#what happened in north america

[aurora-daily]

"This time I wanted to be in many different rooms and temperatures to write the songs 'cause I needed to access a lot of different AURORAs in this album! And it gave me access to a lot of parts of me that I haven't really faced before. Even parts that scared me a little: very personal parts, dark, I've been exploring more of my darkness. So, maybe, it's my most personal album, even though it's still about something so big. It's definitely my most personal album in my life. So I've been learning a lot of things"

AURORA talking about the very different from the previous album process of writing "What Happened to the Heart?" for NME

photos @ Pepsi Center by Janeth Jiméneth // 15.04.2023 // Ciudad de México, Mexico

[rhaenin-time]

If The Hunger Games series was released today, with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes released first, you wouldn't be able to use it as a discussion of colonialism and imperialism because you'd have entire circles of the internet dedicated to proving that the author is wrong and actually Snow is the true victim and screaming "Oh my god this is so disrespectful how dare you bring real world colonialism into your fandom discourse just to justify your faves. Stop moralizing fiction! Now let me tell you about how my meow meow isn't a colonizer and also Katniss is a crazy fascist."

Sidenote: The Hunger Games universe is an amazing distillation of the core-periphery model of colonization and imperialism and I will not shut up about it they should honestly teach it alongside Decolonialism 101 in schools which is why you know they won't.

[ehlnofay]

all love and joy to all my darling american internet friends and mutuals etc etc but if I ever have to learn another thing about us news ever again I think I'm going to blow something up

[ultramantr1gger]

i want to make a world map of the future earth thats in my story....i think im going to remove america

[marigoldwriter]

Chronology of my Stellatrix AU

Current Timeline: The events of the 1rd and 2rd seasons occur normally, with some changes to the characters' speeches or actions, but the vast majority remain the same. Things start to change with the events of the 3rd (non-existent) season.

The Plum Organization ➯ In Stella's search for Beatrix's sisters, she discovers a secret organization of witches, and by herself, discovers that Beatrix's entire family is made up of witches, and that Beatrix's disappearance as a baby was news which changed the course of the witch covens hidden around the Magical Dimension. It is discovered that Beatrix's family has an important status in wizarding society.

The First Circle of Almana: Penances ➯ Beatrix awakens in the world of souls with issues to be resolved, Penances, the first circle of the spiritual plane, in which she is taken by Charon to an island where she discovers a little crystal witch girl who is between life and death, and so, the two go on a mission to descend to the next circles of Almana.

Ghostly Conversations ➯ Stella secretly joins forces with Beatrix's sisters, even though they have their resentment against Solaria, to find a way to bring Beatrix back, in which the three try to make contact with Bea's spirit, but strangely, they managed to speak to former members of the Solarian Royal Family.

The Second Circle of Almana: Limbo ➯ The paths between the opening Gates to the next circle are long, but when they reach the second circle, they discover that the place is a desert of black sand and tormented souls that wander moaning and dragging themselves in every corner, from there, they they need to meet the leading Entity of that circle, just as they did in the first circle. In this circle, both go through many challenges, escaping from souls that are strangely obsessed with Beatrix, and that stick to her skin until the end of the journey, where both are instructed by the Entity to move forward.

Corpse Internal Freezing Spell ➯ In the middle of the night, a superior order orders that one of the coffins be removed in silence and without much fuss, this coffin is involved in a kind of rustic magic that has not been used for a long time, magic that preserved the body inside this coffin, and this body which has been carefully moved to an unknown location. Or, in the period before finding Bea's sisters, Stella found a spell in an old book in the Royal Archive and applied it to Beatrix's body, then, a few months into their partnership, Stella, Isobel and D'arcy took the cup of Bea to one of the structures of one of the covens, in this case, the Daniels Coven.

The Labyrinth Purgatory ➯ Beatrix and the little witch girl come to an ordeal to go to the next circle, both are tormented and haunted by nightmares and memories of their lives. In this situation, Beatrix discovers that the little witch's name is Sapphire and that she has two older sisters.

Annual Golden Leaf Ball ➯ The heirs of all the kingdoms of the Magical Dimension come together in a huge gathering that ends with Eraklyon declaring war on Solaria, and ties hastily formed between some heirs. Stella discovers that she is not alone when it comes to liking someone who is "unreachable" when it comes to romance.

Tranquility Bay ➯ The labyrinth was the difficult part, now, when Beatrix and Sapphire pass through rocks and some flying specters, the Bay is visible, from there, the souls leave and go to the Garden, there, Beatrix finds a familiar face: "Headmistress Farah?"

Where the Living Live ➯ Luna attempts peace deals as the king of Eraklyon screams about an unworthy throne and stolen territories, he gives a war cry and the soldiers mercilessly march to the Golden Land, where the inhabitants are taken to reinforced underground shelters, Stella is far away, going to Andros to ask for help with supplies for an innocent population.

"Miss D?" ➯ Dowling guides Beatrix and Sapphire through the Bay, Beatrix doesn't know how to act around the older woman, who seems to feel no resentment, when the two tell her of their common goal, Farah is shocked, "How did you two get through the other circles? That's it's– technically, it should be, impossible", none of them can explain it, just as they can't explain the butterflies that have followed Beatrix for so long, just as they can't explain why the paths seem to be in their favor, both continue until the Third Circle, with Beatrix muttering a small "I'm sorry" before leaving, her soul lighter and cleaner.

A Golden Queen ➯ The Ghosts continue to haunt even in times of war, and they know Stella's weakness, the ancestors of the Solarian royalty are secretive and manipulative, Stella fears becoming identical to all of them in the future to come, little does she know self defense, but fights with everything she can, the treaty of wars is clear, only magic, no weapons, 'it's like medieval times' she thinks when see the swords clashing and the blood drying on the ground, a strange feeling pricking her chest, that's when Stella has the first memory of her first past life.

Pantheon of Gods ➯ The Third Circle is empty, a sea of nothingness that makes Sapphire's hopes evaporate as quickly as they arose, Beatrix shows indignation and anger, but all she has left are tears to be cried, she does not want to continue So, she wants her heart to beat again, life was horrible but for the first time she feared what she might lose, she cries softly for Stella, even though she knows she won't be heard by the princess, when the fog on the ground gets thick, they both know that there is something wrong, when a thin layer shines and shines beneath them, the Gods are close, more than one could imagine.

The Holy Grail and the Saint(?) of Light ➯ Stella's memories are mixed up with those of her past life, at one point she is Star, the first saint of the Golden kingdom, with golden eyes and eight-pointed stars in place of pupils, with veils and silks adorning her as much as gold jewelry, the other point she is Stella, current princess of Solaria, whose spirits now haunt her, who is in the middle of a war, the memories confuse her, but do not distract her, they are like lived dreams, in one of these she sees, the Holy Grail, herself, she when Star, bent over in tears of gold, filling the Holy Grail, when Stella opens her eyes, she sees herself in front of that cup, in a dark place, the Royal Archive, the cup glows with golden liquid, and Stella knows what to do.

Third Circle of Almana: The Eternal Garden ➯ Surprise invades Beatrix when she finds herself lying in grass, there is a voice in her head as she nervously stands up, looking for Sapphire,"The spirits rest here, child, but you are far from come to peace.", The female voice was soft and deep at the same time, Beatrix didn't move, she stood still, waiting for any other speech, "What do you want, little one? The Garden is at your disposal.", there is a sad feeling inside the redhead when she sits on the grass again, she is exhausted, she doesn't want anything, she wants her, "You can't give me what I want. Who I want.", the woman's voice sighs, "Don't you remember who It's been a day, hasn't it, child?", Beatrix's tears stop, she doesn't understand, and the Goddess's voice continues to ring in her ears, "You need to go back."

The Return of the Saint ➯ Stella's birth was marked by a meteor shower, it was to be expected that she was destined for great things, so Luna thought, but when the guards found Stella leaving the Royal Archives in the middle of the night, her eyes different color, they were scared, the feeling they described was of a pure aura of superiority, the other day, Stella glowed, she shone confident and proud, like a translucent golden aura, she transformed into another person overnight, Luna thinks. Or, Stella has recovered the memories of her past life.

[To be continued...]

[notquiteaghost]

support group for people who watched either stargate atlantis or stargate universe, or both, before their ability to critically analyse media was quite done cooking and now have to live with being perpetually unfathomably unhinged about characters in the american military colonialist propaganda show. because for some fucking reason they put some of thee characters of all time in the american military colonialist propaganda shows.

[sparklecryptid]

I cannot tell you how about how much I would rather not be reading about the history of New Galicia right now

[farcillesbian]

british people on the internet when a north american talks about using beef to make shepherds pie: 🤓

[magnoliamyrrh]

im really glad whats happening in palestina has woken more ppl up i rly am and im glad its gotten ppl talking abt other shit in the world and i dont mean this in a shameful or mean way but.... it also kinda blows my mind seeing how... some ppl are just.... now.. realizing....... that ... indeed... plenty of insanely fucked up shit is happening

[blastlight]

the chances of my entire immediate family making aliyah seem to have increased

[trans-estinien]

Hey maybe dont say this in the tags to someone who has family members who are residential school survivors. Thanks. It was a very real thing that affected hundreds of thousands of people. Including myself.

[bmpmp3]

for the past 15 years i have been fighting a one man battle against the definition of the term “comic” as “specifically superhero comics coming from one of two major United States based superhero companies” instead of just “sequential art based narrative medium”. and I’ll keep fighting this battle for as long as i live

[mariautistic]

In love with that person who was like "wtf it's so twisted and evil who would even come up with that???" About 100 años de soledad

[schoolhater]

answering a couple questions i got on this post since i realized ppl genuinely wanna know:

tl;dr:

israel lets very, very little aid get into gaza. even the UN can't get in as much as they want to. funding individual families, gazan led initiatives, and mutual aid collectives operating out of gaza ensures gazans can provide for themselves and pay for the extremely expensive aid that is available.

with all the civil infrastructure destroyed by israel, the situation on the ground has devolved into unrestricted capitalism, driving up the price of aid (that should be free!). this makes it more urgent for people to have funding for daily survival.

the post linked above has examples of how donating to individual families can help a lot. if you want to help more than one family at a time, there are many gazan-led initiatives focusing on rebuilding their infrastructure and distributing aid fairly that are worth donating to instead of large charities that already get the majority of donations.

as i mentioned in the last post: @/careforgaza on twitter is a nonprofit started by gazans, it's been endorsed by multiple palestinian journalists.

the sameer project is a collective organized by diaspora palestinians offering emergency shelter to gazans.

ele elna elak is a project aiming to bring water, food, shelter, etc. to gazans and has been promoted by bisan owda.

and the municipality of gaza itself is fundraising to rebuild water infrastructure.

all of these organizations are active inside gaza right now and are being run by gazans. if anyone knows of other gazan-led mutual aid projects, nonprofits or charities feel free to link them in the notes! hope this helped!

long answers under the cut!

if you wanna donate to a charity that's absolutely fine, but the thing is most charities (and even the UN!) are unable to make it into gaza in the first place, leaving aid rotting at the egyptian side of the border or subject to israeli settler attacks

not to mention, charities and nonprofits also maintain a paternalistic colonial relationship with the indigenous people they are trying to help, determining what aid they need for them instead of returning power to them and letting them make their own choices

i'm not here to say that one option is better than the other, just that they achieve different things and are equally legitimate. there's an attitude among people who question the legitimacy of these gofundme campaigns that somehow the people promoting them are telling them not to donate to charities. nobody is stopping you from donating to charities. we are just asking that you do not dehumanize the very real gazans in your inbox just because their method of asking for aid is more direct and risky.

unfortunately that's exactly what has happened. because israel destroyed all of gaza's more formalized infrastructure, it seems that organized crime and rampant inflation has taken its place. aid is supposed to be free, but in order to save for evacuation or the cost of living, people have started selling them at an inflated price. and aid that is truly free attracts intense, large crowds that are dangerous to navigate.

this was posted on abc a few days ago

it's pure, unrestrained capitalism. i've had multiple palestinians describe this situation to me confidence. that's why everything's so expensive now. why people have to rent out tiny plots of land for their tents to sit on, why my friend @siraj2024 still has to buy tarps to cover the broken windows of the overpriced bombed out apartment he rented, and why a bag of flour can cost a thousand bucks in the north.

even before israel closed and then bombed the rafah crossing, the egyptian hala travel agency was only allowing people to cross the border if they paid a hefty $5000 USD per adult / $2500 USD per child bribe. it denies doing this, but the hundreds of stories from palestinians say otherwise.

with regard to the economy, here in america we saw something similar happen in the wake of hurricane helene and milton. the podcaster margaret killjoy describes how she saw dual economies rise after asheville was fully cut off from the rest of the country - some people offered each other supplies for free in a sort of mutual aid honor system, and some people required payment when they lent supplies because they themselves needed to buy stuff for their families. these dual economies exist in gaza too. and this means they all still need money to survive.

[sliding-graphite]

I don’t know how many people here are actively pondering the class divide that happens on a global level,

Because I don’t even know how many of my followers don’t live in a place that has a deep history of being a colonizer.

I’ve been just… trying to keep myself away from despair and envy. Over the people who helped make the art and media that kept me living and hopeful for the world and myself.

Staying hopeful rather than numb and dependent on fandom spaces. I falter, of course, and still.

I try to remember this one post I saw here: ‘first rule of being on the Internet is that you gotta have something else going on for you besides just the Internet.’ And I’ve been… uh… not great at that balance.

So to whoever feels the same, AND to those who don’t know what the heck I’m on about,

Those are my few cents that amount to nothing in British pounds, Euro cents, or even USD 0.01.

… but at least when the depression hits, I remember a stream clip from someone who gave me a lot of hope in my early adult years:

“(NSFW joke retracted), it’s been 8 before breakfast!”

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

People never seem to want to hang out at animal habitats. If they can’t see something immediately, they just leave. If you’re patient enough to stay, sometimes incredibly magical experiences happen. Like this one.

Those are California condors. Biggest wingspan in North America, incredibly endangered, and the only species with approval from USDA for emergency use of the poultry avian flu vaccine.

Towards the end of the day, once things got quiet, I sat down near where one was foraging and just hung out. Then… they noticed me.

I can only upload one video so I’m going with the one where I was showing them my glasses, since they kept trying to peck at my shoelaces and fingers and I wondered what else they'd be interested in.

They stayed there with me for at least five minutes, given the duration of video I took. Just chilling, watching me, interacting a little. It was just us - nobody else approached. Until eventually they chose to go do their own thing, and I sat there in awe for a while.

It’s worth it to wait, when you can.