#all this is academic. and yet

[venus-is-in-bloom]

not starting discourse on the post itself bc i want it to spread unbothered... but like, ok, so you think pride is "important"... is it important because it, say, stops the police from beating and arresting us for being gay or trans? obviously not, since they do that just fine the moment we try to protest the imperial war machine being operated in our nations or funded by our nations. in fact, the same cops who brutalised a sister of ours for protesting a war convention are marching alongside us at pride, proudly acting as if they're our allies.

is it because pride gives us publicity, and publicity equals support? that's interesting, because down here in auckland, aotearoa, in february of 2020, the lgbt+ community divested from cops and corporations in order to do a more authentic pride march not beholden to the interests of the powerful. there were thousands of us there, filling the streets. you know what the media said about that? nothing. they reported as if there had been no pride march at all that year. so as soon as we oppose the way things are, our "publicity" goes away.

is pride important because, as you might say, "the first pride was a riot"...? because even though it might not be revolutionary today, it was before? if you look at the actual stonewall riots, or listen to the words of people who were there—i recommend miss major speaks for one of the most prominent voices today—you hear that pride is not at all related to the stonewall riots. at most it co-opted them. the riots were about police brutality and violent repression that was racist as well as homo- and transphobic. on the other hand, the pride flag was invented by a white us army veteran, the pride marches are organised with the blessing of governments worldwide, and police brutality not only around but within pride events reigns unchecked today as it did in 1969, having only slightly changed its targets.

if pride is really so powerful just because people show up en masse and make ourselves visible, then why is it that when people show up en masse for palestine, to oppose genocide, to ask our governments to divest from israel and to sanction the state that bombs and purges civilians in the most brutal of ways, it does nothing? not a peep from our government down here in aotearoa, not a peep from the u.s. government, nothing. our voices have no power and we are being shown that in real time. we are being shown that the "power" of pride is a sham.

if they let us have our rights, let us have our community, let us have our marches, it's not because we have some sort of power. we are like a circus of dancing animals. as long as we behave, we get to have our little display... but this illusion fades like morning mist when we run up against the leash, when we tug on the unbreakable cord of our masters' will.

we could celebrate. after all, even though many of our cousins and fellows are being brutally killed with the support of our governments, at least we have what we want, and shouldn't we be grateful for that? shouldn't we be grateful that our generous masters see fit to grant us the same rights they take away from gay palestinians, the same futures they rip from the bodies of trans children in the drc? those are our kin, our fellow human beings, but do we care?

all i am doing is taking a moment this year to question if our celebration, if our acting joyful at this historic moment, would serve a different cause from ours. if it would enable our unfaithful governments to proclaim that nothing is wrong and they are worthy of our support. if it would show that we are complicit in their pinkwashing. if we could instead spend our energy on protests and organising for our true community, which is not local, not restricted to us and our neighbours nor to the global north, but international.

[s-aint-elmo]

do you ever think about how at the start of their friendship galinda was embarrassed to be seen with elphaba while elphaba followed her around undeterred, trying to strike up conversation with the funny, brilliant blonde girl who paid her perhaps the first sincere compliment about her appearance she'd ever heard, but at the end of their friendship glinda wheels about in the wide open courtyard of colwen grounds calling out for "elphie!" only for the witch to furiously snub the callous, calculating socialite who robbed her of the last piece of her sister she could touch and keep, and walk away for good. or are you normal

[redfishdeadfish]

does anyone ever feel that they’re like. too neurodivergent to fit into normal society but not neurodivergent enough to relate to other neurodivergent people or is that just me

[they-call-me-hippie]

"Those who choose the lesser evil forget very quickly that they chose evil"

Hanna Arendt, "Personal Responsibility Under Dictatorship"

[kbsd]

eugene sledge & robert leckie // "station to station"

it's too late to be hateful the European canon is here

-> WATCH ON GOOGLE DRIVE

(i've been thinking about this video for a long time, but this gifset by meg @ww2yaoi really inspired me to finish it. i also drew a lot of inspiration and themes from where to begin by ama @warriorgays. thank you both!)

some content warnings under the cut:

i wanted this video to be a really comprehensive dive into both leckie’s and sledge’s arcs, which meant including the particularly horrible parts of the war: namely the dehumanization of japanese people, the way the marines used that dehumanization to justify their actions, and how it eroded their own humanity in turn. as such, i included a lot of elements of the show that i wouldn’t normally put into a video and that i don’t often see in visual fanworks, so i wanted to content warn accordingly. this video includes (in addition to the usual canon-typical violence and discussion of ptsd):

canon-typical racism including racial slurs, desecration of corpses, animal cruelty, frontal nudity, and suicide

[inkyrainstorms]

I can’t believe I’ve never seen anyone mention that Fords college counselor told him multiple times, point blank, to ‘seek therapy’ OH MY GOSH. This man 😭😭 his issues have issues and keep ignoring the help that the people around him try to give him bc he believes he needs to do stuff on his own. The foreshadowing is wild. Stanley, the college counselor, and Fiddleford, all of them trying to reach this man and tell him it’s okay to ask for help.

I hope he and Stanley both got the therapy they needed post-Weirdmaggedon. Or at least talked through their issues like function (semi functional) people

[charlesemersonwinchesteriii]

I do really want to terrorpost but I don't feel qualified to be in that fandom man...... everyone is so smart and creative and they all have advanced degrees and I'm just sitting here like I think the lieutenants are in love :3

[ajastu]

sigh...

[puts on my clown hat] alright. i need to say something.

people trying to say that trans/nonbinary representation in veilguard is the worst thing thats happened to the trans community in the last half a year (im exaggerating here but u get my point) need to sit down and ask themselves a couple of questions.

1. Are you nonbinary? If not, do you know someone who is? Have you talked to them about their experiences and what its like to not fit into the strict gender binary that permeates our society on almost every level?

2. Do you think that your experiences are universal?

if you answer no and yes in that order, then i'm going to have to ask you to please put the keyboard aside and go do some self-reflection.

Because frankly. I'm kind of starting to get sick of seeing binary people try to talk about this while completely not understanding the experience and also thinking that their personal perspective is the only true and correct one.

Like, the amount of times ive seen people COMPLETELY misinterpret the scene with Taash and Neve talking in the dining room is ridiculous.

Some things are just not about you. And that's okay <3

[melancholyskittle]

conclaveheads come get yall juice i have middle ages mystic literature that uses the metaphor of sexuality and erotic desires to express the ineffable feeling of gods love

was listening to the new csh song which makes reference to a poem i’d never read before that i thought that we as a community would enjoy !!!

it’s a very important catholic esoteric mystic piece of spanish poetry from the 1500s called “llama de amor viva” by san juan de la cruz

here’s the original and a translation + some analysis as well that was linked in the genius lyrics for the song hehe

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

I AM NOW THE PROUD OWNER OF A 400-PAGE LONG BOOK OF ACADEMIC ANALYSIS ABOUT MDZS (both the novel and CQL, as well as the wider danmei sphere, internet authorship, fan reactions in both CN and non-CN spheres, and so many more interesting things – there are photos of the contents list below) >:DDDD

I only got it this afternoon so have only read the (quite long?) excerpt available online and pages I came across while flipping through, but everything I've read so far is really interesting and well-written. If you're interested, it's promoted on the blog of @pumpkinpaix, where there are also chapter spotlights with comments from authors of each paper/chapter about them and about MDZS in general (which is how I found out about it, one came up in tumblr's 'based on this tag you follow...' recommendation), as well as FAQs (including where to buy it, though I did link that at the start). Alternatively, all posts about it are in the tag #catching chen qing ling!

I really recommend it, especially if content about MDZS interests you! and I promise I haven't been told to advertise this it's just something so so cool... a collection of academic work about MY FAVOURITE BOOK... and I know people do follow me for meta/analysis so this might be the sort of thing people looking at this blog will be interested in..?

[pseudophan]

i'm so extremely irrationally annoyed by people not knowing what various terms mean and using them incorrectly like i feel like that's such an asshole thing to care about but oh my god stop

[pizza-feverdream]

Bitter medicine by the crane wives is about undiagnosed adhd. By the way

[torksmiths]

are there any torksmith fics you like and would recommend to your followers 🙂?

what a question. any answer to this will tell on me in a huge and irreversible way. that being said i will absolutely be answering this and in detail. yay (^_^)

i am medically addicted to be the one to call me baby, even though you’re the one who would always tear me down by mythofthefisherking i think this one is possibly the neatest most interesting piece i’ve ever read about them the characterisation and methods thereof is so wonderful i think about it so often. mike’s so fascinating and aloof and clearly completely unreachable and it’s communicated so stylishly. i have nothing but praise for this. if i let myself talk about this more i will never stop so PLEASE just go and read it. 10/10

the sidle of evening by orphanbeat makes me sick to my stomach and i think of it as a complete and inarguable real life truth. i find its little pseudo-explanation of the watch so interesting and it serves to make the whole situation so so much more miserable. they had lives before they were this… really captures the tone of peter’s quotes on his time living with them just totally crushing and so sweet.

another one that makes me ill is lost down below like them all coincidentally also by orphanbeat they need to lock that guy up forever. there are so many wordings in this that are so brilliantly incisively mike that it makes me want to rip chunks of my hair out. his inner monologue and the little dialogue we get between mike and peter paints such a vivid and (in my heart of hearts.) accurate picture of their relationship. what part do you want back oh all of it…

obviously that was then, this is now (or, the karma blues) by heyheyimnewhere but i feel that goes without saying. as a big tom stoppard fan i get a real kick out of this one and there are so many structural elements and little details to it that made me giggle aloud with joy when i first read it but recommending this feels moot because i assume every torksmither on the planet has read this.

another one i think of as similarly ubiquitous is the series things that start just to end ALSO by heyheyimnewhere who should also be imprisoned. this absolutely unquestionably happened in real life exactly as it is written here and is the result of a vision the likes of which many historians would kill for. i think my first torksmith fic (came at the recommendation of the awesome tobbe) and it set me up well. but AGAIN i assume everyone’s read this.

now welcome to the porn section (^_^) going to be separating these into brilliant maddening works of genius that still haunt me to this day (section one) and. well. useful for other purposes or slightly less articulate but still fun and rowdy (section two)

section one: sing in silent harmony by crashdavis. everybody knows and adores crashdavis so i wanted his inclusion on this list to be something a little more niche than her big series burn your hatred (which you should also read. by the way) so this is an offshoot thereof. yay. one million things i could say about this not least of which being the brilliant insight that is mike nesmith cnc. love the spotlight on peter’s physical strength it’s something i feel is overlooked and it does make me a little sweaty to think about.

funnily enough our second one is also by crashdavis i’m being followed it is for my lover or as the tags call it having a complicated relationship with your gay husband. i feel a little bad putting this in here because obviously it’s not solely torksmith but i needed to be able to talk about this because it is such a perfect little slice of who all these people are. would this happen? under the right circumstances brother and i LOVE an examination slash exploitation of peter staying with mike and phyllis. adore the likening of the scene to a ‘bawdy political cartoon’ and also i like a man in lingerie. 👍

section two: these are going to be briefer because i’ve been writing this a while and i’m embarrassed.

coming in first is in your head by what is now an orphan account and i’m including this because just thinking about it makes me fucking crazy. not a very complex or good or thoroughly rendered scene but just thinking about how this could’ve happened… choice. love peter’s dialogue so much it’s very succinct so as not to scare mike off and just caring enough to feel a little sexily condescending. and i feel torksmith fic often lacks guys getting railed so this fits that purpose very nicely.

our second entry is come together by iceguy and it’s in this category mostly because of the concept. i dig it supremely i think as an idea it’s very funny and i love mike’s indignance and bewilderment. this characterisation (while i feel. a little off the mark and head-like) is so intriguing and i think about that description of mike watching peter at the party near constantly. i love that mike is suicidally miserable the whole time and i love when he shakes his head and peter listens… so much to pick out here. very choice.

this is my awesome list thank you for reading… there’s a lot i left out of the main body because i wanted to give you the cream of the crop but if you have any recommendations send them my way because i love these guys and i love you. kissies

[rebornofstars]

if anyone seeing this post is under the impression that not attending university lectures is fun and edgy. let me paint you a picture. you are going to look at your calendar one day soon and realise your final is in 38 hours and you still have 17 and a half hour long lectures to watch and take notes from.. and while this is possible to achieve it's not exactly relaxing. yeah i'm still fine-tuning my academic skills what abt it

[mycherrycola]

I spent a while trying to think of alternate hairstyles to try on Virgil's luscious long hair but all my brain gave me was 'Rapunzel in Tangled (2010)'

[geektrashfan]

Had an epiphany about my research while writing Zosan smut. Specifically, writing a steamy scene of Zoro being very obsessed Sanji's legs. Somehow, the action of writing about them fucking nasty made me think about how I could improve the analysis I'm doing.