kid was a huge blockbuster for its time. “That was the only film that I actually waited in line for an hour-and-a-half,” recalls Derek. “The line was wrapped around the whole fricking mall for people to watch The Karate Kid.” 

The film was a particularly big deal for anyone who had a dojo back then. Derek also remembers lines of people trying to sign up for Karate lessons. That chance meeting with Morita nearly forty years ago and the subsequent success of The Karate Kid still amazes Derek. 

“I never would have thought that I would be making a documentary on Morita’s life.”

Cobra Kai Connections

As part of More Than Miyagi, Derek also interviews Morita’s castmates from the Karate Kid franchise including Ralph Macchio (Daniel), William Zabka (Johnny), Martin Kove (Kreese), Ron Thomas (Bobby), Pat E. Johnson (the referee and choreographer), Robert Mark Kamen (writer and creator), and Sean Kanen (Mike Barnes). 

“They’re all such nice people. Zabka is such a nice person, Ralph is so nice. Everyone was so welcoming to this project, and they really wanted to help us out, and I’m thankful for all of them.”

Derek believes Morita would’ve loved Cobra Kai as the show honors Miyagi in so many ways. Throughout his life, Miyagi embraced the role and hoped the character would live on. 

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“Ralph (Macchio) is doing a great job. He’s trying to keep the Miyagi legacy in his Cobra Kai.” 

During Derek’s research, he discovered that Morita completed a script about Miyagi with George Johnson of Rafu Shimpu magazine. “It’s about Miyagi’s earlier life, where he came from, WWII and all that stuff. So if anyone’s interested and wants to hit him up, it’s ready to be made.” 

Some actors feel trapped when an iconic role pigeon-holes their career in a way that they can never escape. Morita managed to succeed in other meaningful roles too, but he will always be remembered as Miyagi. There was something genuine in Miyagi that still resonates in the hearts of fans.

“He was basically Mr. Miyagi,” claims Derek. “Whoever I spoke to, they said that. That was him. Everyone says he was such a nice person. If you were down, he would bring you up. The first thing he would say is a joke. Even when he signed an autograph, he would put a little funny message in there. He was basically Mr. Miyagi, I think.”

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More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story comes to iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, Google Play, DVD and Blu-ray on Feb. 5 2021.

The post More Than Miyagi Director On Honoring Pat Morita appeared first on Den of Geek.

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