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thorntonkrell-blog-blog · 7 months ago

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I’ve always said that I’ve never met a stupid person. As a teacher, this was one of my core beliefs. Everyone was capable of learning—no exceptions. Every student who walked into my classroom carried their own stories, struggles, and victories, whether they recognized it or not. My role wasn’t to fill an empty vessel but to activate, validate, invigorate and nurture the potential and knowledge already present. I believed in their ability to learn, even when the world outside my classroom often preferred to divide people into two simple camps: smart or stupid.

That’s how my buddy saw things. He was a successful businessman, shrewd and confident, with an undeniable knack for turning opportunities into profits. His achievements were built on calculated risks, sharp instincts, and a work ethic that left little room for doubt. And with success came the certainty that he could spot a fool from a mile away. He often spoke of people as if they fell neatly into two categories: smart or stupid. To him, it was that simple.

When someone fell short of his expectations, he would dismiss them with a sneer and a phrase that made me wince every time: “He’s as dumb as a bucket full of rocks.” He’d say it with a smirk, convinced he was cutting to the heart of the matter. To him, people who made poor choices were “stupid,” and that was the end of it. No nuance, no room for growth—just a label that slammed the door shut.

But there was more to it than that. Even though he wasn’t much of a reader, and his academic life had never been particularly oustanding, my pal had a peculiar defense mechanism. He could handle business deals with ease, but when it came to things he didn’t understand or people who struggled to keep up with him in conversation, he would often default to the word “stupid.” His dismissal of others was his shield against vulnerability. People who weren’t as quick on the uptake, people who didn’t have the same sharpness he prided himself on, were labeled “stupid.” The more academically challenged someone appeared, the quicker his judgement was: too slow, too ignorant to keep up.

I understood where he was coming from. In his world, being smart meant winning, and winning meant survival. If you weren’t on top of your game, you risked losing everything. But I couldn’t bring myself to see people in such stark terms. “Smart” and “stupid” are not fixed states. People make mistakes, people learn, and people grow. To label someone as beyond hope was, to me, a profound failure of imagination and empathy.

So one day, when he launched into another rant about someone’s “stupidity,” I decided to push back. “I’ve never met a stupid person,” I said, keeping my voice even. He turned to me, half-amused, half-incredulous, as if I’d just suggested the earth was flat.

“But I have met a few ignorant people,” I continued. “Ignorance can be fixed. It just means there’s something you don’t know yet.”

He laughed, but it was a hollow sound. To him, ignorance and stupidity were one and the same. But I couldn’t accept that. Ignorance is simply a gap in knowledge—a gap that can be filled with experience, education, and an open mind. Stupidity, by contrast, implies an unwillingness to learn, a refusal to grow. The distinction mattered to me, even if he couldn’t see it.

And then it occurred to me: when a person, even a successful person like my friend, overuses the word “stupid,” it’s not just a casual insult. It’s a clear reflection of their own ignorance. Because it reveals a childish failure to understand the complexity of people, situations, and the mistakes we all inevitably make. And like ignorance, that kind of narrow thinking can be fixed, too—if only they recognized it and the fact that they don't is the definition of ignorance itself.

In my classroom, that distinction shaped how I taught. Every year, as spring break approached, I’d stand before my students and give the same piece of advice: “Don’t do nuttin’ shtoopid.” The phrase always got a few laughs and eye-rolls, but they knew I meant it. “Sthoopid” wasn’t about intelligence—it was about those split-second decisions that could have lifelong consequences. Even the brightest students were capable of making foolish choices, and I wanted to remind them that they had the power to think, to choose better.

One student once asked me why I said it that way. “Sthoopid?”

“Because it sticks,” I said with a grin. “Maybe you’ll hear my voice in your head when you’re about to do something reckless.” He laughed, but I saw him nod, understanding that it was more than just a joke. Humor has a way of reaching people when lectures fall flat.

It made me think back to the playground arguments of childhood. “You’re stupid.” “No, you’re stupid.” A back-and-forth volley, as if winning the argument made one of us smarter, better. We didn’t want to be seen as “stupid”—it was the worst thing you could be, the opposite of everything we wanted to prove. But those childish taunts echoed in adult life. My friend, with all his success, was still playing that game, just with higher stakes.

I couldn’t shake the idea that his division of the world into “smart” and “stupid” was a form of self-protection, a way to guard against his own vulnerabilities. But it was also limiting—blinding him to the complexity and potential of those he dismissed. And it wasn’t just him. I saw it everywhere: people eager to categorize, to label, to simplify the messiness of human experience into two neat piles.

In my classroom, I tried to push back against that mindset. When I told my students, “Don’t do nuttin’ shtoopid,” I wasn’t judging their intelligence. I was reminding them that they had a choice. They weren’t buckets of rocks. They could learn, think, and grow. Ignorance was a temporary state; stupidity was a refusal to change. I believed in their capacity to be better, even when the world wanted to divide them into “smart” or “stupid.”

Maybe that’s why I still can’t bring myself to call anyone truly stupid. The door to growth is always open. It’s up to us whether we choose to walk through it.

Unfortunately for me, as I was walking while scribbling the notes that would lead to these thoughts, I walked right into the door between my office and my vestibule.

Whoops.

Let's take this conversation out of the classroom and into American society writ LARGE.

The concept of stupidity, when applied broadly, has profound effects not just on individuals, but also on entire communities and cultures. The labels of "stupid" and "smart" carry significant weight in shaping how people perceive each other, how they interact with the world, and how societal systems function. At its core, the idea of "stupidity" is a reflection of human judgment, often used to simplify complex traits or behaviors, but it can have far-reaching consequences when it seeps into collective thought.

The binary of "smart" versus "stupid" can deepen social divides. In communities, labeling people as "stupid" often becomes shorthand for dismissing them, and it can be a tool of exclusion. Think about how people who are less educated, less wealthy, or who don’t have access to certain resources or opportunities might be labeled as "stupid." This labeling doesn’t just harm individuals; it serves to solidify class and status divides. The implication is that intelligence is something intrinsic, unchangeable, and often linked to socioeconomic status and college degrees. Communities can become polarized when intelligence is reduced to this narrow view—those at the top dismissing those at the bottom as inherently "stupid," and those at the bottom internalizing that label as a source of shame or inferiority.

Some of us are secure enough in our certainty to have MASTERS degrees and some even more certain are Doctors (whaddya call the person who graduated last in their class in medical school...that's right we call him/her Doctor)

This kind of thinking prevents social mobility. If individuals within a community are continually told they are "stupid" or incapable of learning, (neither Bachelors nor Masters) it can suppress their potential and reduce their ability to see opportunities for growth. Entire cultures may operate under the mistaken assumption that some people are simply "born stupid," and thus unworthy of resources like quality education, healthcare, or leadership opportunities. This not only harms individuals but also reduces the overall potential of the culture as a whole, stifling creativity, innovation, and progress.

Culturally, the pervasive use of "stupid" creates an environment where open-mindedness is discouraged. If someone makes a mistake, they are swiftly labeled as "stupid," and the conversation is over. This approach closes the door to dialogue, learning, and personal growth. In my classroom, I learned to welcome mistakes and priase them as ultimate learning opportunities.

People are less likely to admit when they don’t know something, afraid of being perceived as "stupid," and so they stop asking questions or seeking out new information thus amassing their own formidable brand of certainty. In communities and cultures where this mindset prevails, the fear of being labeled "stupid" can lead to conformity, groupthink, and a resistance to change. New ideas are rejected because they threaten the established way of thinking, and individuals who challenge the status quo may in turn be dismissed as "stupid" or "naive."

This dynamic can have a profound impact on cultural evolution. When an elite society or community relies on rigid definitions of intelligence and dismisses the value of learning through mistakes or experiences, it becomes harder to adapt, innovate, or overcome challenges. The dismissal of "stupidity" breeds intellectual stagnation and can suppress creativity, curiosity, and the willingness to explore new perspectives—essential components of a thriving culture.

In educational settings, the concept of stupidity is especially damaging. It’s one thing for a teacher to label a student as "ignorant" (which can be corrected), but calling them "stupid" has a much more corrosive effect. It discourages effort, lowers self-esteem, and reinforces a fixed mindset that intelligence is something innate and unchangeable, rather than something that can be nurtured and developed. The belief in inherent stupidity may prompt students to disengage from the learning process, believing that no matter how hard they try, they will always be "stupid" in the eyes of their peers or teachers.

This cultural problem extends beyond the classroom. It permeates societal attitudes toward education. If people are constantly labeled as "stupid," they may feel less inclined to pursue education, knowing that their intellectual worth is devalued. In turn, this limits their potential contribution to society. When a culture embraces the notion that some people are simply incapable of learning, it wastes talent and prevents people from growing beyond their circumstances and produces a malignant form of elitism. This is particularly true for marginalized communities, where access to quality education is already limited. If those communities are already dismissed as "stupid" by the broader society, they may face greater barriers to educational achievement along with festering anger and desire for recrimination. Even the smallest worm having been tread upon will turn and every dog will have its day.

The concept of stupidity has a dangerous influence on politics and governance. When political leaders or media outlets label opposing views as "stupid," they dehumanize the people who hold those views. Instead of fostering meaningful debate and discussion, it encourages polarizing rhetoric that divides rather than unites. When ideas are dismissed as "stupid," there is no room for nuanced conversations about complex issues. People who hold different opinions become the "other"—out of touch, unworthy of consideration, and deserving of contempt. 20 Billion dollars was just spent attempting to increase the level of contempt in America.

This creates a toxic political climate in which reasoned discourse is replaced by simple-minded attacks. It’s easier to dismiss someone as "stupid" than to engage with their argument or try to understand their perspective. This dynamic undermines democratic processes by making it harder to find common ground or build coalitions across political lines. When "stupidity" becomes the go-to insult, it weakens the fabric of public discourse and inhibits progress. Interestingly, the use of the word "stupid" often says more about the speaker than the person being labeled. It can be a defense mechanism, a way of shielding oneself from vulnerability. Those who feel insecure about their own knowledge or abilities might quickly label others as "stupid" in order to protect their self-image. If they can cast others as ignorant or inferior, it makes them feel superior, even if that superiority is based on flimsy or flawed reasoning.

In cultures that prize individual achievement and competition—like capitalist societies—people are often measured by their success. Success becomes equated with intelligence, and failure with stupidity. This cultural pressure leads to a proliferation of the "stupid" label. When individuals encounter challenges or experience failure, they might internalize that label, believing that they are somehow unworthy of success or incapable of growth. On a community-wide scale, this culture of competitiveness can turn toxic, as people constantly measure their worth against others and dismiss those who don’t meet certain standards.

The concept of stupidity extends far beyond the individual and influences entire communities and cultures. When people are labeled as "stupid," it diminishes their value, fosters division, and suppresses the potential for growth. Whether in the classroom, in business, or in political discourse, this label simplifies complex human experiences and dismisses the possibility of change. By challenging the use of "stupid" as a catch-all term, we open the door to deeper understanding, empathy, and progress—both on an individual and societal level.

In recognizing that stupidity is often a failure of imagination, we can begin to shift the way we think about people and their potential. Ignorance, after all, can be overcome with education and experience. Stupidity, on the other hand, is a refusal to grow. By acknowledging the difference and rejecting the label of stupidity, we create a culture that is more open to learning, more accepting of mistakes, and ultimately, more capable of progress.

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digitalmarketing-01 · 1 year ago

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Navigating Employability: Understanding Its Impact and Importance

In today’s competitive job market, understanding the nuances between Unemployability and Unemployable is crucial for students preparing to enter the workforce. Both terms often get used interchangeably, but they have distinct meanings and implications. Let’s delve into these differences to better equip ourselves for the professional world.

Defining Unemployability

Unemployability refers to situations where external factors hinder an individual’s ability to gain employment. These factors can include economic downturns, technological changes, or structural shifts in industries. For instance, during a recession, even highly skilled individuals might face difficulty finding jobs due to a lack of available positions. Unemployability is often temporary and influenced by the broader economic environment rather than personal attributes.

Understanding Being Unemployable

On the other hand, being unemployable is more related to personal attributes or circumstances that prevent an individual from securing employment. This can include a lack of necessary skills, poor work ethics, or an inability to adapt to workplace norms. Unlike Unemployability and Unemployable is often a long-term issue that requires personal development and significant effort to overcome. Addressing this issue involves education, training, and sometimes a change in attitude or behavior.

Implications for Students

Understanding these differences is essential for students as they plan their careers. While external factors contributing to unemployability might be beyond one’s control, becoming employable is largely within an individual’s power. Here are some strategies to help students avoid being unemployable:

Continuous Learning and Skill Development: The job market is dynamic, and the skills in demand today might not be as valuable tomorrow. Engaging in continuous learning and updating one’s skill set can ensure that students remain relevant in their chosen fields.

Adaptability: The ability to adapt to new environments and changes is highly valued by employers. Demonstrating flexibility and a willingness to learn new processes or technologies can significantly enhance employability.

Networking: Building a professional network can provide valuable opportunities and insights into the job market. Networking can open doors to job prospects that might not be advertised publicly.

Soft Skills: Employers often look for candidates who possess strong soft skills such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving abilities. These skills can differentiate a candidate in a competitive job market.

The Role of Educational Institutions

Educational institutions play a vital role in bridging the gap between education and employment. Institutions like Prinik Academy, situated at 104, Ocean Plaza, Sector-18, Noida, offer courses designed to enhance employability by providing students with up-to-date knowledge and practical skills. Prinik Academy’s website [https://prinikacademy.com/] provides more information on its programs and how it prepares students for the job market.

Conclusion

In conclusion, distinguishing between Unemployability and Unemployable is crucial for students aiming for successful careers. While external factors can create periods of unemployability, being unemployable is a personal challenge that can be addressed through education, skill development, and a proactive attitude. By focusing on continuous improvement and leveraging resources like those offered by Prinik Academy, students can enhance their employability and navigate the complexities of the modern job market effectively.

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danastroutattorney · 1 year ago

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Construction Defects- Legal Recourse for Building Imperfections

In the world of construction, the creation of a building is an intricate dance of precision and planning. Yet, despite meticulous efforts, imperfections can arise, manifesting as construction defects. These defects, ranging from minor issues to major structural problems, can significantly impact a building's integrity, functionality, and even the safety of its occupants. When faced with such imperfections, navigating the legal landscape becomes crucial for seeking recourse and rectification.

Defining the intricate web of construction defects requires a nuanced approach. It encompasses various anomalies that deviate from the agreed-upon quality standards or fail to meet the building's intended design and performance. These defects can materialize in diverse forms, spanning from design flaws, poor workmanship, subpar materials, to inadequate site preparation. Whether it's a leaking roof, cracked walls, faulty wiring, or even a compromised foundation, each defect holds the potential to disrupt the building's usability and longevity.

The implications of these construction defects extend far beyond mere discomfort or inconvenience. Indeed, they have the potential to lead to significant financial burdens, compromise the safety of the residents, drastically erode the value of the property, and provoke heated disputes amongst various stakeholders. Understanding the complex pathways of legal recourse available is vital for both property owners and professionals in the construction industry. In such a complex field, the role of an accomplished attorney, like Dana Strout Attorney, becomes indisputable. With over four decades of experience in handling construction and commercial litigation cases, Dana Strout Attorney provides the requisite expertise and professional acumen necessary to navigate these challenging situations. His unmatched proficiency in this realm underscores the criticality of securing excellent legal advice in dealing with the multifaceted and often intricate issues associated with construction defects.

Resolving construction defects typically involves navigating a complex maze of legal frameworks, which may vary based on jurisdiction and contract specifics. In general, pursuing remedies often involves multiple layers, starting with a thorough examination of contracts, warranties, and applicable laws. Contracts governing the construction project often outline responsibilities, warranties, and dispute resolution mechanisms, forming the foundation for potential legal actions.

A pivotal aspect in addressing construction defects is determining liability. This facet involves identifying the responsible parties, which could include architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, or even material manufacturers. Pinpointing liability demands a meticulous examination of the construction process, documentation, and adherence to industry standards. Often, it requires the expertise of legal professionals well-versed in construction law to navigate the complexities and attribute fault accurately.

When faced with the unfortunate circumstance of construction defects, legal recourse is typically sought through four primary venues: negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and litigation. Each method comes with its unique advantages. Negotiation and mediation, for instance, present parties with the valuable opportunity to reach a resolution outside of the courtroom. In these scenarios, the involved parties are encouraged to work collaboratively towards a solution that is mutually agreeable. These methods have been noted for their ability to preserve and even strengthen relationships, significantly reduce costs associated with legal disputes, and expedite the resolution process, thereby diminishing the potential for prolonged stress and uncertainty. In these complex situations, an expert in the field can make all the difference. Dana Strout Attorney is a highly regarded attorney who has made a significant mark in the realm of construction and commercial litigation.

Alternatively, arbitration and litigation represent more formal routes for resolution, where disputes are adjudicated in front of an arbitrator or a court. While these avenues tend to be more adversarial and time-consuming, they provide a structured platform for presenting evidence, arguments, and seeking judicial remedies, such as monetary compensation, repairs, or injunctions.

Navigating the complex terrain of construction defects can prove to be a daunting task, largely due to the time-bound nature of legal procedures. Both statutes of limitations and repose establish stringent deadlines, determining the time frame within which legal proceedings related to these defects must be initiated. The failure to adhere to these deadlines can monumentally obstruct any possibility of seeking and securing justice, thereby underlining the absolute necessity for prompt identification, thorough assessment, and swift action upon the detection of these defects. This is where the expertise of a seasoned professional like Dana Strout Attorney comes into play, guiding you through this intricate labyrinth of legalities with adept competence.

In the complex realm of construction defects, the pathway to vindication requires a tactical approach. This entails securing the expertise of a legal firm proficient in construction law, such as Dana Strout Attorney, to competently navigate the dynamic landscape. Lawyers with prowess in resolving disputes, interpreting contracts, and championing trials are instrumental in safeguarding the rights and stakes of the concerned parties.

Beyond the legal nuances, preventative measures constitute a crucial aspect of addressing construction defects. Proactive steps such as rigorous quality control, adherence to industry standards, meticulous documentation, and comprehensive inspections throughout the construction process serve as preventive buffers against potential defects. Robust contractual agreements specifying responsibilities, warranties, and dispute resolution mechanisms can further fortify against future disputes.

Furthermore, fostering a culture of transparency, communication, and accountability among stakeholders is instrumental in averting and swiftly addressing any emerging issues. Collaboration between architects, contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers in adhering to best practices and promptly addressing concerns can mitigate the risk of defects and contribute to the creation of structurally sound and resilient buildings.

In essence, the landscape of construction defects embodies a labyrinth of legal intricacies intertwined with the pursuit of rectification and prevention. Addressing these imperfections necessitates a comprehensive understanding of contractual obligations, liability attribution, available legal avenues, and proactive measures to safeguard against future discrepancies. Through this terrain demands a multifaceted approach, blending legal expertise, industry knowledge, and a proactive mindset. Amidst these challenges, the pursuit of recourse for construction defects stands as a testament to the quest for accountability, rectification, and the continual pursuit of excellence in the construction realm.

#dana strout camden maine #dana strout attorney #dana strout

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acadestudio10 · 2 years ago

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Voice Over Services: Making Your Message Heard

Introduction

The world of today is powered by communication and that is why it is more important than ever to make your voice heard. People from all walks of life use voice to convey their ideas. You could be an upcoming entrepreneur, an experienced marketer, or simply a person who has a strong message to share with the world. In every situation, you need to make use of your voice to succeed in the world you live in. In case you couldn’t tell, we are trying to highlight the significance of voiceover services, and how you can use them to captivate your audience and leave a long-lasting impression on them. Through this article, we will talk about the importance of voiceover, and how you can use them to your advantage.

The Art of Voice Over

Voiceover is the technique of recording a voice to be used in various mediums such as film, television, radio, podcasts, commercials, video games, and more. It is the unseen hero that improves storytelling and delivers a message with a strong impact. Think about those memorable movie trailers, engaging video game characters, or the soothing voice guiding you through a meditation app - all of these are the gift of talented voiceover artists.

Let us understand why professional voice over services are so crucial in today’s digital world.

Human Connection

The voice of a human carries with itself emotion, nuance and authenticity. When we hear a human voice, it becomes a conversation instead of simple words.

Clarity and Consistency

Professional voice overs have the ability to ensure that the message is delivered according to the defined standards. There is clarity, accuracy, and absolutely no room for misunderstanding.

Global Reach

Voiceovers allow you to go beyond the geographical and linguistic boundaries and touch the hearts of a foreign audience. These services act like a bridge between you and people all over the world.

Brand Identity

A unique voice can become synonymous with your brand. Think of Morgan Freeman's velvety tones that represent integrity and trustworthiness.

Effectively Using Voice Over Services

Now that we have established the importance of voiceovers, let us explore various tips so that you can ensure your message is heard among the people.

Find Your Voice Artist

Just like a fingerprint, every voice artist is unique. This is the tricky part. The tone, style, and personality of the voiceover artist should go hand in hand with the message that you want to convey. For instance, a deep voice might suit a corporate video, while a friendly voice would be a better option for children’s animation.

Scripting Matters

Your script is the blueprint for your message. Keep it brief, clear, and engaging. Short sentences are usually better to captivate the audience. Use clean language that paints a picture in the listener's mind. The right script can make even the most complex ideas accessible and fun.

Embrace Emotion

Emotion is the secret sauce of effective voiceovers. Whether you want to make people laugh, cry, or feel inspired, your voice actor should be able to convey the emotion genuinely. The listener should feel like they're experiencing the emotion firsthand.

Timing Is Everything

The rhythm and pacing of a voiceover can greatly impact its effectiveness. Pay attention to the tempo of your script. Slow and deliberate for emphasis, fast for excitement. Don't rush the delivery; give the listener time to absorb the information.

Sound Quality Matters

No matter how great your script and voice actor are, if the audio quality is bad, your message will suffer. Invest in professional voice over services that make use of latest recording equipment and sound editing to ensure crystal-clear voice. Background noise or poor audio quality can be distracting and ruin your message's impact.

Adapt to Your Medium

Different mediums require different approaches to voiceovers. A radio ad, for instance, may demand a more energetic and attention-grabbing voice, while a documentary needs a calm, informative tone. Choose your voice-over services that suit the medium of your work with its audience.

Use Different Accents

If your message has a foreign reach, try using voiceover artists with different accents. Accents can add authenticity and relatability, which helps you connect with diverse audiences.

The Power of Rhythm

As someone searching for professional voice over services for their business, you should never underestimate the power of rhythm. A well-placed emphasis on a key word or phrase can make your message more memorable in the minds of the audience. It guides the listener's attention and highlights the importance of the message.

Testing and Feedback

This is a highly underrated tip if you want to make the most out of your voiceover services. Before finalizing your voiceover, test it on a small focus group. Gather feedback and make necessary adjustments. Sometimes, a fresh perspective can uncover areas for improvement.

Stay Updated

Like every other creative field, the world of voiceovers keeps evolving over time. You need to stay current with trends and technologies. New voice talent emerges and styles keep changing. Keeping your approach fresh ensures your message remains relevant and engaging.

Summing Up

In a world where information is overflowing, it is a huge challenge to make your voice heard. This is where voiceover services can help. They offer a unique way to rise above the noise and connect with your audience. With the help of professional voice over services, you can find the perfect voice for your business.

Whether you are trying to promote your product, share your story, or simply educate the world, voiceovers can help you a long way. Instead of simply speaking, these services will make sure that your voice is heard and captured by people all over the world.

#voiceover #communication #voiceoverservices

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foundouthatdabiistouyatodoroki · 4 years ago

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"You're not the only one who didn't really see him"

There are nuances to what she said to “didn’t look at him either" This has been already answered by many meta writers in the fandom. I will answer this ask to the best of my abilities.

To examine what she said, let’s take a look at Rei’s background for better clarification on her character.

On the first panel, there’s a Japanese miniature garden in the background, and on the one page is Rei’s parent’s explanation of the Himura family.

Judging from the explanation of the Himura history and the small panel of the miniature garden in the background, Rei came from a traditional conservative family one that held on to old costumes and traditions

Are they poor?

Touya’s comment about Rei's family sounds inaccurate to describe her family situation. I believe that they are not. Judging from the background I would say they have enough money to sustain themselves; from the explanation they gave to Endeavor they were not poor, they just fell out of power.

These panels say a lot about Rei’s family; this page only gave us a glimpse of their personalities.

Her family takes pride in themselves as Himuras. The way they talked showed they care more about the Himura name than their own daughter’s individuality. They valued the Himura name over the needs of their daughter.

Shoto said that Endeavor made her family agree to the marriage but in reality, they happily accepted the marriage.

They gladly welcome Endeavor in because they see this marriage as an opportunity to increase their influence.

When Rei told Endevoir she agreed to the marriage for her family’s sake, this means wasn’t out of love, it was out of obligation.

Often old fashioned rich families are all about rules and duty. Since Rei was a Himura woman she had a duty to follow the wishes of the Himura family she agreed to this marriage out of the duty of a Himura woman.

Rei never wanted to marry Endeavor. You can see how unhappy she is in these panels and how she resigned to her situation

She knew as a Himura woman she didn’t have too much of a choice but in reality, she did.

I said before that rei and endeavors marriage is a “miai” a "potential meeting interview that may lead to marriage” and here’s the thing you can refuse the marriage it said potential marriage, not marriage so you can refuse it if it doesn’t go well Rei can refuse the marriage meeting but she didn’t; she only agreed out of expectations of her parents.

She was okay with Touya and Fuyumi: that’s a fact,

She was against having more children; that’s a fact. She knew it would hurt Touya.

The reason she was forced to have more children was out of fear of her husband.

She yielded to Endeavor’s demands because she was terrified of Endeavor’s obsession.

In these following panels, the look in Rei’s eyes showed how she’s afraid of her husband.

There was a reason she didn’t go to Touya: it's because she knew that Touya only wanted to Endeavor to look at him.

She must have been aware of others’ desires to some extent; she must have known what her parents wanted and knew what Endeavor was using her for. If she was able to scathingly reply that Endeavor is running away then she is aware of others’ feelings to some extent.

If she was able to tell off Endeavor why did she fail with Touya well… let’s examine the infamous Touya and Rei scene:

Rei, finding her son about to go out to train, attempted to stop him from going out. She managed to stop Touya by asking this question.

The reason why he paused from the question is that the first time someone asked him what he wanted. This question pierced his obsession with living up to the ideal successor his father burdened him. It’s cathartic because it showed a little more self-awareness on Touya’s part: she asked what he wanted and it almost succeeded in stopping Touya but the next… She ruined it at this moment.

You think she’s saying this to Touya but she might say this to herself.

This had nothing to do with Touya. It's all about Rei’s perspective. She focused not on Touya’s feelings but her perspective on all of this. She focuses on how she feels than her problems, on how she feels trapped in her marriage Endeavor and is suffering from it. This is more about Rei than about Touya.

Her words ignore Touya’s problems and goals: he does want to be a hero but he wanted to be good enough in his father’s eyes. She didn’t address Touya’s emotional needs and understand his pain and failed to do so her inability to understand her sons perspective and inability to acknowledge her own mistakes

In contrast to what she says are her actions. She did the same thing she told him not to do, the best example is with her marriage to Endeavor. She never wanted the marriage but agreed out of her parents’ urging. She went along with what her parents wanted for her. She went along with the marriage knowing full well it was a quirk marriage and knew fully well that Endeavor wanted her genetics to create a perfect heir.

She did whatever others told her she yielded to others’ demands of her like she did out of her family and Endeavor’s expectations of her. She continued to play along with the situation until it worsened over time.

To make matters worse, her words "to look beyond his father" sounded like the same thing Endeavor said to Touya 5 years earlier. She didn’t practice what she preached: her advice highlights her flaw she didn’t want to notice.

Rei said not to follow the path his parents set out for him but she did the very thing that her parents set out for her. She pulled the entire do what I say not what I do out on Touya. Her entire advice comes off as hypocritical and that’s what her son called her out on.

He was not wrong: she is responsible for his suffering too for putting Touya through this path.

That’s why her son’s words shocked her: because he’s right and it hurt to hear the reason why it hurt is that it was true his death after she was hospitalized, hurt her so much because she realized that she failed her child.

In a small dialogue, we get to hear Rei’s thoughts confronted with the truth. It made her vulnerable to the abuse when she began to associate that stare with her abuser leading to her mental breakdown

People in abusive relationships tend to downplay their suffering. She attempted to downplay it; she deluded herself by convincing herself it’s not that bad when in reality it was. She hid how unhappy she was underneath.

She thought she didn’t have a choice but she did have a choice and didn’t act. Touya too was wrong about her not having a choice. Despite knowing the truth she was so passive and complacent to the problems in the Todoroki household and allowed it to happen she was too passive to her situation and never acted she allowed it to happen. It's because she lacked any sort of self-awareness and confrontation in addressing the abuse. This made her not realize how much pain Touya was in.

She sees the rest of her children as manifestations of her mistakes. She doesn’t like to know she made mistakes, especially ones that hurt others as a consequence she didn’t want to see her problems. She couldn’t look at him because doing so would mean she would have to face her mistake and it hurt her so much.

So the whole reason why she didn’t look at Touya is that she views Touya as the epitome of her mistakes and she is one of the reasons he’s suffering. It hurts to look at him because a lot like to admit she made mistakes and she was just as responsible for them.

#rei todoroki #my meta #meta #touya todoroki

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why-this-kolaveri-machi · 4 years ago

Text

we are our family, even if we don’t want to be.

Titans 3.07

a bit over halfway through the season, and we still don’t have all of our main characters on the board! i love this show.

as always, typing this up as i watch. live reaction, baby! *shadowboxes*

SPOILERS AHEAD

1. i don’t think i’ve mentioned this before, but i kinda miss the old ‘dc universe’ intro. it was cool! the whole idea of it was wild and waaaaay over-ambitious, but also very very on-brand because of it.

2. this is... the third time we’ve seen dick sleeping this season? that’s a record! checking another thing off my s3 wishlist...

2.5. i guess i rag on titans all the time for its wafer-thin plotting and bad pacing, but i have to admit that this season has been a step-up from the last one in this regard. titans has very reactive rather than proactive protagonists, and a lot of the last season seemed to be: x happened, the team reacted badly, then y happened, they reacted badly, etc. this time around, it’s not a huge leap up by any means, but at least they’re doing something about it.

i do appreciate the focus on character arcs over everything else. and when i say everything else, i mean it: arcs that started two seasons ago with no big cathartic moments, intermittent payoff and multiple relapses. big bads have ranged from interdimensional demons to superpowered assassins to whatever in the world scarecrow is, but trigon’s big weapon against the titans was to... use their worst fears against them. slade’s was to... use their fears to break them up. crane’s is to... use red hood to use their fears to break them up. even the threat of gotham’s citizens being in danger doesn’t feel real: gotham is mythologised into an entity of its own, infecting our heroes like a parasite. like. this is not to say that most other superhero media aren’t big character arcs intertwined with the main plot, but titans doesn’t even make pretend that it’s anything but.

anyway. that’s my entry #2345 to ‘give a grand unifying theory for titans’. thanks. i’ll be back with more.

3. “anger is just fear in a little black dress.” god I HATE HIM

(what’s he doing with barbara’s likeness? oh... oh god. a terrible thought just occurred to me. what if they introduce hush at the very last minute for plastic surgery shenanigans? would you put it past this show?)

3.5. jason, nooooooooo

3.75. i mean, they’re making it very clear here that scarecrow is the one in control--the one who’s always been in control--and is manipulating jason and literally poisoning him, but i hope it doesn’t end up erasing nuance or jason’s autonomy. if jason’s to reckon with the issues that brought him here, then the lines of responsibility will need to be set somewhere.

(this applies to dick as well but more on that later, i guess.)

4. just--the phrase “40% loss of income” is so funny to me. like, gotham is full of these larger-than-life characters who are idiosyncratic beyond belief, colourful and dramatic and creating chaos just for the sake of chaos, and then there’s the regular criminals and their henchmen who just want to make a quick buck sitting down with pie charts and graphs, griping about the joker reducing their returns or debating high risk investments in, i don’t know, two-face’s next scheme.

“yyyyeeeeeaaah, my financial advisor is telling me that going all-in with a guy who literally makes decisions on the flip of a coin is probably not the greatest idea.”

4.5. god i hate smug!smarmy!scarecrow so much

4.85. as big plans to “control” gotham go, it’s pretty bog-standard. clearly scarecrow has some bigger plan in mind but it really feels like we’ve got no clear insight into him and he’s this generic creepy mystery-man who knows more than he lets on and springs a twist/cliffhanger every now and then. i liked the scenes with him and dick in 3.04 where it seemed like he was genuinely on the backfoot and things weren’t going as he predicted. for all of his faults, dick is at least familiar with scarecrow’s bullshit and knows not to give what he wants.

5. i mean... i see where dick is coming from with the “he’s not jason anymore; he’s red hood” because his immediate glaring concern is scarecrow’s drug and the damage it could potentially cause gotham? i do not doubt that it’s something batman drilled into him, too, but when you’re expected to take point on a situation where the lives of an entire city weigh down on your shoulders, it’s better to simplify things and prioritise. i’m not saying it’s great or healthy! gar is absolutely right to consider this facet of the situation. it’s just dick can’t.

6. hmmmmmmm. HMMMMMMMMMMM.

i don’t know that i’m super fond of this iteration of oracle???? it looks like a cross between cerebro from x-men and jarvis from iron man. it’s giving me second-hand embarrassment. somebody help me.

(at least they remembered dick’s middle name is actually “john”. i like to think bruce printed D in that contract because for a while he genuinely thought richard “dick” grayson was his full name. duck duck goose, dick dick grayson, i don’t know alfred, the kid was in a circus, maybe they thought it was funny. or maybe it was a test in anger control, who knows.)

6.5 “maybe you two would like some time alone?” even AI can’t help hitting on dick grayson in this universe.

“oh mr grayson, if i only had another eye to see you better...”

6.8. on one hand, it’s a bit disconcerting that the title of ‘oracle’ has gone from barbara herself to this gigantic machine; from my impression of the comics-verse, barbara had an extensive computing and surveillance system, true, but she was very clearly the brains behind the operation. on the other hand, i’m kind of glad that the ethical boundaries that this kind of surveillance violates is a sticking point for barbara. (tho let’s be real, the nsa would kill to have this in their arsenal).

6.9. also it’s now obvious that scarecrow’s big plan is to take control of oracle itself. it’s why he had lady vic take that picture of her eyes, or why he’s meddling around with it on his computer.

6.95. if only i could ‘command sleep’ anybody overstepping their boundaries re: personal information...

7. “you can just sit back and watch as the titans destroy themselves.” i mean... he’s not wrong

8. “dick’s parents were killed by a criminal mob; he won’t work with them.” it’s wonderful that you have this insight into dick, kory, i just wish we could’ve watched some of these conversations actually happen on-screen.

8.5. i’m glad that kom’s being treated with such nuance and understanding, though it’s obvious that she definitely has a Plan of her own. (and did i entirely imagine her ability to mimic other people flawlessly at the end of s2? or is that going to come into play at some point?) i think her story has the potential to be genuinely poignant, and in a universe where being Different, either because of mental health or physical differences or whatever else, leads a straight line to Evil, it’s important to acknowledge and then emphasise that the mere fact of your existence as a Different Person doesn’t predispose you to evil. maybe your act of destroying a system that has destroyed you and not scrambling to “fit in” is only evil as defined by that system.

8.8. “you’re trespassing, i should call the authorities, i feel unsafe.” now this is a villain lady who’s definitely aware of her privilege.

8.85. kom smirking knowingly at her sister is everything.

“oooh that’s the kory i remember”

9. conner and dick working together woo!

9.25. god i hate a villain who’s always just a step ahead, no matter what. so crane anticipated dick using oracle to track his personal communications and set him up? how did he know when exactly dick would get to do this? how long did he have that poor man tied up in that van?

(the “save me, grayson” is a nice touch, tho. send dick spiralling even further! because if there’s one thing dick will do, it’s take responsibility for every goddamn thing that goes wrong.)

9.5. ahem. i’m going to need a million gifs of conner yeeting dick across that yard, fandom, thankyouverymuch.

(i understand conner is invulnerable to explosions, but how do his clothes survive??)

9.8. oooh crane is already in oracle! i’m just sitting here laughing helplessly because they’re overpowering this goddamned guy so much. he can build a lab in arkham’s basement! he has access to lazarus puddles! he has minions working across gotham, including a fully functional chemical laboratory staffed by chemists who only answer to him! he has the crime families of gotham quailing in his very presence! he has assassins at his beck and call! he’s enough of a manipulative bastard to have red hood under his thumb! and now he has enough of a tech know-how to not only be aware of oracle, but know how to hack into it! i’m sick of exclamation marks! i’ll shut up now!

9.95. dick leaving behind that smouldering grave for a person he failed to save without taking a second to process how he feels about it and running towards his next plan to corner scarecrow: a microcosm of where his head’s at right now.

10. really hammering in the themes of this season, aren’t we.

10.25. the interesting thing is the titans repeatedly call themselves a family this season (none more so than dick) and while that found family has helped encapsulate and put away their traumatic experiences with their ‘original’ families, it’s meant that they’ve not really dealt with those issues. and dick and gar and jason come from ‘found families’ of their own: they are twice removed, traumatised two times over. they still cling to this identity however, and because of it they’re losing each other. a family isn’t static. it’s an ever-evolving dynamic and you have to put in work constantly to keep it healthy.

10.5. anyway, that’s entry #2346. i’m here aaaalll night.

11. lookit gar the detective! half-transforming and using his powers to deduce things! what a hero! i’ve said this for a long time, but gar is the bedrock of this team, and an unsung one at that.

11.25. i’m confused about him calling this room jason’s though. it seems to me that this is dick’s room that jason later used, and one that dick’s using now. so the unmade bed isn’t really jason’s fault; dick was woken by barbara that morning, and in his hurry, he left without making his bed.

(it still confounds me that bruce didn’t find jason another bedroom in that gigantic mansion of his. you really didn’t give this kid a chance, did you?)

12. oh well. so much for the oracle.

13. ... sorry, wait. you didn’t think i wasn’t going to address the bit with dick right now, did you?

12.5. i honestly don’t think it’s very complicated: dick’s been reeling from one traumatic thing to the next, and just when it seemed like at the beginning of the season, he felt happy and secure with his team and his place in the world, bruce ups and leaves gotham to him, specifically naming him a successor and calling him a ‘better batman’. he’s lost garth and jericho and donna and jason and now hank and dawn. he’s not even sure where rachel is or what she’s doing. after being told that batman was a psychopath for moulding him into a weapon, he’s also been told that his failure to be a ‘better batman’ lead to further disaster. of course he’s going to get batman-goggles. of course he’s going to be a prick.

12.8. i don’t know what to say. i feel his frustration acutely. i don’t think he should’ve said what he said to barbara (can people stop pushing her around this season????) but that pressure to step in where your parent fails? to clean up their messes and try to think like them? to fall into habits drilled into you when you developed them as coping mechanisms growing up? I FEEL THAT.

every step he’s taking he’s putting 110% of himself in it and scarecrow’s still playing mindgames with all of them: i absolutely feel his desperation to take control of that game and turn it on scarecrow, no matter what it takes.

and he did apologise almost immediately, and finally--finally--actually works with barbara.

12.9. again, not excusing him! but i get it. and i think that’s a sign of great character writing.

“did you know i just reminded emmram of all of her daddy issues? what the fuck????”

12.95. i love that dick&barbara, kory&kom, and gar are all approaching solving this mystery from different angles, each as valid as the other. also, conner is there as... emergency bomb defuser man?

13. it’s like all fancy rich people in fancy rich houses do is pour fancy rich alcohol into fancy rich glasses on pristine, untouched tabletops. i wonder what it’s like to live like that.

13.25. I KNEW IT! poor michael. it was nice knowing you.

13.5. man, kory is contending with a lot of issues that she’s successfully bottled up and compartmentalised until now. the cold reality that a child can seek out their parents as refuge and they can view the child as a piece to be moved in a greater game (never out of cruelty, though, never, and somehow that makes it worse), that truth of blackfire’s treatment on tamaran because she’s different, and her own culpability in what happened. she exchanged one family for another, after all, and left that family to die and her sister to suffer. like dick, like gar, kory’s being forced to reckon with what the titans are meant to be, the larger implications of creating their found family in their own space.

14. it’s probably because it’s one in the morning and i’ve had two glasses of wine but i did not follow that bit of exposition at all and victor freeze??? what?

anyway. look at them solving things! together! go team!

“you made a deal with the mob?” oh the sense of betrayal on his face! fuck off, dick, your issues aren’t kory’s.

15. conner is really sweet and a bit of an awestruck crush on kom is to be expected. especially after that power rangers-esque transformation (i say this as a former huge power rangers fangirl. i’ve seen every series until 2007 including the original japanese versions and written fanfic for all of them. so i love a cool costume transformation, is what i’m saying.)

also?

FUCK YEAH

16. i love the gotham crime families just chillin’ around eating ice cream. I LOVE THEM

16.5. that was a fun fight sequence, if marred slightly by that bit of awkward flirting between conner and kom. i wonder if she’s really planning to use him in a larger scheme to get kory back to tamaran, or maybe something else.

16.75. so i’m assuming that scarecrow has jason either so paralysed by fear that he can barely move, or jason’s withdrawing from the drug that he’s been sucking in every few minutes.

17. it’s nice to see them chill after a successful mission! and it can be awkward, but conner’s crush on kom and him striving to impress her is also, well, uh... cute.

17.5. i guess the dick/barbara scene was inevitable, especially given the... unresolved nature of their relationship in the flashbacks? and they’ve been through a rollercoaster together this episode, discovering and then destroying an incredible tool within a matter of hours, re-discovering just how well they work together as a team. dick’s swimming in the nostalgia. i don’t expect it to last as a long-term relationship, but i totally get why this is happening now. and hey, they’re cute!

i have a weeeirrrrd feeling that kory is going to leave to tamaran at the end of the season and that dick and kory will rekindle--or rather realise--their relationship just before that. it’s going to be devastating and beautiful and painful and i will be writing essays about it which would be me just wailing into the screen.

18. gar found molly!!!!!!! MOLLY’S BACK! \o/ gar is the BEST

19. that was a fun episode! i love this silly show, even if it does destroy me sometimes <3

#titans #titans spoilers #meta #dick grayson #barbara gordon #koriand'r #komand'r #garfield logan #jonathan crane #conner kent #a byronic cupcake #badass strawberry truffle #manic pixie pop tart

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this-is-totally-plural · 5 years ago

Note

Are western tulpas cultural appropriation? Just curious, because I've seen some messages from other systems saying they are.

I’ve been taking my time with this response because I wanted to do some research before giving this an answer. The situation is complicated and the topic is very much nuanced. Since we don’t have any thoughtforms (that I know of anyways) and were not in the tulpamancer community when it was circulating, we weren’t the most comfortable answering, simply because we didn’t want to spread misinformation! So we reached out to the Outlaws system, who we knew had a lot of experience with the tulpamancer community at a certain time and they offered us answers and insights about your question, as well as permission to share them. Please read the helpful information below. (And a massively HUGE shoutout and truck full of appreciation to Outlaws for sending me all of this and allowing me to use it!!)

Disclaimer: It has been awhile since Outlaws have been in said community and are not part of it anymore for personal reasons. Do not take what they say as gospel (good advice for anything you read on the internet) or try to start a witch hunt. Also the collection of writings is from different conversations about the topic, not one fluid one. Please do come to your own respectful conclusions.

“Mel: Tulpamancy as the internet presently understands it is largely derived from practices established on 4Chan's /x/ board, which is hardly a source of culturally sensitive information, that in turn were influenced by echoes of the new age movement (which is also far from culturally sensitive). Rather, it seems to me that western tulpamancy has strayed from its Buddhist roots (which in themselves were precarious) to embody concepts of thoughtforms derived from chaos magick and psychological concepts.

W: There is (or was when we were in that community) a whole Divide between metaphysical tulpamancers and psychological tulpamancers, each faction subtly, or not-so-subtly, insisting they're more Enlightened than the other party.

W: Based on what I remember reading, the purpose of the tulpa in Buddhism was (unreality cw) to teach the practitioner about the illusory nature of reality so as to bring them closer to attaining enlightenment. This was something I read Years Ago though, so take that with a grain of salt. This has led some people to (rightly imo) assert that "tulpa" is a misnomer for what's actually done, especially given that it's predominantly a secular practice online, but it leads to the problem of there being a whole community built up that's been using that label for like, ~7 years or so now (?) so change is slow going in that department. So yeah, when people talk about it being a cultural thing, they're referring to Tibetan Buddhist spiritual practices, which are Very different from what tulpamancy has become online.

W: Tulpas in Tibetan Buddhism were used as more of a spiritual meditation exercise (as Mel mentioned, David-Néel's account was pretty sensationalist) whereas in the western world, it's predominantly regarded as a psychological thing. There Are people who take a metaphysical approach, but that metaphysical approach is pretty far removed from actual, y'know, Buddhism, and more in line with creation of thoughtforms in stuff like chaos magick.

W: Tl;Dr is, "The metaphysical arm of tulpamancy was originally appropriative because Western occultism in general has a nasty tendency to be appropriative and sensationalist (just look at Kabbalah mysticism). Now Western tulpamancy has since snowballed into something regarded as a purely psychological practice far removed from its original spiritual practices, and could definitely use a label that is more accurate in both an occult and psychological sense.

W: I guess ultimately "is tulpamancy cultural appropriation" is a loaded question. Because yes, the term "tulpamancy" definitely has roots in poor Western understanding of Tibetan spiritual practices (that were in many cases sensationalist, such as David Néel's writings), and I think people should like, recognize that, especially since it's evolved into something closer to chaos magick on the spiritual end of things and... well, self-induced plurality on the psychological end of things. But you also have a whole community built up around the term, to the point of it being cited in research papers like Veissiere's and stuff like that, which makes it hard to shake on a mass scale without putting in conscious effort to slowly educate the community at large about its origins. However, the practice itself, apart from the label, has evolved into its own _thing_, and because of that there's little ties to actual Tibetan Buddhism beyond the name.

W: Are the roots of tulpamancy mired in cultural appropriation? Absolutely. Does this mean you shouldn't touch the practice or community with a ten foot pole? I would argue no, because the practice itself has evolved into something extremely far removed from any kind of Buddhist practice. Take out the 'tulpamancy' label, and you would be left with a practice that's pretty far removed from anything tied to any particular spiritual or cultural group. So, I think a change of terminology is in order in these cases, but I don't think the act of simply creating a headmate should be cancelled outright, or lead to anyone being branded as an approptiator of Tibetan Buddhism or what have you.”

- W and Mel of the Outlaws System

Furthermore, if you have questions about any of this, you can send in more asks and my system will answer them to the best of our ability.

If you are a tulpamancer or interested in tulpamancy and want to use other terms to use, Blossom recommends these:

- Parogenic: A system that is (usually) intentionally created using thought-based methods. For some, this may also include some metaphysical parts, often in the form of energy work. (Coined by the Wanderheart Collective)

- Parogenic headmate: A sentient system member intentionally created by another system member.

- Thoughtform: An umbrella term for any (intentionally or unintentionally) created entity.

Hope this helps!

- Grayson 🌿[Sprite]

#anonymous #tulpamancy

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dndplus · 7 years ago

Text

Getting Started: Combat

Ah yes, combat, because what is a game about sword and sorcery without a reason to use the swords and sorcery? For this post, we’re going to delve into the most basic details of designing an encounter that fits your campaign and power level.

For now, we’re going to start with those staple first encounters that seem to go well. Now, some people will be wondering what to do if they’re starting things at a higher level (like at level 3, 5, or 7), and to this I have to say: this post isn’t for you. If you are a new DM, ask your players to come down to level 1 with you. Seeing your players grow through their levels will teach you so much about how to design encounters, and will also allow you to take things slow.

If you’re here, you’ve probably already put together a setting/setup for your campaign. If you haven’t, go ahead and pop over to this post and come back when you’re ready. (Hint: If you haven’t done that part yet, you’re not ready. Step 1 will make this very clear). Attached to this guide will be “quick start” notes that outline very simple ways to use the lessons you’ve learned along the way.

Step 1: Understand your locale.

So, you’ve got a setting, you’ve got interesting places to put your players, and you probably have an idea of where they’ll all be starting. Odds are, this place isn’t going to be terribly dangerous, and if you’re new and wanted to go for dangerous, I’d suggest rethinking something so flashy. You’re far beyond a “Getting Started” post if you’re really ready for that anyways.

The two best ways to start a campaign (in my opinion) are in a town, or in a prison. A town works well enough, so long as you can orchestrate a way for all of your players come together. A prison is much less complicated, as you typically give/discuss a reason for your players to be in that sort of setting. A more detailed post on how to form adventures will come later, but for now, it’s more important you know how to challenge your players appropriately.

We’re going to use these possible starts as a way to analyze the way a locale affects things...

Step 1a: Prison

Now, in the event of a “prison” start, you have guards to worry about. These could be bandits they were captured by while walking the road, cultists of to some evil deity that wish not to be discovered, or if your campaign isn’t afraid to go full criminal, just plain guardsmen.

The theme here is what’s important, and knowing bandits, cultists, or guards gives you more precise options down the line. They’re all also perfectly viable, as bandits, cultists, and guards have the 1/8th challenge rating (Referred to as CR from here on out). This makes them very easy to dispatch, but most importantly, they come with natural points of progression for harder enemies. At level 1, a fantastic first encounter is matching a 1/8th CR enemy against your players 1-1, which is to say, if you have 4 players, you have them fight 4 bandits/cultists/guards.

Prison Quick Start, Part 1:

The details of how you get to this point are up to you, at least until I get around to posting an adventure-building guide, but if you’re desperate and need a suggestion now, I recommend giving your players some time in their ‘cell’ to introduce themselves, before pointing out an obvious method of escape as whomever is watching them leaves the room to go to the bathroom.

The room in question should contain their means of imprisonment, a place for the person watching them to sit, and for simplicity’s sake an obvious chest with their equipment. Once the players have let themselves out and fetched their things, have the guard who stepped out earlier return, and then call for help. Have however many bandits/cultists/guards you need storm the the chamber to create that 1-1 fight, and enjoy the show as your players test their abilities for the first time.

Step 1b: Town

The ‘town’ start. There is no simpler way to begin a campaign than this, as small towns tend to have no shortage of small problems. The best part about the town start is, bar none, the variety of things you can throw at your players.

Here’s a short list of possible first jobs to get the brain going:

Rat Infested Cellar (the ultimate classic)

Disturbance at the graveyard (skeletons + zombies are some of the absolute best early enemies)

Highwaymen terrorizing the roads (goblins, bandits, and whatever else makes sport of robbing poor townsfolk)

Something Unfriendly Taking up residence in a nearby cave (Giant Wolf Spiders! Giant Beasts! Madmen! A fledgling necromancer! Anything is fair game when a cave is involved!)

Aggressive Bullywugs in a Nearby Swamp (frog people, anyone?)

Less short would be a list of starts to some greater narratives to throw at a player. This takes quite a bit more preparation, and understanding how to build encounters to match your players power level, which comes in Step 2.

Town Quick Start, Part 1:

This couldn’t be simpler. Have your players meet in the tavern, preferably one with a simple name and easily remembered name (The Full Flagon, The Drunken Fool, something maybe including the owner’s name, etc). Let them introduce themselves to one another, and nudge them with the fact that fresh characters start with very little money if they don’t seem to know what to do.

The moment one of them brings up needing work, have the bartender tip them off to whatever job you’ve decided to throw their way. Then, all you need is a person willing to pay to get it done (a guard captain who can’t spare any men, a group of local farmers living near the danger, the mayor, a local wizard who needs something procured; whatever works). And then your players are on their way! There’s not a lot you can safely ‘expect’ your players to do, but going to kill something they’ll get paid for is definitely one of them.

When your players get there, have them fight their first encounter. Below is a simple list of how to keep it easy enough for a first fight based on Challenge Rating (referred to as CR from now on):

CR 1/8 - 1 for each player

CR 1/4 - 1 for each player, minus 1

CR 1/2 - This is trickier. 1 for 2 players. 1 + a CR 1/8 enemy for 3 players. 1 + a CR 1/4 for 4 players. 1 + 2 CR 1/8 enemies for 5 players, adding an additional CR 1/8 enemy for each player after that.

Step 1 Conclusion:

At this point you’ve probably noticed that everything talked about here has something in common: it explains how a locale influences the foes your players will face.

What I haven’t talked about yet is how it all comes together - the influence of your setting. Certain places are going to have different problems, problems you’ve probably already thought about when making your setting. A kingdom at war with a necromancer is going to deal with more undead, a unsafe chain of islands is going to feature pirates, sahuagin, kuo-toa, and sea creatures more prominently, and a more pious kingdom might deal with demon-worshipping cultists carrying out the bidding of their dark masters.

This might not seem important, but I can assure you that it is. Fitting enemies to their locale sets a mood; spiders live in caves, rats live in cellars, and goblins ambush traveling merchants outside of town. If you have the spiders ambush people like highwaymen, you need to realize you’ve just created a very interest scenario that the players will demand an explanation for, and if you’ve got one, more power to you, but that’s really just another way the locale is important in how you set up your combat scenarios.

Step 2: Balance and Kobold Fight Club.

That’s right, i said Kobold Fight Club.

http://kobold.club/fight/#/encounter-builder

THAT kobold fight club, every 5e Dungeon Master’s best friend. This extraordinarily useful tool helps you “budget” out encounters for your party. There’s more to it than that, though, and it’s what Step 2 is all about. Unfortunately for other editions, this is a 5e blog, and that’s what I’ll be focusing on. I’d love to get into the nuances of what came before, but as this is a blog for beginners, and 5e is the most beginner-friendly edition to ever exist, I’m going to keep it 5e for now.

So, how does it work? Simple - you input the number of players you have, and their levels, and you look at what the adventure (and its locale) calls for in terms of potential enemies. As an example, we’re going to use 4 level 1 characters to explore possible encounters.

Now, one of the very first things I did was recommend certain encounters to you in Step 1. Here’s how they ration out by KFC’s calculations (assuming 4 players).

4 CR 1/8 Enemies - Medium Difficulty (200xp)

3 CR 1/4 Enemies - Hard Difficulty (300xp)

1 CR 1/2 Enemy +1 CR 1/4 Enemy - Medium Difficulty (225xp)

As you can see, they’re all in the 200-300 xp range, and are between hard and medium difficulty. Believe it or not, “hard” is not very hard in this situation, as your players will be at full HP and have all of their spells/abilities ready to go.

In fact, don’t think of Easy, Medium, Hard, and Deadly as difficulties at all! What you should do is think of them ‘resource sinks’. Combat takes a toll, and your players will have to use spells to either keep their hitpoints high, or knock their enemies down fast. Regardless, 4 CR 1/8 Enemies become far, far more menacing.

Quick Note: DMs managing new players should mention “Short Rests” after their first combat. These short rests take only an hour, and let them roll their Hit Die (HD) to regain HP naturally. They have one of these HD for every level acquired, so level 1 characters can only do it once, and adventures should be built with that in mind.

Now, KFC also includes what’s known as a ‘daily budget’. Daily budgets are great, but at level 1, it’s a little misleading. Not every party can handle 1200xp worth of fighting in one day right off the bat, after all! That’s why it’s important to take things slow, and throw them into combat with what they can handle.

We’re gonna get back in the ‘Prison’ and ‘Town’ starts now, and use what know about KFC and building encounters to build a ‘Deadly’ final encounter for the players!

Prison Quick Start, Part 2:

So, your players have met, introduced themselves, broken out, and now have a pile of corpses around them. Great! But why, if your players could do that, were they captured in the first place? Well clearly, there must be more bandits/cultists/guards around, and possibly even a leader among them!

Using KFC, your Monster Manual, and perhaps (THIS) extremely useful link, find a suitable ‘boss’ for your bumbling prison guards. If you went bandits/cultists/guards, here’s a suggestion to make it even easier:

Guards - Knight (CR 3!?)

Cultists - Cult Fanatic (CR 2)

Bandits - Bandit Captain (CR 2)

Wait a minute, one of these things isn’t like the other. A Knight has a CR of 3, making it worth 700xp! Clearly it needs to be toned down, so tone it down we will! How does one ‘tone down’ a creature, though? Simply put, we look at its competition.

Knight - 52 Average Hit Points, Armor Class 18, +5 to hit, x2 Attacks, 20 Total Average Damage, Leadership

Cult Fanatic - 33 Average Hit Points, Armor Class 13, +4 to hit, x2 Attacks, 8 Total Average Damage, !SPELLS!

Bandit Captain - 65 Average Hit Points, Armor Class 15, +5 to hit, x3 Attacks, 17 Total Average Damage, Parry

Hmm... Well, the Cult Fanatic is a spellcaster, making it very difficult to compare to the knight. It’s best if we disregard that. Looking further, the Knight is significantly more difficult to kill with it’s whopping 18 Armor Class than the Bandit Captain’s much more manageable 15. In addition to this, the Knight’s leadership ability makes everyone around him much more dangerous.

In this instance, I would rename the knight to ‘Guard Captain’, and cut the Leadership ability altogether. Next, I’d downgrade the armor class to 16. This makes him a higher damage, slightly less durable variant of the Bandit Captain. In addition to this, you can also just use the Bandit Captain’s stat block for a Guard Captain altogether, as nothing about his toolkit is completely unbelievable for a guard.

Next, we have to put it altogether in a proper, final showdown. With a CR 2 creature commanding a 450 xp bounty, we have to be mindful of how it’s already in the ‘Deadly’ category of encounters. What’s important to understand, though, is that quantity often beats quality, and a single enemy worth 450xp is much easier to beat than several enemies totaling 450xp. Also, this is the finale! A fight is allowed to get a little dicey in these situations.

I recommend going one of two routes - Adding a single CR 1/8 minion to support the big bad boss, (Giving us an adjusted bounty of 712xp! Yikes!), or having a couple CR 1/8 minions fight the players alone, and then have the boss ambush the players just after they’ve dispatched the first wave of weaker guards. Doing these two fights one after another, but separately, gives a 100xp fight followed by a 450xp fight with no time to rest, for a total of 600xp and plenty of breathing room for the players. Either way, there’s a decent possibility that one player is knocked unconscious by this combat, and that’s really all you want to threaten so early on in the campaign.

Town Quick Start, Part 2

Alright, everyone knows each other, they’ve found their job, and they just dealt with a group of skeletons/highwaymen/rats/spiders. Why were they there, though? What force (factoring in the setting and locale) made all of this happen? Here’s a few examples below, based on the first scenario:

The rats in the cellar were chased up from below.

The local priest has turned to a darker master, and now defiles the graveyard they’re meant to tend.

The highwaymen you fought have a camp nearby, as show by a map found on one of their corpses.

The cave you’re in goes much deeper, and you’ve not yet cleared it of all dangers...

The Bullywug’s camp can be seen just up ahead! It looks like there’s more of them...

Yeah, some of those were a little too self-explanatory and merely lent to a ‘what’s next?’, but it’s not always so complicated. Using KFC, the Monster Manual, and THIS extremely useful link, let’s find appropriate enemies for a finale!

An ankheg burrows through the ground beneath the town, and is responsible for the rats! (CR 2)

The local priest is evil, and lucky for you, a standard priest fits the bill (CR 2)

Bandit Captains are CR 2, Goblin Bosses are CR 1 (with stronger minions to compensate). All good stuff.

Those Giant Wolf Spiders are shacking up with a proper Giant Spider (CR 1), or perhaps you found wolves, and a Dire Wolf (CR 1) leads the pack!

Oh dear... those Bullywugs have tamed a man-eating Giant Toad! (CR 1)

These can all be worked with, and for a big final showdown, we want an adjusted XP of 600-750. That puts us well into Deadly territory, and lets us explore with just what ‘adjusted’ XP is. Basically, many smaller enemies totaling 100xp are much more dangerous than one enemy worth 100xp, so when fighting a group, the xp is adjusted upwards to compensate. KFC does this automatically, so let’s look at how adjusted XP rates influence the final round of combat:

An Ankheg is pretty nasty all on its own, but have a fifth Giant Rat emerge alongside it and things just might get crazy (Adjusted XP 712)

The priest was corrupted, and the cultist (CR 1/8) who brought the words of a new, dark master to him is present. Together, they make for a much more daunting fight (Adjusted XP 712)

The Bandit Captain and one of his bandits are more than enough for 4 level 1 characters (Adjusted XP 712). Goblins, however, can be much meaner. 2 Goblins and a boss give us an Adjusted XP of 600, and a 3rd goblin brings us to 700. Let’s not forget how dicey things can get when you add more enemies though and keep it at 2 goblins and their boss until we know more about the party’s capabilities.

Giant Wolf Spiders and Giant Spiders match the Goblin and Goblin Boss dynamic. 2 Giant Wolf Spiders and 1 Giant Spider give us a 600 Adjusted XP, which just barely gets us to the mark.

Like the goblins and the spiders, Bullywugs and their Giant Toad follow the 1/4 and 1 CR statline. 2 Bullywugs, 1 Giant Toad, 600 Adjusted XP, and probably 1 player scarred for life after they’re swallowed whole by the toad. Perfect.

Step 2 Conclusion:

Now, at this point, you’ve got what you need to start a campaign, but what about going forward? Well, it’s different for every party. What’s important is that you know how to build fights and adjust the values to suit your party’s needs. Here are some extra notes to think about before we finish up:

Are enemies I’m using especially good against the party? Dragons are famous for flying up and out of reach, turning that DPS machine barbarian into a rage-less, terrible archer. On the other end, that cleric with tons of Wisdom that LOVES Hold Person might be a little too good against certain humanoids...

What advantages do I or the players have? A group of archers shooting at the players from a point they can’t reach makes the players fight back with their own ranged attacks, which they might be lacking. Underbudget encounters like this until you understand more about how they drain the party’s resources.

Am I giving the party too much time to rest and prepare? Any fight seems easy if the party has ample time to rest up, so make plans to take that away from them! Ambushing the players while they’re resting can be a great way of reminding them that Short Rests aren’t always free, and can up the difficulty when you find the content too easy to be engaging.

One Big Enemy. These can be fun, especially as a finale, but can come off as too easy if the players have a knack for killing things quick. Consider giving a single, larger enemy ‘Legendary Actions’. These can happen at the end of any players’ turn, and a creature usually has 2-3 of them. The Big Enemy gets those 2-3 actions refreshed at the end of one of its turns, and can use 1 to make a single attack, move, or even use 2-3 at a time to activate a signature ability on the fly! More about this in a later post...

#d&d #d&d 5e #D&D&EE #dungeons and dragons #dungeon master #combat #creating an encounter #difficulty #dm #gm #dm tutorial #dungeon master tutorial #dungeon master guide #tutorial #kobold fight club

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sayantandodo · 5 years ago

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SkillPal: Where you can find the best Startup mentor in India.

Mentorship is considered a critical foundational component for building a successful startup. Great product/service for a searing pain point and good market traction is good, but a great mentor is equally important to sustain and grow these elements. Research from the Federation of Small Businesses has shown that small businesses that have received mentorship have superior survivability rates when compared to non-mentored businesses. A mentor should be there to make you understand that what would be your life goals and how do you accomplish your target. Many people after school can’t find the path that they should run into. A mentor should help them to choose the right path. SkillPal is here to provide mentors to the people who need such bits of help. Now here is a question that why we need a mentor and why a mentor is important in our life! In many cases, we can see that family members came out as a mentor but the young people do not like them. They do not go for free knowledge which may be old school. Young people need perfect mentors from SkillPal who will set a career plan for them. A mentor is a person with specialized knowledge whom you may enlist to educate and motivate you, either in your personal life, your career or both. Similar to coaches and teachers, mentors guide less-experienced people through the learning process by establishing trust and modelling positive behaviours. Mentors differ in that they generally do not receive payment for services. Many mentors choose to help educate others because they understand the value of their wisdom and knowledge and wish to pass it on. Others enjoy the challenge of helping people achieve their goals.

A mentor from the same industry vertical and in the specific area of your startup would help you understand the nuances of the business and the varied nature of the market. General mentors typically provide generic advice and this, at times, would not be applicable for your startup. I have come across cases where a mentor who was considered an innovation stalwart was considered a poor mentor by startups that were working in specific niche areas. SkillPal mentors are valuable sources of knowledge. Whether you're starting a business, going back to college or changing careers, mentors have experienced similar milestones. Choose mentors who will give you the best insight into your current phase of life or career level. Because they have already been through it, they'll provide advice on issues like how to save money, reduce stress and be more efficient, for example, and be able to connect their experiences with your own. Friends and family members may hesitate to provide the type of feedback you need to make a change in your personal or professional life. SkillPal mentors offer constructive criticism designed to strengthen areas of your life that need improvement. Without this insight, personal growth may take longer to achieve. Encourage mentors to tell you how you may improve your strategy to better reach your goals. Mentors look for ways to encourage personal growth. Once they understand your skills and abilities, they may put you to work on a specific task to see how well you perform. Based on your performance, they might give you another challenge to test you or give you detailed feedback on what you did well and what you may improve upon. SkillPal mentors look for teaching moments that help you grow along the way. When you need an extra boost of confidence, mentors offer support and words of encouragement to keep you going when life gets tough. Without a mentor, negative thoughts may become more prominent in your daily life, especially when dealing with a difficult subject or issue. Positive encouragement helps motivate you to keep trying your best, despite the challenges.

It always helps if you are mentored by someone who has gone through the process of entrepreneurship and has been successful at it. Mentors from a corporate environment who manage large businesses are fine, but it is a different ballgame when you need to validate your idea, raise money and steer the company through difficult times. Entrepreneurship is hard and someone who has walked that path can understand the various issues and guide you appropriately. A mentor who has built a company from idea to exit is ideal. A business mentor’s particular duties can vary greatly based on each business’s individual needs. Some businesses secure mentors at the very beginning and work with them throughout many years, and others just use mentors for short-term or specific issues. The format of these mentorships is also based on those needs and the availability of both the mentor and the business owner. In the email interview, Ken Yancey, CEO of SCORE explained: “Some mentors and mentees may set up a standing meeting time and place where they check in on a regular basis. Others may only get in contact when an issue arises that requires their joint effort to tackle.” SkillPal is here to serve you. If you are with SkillPal you can get lifetime mentors and coaches, who can tell you what to do and how to earn. The process is to provide a personalized video message. After college, the passion and wisdom gripped students that they should turn up in different fields. But the problem is students can’t make it in their ways. Here they need a mentor who can suggest to them what to do and how to do. If anyone needs to make a career plan he or she should join SkillPal for personalized video chat with a solid mentor. Someone wanted to be a guitarist or someone wanted to be a musician. In many cases, parents will say that it may not be a line of success in career. But the passion meets wisdom here. If they got an industry expert mentor or a coach then they can be a milestone in their field. SkillPal is here to provide industry expert mentors who can lead anybody.

You will need to closely work with your mentor, therefore good chemistry between the mentor and the mentee will immensely help. The mentor should empathise with you, help you look at the bigger picture and assist you through the various trials and tribulations faced by the startup. Depression and blues are common problems faced by young entrepreneurs, and a good mentor can help reduce some of the burdens. However, it is good to avoid strongly opinionated mentors. There should be space to openly discuss differing viewpoints and merge on common grounds quickly. Two key elements for a startup are finding creative solutions to current problems and looking beyond the current daily buzz of the startup. A great startup mentor should help you find great solutions for the problems faced by your startup—whether it be funding, technology, market access or organisation culture. The mentor should help you build solutions to these problems creatively and efficiently, and bring forth his experiential knowledge to tackle similar situations. The mentor should also help you look beyond the daily operational and tactical issues faced by your startup and help you build a grander vision for it. The mentor should help you look at the evolving technology trends and changing market dynamics, help you build alternative revenue streams, and scale and solidify your position in the market.

#SkillPal #edutainment #education #Personalized mentorship

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douglashonorscollege · 5 years ago

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Approaching the Right to a Healthy Environment through Analysis of Economy versus Environment in the Works of Hayao Miyazaki

... authored by Elijah Bergevin, assigned by Dr. Rebecca Pearson for her course The Right to a Healthy Environment

1.1 The Right to a Healthy Environment

The right to a healthy environment is an ideal under which human necessities -- and to an extent ecological well-being -- must be guaranteed through the establishment of systems which protect those necessities, make them available, and bring justice upon harmful contrarians. In the United States, citizens and industries are expected to preserve fair standards of clean air and water which are set by the Environmental Protection Agency. Legal action can be taken against parties which may abuse such standards. However, the US government is not held accountable to consistently address situations of polluted resources, nor is there any individual environmental responsibility expected of its citizens. (Boyd, 2012) Additionally, EPA “fair standards” are often disputed for their lack of the consideration of the most current scientific conclusions in health and environmental studies. In a true legal sense, the right to a healthy environment does not exist whatsoever in the United States for it has yet to be constitutionalized into the Bill of Rights. This is true, in fact, for a large proportion of countries on earth; 46 of 193 have absolutely no environmental provision in their founding documents today (Boyd, 2012). Therefore, nearly 25% of sovereign nations do not maintain the right to a healthy environment (although legislation may exist to provide some structure).

1.2 Environment vs Economy, Humanity vs Nature

An overarching theme in the fight for environmental protections, and the right to a healthy environment, is that of environment versus economy. In a political sense, this subject entails two distinct perspectives: 1) industry cannot remain competitive and successful if business is limited in ways to preserve the environment and natural resources, and 2) economic prosperity and environmental sustainability are not adverse concepts but very possibly mutually assuring. The primary stance is inarguably the dominant one in the majority of the western world, though there is nuance to the debate depending on context (Smith & Parsons, 2012).

Take for example, the developmental state of a nation. In global efforts to reduce climate change, developing countries usually show resistance to environmentally-preservative economic limitations as they “struggle to achieve basic material security” (Running, 2014). Natural resource extraction and short-term cheap systems of waste management may in fact be the only means of establishing meaningful GDP. In fairness, these same countries are usually responsible for a smaller portion of climate-changing sources, such as greenhouse gas emissions. However, they also carry the heavier burden of risk surrounding consequences of climate change as found in Katrina Running’s article “Towards climate justice.”

In contrast, more developed countries may contain politicians which tow the line for sustainability in industry, yet with larger corporations involved in the market of said state, it can be difficult to find legislative action which satisfies the government and those businesses employing its citizens. More specifically, in countries with flimsy protections controlling industry involvement in politics, it is all too normal for big-business to influence representatives, shape legislation, and thereby circumnavigate citizen positions on issues like sustainability and climate change. As US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently eloquated in the House Oversight Committee, any US official can legally campaign funded entirely by a special interest group, such as oil, and once elected be unlimited in their ability to deregulate laws around that industry for the gain of individuals and at the expense of the American people and environment.

Beyond this political framing of economy versus environment, there also exists a more loosely and artistically described parallel; humanity versus nature. It is a particularly pervasive ideal that, in the modern west, human activity and culture exists outside of the scope of nature (Smith & Parsons, 2012). The world around us, by this thinking, is but fuel for humanity to use for progress. However, this is shallow and historically uninformed rational. It is a rather recent development that humans have cultivated the ability to single-handedly control the resources of this globe and shape the nature of all other species’ environments. (Carson, 2015) Throughout the centuries, there lie examples of mankind contributing to a ecologically diverse settings, such as during the Edo period in Japan. There, human involvement in “the constant collection of leaves and wood kept the forest open and prevented succession to large trees and dense shade.” (Chan, 2015) Thus, we can observe the human role as a important part in the grand performance of “nature.” It is the challenge of today’s greatest minds to understand this relational truth and reintroduce the concept to the general public. This gauntlet of enlightenment has been championed by many scientists and activists, but it has found a particularly successful home in the hands of artists, such as those of Hayao Miyazaki and the Studio Ghibli team.

1.3 Studio Ghibli

Hayao Miyazaki was, until his recent retirement in 2013, the director of the Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli. The studio has produced a large collection of full length anime films, as well as an array of short specials, television series, and visuals for video games. These works are known worldwide and have received critical acclaim throughout the decades of the studio’s existence. Although each piece is complete and unique, there are undeniable themes which permeate all that Miyazaki touches: self-discovery, magic and fantasy, but most importantly environmental awareness and deep ecology. Miyazaki was profoundly moved by the reading of Sasuke Nakao’s book The Cultivation of Plants and the Origin of Agriculture from which Miyazaki reformed his Japanese identity and ideas on the human-nature relationship (Mumcu and Yilmaz, 2010). Nakao describes a similar early culture between peoples living in evergreen forests which is referred to as the “shiny-leaf culture” (Yamanaka, 2008). Under this lifestyle, “people depended on the forest and were anxious to coexist with it rather than destroy it” (Mumcu and Yilmaz, 2010). It is no surprise then that, owning this new self-enlightenment, Hayao Miyazaki flew into the scene of film production with his primary work Nausica and the Valley of the Wind (1984) which details a post-apocalyptic world overgrown with toxic forestry. The following year, Studio Ghibli was founded in full, and each film after has proudly touted motifs of environmental sustainability or irresponsibility, harmony or dystopia.

It is worth mention that a majority of Ghibli entertainment is marketed towards children and young adults, as is the dominant trend in the medium of animation. This is not inappropriate as many of the films feature younger protagonists, non-complex narratives, and bright visuals. However, to restrict intended audience to children is to ignore the ramifications these pieces may have upon adults. Michele J. Smith and Elizabeth Parsons write in their article, “Animating Child Activism” how environmental media “may function as a sop to the idea that it is now too late for adults, already entrenched in their lifestyles and beliefs, to adopt the challenge of changing themselves. Such a logic of displacement, or even the passing off of responsibility to the next generation to care about the environment, is perhaps one adults are reluctant to embrace in political and lifestyle choices.” Such is to say, the existence of pedagogy to involve and impassion young children in the fight to save their own future on this planet does not bar adult consumers from finding meaning and purpose in the same art to alter the status quo and create change for themselves as well as posterity.

1.4 Why this?

In this study, various productions of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli will be analyzed as mediums to approach environmentalism and the right to a healthy environment. Why address such lofty political and human rights issues in this manner? Succinctly, average citizens are uninformed or misinformed about the processes and rights relating to the environment. At Central Washington University, one survey revealed that only 27.3% of 110 participants were correctly informed on both the lack of the US right to a healthy environment and the EPA’s shortcomings in setting current health-science-based standards. But this is no indictment; the simple truth is that many people are not faced with the everyday realities and outcomes of poor waste management, excessive energy use, or irresponsible resource production. They are unaware of the role they play in the human-environment relationship. The same Central Washington University study found that a majority 65.3% of 49 students did not utilize reusable cutlery despite its general availability on campus. Instead, disposable plastic options were chosen, and added to the 32 million tons of plastic discarded each year in the United States. Those utensils then sit in landfills, unable to biodegrade, or are burned producing greenhouse gases and nominal energy output. (Gourmelon, 2015)

Even knowing such information -- as some of these students presumably do -- it can be difficult to interpret the immediate and personal costs of unsustainable actions, despite their impending existence. Research conducted by the National Round Table on the Economy and the Environment found in Canada concluded that climate change will soon present huge financial burdens to Canada and those costs “could escalate from roughly $5 billion per year in 2020 … to between $21 billion and $43 billion per year by the 2050s” (NRTEE, 2011). Cheap and disposable solutions now, will create complicated expensive problems later. This is where the disruptive aesthetics of design activism, such as that of Hayao Miyazaki’s, becomes valuable. As Melanie Chan writes in her article “Environmentalism and the Animated Landscape,” “Indeed [Miyazaki] films invite audiences to identify with different locations and characters, and more specifically tensions between animism, technology, and political power, in order to develop an emotional connection to the environmental concerns they represent.” Narrative media provides a human and accessible gateway to realizing systemic issues and plausible justice. It is therefore appropriate, and furthermore responsible, to analyze how Studio Ghibli invokes the human right to a healthy environment through its representations of economy and environment, humanity and nature.

2.1 Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea

Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea (2008) was a co-production of Studio Ghibli and Walt Disney Animations Studios. The film follows Ponyo, a supernatural daughter of the Ocean, in her adventure far from her home of the deep sea. After escaping the watchful eye of her father, goldfish-like Ponyo finds herself in a terribly polluted human harbor where she is swept into a drifting glass jar and washed ashore. Sōsuke, five-year-old son of a local sailor, discovers Ponyo and, upon feeding her some ham, transforms the minnow into a little girl. Ponyo’s father, the sorcerer Fujimoto, is appalled to learn of this change when he realizes that Ponyo has abandoned the ocean for the likes of humans, whom he knows only as destructors of nature. In his ultimate attempt to retrieve Ponyo, Fujimoto -- and his love, the Ocean -- elect to flood the earth. The town, in a single night, is leveled. Ponyo and Sōsuke are separated from Sōsuke’s mother and embark on a journey to find her. However, the Ocean locates Sōsuke’s mother first and strikes a deal: all damage will be reversed and Ponyo may remain as a human, but only if Sōsuke promises to love her forever. The boy agrees, and the film ends as the waters recede.

It is necessary to clarify that Ponyo does not immediately present itself as a flaming gauntlet for environmental reform. At first blush, Ponyo is about the wonder of the sea and the innocence of young love. Deeper analysis reveals more meaningful themes and calls for action against environmental pollution and irresponsible waste management. The assault on Ponyo by marine litter is the catalyzing event of conflict in the film. It is by this product of human carelessness that nature is quite personally harmed. Miyazaki moves from this moment to represent the autonomy of nature in the bodies of Fujimoto and the Ocean goddess. The two supernatural forces shift from corrective powers, purifying and protecting the sea, to avenging entities, punishing the earth for the abuse of their waters and the “capture” of their daughter.

This context parallels loosely to current issues of marine life damage. In 2010, an estimate of 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic made its way into the ocean. Currently, there is little evidence to support that human non-biodegradable waste in oceans are adverse to the biological health of marine organisms such as fish and birds. However, there is concern how the presence of such debris might restructure ecosystems by altering feeding practices or disabling species activity. Kara Lavender Law communicates some examples in her article ‘Plastics in the Marine Environment;’ “95% of 1,295 beached seabird carcasses in the North Sea contained plastic in their stomachs... and 83% of 626 North Atlantic whales examined in 29 years of sighting photographs had evidence of at least one entanglement in rope or netting.” In Ponyo, we are presented a visual and empathetic representation of this quandary as the goldfish-human is swept up in a garbage-trawler and caught in a glass jar, thereby separating her from her habitat and undeniably altering her life.

Rising sea levels are an another issue addressed by Ponyo. Industrial pollution and greenhouse gas productions have worked over the decades to increase global temperatures, specifically in Earth’s oceans. (US EPA, 2016) This heating is a likely cause of sea levels rising by an average of six hundredths of an inch each year since 1880 up until 2013. Rising waters have had tangible effects with global land loss, including the loss of twenty square miles of US coast to the Atlantic ocean since 1996. (US EPA, 2014) The flooding of Sōsuke’s harbor village is an extremely accelerated depiction of such land loss. These two human-environment relations of ocean pollution and rising sea levels in Ponyo are interesting in their different involvement of truly human characters as well as their aesthetics. While rising sea levels most definitely damage the state of Sōsuke’s home, the polluted waters of the harbor are not depicted as harmful to the humans. Rather, the personified Nature characters are most offended by the waste. It is only in this medium of film, where entities of the ocean can be humanized, that the pollution thereby is communicated as a “human” rights violation. As for aesthetics, note the scenes below of the marine trash are indeed unsightly with murky earth tones, communicating the distaste of human dumping in seas.

In contrast, the tone and palate of scenes as the town floods and after it has been submerged seek different goals. As the waves swell to swallow the village, the screen becomes darker and foreboding, but in the aftermath the viewer is subjected to vibrant and placid cuts of marine life peacefully existing in the same space as Sōsuke. This development serves as a portrait of the ocean’s wrath -- the threat of land loss -- but also its beauty and the synergy possible with humanity if it is treated with respect.

In its conclusion, Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea works to mediate the issues of marine pollution and rising sea levels through a contract between nature and humanity, where an oath to love the sea and respect its inhabitants as sovereign themselves (an oath to love Ponyo as a human) earns the people a second chance at a mutually beneficial relationship. This could be interpreted as the establishment of a right to clean waters and minimizing of climate changing sources. Let it be said, however, that this tradeoff is somewhat problematic. Primarily, there is no clear antagonizing human character in Ponyo and therefore it is too lax in its condemnation of pollution. Despite the clear statements blaming humankind as a whole -- “They spoil the sea; they treat your home like their empty black souls,” proclaims Fujimoto at 30:50 -- no single entity is ever confronted for unsustainable actions. Ponyo recommends systemic change but fails to identify any system.

2.2 My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro (1988) is a vignette on the life of Satsuki and Mei, two young girls who move to the rural countryside in order to better suit the needs of their sick mother. Surrounded by rice paddies and ancient trees, the sisters quickly fall in love with their new home. Since their professor father commutes daily to his university, and their mother is housed in a nearby hospital, Satsuki and Mei have ample time to explore their surrounding environment and one day encounter the forest spirit Totoro, who appears similar to a giant rabbit. The supernatural entity provides comfort for the girls with several adventures as they struggle to contemplate the possibility of a life without their mother. The narrative devices of Totoro are not extremely useful to the discussion of this film as environmental media. Totoro’s true value lies in its depiction of the beauty and unique sustainability of the setting satoyama landscape as well as the spiritual respect its characters have for the nature around them. The film aims to personify the gentle temper of nature through regal setting pieces, such as giant camphor tree that grows in the woods near the girls’ home, as well as through the forest spirits themselves -- animism that is customary in Japanese shintoism.

The mutually beneficial relationship between the nurturing environment and the humans that inhabit it demonstrates the values of deep ecology, humans as integral players in the cycles of nature.

Satoyama landscapes (the word ‘satoyama’ literally referring to hills and villages) are unique to the nation of Japan. Satoyama agricultural practices seek to effectively utilize rice paddy fields while conserving the original shape of the land by terracing irrigated sections. Similarly to the practices of aforementioned early “shiney-leaf culture,” satoyama systems promote a diversity of plant and animal life today to a level beyond what might be possible without human influence. In 2009, one study determined 5668 distinct species to be inhabiting Japan’s satoyama biospheres (Fukamachi, 2017). However, with the influx in population over the past century, and growing urbanization (not to mention the devastating effects of war in Japan), preservation of satoyama fields and forests has become difficult. Luckily, legislation has developed in recent years to counter these challenges, including the Act on Promotion of Development of Infrastructures for Leisure Stay in Rural Areas which highlighted green tourism in Japan. Notably, much of the movement to implement these laws stemmed from the cultural phenomena that was My Neighbor Totoro. (Yokohari and Bolthouse, 2011) Miyazaki even went as far as to establish the Totoro Home Country Foundation to rally support for preservation efforts.

Counter to Japan’s sustainability in agricultural production, much of America’s food industry practices are lacking in means of environmental preservation and effectiveness. The majority of such realities can be traced to governmental intervention in the past century to protect from economic disparities (Bowler, 2002). Whether the trade-off was appropriate is a separate discussion, but it stands that farming and ranching desperately require reform that can only be accomplished by legislative changes. Food farming subsidies today cost disproportionate amounts and create wasteful food surplus. Neither Japan nor the US have incorporated the right to a healthy environment in their constitutions. To take further queue from My Neighbor Totoro might permanently protect sustainability and cultural landscapes in Japan, establishing the right to dependable food sources for all citizens. The US would be wise to follow suit.

2.3 Princess Mononoke

Princess Mononoke (1997) opens on a secluded Japanese village sometime in the 15th century. The resident Emishi people are suddenly attacked one day by a nature deity turned demonic, and the Emishi prince Ashitaka is wounded and cursed as he slays the rampaging spirit. Doomed to die by the affliction, Ashitaka sets out to discover the origins of the demon’s fury and to “see with eyes unclouded by hate.” He soon finds himself in the midst of a war for a distant forest. Lady Eboshi, founder of the weapon forge staffed by lepers and sex worker called Irontown, has clear-cut large swaths of the area and angered the local spirits including the wolf god Moro and her adopted human daughter, San. Additionally, the emperor has demanded of Lady Eboshi the head of the Great Forest Spirit -- a human faced deer god -- believing it will grant him immortality. Much to Ashitaka’s horror, many forest spirits and humans are losing their lives to the conflict. When San infiltrates Irontown to kill Eboshi, Ashitaka steps in to stop the violence and is shot himself. San, feeling pity, whisks Ashitaka to the woods so the Great Forest Spirit may heal him. He is saved, but Eboshi has followed them to the Great Spirit and decapitates the beast. Instantly black ooze erupts from the headless body and it destroys all that it touches; the forest and Irontown are quickly dissolving. Ashitaka and San recapture the head and rejoin it to the body. The film ends as life returns to the valley and the war reaches a tentative conclusion -- Lady Eboshi elects to start over and build a better town while San retreats to the wilderness.

Mononoke is undoubtedly the Ghibli film with strongest themes of environmentalism and human rights. Hapless resource extraction and adjunct landscape degradation leads to impossible living conditions for anthropomorphized animals and humans, and even corrupts a few souls. There is little subtlety in the representation of nature as San and the animal spirits and the embodiment of human economy in Lady Eboshi and her iron workers. Less intuitive may be the audience-narrator relationship folded in Ashitaka, an empathetic character who respects the life and needs of both sides of the war. It should be noted that the entire narrative might succeed just as effectively without the prince’s presence; the war would still ensue, the Great Spirit would still be beheaded, the valley would still be wasted and resurrected. Thus, the inclusion of protagonist Ashitaka may be a queue to viewers that neither party is right to kill, and this is furthered by the uneasy conclusion of the film. Although both parties (San and Eboshi) maintain their lives, “the greater conflict between industry and nature is left unresolved.” (Thevenin, 2013) No one is proclaimed victor so the ends cannot justify the means.

Such tension is reminiscent of the struggles of indigenous people around the globe today where an array of industrial activities threaten their health as well as their access to clean water and air. Though there is obviously a wide diversity in lifestyle of separate indigenous groups, the disproportionate amount of environmental safety struggles affecting indigenous persons is likely due to their generally shared culture and tradition of living closely with the earth (Schlosberg & Caruthers, 2010). One such instance includes the Mayan Indigenous Communities of Toledo fight against logging and oil extraction in Belize. The community went before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights claiming the resource extraction violated their right to a healthy environment under the rights to life and health (Boyd, 2012). The court found these grounds valid and took action, however there are a slew of similar examples where justice was not served due to lack of established rights. This parallel might earn San and the forest inhabitants an effective change in the extraction of mineral ore by Irontown.

Conversely, the plight of Irontown residents is also cleverly posited in the film. Lady Eboshi’s havening on behalf of the sick and socially marginalized groups, and her intense loyalty to their well-being, communicates that she is indeed not devoid of good. Her emphasis of economic success over the preservation of the world around her entails complex layers of justification when done for those in need. In this manner, Irontown appears similar to a developing country where environmental ideals are generally sacrificed in order to supply basic human opportunities and material securities. However, to an issue of unsustainable forestry, there are current working models which ensure excellence in economy and environment. The US state of Oregon balances timber extraction with reforestation. Legislation specifies how, when, and where trees can be harvested and also when they must be replanted and regrown (OrigeonForests.org, n.d.). Establishing a right to sustainability of high-necessity resources could ensure such effective processes further than Oregon state borders.

Miyazaki works hard in Mononoke to depict the relationship between humanity and nature by animating contrasting scenes, beauty in synergy and distaste in conflict. The opening scenes of the Emishi village exemplify human respect for the environment, where terraced agriculture maintains the original form of the land and human structures intertwine with fauna.

In contrast, the atmosphere of Irontown -- where industry has no regard for the environment -- is drab and harsh in aesthetic. The audience is clearly presented the ugly results of clear-cutting. Almost no fauna is present to emphasize the lack of nature’s place at the table; humanity has attempted to dominate and yet the space in which the people must reside is now unclean and hazardous.

This difference can also be distinctly observed in the valley pans after the Great Forest Spirit has been decapitated, and after the head has been recollected. In the first scene nature has been further deprived by humanity, its greatest being treated as resource. In the second, humanity has finally yielded something back to its environment, and thus the valley re-blooms in opportunity.

One caveat in the representation of nature’s autonomy in both Princess Mononoke and Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea are the reactive and corrective characteristics employed. In both films, there is real danger to the environment that may make it uninhabitable for humans, though it is stemmed from human actions. In Ponyo, the citizens of the harbor town pollute the ocean and harm its wildlife. As vengeance, the Ocean god floods the city. In Mononoke, the citizens of Irontown irresponsibly extract all resources from the valley, and the Great Forest Spirit responds by trying to kill all beings in the valley. These depictions are useful as they artistically show pseudo-real effects of failing to protect human and nature’s rights to well-being. However, these allowances for the state of nature to perfectly self-correct are not extremely productive. The harbor un-floods in Ponyo, the valley re-blooms in Mononoke. These resolutions effectively undo the pedagogical work of each film by allowing the damage to be reversed (not endured or combated) by non-human hands. Although both films conclude with tentative allusions to a rights-based agreement being struck, this trait may not be practical in enlightening audiences to the realities of implementing the right to a healthy environment.

3.0 Conclusion

The right to a healthy environment is underrepresented in the founding documents of sovereign nations around the world despite its practical use to provide for the needs of human beings. Conflicts between interests in economic success and concern for environmental preservation may be a prominent source for this disconnect, but there are compromises that can ensure the best possible life for people and protect the spaces we inhabit. Artistic activism is one process through which we can better communicate and understand the costs of, and solutions to, unsustainable actions. Studio Ghibli demonstrates this through its films Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea, My Neighbor Totoro, and Princess Mononoke in not only content but visual aesthetic choices that engage audiences and inspire empathy. Although film alone cannot amend the real issues we face on environmentalism today, it can inspire responsibility to create change such as establishing new rights for the benefit of all.

Bibliography

Banner, B. (2019, February 07). Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Corruption Is Legal In The United States. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=250&v=Kz1lxKF2hDY.

Bowler, I. (2002). Developing Sustainable Agriculture. Geography,87(3), 205-212. Retrieved February 25, 2019, from https://www-jstor-org.

Boyd, D. (2012) The Right to a Healthy Environment Revitalizing Canada's Constitution. UBC Press. 68, 134, 209.

Carson, R. (2015). Silent spring. Penguin Books, in association with Hamish Hamilton.

Chan, M. (2015) “Environmentalism and the Animated Landscape in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) and Princess Mononoke (1997).” Animated Landscapes. doi:10.5040/9781501304804.ch-006.

Fukamachi, K. (2017, 11). Sustainability of terraced paddy fields in traditional satoyama landscapes of Japan. Journal of Environmental Management, 202, 543-549. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.11.061.

Gourmelon, G. (2015, January 27). Global Plastic Production Rises, Recycling Lags [PDF]. Washington, D.C.: Worldwatch Institute.

Lavender Law, K. (2016, September 7). Plastics in the Marine Environment [PDF]. Woods Hole, Massachusetts: Sea Education Association.

Miyazaki, H. (Director). (1988). My Neighbour Totoro [Motion picture on DVD].

Miyazaki, H. (Director). (1997). Princess Mononoke [Motion picture on DVD].

Miyazaki, H. (Director). (2008). Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea [Motion picture on DVD].

Mumcu, S. & Yılmaz, S. (2010). THE LANDSCAPE OF MIYAZAKI; ENVIRONMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS AND MESSAGES.

Mumcu, S. & Yılmaz, S. (2018). Anime Landscapes as a Tool for Analyzing the Human-Environment Relationship: Hayao Miyazaki Films. Arts. 7(2). 10.3390/arts7020016.

NRTEE. (2011). PAYING THE PRICE: THE ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE FOR CANADA [PDF]. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy.

OregonForests.org. (n.d.). Sustainable Management.Retrieved February 18, 2019, from https://oregonforests.org/content/sustainability.

Running, K. (2015, 03). Towards climate justice: How do the most vulnerable weigh environment–economy trade-offs? Social Science Research, 50, 217-228. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.11.018.

Schlosberg, D., & Carruthers, D. (2010, 11). Indigenous Struggles, Environmental Justice, and Community Capabilities. Global Environmental Politics, 10(4), 12-35. doi:10.1162/glep_a_00029.

Smith, M. J. & Parsons, E. (2012, 01). Animating child activism: Environmentalism and class politics in Ghibli's Princess Mononoke (1997) and Fox's Fern Gully (1992). Continuum, 26(1), 25-37. doi:10.1080/10304312.2012.630138.

Thevenin, B. (2013, 10). Princess Mononoke and beyond: New nature narratives for children. Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture, 4(2), 147-170. doi:10.1386/iscc.4.2.147_1.

US EPA. (2014, May). A Closer Look: Land Loss Along the Atlantic Coast. Retrieved February 18, 2019, from https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/atlantic-coast.

US EPA. (2016, August). Climate Change Indicators: Ocean Heat. Retrieved February 18, 2019, from https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-ocean-heat .

Yamanaka, H. (2008). The utopian ‘Power to Live’; The significance of the Miyazaki Phenomenon. In MacWilliams, Mark W. (Editor); Schodt, Frederik L. (Foreword by). Japanese Visual Culture : Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime. Armonk, NY, USA: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., p 237-255.

Yokohari, M. & Bolthouse, J. (2010). Keep it alive, don’t freeze it: A conceptual perspective on the conservation of continuously evolving satoyama landscapes. Landscape and Ecological Engineering,7(2), 207-216. doi:10.1007/s11355-010-0116-1.

#righttohealth

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drink-n-watch · 5 years ago

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You know how very episode of Tower of God starts off with a repeat of the last few seconds of the previous episode so that the audience can get situated again? Well when my screen showed Anak struggling to free her whip from the ranker’s grip, I suddenly got excited! Like way more excited than I thought I would be.

It’s been a while since I’ve gotten into a show that leans into pure action like this. I’m not saying there’s nothing else but Tower of God is a fast paced plot driven high action narrative and I just realized that I was missing that! And surprisingly, I think the weekly watching may work in it’s favour. It heightens expectation and makes the excitement last even longer.

Unfortunately, as it it so action driven, particularly this week, it means I didn’t take many notes at all. On the other hand, had a tough time narrowing my screencaps down to an unreasonable number so there’s plenty of those! Yay!

I guess I can always recap the episode. Khum and Bam have been split into opposing groups and they are playing a game of capture the leader with a ranker. Meanwhile Rak, having passed his exam, is just enjoying the show with a light snack. We were all Rak this week….

Khun’s team, of which he has self appointed himself leader and come up with an attack strategy, is up first. And they are struggling. Except not really because it all went to plan. From what I could tell, most people didn’t seem to know what the lan actually was beyond their specific role. I mean pretty almost no one knew the full plan but most people didn’t even seem to know half of it. And I’m thinking that’s on purpose. Giving people too much information can confuse them. Maybe even make it harder for them to perform their specific part since they are thinking about the big picture. Sort of a reverse missing the forest for the trees… Admiring the forest and smaking head first into a tree? I get why Khun would stick to need to know info. But it’s tricky…

Kuhn’s plan was brilliant. Well thought out and he had taken every variable into consideration. That magic replication bag Kuhn carries around gives hm quite and advantage but it’s more than that. He’s a capable fighter and an indomitable spirit and most of all, Khun is the smartest guy in the room. You know what the problem is with being the smartest guy in the room. Eventually you aren’t. And then what will Khun be?

One nice little touch was seeing how both Bam and Rak were cheering their former teammate from their respective sidelines. Bam even though he was on the opposing team. But of course, that’s Bam for you. You wouldn’t expect anything else of him. Uncomplicated “goodness” personified. I wonder if they will ever add any nuance to his character. I don’t mind the blunt personification. I think Tower of God is the type of story that can really work with trite characters. (The used trite in the episode…) With the universe, action and motivations all being so complicated, not to mention the Khun of it all, simple characters are a welcomed foil.

What was more surprising, at least to me, was Rak’s steadfast and unquestioning faith in Khun’s abilities. Sure Rak and Khun bicker but it’s obvious they both understand and respect the other’s strength. However, Rak never even considered the option that Khun could get outplayed. It was a simple fact for him that Khun is the smartest guy in the room. Either Rak is more observant and aware than I had given him credit for. The are playing him as a dumb oaf and I suspect that’s probably not quite right. Or he really believes in Khun. Go figure.

Eventually for Khun’s plan to have come together as it did, it means he figured out the secret to the team assignments. How? I’m not sure. However, if it is truy based on the scout’s friends form then that makes the scout position way more important than it seems. I guess it’s a nice way to show how bond, be they of actual friendship or just convenience, are crucial to making it to the top of the tower. In which case, my poor little Ho just raised yet another flag at the end of this episode. He obviously failed to learn that lesson and it will likely cost him dearly.

I don’t know why I decided to turn Ho into a sacrificial lamb. I mean I do know, he’s kind of a stereotype. And although Tower of God has a lot of odd and interesting elements, it does stick pretty to tropes in a fairly straightforward way, at least so far.

Not every story needs to be a subversion, some have to be classics after all.

I just wrote all this and next week Tower of God will have Ho find a wealth of determination and strength within his heart that saves the day and ves him a free pass to the top or something and I’m gonna have to just swallow every single one of my words and pretend not be embarrassed at all.

In the closing act of the episode, it was Bam’s team’s turn.. Or should I sa Endrosi’s team since she nominated herself both leader and “it”. Endrosi and Khun seem to get along and moreover they think a lot alike. Still, for everything to succeed, it means that team B has to play their part as well. Especially as it seems Quant will prove difficult to control.

Endrosi is already scheming something. That much is clear. Bam probably doesn’t know anything about it. I mean even if she told him he probably doesn’t know. Just the type of guy Bam is. I figure he’s going to do some quick bitter growing up when either Khun betrays him (temporarily and cause he had no choice, they’ll make up eventually) or Rachel betrays him (more permanently cause the audience isn’t attached to her as much). I’m just going hog wild with the assumptions. But cmon, the betrayal of the trusting and magnanimous protagonist by someone they hold dear is a right of passage for a character that naive. I’m going to have to eat so many words…

At the end of episode 8 this is where I stand. Khun is too smart for his own good and I don’t think he’s had enough of a humility lesson yet. Maybe that sister of hs will make an appearance. I’m really worried for Ho and Bam will probably be ok for another season. Cause there will be another season right? There’s only 4 episodes to go and we’ve barely scratched the surface here!

Tower of God Ep.8 – Blue Turtle Soup You know how very episode of Tower of God starts off with a repeat of the last few seconds of the previous episode so that the audience can get situated again?

#action #adventure #anime #drama #episodic #romance #supernatural #surreal #Tower of God

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kuwaiti-kid · 5 years ago

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Grand Admiral Thrawn: Learn to Manage Money Like a Tactical Genius

There are many articles online about financial lessons to learned from the Star Wars films.

What makes this one different? Well, it’s the one article to rule them all (sorry wrong franchise).

Today we’re not going to be talking about tired Yoda or Luke quotes (sorry gentleman); instead, we are going to visit the dark side of the force and the light side of finance and review what can be learned from the Galatic Empire’s best tactical mind, Grand Admiral Thrawn.

I flashed the geek signal and reached out to my own Inferno Squad to bring you the wisdom of Thrawn! I gathered the best personal finance bloggers to share their favorite Thrawn quote and how you can use it to manage your money like a tactical genius.

Note, if you have not read Timothy Zhan’s excellent book Thrawn, below will contain some spoilers, go and pick up a copy and read it, I’m not going anywhere.

About Grand Admiral Thrawn

Thrawn first appeared in the expanded universe before Lucasfilm sold the Star Wars franchise to Disney.

The Thrawn trilogy is highly regarded as some of the best Star Wars books. After Disney took the helm of the Star Wars empire (pun intended), they decided to clean the slate of the old expanded universe.

The decision to scrap the Star Wars EU was controversial; however, the old EU was a bit of a mess as writers and creators were allowed to run amuck with little guidance for continuity. All of the old novels are now considered Star Wars legends.

Disney set about creating a new canon, with an enhanced focus on continuity. As Thrawn was a fan favorite, he was brought back into the fold on the hit cartoon Star Wars Rebels. Additionaly, Timothy Zhan who wrote the original Thrawn trilogy was tasked with writing a new book returning Thrawn to canon lore.

Thrawn had a powerful military mind, and he rose to the position of Grand Admiral in the imperial navy in just a few years, an impressive feat for anyone but especially for a non-human like Thrawn. He achieved remarkable military victories over the rebels and consistently was two steps ahead of them.

Thrawn was a strategic mastermind and brilliant planner; he was renowned for his ability to see opportunities and patterns others couldn’t.

It would surprise no one if he saved a significant portion of his imperil pay and he routinely invested in highly appreciating art and antiques. He would have reached FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) well before it was time to collect imperial social security, (spoiler alert) if he hadn’t been sucked out to beyond by hyperspace jumping space whales.

15 Ways to Manage Your Money Like Grand Admiral Thrawn

Melissa Blevins

“No battle plan can anticipate all contingences. There are always unexpected factors, including those stemming from the opponent’s initiative. A battle thus becomes a balance between plan and improvisation, between intellect and reflex, between error and correction.” -Thrawn

What happens if an asteroid hits your Tie Fighter or the new droid you purchased breaks down?

Life is going to throw some “Scum and villainy” in your direction. There’s no doubt about that. You can plan, budget, diversify, and still end up losing. How will you recover if you lose your job? What can you do if you end up going through a nasty divorce, and it costs you most of your life savings?

Life isn’t only about planning for the future. It’s about being prepared but reacting and recovering from mistakes and mishaps. Of course, you should have an emergency fund and plan for the future, but by having a positive mindset and being able to bounce back in the face of danger, you can recover from the battles of life.

* * *

Dave, Financial Journeyman

“No one is immune from failure. All have tasted the bitterness of defeat and disappointment. A warrior must not dwell on that failure, but must learn from it and continue on”. – Thrawn

Failure is part of the process. The Rebel alliance experienced several shortcomings, even the Galatic Empire experience failure. However, then the Death Star was blown up by rebel scum, they rebuild.

Even when we visualize ourselves not taking any chances and covering all of our bases, failure still occurs. No one likes to fail. It is a humbling experience. Most situations that fail are not a total loss. Many cases that appear to be a complete failure end up being only a short-term loss. The paradox of small failure is that it can end up becoming a long term success for those who are wise enough to continue.

. By learning from what did not go according to plan in the past becomes a guide for future success. Those who are destined for long-term success will embrace failure as a teacher. Even though it might be painful, that pain is an excellent motivator for change. Those who do not embrace this lesson will continue to fail in succession.

Everyone who is on the journey toward financial independence has experienced failure. It might have been at the beginning of their journey when they decided that they wanted to retire early, but when they looked at their finances, they saw significant debts and little savings. Instead of looking at their financial situation as a failure, they learned from their past mistakes and focused on spending less, paying down debt, and increasing their savings rate, so they were able to free up money to invest.

On the flip side, it might have been the person who was nearing retirement and had too much of their assets in risky investments before a market crash. Instead of selling low, they continued to buy low. They saw the drop in stock prices as an opportunity to purchase value and not as a failure. They might have had to postpone their early retirement, but by waiting, they were able to reallocate more of their money into more conservative investments after their stocks recovered in value.

Failure occurs. Don’t dwell on it. Analyze it and identify where you made errors. Use those errors as the driving force for positive change.

* * *

Robert, Real Money Robert

“One whose path has taken a new turn is often initially disorientated. But as time passes, and the path continues steadily in its new direction, there is a tendency to believe that it will remain so forever, with no further turns.” –Thrawn

Often in life, as well as in finances, things change. Our circumstances change, and all of this change affects our finances. These economic changes can leave us in a state of confusion or panic, and can often lead to poor decisions being made.

When these changes occur, as Grand Admiral Thrawn mentions, we are left in a disoriented state. Maybe you lost your job. Maybe your Jedi Master just got sliced in half by Darth Maul. Whatever the turn in life you are facing, people tend to get complacent, thinking that things will continue to remain steady.

However, this is not true. Things will continuously change, and we need to be prepared for these changes. Life changes are just one of the many reasons why it is so important to have an emergency fund saved. This allows you to make sound financial decisions during those periods of change, and help you stay focused on your financial journey until the next turn in life tries to throw you off.

* * *

Aaron, Personal Finance for Beginners

“A great tactician creates plans. A good tactician recognizes the soundness of a plan presented to him. A fair tactician must see the plan succeed before offering approval. Those with no tactical ability at all may never understand or accept it.” – Thrawn

How does this apply to our finances?

Great tacticians = make our own financial decisions based on education and experience

Good tacticians = understand the basic principles (but not the nuances) behind others’ financial recommendations

Fair tacticians = follow our peers’ financial decisions because it seems to work for them

For the most part, everyone starts at the “fair tactician” level, mimicking the financial examples of our parents, friends, or coworkers. These examples can be good or bad ones – likely it’s a combination of both.

Fortunately, it’s possible to climb this “tactician ladder” fairly quickly through personal education and the application of financial principles.

I want to say I’ve seen myself grow from a “fair tactician” to a borderline “good/great tactician” (depending on the topic) over the past 6-12 months.

Twice a year, my employer sets up times for us to meet with 401k advisors to discuss our retirement planning. In the past, I’ve always jumped to schedule a time to review my balance, contributions, and portfolio.

This spring, however, I was disappointed to realize I’d see little benefit from setting up an appointment. Why is that?

Over the past six months, I’ve learned everything I currently need to know about 401k’s. I’m taking advantage of the full employer match, deliberately choosing how my contributions are invested, and monitoring my balance more frequently than is helpful. While I may not be an expert on all things, I’ve moved from “fair” to “great” on this one topic.

So how can we improve our financial “tactical abilities?”

Read favorite personal finance blogs and books that are well-reviewed

Spend time on your finances… always be applying “lessons learned.”

Connect with others – whether online or through local meetups – who share your financial goals

Stay consistent with your efforts to learn and apply new financial principles… you’ll be a “great tactician” before you know it!

* * *

Ashley, Money Gravity

‘The Soldier In the field and the crew member aboard a warship inevitably see a war from a limited perspective”. –Thrawn

Surrounding yourself with people with a similar perspective can leave you narrow-minded. It’s challenging to seek various solutions if everyone thinks inside “their box.” You can see this pattern in many communities and social circles. People who associate and spend time together tend to think alike. Believe it or not, this can be not only harmful to your perspective of the world but your financial health as well.

Let’s say your social circle consists of your friends who work in corporate America. They work 9 to 5 and celebrate during the weekends. They don’t feel safe investing in the stock market, so they keep the majority of their money in cash. They don’t understand the concept of compounding interest and long-term investing. Since they are you aren’t exposed to any other perspective, you assume that is the only way to save for retirement. You are stuck without even knowing it.

Opening yourself to different social circles and perspectives will help you select the best strategy for your lifestyle and financial well-being. The more you expose yourself to other ideas and options, the easier it will be to choose what works for you. Sometimes our social circles hold us back without even realizing it.

Another way they can limit your perspective is their financial habits. If you never see them in the same car or they spend four nights a week out to dinner, you could find it challenging to keep up with them. This not only creates toxic financial habits, but it drains your budget.

Create a social circle or community of people who have similar goals and interests and can help you expand your reality.

Meet someone new. Expand your financial knowledge. Seize the day!

* * *

Morgan Strebler

Morgan Strebler was a logical first choice, I had an excellent time interviewing him, and he is the only person I know who can wield the force. Well, at least that’s how I like to believe he pulls off those mind-bending illusions.

“War is primarily a game of skill. It is a Contest of mind matched against mind, tactics matched against tactics. But there is also an element of chance that is more suited to games of cards or dice. A wise tactician studies those games, as well, and learns from them. – Grand Admiral Thrawn

Thrawn was a brilliant tactical leader; he knew tactical lessons could be learned from art or even card games. Likewise, studying the fool from a Tarot deck of cards, you can find the wisdom that applies to business and life in general.

The Fool represents a new cycle, a new beginning. Either you feel stuck in the situation you’re in and are about to change it. Either way, the Fool represents a change in your life. It is also here where you must remember your past, as it has made you the person you are today. The Fool also represents an optimistic person who sometimes does not see danger ahead because of that optimism. Remember to think logically and never lose your ground. Your ego may get the best of you. Now is the time to mature, and avoid diving in without forethought.

***

ESI Money

ESI Money has been a fantastic mentor to me in my blogging career. He likes to think of himself as Batman. He is more like a combination of Gandalf and Tony Stark, with a level of patience that borders on the saintly. Either way, his Thrawn-inspired advice is spot on.

“And when a mind is too deficient in understanding, the resulting gap is often filled with resentment.” – Grand Admiral Thrawn

Wow. Who knew that wisdom from another galaxy could be so appropriate for us?

These days it seems quite common for most of American society to scoff at those who choose a lifestyle where financial freedom can be attained at 50, 40, or even 30.

It’s almost a given that when the masses hear of someone who has retired before 60, they start poking made-up holes in the story. Their list of excuses includes, but are not limited to, some of the following:

“This is a lie. It possibly can’t be true.”

“Sure, I could do this if ___________ (fill in the blank, usually something like “make $200,000 a year).”

“I bet they received a big inheritance.”

“Who wants to scrimp and save that much? Sounds terrible to me.”

“This will never work. They will probably go bankrupt soon.”

“I like working too much to retire.”

And on and on.

The reason they are so jaded (or as Grand Admiral Thrawn states above “filled with resentment”) is that they are “deficient in understanding.” They don’t know that there are easily learned money principles that can make them wealthy. And even when they do have a bit of understanding, they often don’t want to apply those to their lives because while the principles to becoming wealthy are easy to understand, they are difficult for most people to use (since they require self-control).

Instead, they become resentful of others who are successful and make excuses for themselves. Or worse yet they want the results but don’t want to do the work, and when nothing happens, they lash out.

So what should we do with these people? Send them to Abafar to mine rhydonium, of course!

Ok, perhaps that’s a bit too drastic. Instead, we need to keep exposing them to the straightforward, basic concepts of personal finance that hopefully one day they will apply. For me, I interview millionaires for this reason — to share real-life stories of how others have earned, saved, and invested their way to wealth — hopefully providing a pathway that even the most deficient in understanding can eventually follow.

***

Think Save Retire

Steve over at Think Save Retire, doesn’t have some of the geeky “street cred” as some of the others on my “high council.” However, he lives in an airstream trailer, and that’s kind of like a spaceship.

“Failure to act always brings consequences. But sometimes, those consequences can be turned to one’s advantage.” – Grand Admiral Thrawn

In the course of my life, I’ve met a lot of “ideas” people. People with great ideas are the visionaries of our time. They think about things in a new and creative way and question the norm. They don’t only accept things as they are, but they observe and ponder how things could be.

But, I have found very few of these people to be “doers.” Their strength lies in the ideas, not necessarily in the implementation. They think. The hypothesize. But when it comes to putting action behind their words, they tend to wait. Or drag their feet. Our bury potential action under mountains of excuses that I begin to lose sight of what their hypothesis was!

If you are a business owner, scientist, or, yes, even a blogger, that inaction can be detrimental. Without action, ideas do not (and cannot) have an impact. But, that inaction can provide more time to refine the concept. To discover potential pitfalls. To develop backup plans in case of failure.

Inaction also provides the opportunity to “get your mind right,” to dive into the implementation process with a solid understanding and purpose. Or, with renewed energy and drive. Sometimes in life, timing is everything. Great ideas without great timing are not typically great successes.

But, ideas that come to life exactly when they mean the most turn into something magical. They make the most impact. They change the greatest number of lives.

It’s *these ideas* that improve our lives the most.

***

The Rich Miser

Miguel from The Rich Miser shares excellent tips on how to live well on a budget. Just because the galaxy is in the midst of a civil war, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t treat yourself once and a while.

“But ultimate safety does not exist. Those who trust in such will find that hope dashed upon the very rock behind which they seek to hide.” – Grand Admiral Thrawn

The rebels thought they were safe on Hoth, the Empire’s soldiers thought themselves secure on the Death Star. Alas, it turned out to be nothing more than a temporary illusion. In the same way, it would be a mistake to think your assets are safe in any one place.

Real estate and stocks crashed with the 2008 crisis. Even countries can fail to pay their creditors in full (I’m looking at you, Greece). That’s why the lesson here is to diversify, not just across one asset class (such as by owning many different stocks), but over multiple asset classes. You can hold stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, national currencies, and even cryptocurrencies.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should put the same amount of cash in each class. History teaches that stocks have some of the best returns over the long term, so you should probably be heavily invested in the stock market unless you’re close to retirement. Just don’t ignore other investments, since they can still provide good income and growth, while significantly reducing your risk.

Also, be wary of overextending yourself. Before the housing crash, many people took out mortgages with little or no money down. And it worked without a hitch since home values kept rising. But when the crash came, and people’s homes were suddenly worth much less, lots of folks found themselves underwater almost overnight, with mortgage balances that exceeded the value of their homes.

The world is always changing, and what is safe today may not be as secure tomorrow. The Ewoks would probably never have guessed that the Empire would come and set up a base on their idyllic Endor, but the AT-ST’s landed one day nonetheless. So be prepared and diversified beforehand, since we can never be entirely sure of what tomorrow will bring.

***

The Finance Twins

Star Wars post, The Finance Twins, need I say more?

“Do you know the difference between an error and a mistake, Ensign? Anyone can make an error. It only becomes a mistake when you refuse to correct it.” – Grand Admiral Thrawn

Pursuing perfection is a fool’s errand. Worse yet is expecting perfection. After all, life is a beautiful mess. At times it may seem like everyone around you has everything figured out, but remember, even Luke Skywalker had a deadbeat dad.

In life, you will always make errors — some bigger than others, but mistakes nonetheless. What is telling, however, is how you respond to the errors that you’ve made. Do you point fingers at those around you? Is it your parent’s fault that you had to take out tens of thousands of dollars in loans to pay for college? Is it your employer’s fault you didn’t take advantage of the 401K plan they offered you? Or are you able to accept your circumstances and learn from your errors?

I graduated with a degree in finance, but I still didn’t sign up for the company 401K at my first job because I didn’t know what it even was. Do you know what I did next? I became a personal finance expert and read numerous books to learn everything I could. Today, you can find my articles about personal finance on Forbes.

It is those who refuse to take accountability for their actions, which will ultimately repeat their errors and make the costliest mistakes. Do you know you should create a monthly budget for your household, yet you continue to spend freely? You’re making a mistake. Realize you should open an IRA, yet still keep your retirement savings in a checking account? Mistake. Do you realize you shouldn’t be picking individual stocks and would be better off over the long term by sticking with index funds? Maybe not, but you do now.

Be kind to yourself when you make errors and fear not, for our galaxy is more forgiving than a galaxy far far away and a long time ago. What matters is what you do starting today, ensign.

***

FI Introvert

Mr. Fiintrovert was kind enough to share his experience with co-workers in a previous post, and his excellent contribution earned him the new nickname “Mace Windu of the Water Cooler.” I’m not sure if the name will stick, but the advice is excellent as usual.

“Leadership is a role and a task that should never be aspired to lightly. Neither should loyalty be given without reason.” – Grand Admiral Thrawn

When it comes to the spoils of obtaining leadership positions, it’s easy for us to “imagine quite a bit” of compensation and authority. But we are wise to heed Thrawn’s warning that taking on a leadership role is a significant burden.

Sure, many of us aspire to be a CEO or owner of our own business. However, we usually leave out the heavy responsibilities of such roles, like the nights worrying about making payroll or the hours we may lose with our families. Looking into your employee’s eyes when you have to make layoffs is a fate worse than explaining to Emperor Palpatine how you let the rebels escape.

On the other hand, we shouldn’t shy away from leadership roles. Some of us, especially introverts, would rather kiss a Wookie than “play the game.” But making small talk with our coworkers, attending social events, and being able to present our ideas is just as crucial as producing excellent work. When it comes to leadership, people want to feel human at work, and taking care of social needs is an essential role of a leader.

When thinking about aspiring to a leadership position, it is better for the organization that you, a qualified and talented individual, play the game a bit to be a leader. Or, do you want the whole organization to suffer under some nerf herder just because you felt some small talk degraded your day a bit?

I’m not saying you are The Chosen One, but you’re reading this blog trying to better yourself so odds are you would make a pretty great leader. So do what it takes – even if you have to “play the game.” It will benefit everyone around you.

On the subject of loyalty, Thrawn is perhaps one of the only leaders in the Galactic Empire to inspire such devotion based on his merits. Thrawn counsels us not to give out our loyalty blindly.

Many of us who tilt toward having rich inner experiences can build up entire relationships with a person we’ve only met a few times. We have to ensure that the person we are giving loyalty to has earned it through action and not merely our idealization of that person.

Does the well-polished financial advisor or insurance salesman deserve your loyalty just because of some complicated product he has presented to you? Let’s look beyond the veneer and at the actual value before we give loyalty by turning over our hard-earned cash.

Should you be loyal to a boss or company when your true passion lies elsewhere? Yes, they provided a steady paycheck for many, but this is your life. We aren’t guaranteed any years. Our lives should not be lived in the service of financially enriching others.

Thrawn may be on the Dark Side, but it’s a big, imperfect galaxy out there. His wisdom is hard-earned. While we need to understand the burdens of leadership, we also have to understand the consequences of allowing less qualified people to ascend to those roles. And as we move through our life and career, we should inspire loyalty by example, while practicing patience and prudence when dispensing our allegiance.

***

Making Momentum

I’m a huge fan of Scott at Making Momentum. He wakes up at 5:00 am, walks to work every day (even in the rain), and has perfected the art of typing while kayaking. He is the Jedi Master of productivity.

“Alliances Are Useful In Some Situations. In Others, They’re Vital” – Grand Admiral Thrawn

Han and Chewie. C3P0 and R2D2. Finn and Rey. Thrawn and Eli Vanto.

The cross-section of the entire Star Wars story to-date is full of iconic alliances that come together to serve a common purpose.

Sometimes these alliances fall closer to the useful end of the spectrum. They provide mutual benefits for both parties, but the overall importance doesn’t dictate central significance in the overall journey of their lives.

At other times, these alliances are vital. Where would Luke have ended up if he never met Yoda? Perhaps the most critical alliance and friendship ever formed in Star Wars.

When it comes to your money and life, the most vital alliance would likely be one with your significant other (not a small creature on a marshy planet).

If you aren’t working in financial conjunction, the galactic journey is going to be one of strife and stress. Financial problems were listed as one of the seven most common reasons for divorce in a recent Business Insider article.

In my own life, if I wasn’t living in a harmonious alliance with my better half, there’s no way our financial goals would be attainable. She’d never support me waking up at 5 am to better our financial situation if we weren’t aligned and operating towards a common purpose.

I’d never have been able to battle my student loans without her alliance. It’s not useful we’re on the same page with our money, it’s vital we’re aligned.

Just like Han and Leia, that alliance might have some bumpy moments where our ideas clash or our personalities create tension. However, the strength of our bond is only there because of a common purpose.

For Han and Leia that was defeating the evil Empire. In our lives, that common purpose is defeating the constraints trying to hold us back from financial freedom.

Han and Leia had Darth Vader and the Emperor opposing them. We’ve had financial illiteracy and consumerism threatening our financial alliance.

We’ve strengthened our financial alliance by using a few key strategies:

Honesty: there are no secrets, and we’ve been honest from the upfront about every aspect of our finances.

Flexibility: we create wiggle room in our budget to each have a small discretionary fund to avoid any unnecessary qualms over smaller purchases or things that bring happiness and value.

Financial Literacy: we both committed to educating ourselves about personal finance through podcasts, books, and open discussion with one another.

Common Goals: aligning on specific goals for the short and long financial term has been another success to help us avoid tension in the alliance.

This has helped us resist the dark side of money.

Together, unified and aligned, you can wield great power and resist the pitfalls that money can bring into your relationship.

Don’t let the dark side break your financial alliance with your significant other.

Your Money Geek

Thrawn Came from Abundance

Thrawn joined the Imperial Navy as a penniless alien. He rose to prominence on the results of his hard work against a backdrop of bigotry towards non-humans. His management style was one of abundance; he knew the way to help himself was to help others.

Thrawn achieved success based on his skill: a skill that was refined and developed through thought and training. He routinely isolated himself from contemplating and studying.

Thrawn took every opportunity to make both his commanding officers and any imperial officer serving under him look good. He commanded respect from the crew, and those watching his career unfold not from political connections or ”hokey religions” but the success built of hard work and sheer determination.

He Would have Rocked Diversification

While chasing a smuggler, and working to thwart the Rebels, Thrawn learned of the Death Star. As a brilliant strategist, Thrawn warned the Emperor about being overly confident in Death Star. Thrawn felt a fleet of Star Destroyers would be more effective in serving the needs of the Galatic Empire.

Investors often mimic emperor Palpatine’s folly in being overly reliant on the might of the Death Star. Every year numerous people see their financial plans laid waste because the unthinkable or impossible happen. Thrawn new a diverse fleet of ships was better able to handle both threats known and unknown. While we are not privy to Thrawn’s investment holdings, I can imagine he had a sizable emergency fund and was diversified over several asset classes.

Looking for a Great Book

Thrawn is not only a great Star Wars book, but it’s also an excellent book in its own right.

The lessons in the book could easily be taught in any business or management school, and similar to the book Starship Troopers, Thrawn would feel at home on the Navy commandants reading list. Thrawn can be seen as a metaphor for the American dream. Although, I’m sure Timothy Zhan didn’t intend for that.

Remember to keep learning; proper financial planning is about continuous small improvements. Managing money and personal finance doesn’t have to be boring; you can gain financial lessons from your favorite Star Wars films or even from Star Wars characters.

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lauramalchowblog · 6 years ago

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Menopause: Beyond the Stereotypes

Disclaimer: I have not gone through menopause. I am, however, turning 40 this year. Statistically speaking, this is the decade in which I’m likely to enter perimenopause, so I have a vested interest in understanding what might be in store for me.

I’m all too familiar with the stereotype of the belligerent, out-of-control menopausal lady plagued by hot flashes and mood swings, bewildering her poor, beleaguered partner. [Note that for convenience I am going to use “menopause” to include the perimenopausal period as well.] Frankly, this narrative doesn’t suit me at all. I know very well that hot flashes and mood swings can be a part of menopause, but obviously there’s a lot more to it than that.

Of course, I want realistic view of what lies ahead so I might prepare mentally, emotionally, and physically. However, I also want the nuances. Plus, as an optimist I want to know the good, not just the bad and the ugly. To my mind, any major life transition is a chance at a reawakening of sorts, even if the road through it is rocky. My natural tendency is to find the silver lining and reframe situations as growth opportunities.

Menopause is much more than a collection of symptoms that need to be combatted. However, much of what’s written about menopause, from the scientific literature to the blogosphere, focuses on coping with and dealing with menopause. After a while, one wonders if the scientific and medical communities aren’t overeager to problematize and medicalize menopause by putting all the focus on the symptoms and, naturally, the treatments (they can make money off of). You have to dig deeper to find discussions about the meaning of menopause through the eyes of women who are living it.

Nevertheless, plenty of women and scientists (and women who are scientists!) are exploring how menopause fits into the flow of a woman’s life. I came away from my research seeing that menopause is, in fact, not terrible for many women. There’s tremendous variation in individual women’s experiences of menopause, not only in terms of the actual symptoms but also in the way she appraises them. Menopause is far more nuanced and idiosyncratic than sitcom stereotypes or medicalized portrayals would have us believe. It can be a time of tremendous growth and transformation, and a lot of women embrace that opportunity.

Moreover, although hormone therapy is by far the most loudly promoted remedy, it’s not the only game in town by far. There are actually a wide array of options that women might use to prepare for and alleviate the troublesome aspects of menopause. (Stay tuned for a future post on this topic.)

Why We Go through Menopause: The Value of Elder Women

One of the fun facts I came across in my deep dive into menopause is that scientists have so far identified four non-humans species whose females experience menopause: orcas, narwhals, belugas, and short-finned pilot whales. All toothed whales—fascinating! Other primates probably do not, although chimps and gorillas might (this is controversial, apparently). In other words, we’re pretty special!

While the biology of menopause—the when and what—are well understood, the why is still not totally clear. Human females might spend 40% or more of their lives in the post-menopausal phase. As the authors of this paper bluntly put it, “If the main purpose of women is to propagate the species (survival of the fittest), as postulated by Darwin for all species, then going through menopause many years before dying should be selected against unless there are distinct advantages to it.”

Ouch, but also fair. Scientists have come up with various theories about the nature of those advantages and how they came to evolve. The most compelling explanation is that our post-menopausal longevity directly contributes to the reproductive success of our offspring. Because humans mature slowly, not only do our children require a ton of resources and caretaking, but we also have additional children before our older children are anywhere near self-sufficient.

The Intergenerational Network of Caregiving

The “grandmother hypothesis” proposes that elder women enhance the survival of their lineage by caring for their biological grandchildren, but they also pass down their considerable knowledge and wisdom in and beyond the family itself. Post-menopausal female orcas assume leadership roles in their pods. They’re instrumental in helping other whales find food. Research has shown that their ability to lead others to fruitful fishing grounds is especially important in times of food shortage.

These older females possess skills and knowledge that enhance the survival of their offspring; and their offsprings’ mortality risk increases dramatically following their mothers’ death. The same is probably true for humans. Indeed, there is historical evidence from the 1700s and 1800s that women reproduced earlier and more often if their children’s grandmother was alive. The grandchildren’s odds of surviving to adulthood decreased if grandmothers were distant or deceased.

Competition versus Cooperation

A related theory to the grandmother hypothesis is that intergenerational conflict drove the evolution of menopause. In both human and cetaceans, daughters reach sexual maturity while the mothers are also still capable of reproducing. However, there are only so many resources (both material and energetic) to go around.

When female orcas continue to reproduce once their daughters have themselves started reproducing, the older females’ babies are less likely to survive than the younger females’ babies. The same might have been true for humans. According to this line of thinking, as we age, it’s better that we cease having children of our own and instead step into a supporting role for direct caretaking—and a more expansive role beyond caretaking itself.

Personally, I like the view of our roles changing through the lifespan, providing different types of value at different times. We have different gifts to offer in our post-reproductive years.

Different Women, Different Menopauses

In both the scientific literature and everyday conversation, people tend to talk about menopause as if it were one thing, a singular experience shared by all women. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Although some symptoms are common enough to be considered standard—hot flushes/flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, and mood alterations being at the top of the list—the range of possible symptoms is considerably greater than that. Not all women will experience even the most common ones. Among women who do, the severity of those symptoms can vary tremendously. Depending on whom you ask, anywhere from 20-75% of women experience symptoms severe enough to significantly impact their quality of life.

A huge number of factors influences any individual woman’s experience. To start, the onset and severity of symptoms can differ depending on what type of menopause she experiences: if it is premature (younger than 40-years-old) or early (between 40 and 45 years), or if it’s induced by surgical removal of the ovaries versus natural changes in hormone levels. Other factors shown to affect a woman’s symptomatology include her physical and mental health before starting menopause, activity level, lifestyle factors such as smoking, socioeconomic status, and perhaps even geography.

Mindset Matters

It’s also clear that women’s expectations about and attitudes toward menopause shape her experience. Part of the stereotype is that menopausal women complain and kvetch their way through menopause, periodically pausing to stick their heads in the freezer. (I hear this does help.) However, surveys show time and again that most women actually have neutral to somewhat positive attitudes about menopause.

Many at least hold a mix of positive and negative beliefs and expectations. Understandably, women tend to hold negative attitudes towards hot flashes, night sweats, and other unpleasant physical symptoms. On the other hand, most women are only too happy to stop having monthly periods, and many of them are ready to move past the need for contraception. However, this can be an emotionally fraught time for women who are not ready for their reproductive years to end.

There’s a complex interplay between physical symptoms, attitudes and beliefs about menopause, and psychological well-being. Studies show a bidirectional link between a woman’s attitudes and her subjective experiences. Women who experience disruptive symptoms such as frequent and severe hot flushes understandably have more negative attitudes. The reverse is also true. One prospective study also showed that premenopausal women who had more negative attitudes about menopause later reported experiencing more frequent and more severe symptoms. Another study found that women are less likely to be bothered by menopause if they have other more pressing issues in their lives. (“Pssht, menopause? I can’t be bothered worrying about that, I’m too busy dealing with this crisis over here.”)

Cross-Cultural Differences

Women’s attitudes about menopause are also shaped by her cultural milieu. This could help explain why women around the world have quite disparate experiences in menopause. Not only do women in different cultures report being more or less bothered by menopause overall, the specific symptoms they describe differ as well. The reasons for this are not well understood. It’s not clear whether cross-cultural differences are due to factors like diet, climate, and number of children a woman typically bears, or whether they reflect the varied beliefs and meanings that cultures ascribe to menopause. It’s probably all of the above and more.

Finally, women’s subjective experiences of menopause do not perfectly map onto objective markers such as hormone levels. Two women reporting the same number of hot flashes and sleep disturbances might also report very different levels of distress about those symptoms, for example. This might be due to differences in psychological and emotional well-being, as I will discuss in the next post. Women who have better coping mechanisms, more social support, or higher emotional intelligence are likely more resilient to the physical symptoms.

This all goes to show there is so much more to the menopause story than we’re typically presented with. It’s important that healthcare providers understand this and take the time to understand their patients’ unique situations. Likewise, women should know that there’s no right or wrong way to experience menopause.

“Second Adulthood”—A Lot to Look Forward To

“Menopause starts out as a horror movie, but then transitions into a coming of age story. The time after menopause can truly become the best part of our lives as we create a vibrant second half of life. … Second adulthood is the best!” — Lynette Sheppard, RN

Now for the really good news. As I said above, many women have positive attitudes toward menopause, even when they are in the thick of it. Lotte Hvas is a Danish doctor and author of the book, Menopause—Better Than Its Reputation. Her research shines light on the positive aspects of menopause. In one study, Hvas asked women to reflect in an open-ended manner on how they experienced menopause and how it affected their lives. About half of the 393 women in the study spontaneously offered positive assessments.

Not surprisingly, many women were happy to be done with PMS and monthly periods. (This is something I saw often while reading menopause blogs—”No more cramps, and I can finally wear white pants again!” White pants are apparently a big deal for a lot of ladies.) Others described it as a “wonderful” and peaceful phase in their lives. Still others celebrated the fact that now that their children were grown, they had the time and freedom to explore new areas of interest. Nine of Hvas’ respondents reported that menopause improved their sex lives.

Plenty of women celebrate menopause as the beginning of a new phase of their lives. Menopause coincides with coming into their own in a new way. They talk about exploring new creative channels, experiencing greater patience, and being more selfish in a good way.

As Margaret Mead once said, “There is no greater power in the world than the zest of a post-menopausal woman.” Once women walk through menopause, whether it’s an easy stroll or a walk through fire, they emerge on the other side more confident, with a renewed vigor, and a take-no-baloney attitude. These sentiments were echoed by participants in a study in which Dr. Hvas conducted in-depth interviews with 52- and 53-year-old women. The women perceived themselves as more experienced and more competent than their younger selves, and more assertive about speaking their minds.

As my own mother told me, “Once you get older, you stop giving a $%&! about what other people think.” This theme is echoed time and again by post-menopausal women who say they feel less constrained and more self-confident. Some researchers believe this is actually due to the hormonal changes of menopause, but there are probably psychosocial influences as well. Whatever the cause, a lot of women affirm this, and frankly it sounds pretty great.

A Shift in Perspective

At some point in my reading I came across the term “menostart” as an alternative to “menopause.” This seems apt for the many women who experience menopause as a turning point after which their interests, priorities, and attitudes change.

The psychological principle of socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) offers a lens through which we might understand some of these shifts. The central tenet of SST is that as we age, our future time perception changes. Whereas once we were young and time felt expansive, with aging comes a growing recognition that time is limited. This changes how we approach the world. According to the theory, when time seems expansive in our youth, we focus on future-oriented goals, seek novelty and knowledge, and invest in individual achievement. In contrast, older adults prioritize relational goals and positive emotional experiences.

Three decades of research into SST bears this out. Although SST is not a theory of menopause per se, it does postulate that older individuals facing important life transitions that signal an “ending,” such as retirement, will effortfully focus on positive aspects and downplay negative aspects. Menopause surely falls into this category as well. Older individuals also tend to be better at emotion regulation in everyday life and enjoy more stable positive emotions.

Consistent with this, Hvas relates, “Some women describe that they have used the menopause as a trigger to changing their lifestyles. To others it has meant that they have realised that life is not eternal and that it is important to, ‘use life while you have it’. The statements indicate that the phase has resulted in personal development.” Some of the women in her other study described themselves as more tolerant. “The women also experienced that they had become better at prioritising and at ignoring trifles and instead focus on the important things in life, viz. things that were crucial to themselves.”

I’m Starting Now

No, this isn’t my public announcement that I’m starting “the change.” (Ugh to that term.) I’m laying the foundation upon which I hope a healthy, meaningful “upper middle age” will be built when my husband and I will become empty nesters, and when we fully intend to be healthy, vibrant, active, and on the move.

I’ll talk in my next post about psychological and emotional considerations as well as non-hormonal approaches to easing one’s way through menopause. Hint: I bet you’re already using a few of them to improve overall well-being. I am, and now I see them in a new light.

Because attitude is clearly important, I’m cultivating a positive mindset about menopause. It’s necessary to be intentional about this in a world that often treats menopause like it’s the worst thing ever. One strategy is to gather positive role models of women who are celebrating this period of life. I’m starting with Oprah, who says, “So many women I’ve talked to see menopause as an ending. But I’ve discovered this is your moment to reinvent yourself after years of focusing on the needs of everyone else. It’s your opportunity to get clear about what matters to you and then to pursue that with all of your energy, time and talent.” That sounds good to me.

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References:

Avis NE, Brockwell S, Colvin A. A universal menopausal syndrome? Am J Med. 2005 Dec 19;118 Suppl 12B:37-46.

Ayers, BN, Forshaw MJ, Hunter MS. The menopause. The Psychologist 2011;24:348-353.

Deeks AA. Psychological aspects of menopause management. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2003;17(1):17-31.

Hawkes K, O’Connell JF, Jones NG, Alvarez H, Charnov EL. Grandmothering, menopause, and the evolution of human life histories. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA.1998;95(3):1336–1339.

Peccei JS. Menopause: Adaptation or Epiphenomenon? Evol Anthr 2001;10:43–57.

Sievert, LL. Anthropology and the study of menopause: evolutionary, developmental, and comparative perspectives. Menopause 2014;21(10):1151–1159.

Takahashi M, Singh RS, Stone J. A Theory for the Origin of Human Menopause. Front Genet. 2017;7:222.

Winterich JA, Umberson D. How women experience menopause: the importance of social context. J Women Aging. 1999;11(4):57-73.

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