#writing scientific essays is going to be my end

[eddieintheocean]

born to

forced to

[my-rewrite-academia]

Quirk Assessment Test

So, school starts. In the process of moving their stuff to their accommodations, only a few people ever saw each other, such as Kirishima and Ashido, Kendou and Monoma, and so on. Izuku doesn't see anyone other than Bakugou, who he ignores.

When school starts, Izuku is immediately crowded with Denki, who he helped in the exam, Ochako, who he saved, Mina, Eijirou, and Tenya, who apologises for thinking Izuku was crazy for turning back to help Ochako, not that he told Izuku this until now, but it's all a-okay!

Aizawa comes in, telling them to be quiet and to get dressed and meet him back at the class, where he'll then take them to field outside. He tells them he'll inform them about things they need to know after the test.

So, they meet up outside, and this is where we get another big change to the arc!

It's split up into to sections. A purely physical exam, and a quirk-introductory part. Instead of threatening expulsion, he declares that the bottom five will be assigned an essay on the importance of strength outside of quirks or something...

So, the first part if the exam same tests as canon, without quirks. Anyone using quirks will have their points docked.

Izuku does pretty well all around, and Mezou is obviously the best.

Placements:

Shouji Mezou

Hagakure Tooru

Kirishima Eijirou

Todoroki Shouto

Yaoyorozu Momo

Midoriya Izuku

Ashido Mina

Iida Tenya

Ojirou Mashirao

Tokoyami Fumikage

Asui Tsuyu

Satou RIkidou

Uraraka Ochako

Sero Hanta

Bakugou Katsuki

Kaminari Denki

Kouda Kouji

Aoyama Yuuga

Jirou Kyouka

Mineta Minoru

Quirk Introductory:

Everyone goes around and explains their quirks. Mina and Eijirou have a more scientific understanding of their quirks with Izuku's influence, (might post that soon), and Momo of course. Izuku reveals that he's quirkless, and Mina and Eijirou are just shocked because they thought he had an intelligence quirk.

Ochako then says, 'I'm just shocked that first place doesn't have a quirk.' To which Bakugou is not happy about and responds by trying to attack Izuku.

As in canon, Aizawa stops this, but instead of just complaining about dry-eye, he warns Bakugou that he's already on thin ice and to not step out of line.

Izuku is kinda confused but happy, because this is the first time an adult told Bakugou off.

The day does not end there, though.

Day One:

After the QAT, Aizawa explains the stuff they missed from the entrance ceremony, then the next period starts.

Not much to say, though it will be mentioned that Midnight isn't provactive and is oddly modest when teaching, and Mic is very enthusiastic about teaching, which raises engagement and stuff.

Denki, Mina, Ejirou, Tenya, and Ochako sit with Izuku at lunch and plan to hit the centre after school, then invite the rest of the class. Izuku makes some pre-quirk references that nobody recognises, because I think it's funny.

I forgot to mention this in my 'About U.A.' post, but hero course students are treated as having a scholarship. They also offer free school lunches (that are actually good) to those whose parents earn under a certain amount, which Ochako qualifies for. She didn't know this until Mina brings it up due to her lunch consisting of a single banana. This also includes pre-paid trips, so she does not have to pay for them

After school, everyone but Bakugou and Shouto hang out in the centre, helping the bottom five write their essays. Everyone exchanges numbers.

Conclusion:

QAT actually makes sense and Aizawa is a moderately better teacher

Bakugou scores low on the QAT and is devasted, and he gets a verbal warning

Everyone is friends, apart from Shouto and Bakugou, the latter of whom nobody enjoys

Ochako gets free school lunches and gets to go on trips for free

More 1-A friendship building!

[egsproductions]

Ember's Ghost Squad: Importance of Artistic Spirituality and what "TCC" tends to get wrong (Essay)

When Andrew made EGS (Ember's Ghost Squad) She poured her emotions into her work, Reflecting her inner world. World of her desires where she could be who she truly was, With those she truly wanted to be with.

Of course, This all led to the tragedy of June 8, 2017, Where 3 people lost their lives by her hand.

But before it all went to that far with her, Before she let that inner abyss end her earthly journey, She left countless of fairly good advice on how to find one's purpose and how she wished to be viewed as after her passing.

Such as, Viewing and identifying herself as her Cartoon Ghost form, Andrew Blaze, She despised her human name "Randy Stair" and her human form, This shows fairly advanced spiritual thinking of understanding that our soul is ultimately shapeless until we mold it as we please. Just as humanly bodies were created by what many Christians and Gnostic believe being the God (Or Rex Mundi/Demiurge). A higher being (Soul/God) Can create a lesser form of it's pure self. And "breathe" life upon them by giving them a story, Personality, Passion.

(Of course there's evolution theory and all but i like symbolism of Spirituality so calm down lol, However you view it, It can be taken in more scientific way of our genes being the "god" in this situation)

However, Of course in Andrew's case, She did make a mistake of letting her earthly emotions take control of her during her life, Which led to unnecessary death and destruction, Unforgivable in many ways, But the points she made, Can still be used for good, After all, She wished people would study her so that spirals like these could be avoided in the future.

A being with conscience such as us, Gifted ability to create art, And create things, Andrew put large amount of her energy into EGS, Which clearly still radiates to this day, Inspiring more people to view their spiritual form in similar fashion.

EGS was ultimately her story, Reflecting from the funny comedic beginnings to her ultimate grim demise in her crime. Her final EGS Animation "westborough high massacre", While unfinished, Showcases her duality of thinking, Especially starting with her darkest desires of hurt and pain, And her weird obsession with Columbine, But at the middle point, Shifting to optimistic speech about life and purpose, Encouraging the viewers to live on.

She knew how people would view her after her death, As monster, Ghoul.. Demon? Perhaps even rightfully so to an extend. But she also wanted to tell a tale that we ultimately choose our paths, What our souls creates, And how we show it to the world.

Since EGS, Was Andrew's own story, And she wished people to be themselves, To be the best they can be, It is one of the main reasons why my EGS Universe is much wider than that of Andrew's, As i'm telling my story, If i were to just copy Andrew's art exactly, Copy her way of writing, I would be totally disrespecting the message she sent out to the world.

Just like Andrew used songs of "Send Request" Because she felt connection with their songs, I'm in other hand using Songs and Story elements from IRIS Of Will Ryan (DAGames)

It's why i'm also using characters from Creepypasta, And Hell Girl (Anime) Because those things are important to me, And reflect my world which i want people to see as i see. It's the entire point of my IRIS, An eye that exists outside our time and space, Eye that sees everything that can be perceived, And as long as you view everything trough it's oneness, You can create anything.

But enough about me. And even Andrew herself. And to focus more on certain.. "Fanbases" Such as "TCC" which claims to care and follow Andrew's case. These people are unfortunately twisting and taking away from Andrew's story in a a way she probably never wanted it to go.

TCC Does all these:

-Admire Andrew's human looks/Call her cute.

-Believe she was trans. (She was spiritual, And believed in being female Ghost, Some could possibly call it delusion as well, But she certainly wasn't trans, She pondered if she were, But never came to the conclusion)

-Barely care at all about EGS. (Andrew's personal most important creation)

-Draw her as her human self.

-Care far too much about pronouns (I get it, I call Andrew She/Her because i understand her decision with identifying as female soul, However Andrew didn't lose her mind with not being called those pronouns, In fact for the majority of her videos, She was fine with using He/Him when talking about herself in third person, She accepted her human life as a male even if she hated it.)

---

These are all things, Andrew disagreed with.

Now i'm not here to advocate that these people should change their ways, Internet is far too vast for me to have any control over, I do just wish they would think. Especially since they claim to be very into Andrew's case, Even downright claiming to "Love" her.

Well.. That's good? But please, Show that "Love" with your acts, If your acts are just shallow and surface level, Focused on "Cuteness/Boy/Girlfriend Material" I doubt your "Love" And dedication quite greatly.

For it seems that all you TCC people wish, Is someone to mold, To be your perfect material to obsess over, It is not another person you should mold into something to love, But yourself! Remember that.

---

Iɴ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ Fᴀᴛʜᴇʀ, Iɴ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ Sᴏɴ, Aɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ Hᴏʟʏ Gʜᴏsᴛ. Mᴀʏ ʏᴏᴜ sᴇᴇ ᴛʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ IRIS, Mᴀʏ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʙᴏɴᴇs ʙᴇ sᴛʀᴏɴɢ ᴀs Gᴏʟɪᴀᴛʜ's. Pᴇᴀᴄᴇ ʙʏ ᴛʜʏ ɴᴀᴍᴇ, Hᴀᴠᴏᴋ Bᴇ Tʜʏ Gᴀᴍᴇ.

[sharpth1ng]

"chatgpt writing is bad because you can tell when it's chatgpt writing because chatgpt writing is bad". in reality the competent kids are using chatgpt well and the incompetent kids are using chatgpt poorly... like with any other tool.

It's not just like other tools. Calculators and computers and other kinds of automation don't require you to steal the hard work of other people who deserve recognition and compensation. I dont know why I have to keep reminding people of this.

It also uses an exorbitant amount of energy and water during an environmental crisis and it's been linked to declining cognitive skills. The competent kids are becoming less competent by using it and they're fucked when we require in-class essays.

Specifically, it can enhance your writing output and confidence but it decreases creativity, originality, critical thinking, reading comprehension, and makes you prone to data bias. Remember, AI privileges the most common answers, which are often out of date and wrong when it comes to scientific and sociological data. This results in reproduction of racism and sexist ideas, because guess whats common on the internet? Racism and sexism!

Heres a source (its a meta-analysis, so it aggregates data from a collection of studies. This means it has better statistical power than any single study, which could have been biased in a number of ways. Meta analysis= more data points, more data points= higher accuracy).

This study also considers positives of AI by the way, as noted it can increase writing efficiency but the downsides and ethical issues don't make that worthwhile in my opinion. We can and should enhance writing and confidence in other ways.

Heres another source:

The issue here is that if you rely on AI consistently, certain skills start to atrophy. So what happens when you can't use it?

Im not completely against all AI, there is legitimate possibility for ethical usage when its trained on paid for data sets and used for specific purpose. Ive seen good evidence for use in medical fields, and for enhancing language learning in certain ways. If we can find a way to reduce the energy and water consumption then cool.

But when you write essays with chatgpt you're just robbing yourself an opportunity to exercise valuable cognitive muscles and you're also robbing millions of people of the fruit of their own intellectual and creative property. Also like, on a purely aesthetic level it has such boring prose, it makes you sound exactly like everyone else and I actually appreciate a distinctive voice in a piece of writing.

It also often fails to cite ideas that belong to other people, which can get you an academic violation for plagiarism even if your writing isn't identified as AI. And by the way, AI detection software is only going to keep getting better in tandem with AI.

All that said it really doesn't matter to me how good it gets at faking human or how good people get at using it, I'm never going to support it because again, it requires mass scale intellectual theft and (at least currently) it involves an unnecessary energy expenditure. Like it's really not that complicated.

At the end of the day I would much rather know that I did my work. I feel pride in my writing because I know I chose every word, and because integrity matters to me.

This is the last post I'm making about this. If you send me another ask I'll block you and delete it. This space is meant to be fun for me and I don't want to engage in more bullshit discourse here.

[journalsouppe]

APOLLO JUSTICE!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!! What i would literally give to have a true AA4 sequel. I wholeheartedly believe if Yamazaki's team could ignore aa4 canon to make 5 & 6 then Shu Takumi should absolutely be allowed to ignore any 5&6 canon to make an aa4 sequel. I'm dying out here pleaseeeeee

The Phoenix sticker is from Peachcott. The Klavier sticker is from Ayabit from the Turnabout Cinema zine. The Apollo and Trucy stickers are from astarsor.

Writing typed below!

rating: 9.8 played: Fa 2023 port: 3DS favorite? Y replayable: Y recommend? Y series: Ace Attorney

Comments

THE JUDGE PAINTING

apollo's such a dork <3

ooo i like the perceive function

i love the music

DONT SAY THAT TRUCY T_T

there's so much going on in this investigation

wow i love how uneasy i feel even after the trial ended

LMAO I FORGOT ABOUT THE PHOENIX SEX PHOTO

i dont think y'all want your panties back...

klav's a bill and ted fan i see lol

LOVE mr eldoon's design 10/10

klapollo meet cute moment LMAO

oops ^^; i accidentally wrote a 600 word essay about the first case

i like how apollo cried over trucy

IT'S JUSTICE TIME??? T^T

i like klavier's hands a normal amount

alita must have some dirty fucking feet

the animations are so smooth

apollo being jealous of klavier at the concert and thinking he's cool LMAO

apollo is WHIPPED

trucy is KILLING it in court, she really is nick's daughter

klavier's shoe print *skull emoji*

out of pocket shiny forehead comment LMAO

lamiroir has similar vocal tones as malon!

THE PENIS FIRE AND KLAV PUTTING IT OUT IN THE BKGD

the smile and hair twirl klavier LMAO

why am i doing this music recording thing T^T

i dont like looking at daryan T_T

letouse kazuma moment lmao

capcom loves the face down death with writing on the ground huh LMAO

wtf is the judge talking about

i love all these scientific tests with ema! :)

i love the snackoos SFX

klav does not miss an opportunity to take a short at apollo's big forehead LMAO

APOLLO YOU DUMBASS

faking blindness is crazy

I KNEW IT WOULD BE DARYAN'S VOICE

klav's office is so much more normal than edgeworth's

WAIT IS IT GRAMARYE AND NOT GRAYMAYRE??

THE ANIMALS??

i love apollo and lamiroir goofing on klav

similar tech opening to brc

WTF WAS THAT KRISTOPH JUMPSCARE T-T

LORD DADDY???

oh he's insufferable

HOLY SHIT THAT'S WHY VERA IS STARING AT KLAV??

"rip off" phoenix is so real for that

are they injecting magnifi with piss??

im curious why kristoph would do this to phoenix

he just left his daughter???

tf is going on

T^T THE KRISTOPH ZOOM IN

why does klav have that egg from dragon tales

apollo understands me with mascots

this is so gay omfg

daryan not liking trucy means he goes even more into the shit book than before

apollo the journaling king

the x-ray function is a really fun addition

BABY TRUCY

omg phoenix with out the ugly hd redraw

GUMSHOE

he said it!!! he said 'ace attorney' lmao

i love and hate that i have to present the journal page

why does the screen shake when mr misham speaks T_T

THAT SCAR IS FREAKY

siblings omgggg

Summary:

I love this game so much. I love it so much that I am heartbroken knowing that AA 5 & 6 butchers the story it setup and I'm considering not even playing them unless AA7 is announced. I love all the main characters so much, the whole story was so well built and I can def see the influence the story had on DGS. Apollo is such a good protagonist, he's relatable but also so unique. I love seeing his character progression in the game: a new attorney who is easily manipulated to a confident and determined attorney who trusts in his own judgement. I LOVED Klavier oh my god. I love how much he respects Apollo and although he doesn't hesitate to tease him, he doesn't bully or abuse Apollo in any way. They both have a mutual admiration and rivalry where they try to play as fairly as possible. Klav doesn't maliciously withhold or change evidence, but he does spend hours reviewing his arsenal and thinks of all the counter arguments the defense could bring up. I really like Apollo's ability, it continues the mystery and mysticism from the original trilogy but with new mechanics. I adore Trucy so much. She honestly might be my favorite AA character. She's determined, strong willed, and above all -- extremely silly. I couldn't of asked for a better character to be Phoenix's daughter. I also LOVE the sibling reveal at the end but gdi if only they actually figure it out T^T T^T. I think Apollo and Trucy's dynamic is probably my favorite Defense and assistant dynamic. This who game was so fun, I know 4-3 is not everyone's favorite and it is a little all over the place but I also enjoyed it and loved the premise. There's so much to say, I haven't even talked about Nick and Kris - what an incredible feud, what a genius development for Nick. I cannot recommend this game enough, I am so obsessed with it and cannot wait to make art <3 <3.

[lesbian-disaster-academic]

hi!! I really love your blog🥹🥹if it’s okay with you, can you give me some advices how to wire a good essay? I am really struggling maybe due to adhd or is it just because of me it just seems really hard and I would REALLY appreciate your advice (no pressure ❤️) thank you, have a nice day!!❤️

Hi! Thank you so much! This is such a good question, and I'd be happy to help you out as best I can! First of all, I completely empathize with you! Essays can be really tricky, and it takes some practice to get a hang of it. I know how frustrating it can be (cut-scene to me lying on the floor, curled up in a ball and on the verge of tears because I can't get the words to go), but try to be kind to yourself! Take breaks and ask for help when you need it! And remember to eat and stay hydrated! Very important!

Secondly, I'm situating this within the framework of the dominant education system within the West (as that's what I'm most familiar with). I don't necessarily agree with all of these points (e.g., what is considered "credible" according to dominant settler-colonial educational institutions is grounded in eurocentric, classist, racist, sexist, etc. ideologies, which exclude very valuable and important forms of knowledge and learning). Regardless, this advice should hopefully help you write within that general framework! Good luck, anon!

STEP ONE: GETTING STARTED

If you have trouble focusing (as I do!), there are a couple of tricks you can try! These won't work for everyone, and they might not work all the time, but I like to give them a shot when I feel like I'm at a dead-end. BODY-DOUBLING: Get someone to sit with you while you're doing your work. Alternatively, I've heard that joining a "study with me" livestream can help make your brain get into that "writing" mode.

FAKE IT 'TIL YOU MAKE IT: Pretend you're someone else. I know it sounds silly, but bear with me for a moment. When I can't focus, I pretend I'm a world-class scholar who's working on her great manuscript (even though, in reality, I'm some sleep-deprived dumbass scrawling an essay at three in the morning). This can help to shift your perception and give you motivation to keep going

CHANGE IT UP: ADHD brains thrive on novelty. Try switching up your environment a little bit. Sometimes, it helps me to work on the opposite end of my desk. Occasionally, I'll even grab my laptop and sit UNDER my desk, just to add some variety and try to kick my brain into gear.

STEP TWO: BRAINSTORMING

Okay, so you're ready to go! Great! We want to come up with some ideas for the essay! I usually like to do this by making a mind map. I'm very tired, so here's a rough sketch of what it might look like!

And a quick example (again, I'm very tired, so this is just the skeleton, sorry)!

STEP THREE: RESEARCHING

Depending on how you like to structure your brainstorming, this can either come before or after step two! Either way, when you're doing research, you want to look for a few key things in your sources. I'll list some of them here

How recent is this information? If it's something like a historical or literary essay, of course primary sources are best, so it's okay to use very old documents! However, if we're writing a scientific research paper, we want to use more up-to-date info.

Is the author an expert in what they're discussing? Look at their credentials.

What is the purpose of the information? Is the source trying to teach us something, or is it trying to sell us something?

Try using Google Scholar! The "Advanced Search" settings can be particularly helpful!

STEP FOUR: OUTLINING

Now we have all our information, and we have an idea of what we'd like to say! Try placing it in an outline, such as the one I created below (Sorry, this is a very incomplete outline. Again. Very very tired. On the verge of falling asleep as I'm writing this lol). Please note that this outline is more for generating a basic idea of what you want to say. Post-secondary education (at least where I live) doesn't rely on this format as much, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

STEP FIVE: DRAFTING

Time for your first draft! Try putting everything together into one document! Remember: it doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to get written. I'll add some pointers below!

Remember to use transitional terms/phrases. For instance, "however", "then", "first", "therefore", "in conclusion"! These help your writing flow smoothly!

Spellcheck. I'm a professional author, and even I mess up my spelling from time to time, so I treat spellcheck as a dear friend lol.

Always remember to format your proof as a sandwich. The intro to your proof is like the bread, the quote/proof/statistic is the filling, and the explanation and elaboration is the other piece of bread. This will help to structure your writing!

STEP SIX: EDITING

Yay, you made it! Time to edit! You can get someone to read over your work! You can also use a checklist, such as the one I've included below!

(full checklist)

Okay, that's about it! On a final note, REMEMBER TO CITE YOUR SOURCES! Google Docs has a built-in citation tool, if that helps! Software like Zotero can also be great, but my go-to is always Purdue OWL.

If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask!

[tolkiens-middleearth]

Topics & Themes in Tolkien’s Legendarium

The Perilous Realm

“Stories that are actually concerned primarily with ‘fairies,’ that is with creatures that might also in modern English be called ‘elves,’ are relatively rare, and as a rule not very interesting. Most good ‘fairy-stories’ are about the adventures of men in the Perilous Realm or upon its shadowy marches.” – J. R. R. Tolkien. On Fairy Stories.

Tolkien called it the Perilous Realm, Faery or Faërie, and for me these words represent one of the most fascinating theme in Tolkien’s Legendarium. It is both a narrative and a world-building element that can be found in all his major Middle-earth stories and is in a way essential for understanding Tolkien’s approach to his own created world.

Yet I feel it rarely gets talked about, so I want to briefly highlight what it is, how it functions in the narrative, and give a few examples from various stories. Unfortunately can’t go into a deep analysis because doing so would require me to write a book – which I would love to, but I don’t have the time or qualification). Quote sources and further reading recommendations are given at the end.

WANDERING INTO FAERY

 “It is common in Fairy tales for the entrance to the fairy world to be presented as a journey underground, into a hill or mountain or the like. [...] My symbol is not the underground, whether necrological and Orphic or pseudo-scientific in jargon, but the Forest […].” – J. R. R. Tolkien. “Smith of Wooton Major” essay.

The core of this theme is the mortal wanderer who comes to or crosses the borders of Faërie, the land of fairies or elves. This idea has been part of legends and myths for a long time, one of the most prominent examples probably being the island of Avalon in the Arthurian legend. Depending on the story, Faërie can occupy a different time and space than our own world, or share the same space or time “in different modes”. Getting into Faërie is not always possible and many things can stop someone from entering: it may be completely inaccessible, it may be hidden and people have to find it, or it may be accessible only to those who know the secret on how to enter it. Once you are there, it may be difficult to leave, or it may take some time. Being there could turn out to be dangerous, but it also doesn’t necessarily have to be. Tolkien wrote that “in it are pitfalls for the unwary and dungeons for the overbold”.

In The Lord of the Rings, there are many examples of such a realm, some barely noticeable and some very clear and detailed.

It starts subtle when Frodo, Sam and Pippin meet Gildor and his Elves near Woodhall. It is no specific realm that they enter, but just wandering with the Elves already lets the Hobbits experience something they are not used to. They have trouble finding words for it afterwards or remembering it clearly, with Tolkien describing it that for Pippin it felt like he was in a waking dream. The next example is then already more direct: the four Hobbits enter the Old Forest. This time it really is perilous for them, they get lost and cannot find a way out. Tolkien describes it as follows:

“They began to feel that all this country was unreal, and that they were stumbling through an ominous dream that led to no awakening.”

Frodo almost falls asleep near an enchanting river, Merry and Pippin almost die. Without the help of an unexpected inhabitant of this forest, they never would have gotten out.

Reaching Rivendell is another less clear example. Rivendell itself is easier accessible than the Old Forest and less perilous for the Hobbits. But reaching it also includes a river, a river that is under Elrond’s command and that rises “in anger when [Elrond] has great need to bar the Ford”.  And within Rivendell, Frodo experiences another kind of “Faërian Drama” as Tolkien calls it: the stories and songs told in Rivendell hold him “in a spell”, and “the enchantment became more and more dreamlike” until in the end Frodo falls asleep once more. Bilbo comments that it’s difficult to stay awake “until you get used to it”.

The most prominent example is of course Lothlórien, a land of Elves that is rarely visited by mortal beings and where the flow of time is indeed different than that in the outside world. It’s also well defended against wanderers, and both in the world and the narrative the fellowship has to pass through: there are guards at the boarders that have to be convinced, there is a river that has to be crossed, a hidden path that has to be taken blindfolded. Tolkien is in no rush to get the fellowship to Galadriel – the reader, together with the wanderers, have to experience this journey.

The purest form of this theme in The Lord of the Rings is, of course, Frodo and Bilbo leaving for the island Tol Eressëa at the end of the story. It is the longest journey into Faërie, a journey that only a few are allowed to take and that you won’t come back from. Tol Eressëa is no longer in the space of the human world, and it’s very telling that Tolkien named the haven on the eastern shore on the island Avallónë.

More examples can be found in Tolkien’s other stories, and I will mention them less detailed when talking about the actual centre of the theme:

THE MORTAL VISITOR

„It seemed to [Frodo] that he had stepped through a high window that looked on a vanished world. A light was upon it for which his language had no name. All that he saw was shapely, but the shapes seemed at once clear cut, as if they had been first conceived and drawn at the uncovering of his eyes, and ancient as if they had endured forever.” – J. R. R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings.

All of Tolkien’s major stories have one thing in common: they have someone human at the core who is unfamiliar with Faërie and able to experience it as new and from an outside perspective.

In The Hobbit it is Bilbo who stumbles into a world he is not prepared for at all, and while it is less clearly shown in the narrative of a children’s book, the journey of Bilbo and the Dwarves clearly show signs of this theme – a dangerous forest, an enchanted river, a white deer, and Elven fires that suddenly vanish.

For The Lord of the Rings I have shown above that all four Hobbits experience this in one way or another, although Frodo is probably the one given the most focus.

“This is a history in brief drawn from many older tales; for all the matters that it contains were of old, and still are among the Eldar of the West, recounted more fully in other histories and songs. But many of these were not recalled by Eriol, or men have again lost them since his day. This Account was composed first by Pengolod of Gondolin, and Aelfwine turned it into our speech as it was in his time, adding nothing, he said, save explanations of some few names.” – J. R. R. Tolkien. Quenta Silmarillion.

The Quenta Silmarillion is a different type of story, so here the theme also takes a different form: it’s not a narrative as The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings and more a historical chronicle in style. It’s written as such, but also given the corresponding context: when Tolkien was first writing the Book of Lost Tales and later the Quenta Silmarillion, the framework he had built for it was that of a mortal men coming to Tol Eressëa and learning of these past events. The one wandering into the Perilous Realm is Eriol or Ælfwine, listening to the stories of the Elves and writing them down for other humans to read. When Tolkien eventually started writing The Lord of the Rings, he was able to change his framing story. There was no longer a need for Ælfwine to reach Tol Eressëa to learn about these tales – now it’s Bilbo who wrote it down in three volumes called “Translations from the Elvish” that he had added to his private diary when he handed it over to Frodo.

This concept applies to the Quenta Silmarillion as a whole, but the main three stories within the Quenta Silmarillion still have a similar mortal visitor as The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. In Beren and Lúthien, it’s the mortal Beren who wanders into the Elven Kingdom Doriath and gets enchanted when he sees Lúthien dancing and singing. In the Children of Húrin, it’s Túrin who enters Doriath as well, but also the Elven Kingdom Nargothrond. Both times, Túrin is unable to find the entrance himself; he is lead there by Elven guides – first Beleg, then Gwindor. And in the Fall of Gondolin, Tuor is led by an Elven guide to through many gates under a mountain to the Elven Kingdom Gondolin – one of the rarer cases of a "journey underground, into a hill or mountain".

And even the Akallabêth incorporates this theme, although in a different way than the previous stories. The story of the Fall of Númenor is about wanting to go to Faërie, and not being allowed to. There are other aspects to this as well of course, but looking at it with this theme in mind, that is the core of the story. Ar-Pharazôn is the mortal man who desires to reach Faërie, but when he tries to get there by force it ends in his death.

The mortal visitor as the protagonist in their story is essential for this theme to work. To experience Faërie as a visitor, to enter a “dream that some other mind is weaving��� in such a way, it is a uniquely mortal experience that the reader could imagine to have, but that the immortal Elves can almost never share – after all they create their realms, they are the creator of a dream that the mortal wanderer, Tolkien as the writer, and we as the reader are dreaming.

THE CREATOR OF THE DREAM

“Faërie contains many things besides elves and fays, and besides dwarfs, witches, trolls, giants, or dragons: it holds the seas, the sun, the moon, the sky; and the earth, and all things that are in it: tree and bird, water and stone, wine and bread, and ourselves, mortal men, when we are enchanted.” – J. R. R. Tolkien. On Fairy Stories.

The immortal creators are not irrelevant of course, although they cannot be the centre of any story about wandering into the Perilous Realm. The outsider experience, essential for this theme, cannot come from the one living inside the Perilous Realm. The inhabitants in Tolkien’s stories are Elves most of the time – near Woodhall, in Rivendell, Lóthlorien, Mirkwood, Gondolin, Doriath and Nargothrond. But they are of course not the only creators of such realms. Dwarves come in and out of these stories, and in the case of the Old Forest the implication is that Old Man Willow is the main force behind the spell:

“His grey thirsty spirit drew power out of the earth and spread like fine root-threads in the ground, and invisible twig-fingers in the air, till it had under its dominion nearly all the trees of the Forest from the Hedge to the Downs.”

And of course the Valar and Maiar have their part in the story. Especially Tol Eressëa and Valinor are mainly built by the Valar, and in Middle-eath the magical boundaries of Doriath were set by Melian. In moments where Fëarie is not solely or not at all made by the Elves, they may enter the dream of another mind as well. It happened when the Elves first came to Valinor, and a more personal example is Thingol meeting Melian for the first time, where “an enchantment fell on him” in which he was caught for years without moving. This is only possible, however, when Elves meet someone with a creative power far greater than them – one of the Maia or above is required.  

However, this was never Tolkien’s focus. In Tolkien’s stories, the Perilous Realm is often a place inhabited by the Fair Folk – but I have also mentioned that sometimes Faërie exists in another mode. Throughout the examples given, dreams have been an important element of the experience of Faërie, and it’s one that Tolkien also thought a lot about. In our own world, we cannot reach Faërie in our space, but it may be approachable in another mode – through dreams. This becomes especially apparent in his texts The Lost Road and The Notion Club Papers, and it was also a part of how Tolkien saw his own relationship with his work: a mortal entering a dream of Faërie.  

ENDING THOUGHTS

There are many aspects of this that I haven’t touched on, and that I would love to explore or discuss. There is for example the case of Frodo, a mortal who has been in touch with something that belongs into the world of Faërie, that he cannot properly come back: when coming back to the Shire, Marry comments on how it feels like a dream is slowly fading, like he is waking up. Frodo however says: “To me it feels more like falling asleep again.” Already, it is clear he can never fully return.

Then there is the case of reversing the idea of Faërie in the case of Túrin – he is trying to bring Nargothrond closer to the outside world so that he can use its force in war. In return, he makes it accessible and the kingdom falls. In general, it’s a fascinating thing to see Túrin’s relationships with the Perilous Realms.  

Or if we talk about dreams, what about the nightmares? Is Mordor basically an anti-Faërie, inhabited by Orcs instead of Elves, where the path leads through a spider lair instead of over a river, and where any mortal being can only end up as a corrupted slave if they stay there for too long?

What about including such an essential theme in adaptations? In Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies, flawed as they may be at times, the experience of Faërie through the eyes of the Hobbits is notable – especially in Rivendell and Lóthlorien. Meanwhile in Amazon’s The Rings of Power, this theme is completely absent and the Elven realms in Middle-earth have no more mystery than a Harfoot camp or a random human village in the South.  

I hope I get to explore this theme more, I’ve been eager for month to write at least a tiny bit about it and it’s already way too long for tumblr again. But there are other themes that are also very interesting, so we’ll see how it’ll go…

If you have read up to here to the end I would like to thank you for your time and attention – both is much appreciated!

READ MORE ON THIS TOPIC

On Fairy Stories, an essay by J. R. R. Tolkien.

Smith of Wootton Major, by J. R. R. Tolkien.

The Lost Road, fragments by J. R. R. Tolkien.

The Notion Club Papers, fragments by J. R. R. Tolkien.

Faërie: Tolkien’s Perilous Land, an essay by Verlyn Flieger.

A Question of Time, by Verlyn Flieger.

QUOTE SOURCES

J. R. R. Tolkien. On Fairy Stories.

J. R. R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings.

J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien. The Silmarillion.

J. R. R. Tolkien; edited by Veflyn Flieger. Smith of Wootton Major ‘Extended Edition’, Smith of Wootton Major essay.

J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien. The Lost Road and other Writings, Quenta Silmarillion.

[joswriting]

•❅───✧❅ joswriting ❅✧

: ̗̀➛ writeblr intro

Hello there! My name is Jo (shocker!), I am in my 20s and I write stories and poems in my free time. I used to have a writing account on here many moons ago and I really miss the community, friendship and support of talking with other writers about our projects, so I am trying to rebuild what I've lost.

: ̗̀➛ about me

very interaction friendly. we're all just people on here (also please tag me in games forever)

science fiction! science fiction is my everything. it's whatever. I'm normal about it

themes I write about a lot include: death anxiety, internalized bigotry, general dissatisfaction and the complex and confusing nature of existence

scifi flavour wise i like doing weird time or multiverse stuff

I'm also queer (lesbian, aromantic, whatever), if that matters. This comes up a lot in my writing be it explicit or not.

I write in German and English

: ̗̀➛ my wips/projects

⸻ On the end of everything 🌠

An "essay" on how the multiverse died, those who noticed, and how they learned to live with their fates

[reblog tag] [posts tag] [wip intro]

⸻ Poetry 🗒️

I don't post my poetry on tumblr, instead I self host it here. I love writing poems I get such a kick out of it!

My favourite poem of mine atm is this one: Lines Out Of Context

⸻ Starship Lovelace 🚀

The Starship Lovelace is an Earth vessel far from home. The human crew mysteriously disappeared decades ago - now a small group of aliens has claimed the ship.

[posts + reblog tag]

A collection of half-assed short trips, I'm trying to build my own kind of space ship show here. It mostly serves as a way for me to keep writing and get ideas out of my head without much drafting or anything. I've got a pretty good vague plot for it in my head and I'm trying to do it justice with my newer, more thought out chapters. You can see all entries: here.

The stories are hosted on the space story collection pubnix/website Cosmic.Voyage, which i just know some of you would get a kick out of.

: ̗̀➛ inspiration

on the comedy side: the two Dirk Gently books, the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the Red Dwarf novels and Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen in particular (British people are grim, I like it)

on the more serious side: Frankenstein (my favourite book everr), many Doctor Who hiatus novels but especially Dead Romance by Lawrence Miles, the works of H.G. Wells (love that guys scifi that just completely misses the mark but was properly scientifically researched for its own time) and, to an extent, Der Tod und andere Höhepunkte meines Lebens by Sebastian Niedlich, which is a book I remember liking a lot as a young-ish teen

generally I'm a huge fan of Doctor Who and Star Trek

I sometimes reblog posts about media i really like on here too so for more check out the tag: good media

So. The first thing I’d better do is invent my audience. I'll pretend there are thousands of you out there, and I'll pretend you're all just like me; young, smart, pretty, and sarcastic (NB I’m probably being ironic here, although I’m not really sure any more). Just so we’ve got some common ground, I'll pretend you were born sometime in the late 1940s… No, sod that. I'll pretend you were born on 15 August 1948. All of you.

Well, why not? If you’re going to invent an audience, why not invent one in your own image?

-- Dead Romance, First Notebook

[poppitron360]

"Poison"- Hazbin Hotel: trochees, repetition, and genre.

I occasionally get the urge to write an in-depth analytical essay about whatever song or soundtrack I’m currently obsessed with. Y’know, for fun.

My BFF recently said that he thought “Poison” from Hazbin Hotel was overrated, so I am going to prove him wrong with science because that song goes so fucking hard.

The first thing I noticed was that the word “Poison” is a trochee (A word that has one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable)- the opposite of an iamb. Because trochees end on a weak syllable, they often feel like they’re rolling, or more fittingly, falling into the next word or syllable. Because of this, they are often used to convey feelings of despair and death.

Interestingly, this is reflected in the melody. In the line “‘Cause I know you’re Poison, you’re feeding me Poison” the melody stays on the same note, C, except on the word “Poison”, which moves from an F# down to an E: the melody is falling down.

The word “Poison” is repeated over and over again, highlighted by the fact that it is the only word not on a C, creating a sense of constant, inescapable, repetition. There is no getting away from Valentino's "Poison".

The entirety of the song is comprised of only two chords, C minor, down to Ab major, (with the exception of the bridge, which is one singular F minor chord). This reflects the “falling” motif (although it varies on how you play it).

Also, the constant repetition of the same chords over and over and over and over reinforces that feeling that Angel is trapped in a cycle.

This all accumulates to reflect Angel Dust’s descent into utter desperation. It gives the impression that he’s constantly tripping and falling and repeating the cycle of addiction/abuse over and over again with no escape.

As the chorus repeats and repeats, the vocals get more and more desperate. He’s literally “trapped and it get’s worse with every hour”.

The repetitive melody and song structure is not the only reason why bubblegum pop works so well as a genre for this song.

Similar to “All You Wanna Do” from Six, this bright, flashy, upbeat style of music juxtaposes the unpleasant content of the lyrics, although it might not initially be obvious that the writers have made this stylistic choice, which is, in my opinion, why I think people are complaining that the song glorifies abuse (And those complaints are totally valid, I’m just sharing my interpretation of why I think the writers made these choices). I personally think that ubeat pop works best for this particular song, as the juxtaposition makes the audience feel uncomfortable and uneasy more than any haunting piano ballad would.

The genre also reflects how both Angel in Hazbin in and Kathrine in Six are in denial about their abusive relationships, until the very end of the song, when they both finally break.

The constant repetition of melodies, lyrics, and choruses reflecting the cycle of abuse is a technique also used in “All you wanna do”, and both songs can be compared musically, stylistically, structurally, lyrically, and in theme.

Anyway, I hath used my music theory brain to scientifically prove that this song slaps.

[mimikyu-appreciator]

Y'all I just had the most surreal experience ever in my time as a lecturer.

Long-ish post under cut

So, one of my students comes in for a 1-1 meeting regarding his term paper and... Whooo boy...

(Sue me, I gave the kids a 5 page essay. If they do a good enough job they don't have to take an end of term exam, so I think it's a fair trade.)

We'd agreed at the start of term that he'd choose the Wars Of The Roserades.

For those of you that don't know, this was an approximately thirty-odd year long succession conflict in Galar a good 6 centuries back.

Now, this is fine. I'd signed off on the topic knowing that he wasn't the most enthusiastic about history -kid admitted to only taking my class as an extracurricular because his sister did- and probably chose something on random.

BUT I WASN'T EXPECTING THIS.

He showed up today with his work all complete, just waiting for me to sign off so he could complete the class and get his extra credits but guys-

Guys it was entirely based on fanfiction.

About half the names mentioned come from this one site of people roleplaying as characters chronicling their life during the Roserade Wars, and while I can tell that the page had a lot of love and care put into it,

It absolutely did not count as a scientific or academic source.

Especially when his paper focused more on the interpersonal drama of the characters than the actual historical events he was supposed to write about.

And then I found the page's plot summary tab.

This kid copied everything from a historical roleplay site's summary. WORD FOR WORD.

I'm just.

How the hell was I supposed to react to that???

I'm definitely gonna pull him aside after our next class and tell him to go study for the exam because, again,

What???

[ditty-nightsong]

💫Ooooooo you wanna tell me about Windsong and also Angell soooooo bad ooooooo

(cracks my knuckles.) I COULD WRITE AN ESSAY ON WINDSONG. she goes first because she's literally my everything.

so basically, windsong (real name ekaterina) is an arcanist who researches ley lines. within the world of reverse: 1999, this is heavily considered a fool's errand. the events of "farewell, rayashki" are basically her last hope to get any kind of funding or recognition for research, and despite everything. she makes it work! at the end of her character story, she's officially hired by laplace scientific computing center, because of her research and knowledge of ley lines. she has gone through a great level of ordeal to get where she is by the end of her character story. she works really hard and puts her whole soul into everything she does. i initially fell in love with her in what i thought would be a fleeting crush, because. i'm not going to lie at first i was just like "oh she's really attractive. teehee." but i ended up falling really, really hard for her. i took a break from selfship for a long time, and i recently returned due to Life Events. she was on my mind but i was honestly a little scared to come back to her at first... but as soon as i did, it really, genuinely felt like returning to a warm, loving place! she's my home, i love everything about her. i love her determination and spirit, and i love that despite the world hurting her so much, she still sees the good in it. that's something that her and i have in common!

i also have her in my game; i managed to get her to P3 (portrays are like constellations/eidolons/etc, but 3 is pretty decent since there's a max of 5!) but i'm planning to get her all the way to P5 on rerun. she's my strongest unit! (fun fact: when i rolled on her banner, i at first lost the 50/50 to sotheby... and then IMMEDIATELY, in the next roll, at 0 pity. i got windsong. AND i got a copy of her in that same roll. my ekaterina loves me too! 🥹)

i also have pre-order merch of her coming within (hopefully) the next month! overall, i genuinely love her so much. i'm so, so glad that i came back to her. (fun fact: she is 5'11! i am 5'6 irl so we have a comfortable height difference.)

and angell stuff under the cut! because this is already super long LMAO.

angell is basically a deep-web hitman. like. genuinely that is how she makes most of her money LMAO but she's really good at it. she's kind of bad at taking care of herself and doesn't like to let people in for both her safety and their own, but she's not an unkind or mean person at all. she's a bit forgetful; in her event, she forgets to pay her electricity bill, and she's written the account number down... and then the scrap of paper it was on got lost in the wash. i love her very much too! she repays kindness when she is showed it and she's been described as "wearing her heart on her sleeve" because she doesn't really hide how she feels at all.

also, she likes music and old movies! her sinner ability is basically heightened senses, so she gets sensory overload sometimes. 😔 so she listens to music a lot to help block out noise, since part of her ability is "sensing malice" which means like. she doesn't need to Hear you to know your next movement if it's with negative intent.

she is a fascinating creature. her love came to me at a time when i really needed it and i really appreciate and adore that about her. <3

[snowyvoid]

I love your haunted siphonophore posting so much it's really good. I think it really fits with how the science team and the game and benrey all sort of play off of each other with Gordon always ending up as the victim/'food' but there's a slight dissonance between all of them. Benrey comes back as a skeleton and for the first night he just walks around and talks like normal until after Gordon wakes up where it seems to become it's own creature that is more tethered to the gamespace (I know it clips out and fucks with geometry but it also feels like it starts to slot into the role of 'spooky skeleton to antagonize and frighten the player' instead of 'benrey is around and talking to people when he's supposed to be dead'). Or how the world seems to bend to fit the insane things the Science Team says (Sunkist, Chuck E Cheese, Passport, etc) but Coomer is still seperate enough from the game that he becomes frightened and angry when he realizes that his world is small and painted. They all kind of group up into one thing, which is basically an elaborate bait and trap for Gordon, but there's tension between the individual pieces and they all have unique perspectives on what's happening despite playing into the same greater thing.

Sorry I'm having a hard time capturing exactly what you meant into this I get what you meant it's just. words are difficult. But your hlvrai thoughts make me insane

no this is like. exactly what i mean. you get it.

the thing about siphonophores is that each component of the organism has its own mouths. like. one component will be the stomach, one will make the organism swim, etc etc, but they all have their own mouths. they all feed.

and there is always this kind of dissonance between gordon and the others, and yes obviously he is the one playing a video game, but i always felt like it went deeper than hostile AI being weirded out by the new guy. it felt more,,, natural?? i guess??? it all feels set up on a stage. aside from the fact that its a game and it is has coded events. the AI, the thing that is suppose to think for itself, still seems kinda. within its own limits. stuck within the body of the facility. (for example, coomer and/or bubby freaking out when they go outside of the skybox/into space).

but the dissonance between the science team and the game/facility is!!! oh my godddd!!!! i could write an essay on that shit. so interesting. and i love that the dissonance is often physically manifested. your hatred towards this thing that you hate is real and will be seen and will affect the world outside you.

like. you have this thing, a large container that has events and ideas that are built into it (the game, the organism as a whole, the haunted house), and there are different components within this container that have some kind of symbiotic relationship (good or bad) with the outside container (black mesa, the individual nervous systems of the organism, the rooms/ghosts/humans haunting* the house), and all of these individual components has a manifestation of its difference or hostility (the science team, the individual mouths, the opinions each component of the haunted house has on each other (i need to make another post about this)).

sorry that was probably really complicated. i just needed to get it out of me because its all ive been thinking about since i made that first post.

*this is within the idea that the hypothetical house is haunted by something. which is generally the idea i go for when in reference to sentient AI, the whole this house had a purpose and it changed, this AI had a code and it was faulty. etc etc. pretty sure ive already posted something about that.

weird little mspaint diagram with some other ideas i have not talked about. note; this is not scientifically accurate to siphonophores. i just thought they were a really good allegory. you are definitely gonna need to zoom in for this thing. but it is important to the explanation i guess.

i just find it really fun to put obvious differences between characters/living things and see where they come together. like the science team, gordon, and benry are all separate beings in their own way but they are like a family. blah. hope you enjoy as always this is a bit messy.

[katyspersonal]

Before you deride anyone for being an "idiot", you should probably shit can the Meyers-Briggs pseudo-science in your description. You know, that way you don't look like an idiot who buys into that stuff.

Naaah, I still think that accusing a very anti-nationalist creator that created a very anti-nationalist movie FOR nationalism just because his movie used trademark brilliant Japanese nonverbal display instead of spelling stuff out like poorly written modern Western media IS pretty "idiotic". Waaaay more "idiotic" than MBTI stuff. 🌛 (retroactive, because I already did take my insult back several days ago)

I'll have you know that whereas MBTI is definitely not as binding and fails in what it tries to do (just like every attempt to strictly categorize people failed), it is actually SUPER handy to communicate a LOT of traits and patterns within a short abbreviation instead of a long essay! For example, people that know MBTI lore will read that I am ENTP and instantly expect me to be a lover of debates and "devil's advocate", be bad at talking about my feelings genuinely and sound hurtful without any intention to do so! If person chose to describe themselves with an MBTI label, it doesn't necessarily mean they are the type to take it super seriously, but often it is a way to communicate what to expect from their personality in a really compact form! Or at least what this person believes about themselves, which is also good for "communicating without communicating" :p Most people that have MBTI in their bio/pinned/whatever aren't as serious about it. Those that tried to choose friends/couple and form a collective according to MBTIs are long ago extinct, trust me!

I also found MBTI useful for some writing stuff. To define a type, you have to make 4 choices between 4 pairs of traits: 1) Introvert or Extrovert; self-explanatory 2) Sensory or iNtuitive; so, oriented more in "physical" reality and present or into past, thoughts and concepts 3) Thinking or Feeling; so, stronger at logic and thinking, or at empathy and tact? 4) Perceptive or Judging; so, an open-minded person that is okay with leaving loose ends or a person that needs clear distinction and final conclusion! Yeah they are very bare-bones descriptions and there is more to say about the 8 'letters', I am just cutting to the chase! I never passed MBTI test, I just figured which one of these aspects applied to me and it made ENTP abbreviation! Then I read the description of this type and could recognize a lot about myself. You can for example do that for a character you want to develop, get the abbreviation, then go read full description of this type and I guarantee you, there will be MANY things in the text making you go "damn this makes sooooo much sense for this character 👀" or otherwise inspire a vision of them!

I agree that people that get too caught up into MBTI stuff can be frustrating, and that accuracy of MBTIs is long ago debunked; again, no way to split humans into clear cut types works and we are all too different! Zodiac signs stuff is a similar problem. But, these things are good for communicating aspects of your personality quickly, for finding which sides of yourself to focus on and get "coherent shape" (very useful for my personality disorder ass!) and are good for WRITING! I've even found using MBTI descriptions as a help a good preventive measure from too much self-protection onto characters I am writing! You know same face syndrome issue in drawing? Sometimes the same problem is possible in writing personalities, MBTI is something that helped me to double-check whether I am doing this. Don't harshly discard a thing just because you haven't found an efficient way to utilize it! MBTI failed at what it intended to do but succeeded at being a good compilation of distinct traits and ways to think, act and react!

On the other hand, believing in anti-scientifical things is not necessarily a sign of being a judgemental, narrow-minded, "idiotic" person: a person is only an "idiot" when they make themselves be.

___________

That being said, I don't blame you for being strictly negative? MBTI craze, Zodiacs stuff and similar things have history of really annoying people wasting their time and being weird about what they tell others but that's not my case. In my country MBTIs are in general 90% fandom of memes xd I might consider removing ENTP from my bio in the future if I estimate people are more likely to expect the worst (like you did) than take it for fun after that """science""" has fallen but I just dunno yet. But I'd appreciate if you didn't use harping on me for a mistake I already apologized for to express your disapproval of MBTI stuff 🌛 Not only it is cruel, but also even UNDER assumption that liking MBTI stuff makes me an "idiot" your logic doesn't work - why would doing one stupid thing remove my right to call out another, irrelevant (!!!) stupid thing? This is like saying that only "perfect" people are allowed to offer criticism and disapproval towards frustrating situations and I am not here for this sort of attitude. Someone can be competent in one area and be a complete moron in another area, does it mean they can't talk about what they're competent at anymore?

[quaranmine]

Honestly I'd love to know what kind of comments you'd be adding to the fic for your mother. Very curious :0 (also I'm terrible at knowing what information an outsider would and wouldn't have and/or would need)

Sure, I'll add a few. (Redacted since my google account is my full name.) Also remember that y'all also got the benefit of my author's notes, but I'm not giving my mom the AO3 copy because over my dead body does she look at that account. I'm giving her a document copy. So a lot of the comments will likely be details you guys already got in either a post or author's note.

^^^ This one is written specifically because my mom, like me, has been going to Big Bend National Park since she was young. A member of my family has gone there nearly every single year since....1965? lol. So it's a fun tidbit for her to know I was thinking of it while writing this. (There will be a similar note when the Pinnacles trail comes up, because I named Pinnacles after a trail in Big Bend.)

me trying to explain Scar's general dramatic flair (i also have a comment somewhere explaining that Scar is dyslexic and that is why he occasionally mispronounces stuff in the fic, and why he says the scientific documents the rangers let him borrow were difficult to get through)

nicknames

My mother and I are both Gary the cat stans. Trust me she knows Exactly what I am picturing here.

^^ a few other comments on the story, ranging from "background character details" to "research details" to "totally unecessary personal opinions"

it's also fun for little self-aware asides:

She already knows a significant amount of the plot, including the ending, because I talked to her about it. That is also why she gets to read it, because the moment I opened my mouth about writing it I basically had to. I don't always talk about my writing with her but I really wanted to talk about this one. So! By talking about it I just made the decision for myself that I'd allow her to read it. She is....very excited haha. And I am too? I mean I think I am going to send it to her and then just immediately go back to my apartment so I don't have to be in the same house as her while she's reading it LOL. The embarassment of people who know you too closely reading your things etc etc. But I'm very proud of this story and I don't think she realizes how good of a writer I can be. She knows I'm good at it (like, she's read my essays and newspaper stories) but not how I handle fiction.

[eliteprepsat]

Can I use “I” and “Me” in an academic essay?

High school and college students have asked me this question many times.

My initial answer?

It’s complicated.

Typically, this question stems from a student’s experience with a high school or middle school teacher who advised, even commanded, students to never, ever use first-person pronouns in their essays. And so, when I get this question, I tend to hear a sub-question lying just beneath the surface: was my teacher right or wrong? Or sometimes even: was my teacher good or bad, smart or dumb?

Because of all the assumptions and back-story that I sense in this question, my answer always comes with many caveats.

The short, reductive, easily misunderstood version of my answer:

You can use first-person pronouns in your essays, but you probably shouldn’t.

But like I said, it’s complicated.

My sense is that teachers usually tell their students to avoid “I” or “me” (or “we,” “us,” “my,” and “our”) because these pronouns are often used poorly. The same goes for other “rules” that aren’t really rules: Don’t end a sentence with a preposition. Never begin a sentence with “And,” “But,” or “Because.” Place your thesis in the last sentence of your introduction paragraph.

None of these are iron-clad rules. Rather, they are strategic pieces of advice that your teachers have turned into “rules” because, well, students need directions (or at least many teachers think they do). While none of these guidelines deserve to be universally enforced, they do help provide students with a structure that, oftentimes, helps produce effectively communicated essays.

But back to “I,” “me,” and other first-person pronouns—what’s actually wrong with using them? The problem I see most often is that students use these pronouns in thesis statements like these:

“In my personal opinion, the central character in Hamlet is Ophelia.” “I think that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s frequent use of imagery related to vision in The Great Gatsby shows that early twentieth-century visual culture was a product of the superficial consumerism of 1920s America.”

These two thesis statements are far from equal, and both could, in theory, be effectively deployed in the context of a well-developed essay. But they both share a common problem. Both statements reduce their arguments to matters of personal opinion—“In my personal opinion,” “I think.”

The problem with such statements is that they serve as crutches, allowing their writers to hide behind a subjective viewpoint that’s immune to reasoning or criticism. The phrasing from both seems to emerge from the common-sense view that “everyone is entitled to their opinion.” But one of the main measures of effective expository or argument-based writing is reasoning, which can never rely solely on personal opinion.

To be a convincing writer, it doesn’t matter so much what you think as explaining why you think it. Your opinion might be convincing to you, but if you want to convince a reader, you’re going to have to move beyond “I” and “my” statements like the ones above.

Also: both statements would be stronger without those crutches:

“The central character in Hamlet is Ophelia.” “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s frequent use of imagery related to vision in The Great Gatsby shows that early twentieth-century visual culture was a product of the superficial consumerism of 1920s America.”

These sentences are bolder, more interesting, and more likely to encourage their writers to provide solid support.

But there are other considerations to keep in mind. The Writing Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has a useful handout for navigating the first-person pronoun question. Consider this example, quoted from UNC:

“As I observed the communication styles of first-year Carolina women, I noticed frequent use of non-verbal cues.”

In this case, we’re dealing with an essay rooted in a social-scientific study. By using “I,” the writer has reduced the study to a matter of individual experience—hardly the scientific foundation that the study aims for. Consider the revision: “A study of the communication styles of first-year Carolina women revealed frequent use of non-verbal cues.”

As UNC explains, “Avoiding the first person here creates the desired impression of an observed phenomenon that could be reproduced and also creates a stronger, clearer statement.” If your aim is to communicate scientific or fact-based observations—be they from a novel or a laboratory—it’s usually best to avoid the first person.

But as I said, it’s complicated. There are cases that all but require you use first-person pronouns. Consider this example from UNC:

“In studying American popular culture of the 1980s, the question of to what degree materialism was a major characteristic of the cultural milieu was explored.”

To avoid first-person pronouns, this writer is forced into an awkward passive construction (“the question . . . was explored”). The first person corrects this problem. And in this sentence, the first person does not take away from the air of objectivity that the writer is aiming for:

“In our study of American popular culture of the 1980s, we explored the degree to which materialism characterized the cultural milieu.”

This is an explanation of method, of how “we” did what we did. In most cases, you want to assert your claims as true—not infallible, not airtight, not perfect, but nonetheless true, as you see it. But you also don’t want to pretend that there isn’t a human subject behind your reading, research, and writing. In the case of a sentence like the one above, avoiding the first person produces a contrived sentence that rings false.

And so, all things considered, the most honest advice I can give on the “I” question is this:

If you’re not sure whether to use first-person pronouns, first write the sentence in the way that feels most natural to you.

(It’s crucial that, in a first draft, you write with the idea that no one in the world but you will ever read what you just put down on the page. This is the most liberating and urgent advice I could share with any writer.)

After you’ve written the sentence out, assuming it uses the first person, try this: cross out your first-person statement—your “In my opinion,” or “I think,” or “We contend.” Then see how the sentence holds up without the first person. Is the statement now stronger, bolder, more assertive, more “objective” sounding? Or does it now feel garbled?

In the end, the question of whether or not to use “I” is ultimately up to you. 

[malikson]

15 questions, 15 mutuals

tagged by ash @enchantedlandcoffee thank you bb!!! 💜💜💜💜💜💜

The rules are: Answer the 15 questions and tag 15 of your mutuals

1. are you named after anyone?

i was named after my parent’s favorite mexican actress. as for the name i chose for myself… it was the name of a character and i liked the name so much it stuck with me

2. when was the last time you cried?

yesterday. courtesy of one louis tomlinson

3. do you have kids?

no, but i’m an older sibling so i basically do

4. what sport do you play/have played?

played football (soccer) in elementary school

5. do you use sarcasm?

noooooooooooooo, i totally don’t (sarcastic)

6. what's the first thing you notice about people?

their faces, eyes and hair

7. what's your eye colour?

i was blessed with big brown sad eyes

8. scary movies or happy endings?

happy endings!!!

9. any talents?

biggest talent is my ability to somehow get good grades on every essay i’ve written despite feeling like it was half-assed

i also know my way around photoshop. i gif and i consider it a talent because of all the steps that go into it. also being able to colorize black and white pictures

10. where were you born?

somewhere in el salvador

11. what are your hobbies?

reading, listening to music, gifmaking, journaling

12. do you have any pets?

no 😔

13. how tall are you?

wouldn’t you like to know weather boy

14. favourite subject in school?

public speaking, creative writing, intro to teaching, scientific enquiry and educational psychology

15. dream job

teacher or librarian

tagging (no pressure!!!): @voulezloux @tommos @stonerosestank @medicinelarrie @louisgayvodka @heroeddiemunson @william-byers @505louis @redpantslouis @hometomysatellite @wecantalktomorrow @suppaloscurse @uwulouis @anxiouspunk @1ouis