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"Both sides". Photographed by Lluis Camps for Au Revoir magazine

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Drawn by the scent of urine, whites and sulfurs (Pieridae) congregate on the bank of Alas River in Gunung Leuser National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia.

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Everything Wrong With The Way Neji Was Handled

I’m in the mood so I’m gonna write something that has been on my mind for quite some time. Here we go.

1-) Neji vs. Hinata

Let’s start with the most obvious offense: Why did people allow this match in the first place?

Gai, Kurenai, huns, exactly what were you thinking? Both Hinata and Neji are heavily damaged children, seriously what were you expecting from this fight?

And that’s without saying Neji would get in a lot, a lot of trouble for defeating Hinata. Heyoo??? Hinata absolutely wouldn’t activate Neji’s seal but Main House elders would. Even if they didn’t care about Hinata’s well being at all, I’m sure beating a Main House member into a coma qualifies as a revolutionary act and I don’t think slave owners would be fine with it.

I don’t like how the narrative portrays Neji as the villain in the match too. Neji DID warn Hinata, he did tell her that he was gonna win this and she should give up. Hinata didn’t, she chose to fight and even when it was absolutely obvious she lost, she still came at him. What was she expecting, to get out unharmed? No, Hinata knew Neji had understandable reasons to hate her and Neji warned her to give up at the beginning. This isn’t to justify Neji’s misplaced anger but to claim why Hinata wasn’t completely innocent.

Besides, people do realize that Neji is a literal child slave, right? That stuff tends to slightly screw your mind up, do people know? It doesn’t make Neji a horrible monster that he hated his owner’s daughter who could exploit him and make his life a hell with just one hand sign, no matter how the said daughter was genuinely a good person. Neji was in the wrong and Hinata didn’t deserve his hatred, a big yes to this but holy sweet, be a little bit understanding.

But nah, Neji is a bad villain and great Naruto will kick his ass. Hinata is so undoubtly good that even Neji’s teammate supports her instead of… I dunno… realizing the “for the first time, Branch House shall win!” quote meant that the match wasn’t just about a black and white hard work stuff and Neji did have his reasons too.

2-) Neji vs. Naruto

This match may be the most hilariously stupid thing I’ve ever seen in any form of fiction…

So… Naruto preaches about how hard work beats genius even though the one with one year worth of more experience and training among the two is Neji. Then, Naruto beats Neji by… using Kyubi?

??? :D

Hyuga’s style was extremely disagventagous against a Jinchuriki since Bijuus essentially work as a secondary chakra battery which can re-activate closed Tenketsus. That’s how Naruto beats Neji. Birth advantage. Neji has one more year of training and experience but it failed against birth advantage.

Hard work truly beats genius. Nice way to prove your themes.

And where was Gai during the match anyway? Kakashi has an excuse not to be there since Sasuke would have died to Gaara if he didn’t complete his training but Gai? Couldn’t he just carry Lee to the arena and watch his student’s match?

Besides, a simple “I’m gonna change the Hyuga when I become the Hokage!” was enough to touch Neji because that quote meant someone actually gave a fuck about what he’s going through. It meant someone else agreed that the slavery in his clan was wrong and his feelings about it were validated. It was that simple.

Question: Where tf was Gai during roughly one and a half year???

3-) Solution to Slavery

Credit: https://www.deviantart.com/purple-snowflakes/art/Caged-Bird-Neji-198284847

Neji is shaken up enough already after his match with Naruto. Then Hiashi, his owner, comes and…

“We didn’t kill your father, he chose to die. That doesn’t mean all that much since we were gonna kill him even if he objected anyway, he had no choice but to use that fake freedom of choice narrative. Anyway, that’s not the topic at hand now. Your father escaped his destiny by dying to us so your feelings of anger are kinda invalid. Sorry, suck it up. Oh, and know I didn’t object slavery at all during all this time, there’s also an anime filler of me torturing a seven year old you, but heeey, I apologize so it’s fine. Don’t forget, your father wouldn’t want you to be bitter about our house’s unfair system :)”

Please tell me I wasn’t the only one who screamed emotional manipulation at that panel.

What kind of bs answer is ‘choose to die’ to slavery anyway? Do they have a right to choose not to die when their owner asks them to die? No, they don’t. Then, they’re not free.

I also hate how later in the series, Neji’s anger at the Main House was invalidated because his father had pulled the “well, I’m gonna die anyway, I may as well as trick myself into believing I’m finally free because I’m desperate and that’s the only way I can feel some closure at death” card. Excuse me but Neji is still a slave to the Main House, he’ll remain so as long as that mark is on his forehead remains - Hiashi’s apologize be dammed. He HAS the right to be mad at the Main House and the clan’s system.

4-) Later on…

Neji dies to some flying pieces of wood he absolutely should have been able to defend against cus the author needed a… uh… What’s the word here? Anti-plot armor? The opposite of a plot armor? Negative plot armor? I dunno, send help.

Note: Hiashi’s or whoever’s words don’t mean a thing. Neji SHOULD HAVE BEEN able to defend that attack.

His death is insulted with a ship moment that comes mere minutes after. We also don’t get enough reaction from his teammates, one manga page is all.

And Naruto, the boy who lectured him about how destiny doesn’t exist turns out to be a demi God and the child of the prophecy. And all that jazz.

Nice way to prove your themes again.

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Well, rest in peace my boy. You deserved a lot better with just about everything but look at from the bright side, at least now you’re safe from SP!

Oh, H E L L N O !

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Kalaku River arc

Hey guys, what's up. I'm still constantly thinking about that borderless society in which people can choose to be nomads and their adventures in it, called Aldebaran. I've written about it here and here. ((and it's pretty much the whole focus of this blog really hahah)

I'm obsessed with Kalaku River, a small village built around this super big and sacred river. I can picture how cool it would be to be traveling on earth and then reach this place where people mostly move through water; on boats or simply swimming.

They pray a lot to the river because it's sacred for them, I can picture monks taking care of it and telling passers-by (the nomads) sweet messages such as "Love yourself and forgive yourself a thousand times". Clearly a Buddhist reference but it's no secret I get inspired a lot by eastern religions/art.

So yeah, this is one of the illustrations I made about this idea. A monk in his fish-like boat guiding the newcomers. What do you think?

If you want to contribute to this (kind of) worldbuilding, feel free and just say the word!

xx

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the beginning of the journey

In Aldebaran, people simply can decide to be nomads because there are no borders, only small self-managed villages across the lands.

I started thinking about a journey where a character would leave their village to go on this very long trip, much like a pilgrimage - because every citizen is supposed to do that at least once in their lives. Not because it's mandatory, of course, just because it`s fun and it's a nice cultural exchange and who wouldn't like that (I mean, right?).

So yeah, they would just grab their backpack and start their trip, going through some other villages until they got to the one they wanted to spend the night.

This character I thought was also a photographer and they would go in this journey taking pictures of stuff they see along the way (hence the drawings).

So I thought they'd see some signs along the forest on how to grow giant daisies. Because, you know, you'd find all sorts of practices on the way, I guess?

And the village they decided to stay at was one by a river called Kalaku (yeah, like the guy in Spirited Away) and they would see monks meditating along the river, that's how they'd know they're in the right path.

They would see some lanterns decorating the way leading to the village to guide new pilgrims arriving for the festival.

I just thought a lot of festivals going on would be a fun thing, nothing besides that really. I like festivals and I thought that in Aldebaran people would have them on a weekly basis. Maybe one a month by village but pilgrims would be able to go to a different festival daily if they wanted, but usually weekly (so that they wouldn't get so tired of travelling from village to village).

And that would be the thing about this pilgrimage: being able to exchange food and a roof in the shrines in order to help with festival preparations and anything the place would need really - that locals perhaps couldn't handle on their own? Idk, something volunteer based.

So yeah guys, these are just some little things I've been thinking about, nothing super structured or thought through.

Aldebaran is an idea I like to indulge in my spare time so I'm not putting a lot of pressure on it, I just thought I'd share it anyways :)

If you want to contribute to this (kind of) worldbuilding, feel completely free and just say the word!

See you on the next village, I guess haha

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Jin Xingye

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Welcome to the space age, ladies and gentlemen

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an introduction to solarpunk

artwork by Molly Costello (instagram)

what is solarpunk?

“Solarpunks cherish nature, progress and science; the individual and the community.

They believe in a world that is green, colourful, and bright. It can be described as a literary genre, an aesthetic, or a movement. The key points are:

An emphasis on renewable energy, especially solar power.

A demand for technology and society to re-centre around sustainability, longevity, and balance.

A focus on decentralisation, community activism, social justice and civic empowerment.

A recognition that economic, social, and ecological injustices are all deeply inter-connected.”

- Sunbeam City

“Solarpunk is a literary movement, a hashtag, a flag, and a statement of intent about the future we hope to create” - Ben Valentine

Solarpunk as a concept emerged from the imagination of authors and creators in the early 2000′s, and was shared freely throughout the internet. It originated as a genre of creative writing and artwork, but it quickly began to be implemented into decentralised left-wing spaces. Nowadays, solarpunk embodies a whole range of politics, activism, design and art; but at its heart it encompasses positive, grassroots community action and innovation as a way to prevent ecological crises. 

resources

non fiction books, essays and articles

Solarpunk: a reference guide

Solarpunk: notes towards a manifesto 

Solarpunk against a shitty future 

What is Solarpunk?

Solarpunk Resources

Designing Regenerative Cultures by Daniel Wahl

The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams  

Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology by Alexis Madrigal  

Ecovillages: Lessons for Sustainable Community by Karen T. Litfin  

Designing for Hope: Pathways to Regenerative Sustainability by Dominique Hes  

novels and fiction

Goodreads solarpunk list  

Solarpunk Press 

Solarpunk Story Exchange

Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation 

Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach

Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers by Sarena Ulibarri

Wings of Renewal: A Solarpunk Dragon Anthology by Claudie Arseneault

Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation by Phoebe Wagner 

Twenty One Twenty by Jason J. Robinson

Winds of Change: Short Stories about Our Climate by Mary Woodbury 

Ecopunk! - speculative tales of radical futures by Liz Grzyb

videos

Sunbeam Cinema (my list of documentaries and films)

Imagining a Solarpunk future (TED talk)

podcasts

Adventures in New America 

The War on Cars

Climate One 

Future Perfect 

The Impact 

The Institute for Local Self Reliance 

It’s Going Down

The Shift Up Podcast

Solarpunk Press 

Strong Towns 

Team Human 

Occulture Podcast, ep. 122

(my list of podcasts and radio shows)

websites and blogs

Sunbeam City Wiki  Solarpunk Anarchists  Solarpunk Station 

tumblr

This is where I need your help - I would love to collate a list of Solarpunk-themed tumblr blogs. If you post about Solarpunk and would like to be included in this list, please comment or message me with your blog URL. Thank you! 

Relevant posts

my list of permaculture resources

my tips and tricks for disabled activism 

my post on gardening 

my post on community activism

post updated: 8/7/2019

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Found in the book Tõnis Vint and his Aesthetic Universe

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calling the solarpunk community out there

Hey guys, so I have this question: do you think a partially nomad civilization could be a good thing?

I was thinking about a civilization where people could decide they no longer want to be fixated on only one place and it would be a normal thing to go on long trips, much like a pilgrimage.

You would be able to stop at shrines in villages along the way and that's how you'd always have a roof and food, in exchange of volunteer work.

For this to work, this civilization couldn't have borders or many large cities. I tend to look a lot at Xintoism to think about this because religious aspects would have to be very intertwined with their social-political developments - shrines to help the pilgrims in their journey, a lot of festivals to promote community gatherings, and work for those who seek it.

I'm still thinking about the role of technology in this one.

Idk, just been thinking about this and since I'm not an expert on solarpunk media, I thought I'd share it. If someone knows any ideas similar to this, in books, movies or series please let me know :) Or if someone wants to contribute to this (kind of) worldbuilding, just say the word!

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I like to be so overly happy I don't mind how I'm behaving, I like to give in to spontaneity.

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there are two wolves inside you: one dgaf. the other one gaf

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“wouldn’t you rather earn something than have it just handed to you?”

Yeah when it comes to actual awards and fancy goods, but when it comes to basic needs, basic human decency, and accomodations, those things should always be handed to people. No one should have to “earn” those things.Value people as people, not base it on how much they produce. 

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ID: White text on a black background. In the center of the image is a mushroom with step-like green and white mushroom heads circling the stalk. Around the mushroom are the words "1 week left to submit to the mushroom issue!" Below that, in smaller text: "Solarpunk fiction, art, nonfic, poetry, and anything else!" On the right, vertical text reads "bit.ly/submitToOptopia." end ID.

Final week! Submit here!

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i hate texting let me taste ur blood

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me sinto ainda crua

crua como um pedaço de carne que eu como babando hipocrisia numa ego trip canibal