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okay so I finished Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) by Harriet Jacobs, and here are my takeaways, because it was AMAZING and I can't believe all US students aren't required to read it in school:

shows how slavery actually worked in nuanced ways i'd never thought much about

example: Jacobs's grandmother would work making goods like crackers and preserves after she was done with her work day (so imagine boiling jars at like 3 a.m.) so that she could sell them in the local market

through this her grandmother actually earned enough money, over many years, to buy herself and earn her freedom

BUT her "mistress" needed to borrow money from her. :)))) Yeah. Seriously. And never paid her back, and there was obviously no legal recourse for your "owner" stealing your life's savings, so all those years of laboring to buy her freedom were just ****ing wasted. like.

But also! Her grandmother met a lot of white women by selling them her homemade goods, and she cultivated so much good will in the community that she was able to essentially peer pressure the family that "owned" her into freeing her when she was elderly (because otherwise her so-called owners' white neighbors would have judged them for being total assholes, which they were)

She was free and lived in her own home, but she had to watch her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren all continue to be enslaved. She tried to buy her family but their "owners" wouldn't allow it.

Enslaved people celebrated Christmas. they feasted, and men went around caroling as a way to ask white people in the community for money.

But Christmas made enslaved people incredibly anxious because New Years was a common time for them to be sold, so mothers giving their children homemade dolls on Christmas might, in just a few days' time, be separated from their children forever

over and over again, families were deliberately ripped apart in just the one community that Harriet Jacobs lived in. so many parents kept from their children. just insane to think of that happening everywhere across the slave states for almost 200 years

Harriet Jacobs was kept from marrying a free Black man she loved because her "owner" wouldn't let her

Jacobs also shows numerous ways slavery made white people powerless

for example: a white politician had some kind of relationship with her outside of marriage, obviously very questionably consensual (she didn't hate him but couldn't have safely said no), and she had 2 children by him--but he wasn't her "master," so her "master" was allowed to legally "own" his children, even though he was an influential and wealthy man and tried for years to buy his children's freedom

she also gives examples of white men raping Black women and, when the Black women gave birth to children who resembled their "masters," the wives of those "masters" would be devastated--like, their husbands were (from their POV) cheating on them, committing violent sexual acts in their own house, and the wives couldn't do anything about it (except take out their anger on the enslaved women who were already rape victims)

just to emphasize: rape was LEGALLY INCENTIVIZED BY US LAW LESS THAN 200 YEARS AGO. It was a legal decision that made children slaves like their mothers were, meaning that a slaveowner who was a serial rapist would "own" more "property" and be better off financially than a man who would not commit rape.

also so many examples of white people promising to free the enslaved but then dying too soon, or marrying a spouse who wouldn't allow it, or going bankrupt and deciding to sell the enslaved person as a last resort instead

A lot of white people who seemed to feel that they would make morally better decisions if not for the fact that they were suffering financially and needed the enslaved to give them some kind of net worth; reminds me of people who buy Shein and other slave-made products because they just "can"t" afford fairly traded stuff

but also there were white people who helped Harriet Jacobs, including a ship captain whose brother was a slavetrader, but he himself felt slavery was wrong, so he agreed to sail Harriet to a free state; later, her white employer did everything she could to help Harriet when Harriet was being hunted by her "owner"

^so clearly the excuse that "people were just racist back then" doesn't hold any water; there were plenty of folks who found it just as insane and wrongminded as we do now

Harriet Jacobs making it to the "free" north and being surprised that she wasn't legally entitled to sit first-class on the train. Again: segregation wasn't this natural thing that seemed normal to people in the 1800s. it was weird and fucked up and it felt weird and fucked up!

Also how valued literacy skills were for the enslaved! Just one example: Harriet Jacobs at one point needed to trick the "slaveowner" who was hunting her into thinking she was in New York, and she used an NYC newspaper to research the names of streets and avenues so that she could send him a letter from a fake New York address

I don't wanna give away the book, because even though it's an autobiography, it has a strangely thrilling plot. But these were some of the points that made a big impression on me.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl also inspired the first novel written by a Black American woman, Frances Harper, who penned Iola Leroy. And Iola Leroy, in turn, helped inspire books by writers like Nella Larsen and Zora Neale Hurston. Harriet Jacob is also credited in Colson Whitehead's acknowledgments page for informing the plot of The Underground Railroad. so this book is a pivotal work in the US literary canon and, again, it's weird that we don't all read it as a matter of course.

(also P.S. it's free on project gutenberg and i personally read it [also free] on the app Serial Reader)

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We are approaching the maximum of images you can post here so I thought it was time I make a little showcase of all the formation pieces we covered so far on the streams.

For people who don't know: for several months now I draw one formation or fossil locality every Saturday. The next place we visit is chosen by a wheel of names, which we also constantly fill up again when a new formation is picked.

I try to make it as interesting as possible in my composition and choice of animals and I can tell you this series has been a great training when it comes to constructing these, how I call them, Menageries.

I have to thank a team of friends and colleagues who help behind the scenes with research, creation of size charts and conversation partners when it comes to deciding on the compositions of these pieces. Their help has been invaluable!

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Re-reading this as I'm about to write the actual version of this scene. It's good soup. Good antagonist build up.

"Come on, you can't deny it. Honesty is one of your strengh, Devereux. You'll be a better general than I've ever been, you know it. They'll bow to you, hanging off your every word. You have a sword, a shield, you are untouchable, an unstoppable force of nature. This is what humanity needs!"

Farrah shook her head.

"I don't know how else to get it through to you. I don't want your power, I don't want to control people. I'm just a collector - a lonely wanderer in this wasteland, there's nothing your keep can give me that I want, and worse yet, that I need."

"Safety, Farrah. It can give you safety." The crown of light over the general's head flickered, as he raised his hand towards the dome of light that covered the fort.

They could both see the winged monsters fruitlessly and desperately scratching at its surface with their overgrown talons.

"Nothing can touch you here Deveraux. Not them, nor them," he gestured to the commotion in the streets."

And Farrah saw it; his point, but also who he was in that instance. Much like Dan had unlocked the technology domain through his own work, the General had made himself the ruler of this Domain.

"And what, Paul, live the rest of my days like a rat between three walls and an artillery canon? That's not living, that's surviving. And even then, barley. That's not for me, I can't sit here questless, trembling in fear of the day the shield gives in."

"You are your own shield Farrah. It will never give in until you live," his crown flickered again. A wave of energy ran over the dome, disintegrating the zombies in a single blast. "I don't understand where your reluctance is coming from. It's dangerous there. You saw what happened to Christsou, to your parents, to Anna. You have lived in the shadow of their deaths this whole time, I know you see it. But what if your perspective was wrong? What if their deaths - their lives - they all guided you here? To where you are meant to be, to where you belong."

The general extended a hand. That same yellow light that formed his crown formed a circle around it.

[Skill Shared]

[Shield of Light - Untrained]

[Create a shield around yourself up to 1m in radius. 1MP/30']

[Accept/Decline]

"I belong where I choose to belong, Paul." Farrah declined the offer.

She let out a heavy sigh. There were many things worse than turning into one of the mindless, soulless undread creatures. Becoming mindless and soulless while leaving was a top contender.

[Scan]

The grey energy of her skill emanated from her, updating her map of the area.

[Last Stand]

Her luck dropped to 1, and MP increased five-fold. A golden cross flashing over the General's chest told her that he'd activated [Bond].

"Farrah, we don't have to do this."

A similar smaller cross appeared over her own chest, and she watched her MP and luck pools extend to encompass the General's. His eyes widened, as he noticed how much MP and how little Luck he'd acquired.

"And here I thought you were against this whole 'people merger'," Farrah joked, before dashing and leaping off the roof of the barracks.

She'd just been given unlimited MP, and unlike the General, most her skills weren't domain-dependant.

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Inspired by a Tiktok post from:

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hecate

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congratulations

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okay i loved scavengers reign

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Scavengers Reign co-creator Joe Bennett confirms on his Instagram account that the series will not be renewed for season 2 at Netflix. He also shared a concept teaser for what season 2 might've looked like had it gotten renewed.

As of right now, Scavengers Reign is not being renewed for a second season. I wanted to let everyone know directly because I really love our fanbase, they’ve been such champions for the show, and I don’t want to leave everyone hanging. We’ve had to fight tooth and nail every step of the way to get this show made, starting all the way back in 2016 with the Scavengers short film to the release of the first season last year. It’s a case study for believing in something and persevering through a million and one hurdles. But, it got made, thanks especially to so many people who supported it along the way, in big and small ways. I want to thank some of those people, starting with my co-creator Charles Huettner @charles.huettner , Chris Prynoski @chrisprynoski and everyone at @titmouseinc , my home base at @greenstreetpictures , the writers, directors, and so many incredible artists who worked tirelessly on the show, and the folks at Max who were incredible partners to work with. But this is not the end. There is more story to be told, we are ready to make another season, and we produced in-house at Green Street a teaser for what was going to come in the second season. Thanks again to everyone who watched and supported the show.

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This is a 2 people + pet household. Very proud of us 😎

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Let the moon be your clit

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I need someone to write the conversation between Alfred and Bruce thatbtakes places after issue 6 where Bruce is like:

"I guess you really are a paramedic. What happened to your orders?"

And Alfred replies with:

"Think nothing of it, kid. There's someone in Gotham who I need to help put down a suitcase."

And Bruce is like ????

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Lightning Bug 🥰

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Finished Descent, thought it'd make a lil doodle (took me all evening XD)

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While on the topic of disability, I just wanna say that abelist language is also saying stuff like "why is is taking you so long to learn x" and "did you not see the very obvious x".

It's also disregarding feedback on fonts and framing and whatnot in writing and ppt presentations.

It's also going "why is your phone script so big" and "what's with that lettering".

It's opening your mouth to make a joke, stopping halway, having the disabled person say "go ahead, I'm cool with my disability", but still not saying anything.

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Not my disabled ass watching a lightbulb change shape for 5 minutes