ungemmed

[ungemmed]

so the US government might enter a shutdown tomorrow and I am here to remind you why government shutdowns make me so upset. When the US government shuts down, all the employees are furloughed, which means they are not paid during that time period, but normally they eventually receive their back pay. However, there is one notable exception to this, a group of people who continue to be paid. Congress, the group of people who usually cause the shutdown, continue to be paid throughout. Meanwhile rank and file government employees who have rent and mortgage and bills to pay are not being paid until the shutdown ends. So yeah, whenever people use government shutdowns as a political tool, it really pisses me off

[ungemmed]

i want more nuance to be entered into the discussion of the green girl sorority and how differently cynthia plays elphaba in comparison to those who came before her because while a lot of people are rightfully like "why was elphaba not black from the beginning" and celebrating that she is now being played by a black woman, i think we need to be careful in just writing off all the elphabas of the past as Random White Girls when the role was championed (and often followed/succeeded) by a jewish woman

the pop culture archetype of the Wicked Witch has deep roots in antisemitism stretching faaaar far back. there is a level of reclamation happening in casting idina menzel, a jewish woman, to play the Misunderstood and Maligned young girl who is branded as exactly that. and stage!Elphaba is also written and acted with jewish stereotypes in mind--she is loud, aggressive, no-nonsense, blunt. she is quick to advocate for herself and shut down the discrimination she faces. all of this is very intentional! her personality is abrasive from years of abuse, and that makes propagandizing her easy. this is literally the thesis statement of the musical--it's not about aptitude, it's the way you're viewed.

cynthia's performance of elphaba is fucking INSPIRED despite going in a completely different direction. she's much more reserved, analytical, one of her key character traits is how well she can read people (see her calling out Galinda as insecure/putting on airs in their first scene together, clocking that Fiyero is using his party guy persona as a shield for his own depression) elphaba's attempts to blend in and make herself smaller all fail simply because of her existence, if not that then because she feels empathy so strongly she often struggles to hold back from acting, protecting.

personality wise, though, cynthia's elphaba is very quiet and closed-off, not at all the bullet-to-the-face that she is in the stage show, and... she still gets propagandized and maligned. though this seems to contradict the other interpretation, it tells of the other end of the spectrum of propaganda, one that black women watching (and many, MANY other marginalized folks) are sure to identify with--it does not matter how "nice," how reserved, how small a black woman makes herself. a racist society will still scrutinize her every action for a way to parse ill intent from it, brand her as an angry black woman who is dangerous and wicked, and write off any humanity she has in the process.

these two very different interpretations tell of the lie of assimilation. the fact of the matter is, when you are marginalized, there is no way to sand down your edges enough to make the people oppressing you "accept" you. that is why wicked is a tragedy at its core. whether loud and aggressive or quiet and unimposing, there is nothing elphaba could have done to make the people of Oz see her as anything other than a scapegoat to blame all their problems on.

so while i definitely appreciate that people are excited for black girl era elphaba, i would encourage us all to still show appreciation for what came before--that was not white girl era elphaba. that was jewish girl era elphaba. two houses, both alike in dignity, two stories both worth being told.

[ungemmed]

This woman is a MENACE.

[ungemmed]

Being taught sentence diagramming in Catholic school as part of formal grammar and writing education (which was treated SEPARATELY than our "reading"/literature class) was revolutionary for my writing ability.

Apparently "studies showed" that it has no effect for most kids. I don't want to dismiss that research, which I have never seen, out of hand. HOWEVER, basically whenever I've seen someone say that "studies show" this, they've done so in the context of the politicized debate about language-instruction pedagogy. The abandonment of sentence diagramming is hard to anthropologically separate from the whole-language movement, or the idea that ninth-graders can only read Romeo and Juliet in translation.

If I let myself start ranting about this I'll write a novel, and I don't have time. I will confine myself to:

A tool that helped my neurodiverse ass has been systematically stigmatized, not merely abandoned. It was politicized out of existence in the name of "inclusion," and I will never stop being bitter about this irony.

I’ve never in my life seen or been taught sentence structure like this. It seems incredibly interesting, though. Do any of my followers know anything about this or were taught this?

(Source: satrayreads on threads)

[ungemmed]

the thing that strikes me about callouts, and the realization that made me realize "oh these are worse than useless in 99% of cases," is that they are - in essence - a form of "justice" that relies entirely on popularity and the first mover advantage

[ungemmed]

It's a thousand little things, too. It's not just body-consciousness in the pool; it's body-consciousness in the lockers after.

It's, for my trans sisters, finding a swimsuit that lets them tuck without being too obviously a Swimsuit That Lets Them Tuck.

It's upper leg hair, the kind that is basically an extension of pubic hair, and the no-win decision to just let it show and worry about people inappropriately sexualizing it, to draw attention to That Area by wearing a suit that hides the upper thigh, or to shave it and be doomed to ingrown-hair zits right near your damn vulva.

Etcetera.

I swim anyway, but there are times in my life when I haven't.

It's honestly such a shame that we've made such a huge thing out of swimming and swimsuits and looking good in swimsuits and fat people not looking good in swimsuits. Swimming is actually the perfect exercise for fat people because it puts zero pressure on the joints, which is a much bigger concern for us than it is for skinny people, and lets you exercise basically every muscle group without straining too much and risking injury. Yet somehow this is one of the least accessible exercises to fat people due to nothing more than a culture of body shaming. The work to unlearn all the shame to be comfortable in a bathing suit in front of strangers is huge even for conventionally attractive people, but I could probably count on one hand the number of fat people I've met who were confident enough to get in a bathing suit and go swimming in public.

And what is the exercise that somehow everyone thinks they should do instead? Jogging. It's more accessible, sure, it's easy and costs nothing to go outside and run. But I need you to understand telling a fat person to go running is basically telling them to go destroy their knees. Not to mention it's probably one of the most physically uncomfortable exercises to do when you have a body that jiggles even with compression garments.

Imagine a world where everyone had the ability and equal access to whatever exercise fit them best and helped them be happy and healthiest. Imagine a world where fat people go swimming.

[ungemmed]

Someone shredded my copy of Have His Carcase, wonder if Wimsey could figure out the culprit

[ungemmed]

Source

[ungemmed]

Ok new game. What's the thing you're a fan of that you're the most pretentious about. NOT the most pretentious thing you're a fan of, I mean the thing that makes *you* act like one of those "oh yeah? Name five of their albums" people. There is a difference

[ungemmed]

Like, y'all, I am a fucking disabled elder millennial re-entry student with a notoriously difficult major at a notoriously difficult school.

When I have the spare mental capacity for pleasure reading during the semester (which I often don't, and that's hell) I do not exactly seek out novels advertised as the heirs of James Joyce. I reread InCryptid or the Heinlein juveniles or the Vorkosigan saga. It's great. It is one of the best bulwarks I have against ADHD driving frazzlement driving depression. Producing comfort reads is a fucking public service.

something I think we all know about fanfic, but don’t talk about because it would hurt writers feelings is that some fics are like fast food. I mean this as a compliment. I don’t always want to sit down for a six course meal that will be a flavor experience. Sometimes I just wanna dip some fries in a frosty. Sometimes I want something homecooked and delicious and super niche, but super comforting. Sometimes I want to eat an entire dark chocolate cheesecake in one sitting even though I know Its gonna make me sick. Just. holy crap, y’all. Sometimes I don’t even want fast food, I just want to eat an entire bag of chips. and yeah, I’m ashamed of myself afterwards, but at the time it was exactly what I wanted. So, no, we’re never going to say to our fanfic writers that we consider their writing to be the equivalent of a midnight run to taco bell - and we shouldn’t, feelings would be hurt by that. But writers, please, please, please, remember this. You don’t need to create a six course meal if you don’t want to. You don’t have to make something complex and homemade if you don’t want to. You don’t even have to finish cooking it - because someone will be thrilled that you brought a bowl of cookie dough and a spoon, because they cannot even consider sitting down and having a proper meal right now. It’s okay writers, whatever you decided to make. Someone was happy to have it. You gave them what they needed. You made them happy. You did good.

[ungemmed]

Leverage episode where they have to bypass security and burn the Gävlebocken

[ungemmed]

we DO grow old and happy. btw.

[ungemmed]

Shamelessly stolen from Discord.

[ungemmed]

If you are within 3 hours of Tulsa, and you love cats,

I need you all to consider, right now, whether you would be willing to take Jasper and Juniper's little brothers as a bonded pair, and/or their wonderful daddy (unneutered) together or separate.

I need to place them as soon as possible. Unlike I usually am able to I currently am not able to keep them or get them neutered and vetted. When we lost the boys I'm maxed out our CareCredit.

Edit: too slow to get Winston surrendered, babies available.

Jesus.

[ungemmed]

Hi there! Friendly former finance worker here!

It will not be a complete list, it'll just be a start. This strategy (at least as of today) only gets you forms 13D, 13G, and 4 -- this is information about large stockholders and/or "insider transactions" (e.g. a CEO getting a stock distribution as part of their pay, or the CTO's mom acting on a tip.)

Some of the real fun comes in when you instead/also look at 13F filings. 13F filings are from the institutional investors that hold the vast majority of stock in America. It is rare for them to individually have voting control over companies (if they did it would be on the 13D). However, if six different institutional investors each own 4%, and they all talk to each other, that is a significant voting bloc.

Unfortunately, only institutional investors with more than $100M in assets are required to file 13Fs, so this still won't get you a complete list.

Also, here's an important terminology note:

"Beneficial owner" just means the person/company that shares are held for if they are held by a third party. For example, if your aunt goes on Schwab and buys ten shares of Apple, then Schwab is the "owner" (for complicated other reasons) but your aunt is the beneficial owner of those shares and "a beneficial owner" of Apple. It's important to not use these things as scare words because when we use these things as scare words, it erases normie entanglement in capitalist systems... which serves capital. It leads us to forget that if we're trapped in a room with them, they're also trapped in a room with us.

lmfao theyre trying to erase EVERYTHING huh.

[ungemmed]

that's... not how it works. you can't guarantee that your work definitely won't squick anyone. what do you think you're saying?

[ungemmed]

Kaoru Yamada