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Well!

So first, let's clear a common misconception: no, President Abraham Lincoln did not love Black people nor see them as human equals. At best he was centrist about it (though, even his implication that 'exceptional' Black men ought to vote got him assassinated).

"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do, it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union...I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free."

The "freeing of slaves" after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 was meant to kneecap the economic and military powers of the seceded South. Lettuce stop making a white savior figure out of Lincoln, or thinking that my people's shackles were unchained via anything other than desperate war strategy and extreme violence. Think on that, for a moment.

That being said!

But not everyone in Confederate territory would immediately be free. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later. Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as "Juneteenth," by the newly freed people in Texas.

Consider going through the Smithsonian website to learn about Juneteenth! Recognize why it's an actual day of freedom, versus July 4th and the independence of a select few.

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closes my eyes. why aren't normal working prosthetics Cool Enough for the osc. why do people have to "get creative" and draw prosthetics that clearly were made with No prosthetic references that work Impossibly and are a Perfect fix for the disability. why do people Refuse to look at even a SINGLE IMAGE of an actual prosthetic. what's so BAD about actual prosthetics??? why NOT draw them?? you CAN be creative with actual working prosthetics that DONT erase a disability, but people don't even TRY!!! it drives me Nuts

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[First ID: Two graphics, the first of which is labelled "what people think a spork is". The first graphic depicts two labelled silhouettes of a fork and a spoon, as well as a spork in the middle. However, the spork has two heads, one of a fork's tines and the other of a spoon bowl. The second graphic, labelled "what a spork actually is" depicts the same setup, but the spork in the middle is a typical spork, whose head has features of a spoon bowl and fork tines. End first ID.]

[Second ID: A purple and yellow banner with the intersex symbol to the left, and text reading, "This post is actually about intersex people with ambiguous genitalia*" End second ID.]

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Luckyfiles Analysis

[ID: A somewhat messily colored drawing of Cabby and Clover from Inanimate Insanity. Cabby has fangs and glasses added to her design. Clover is sitting down in front of Cabby, who is playing with one of Clover's leaflets. The two are looking lovingly at each other, blushing.

The background is of Paradise Island, various palm trees, bushes, and leafy plants far in the back. The most notable plants are various flowers closer to the front, simple in style and colored like the lesbian flag. End ID.]

Cabby and Clover, a ship that I will be referring to this point onwards as Cablover (sounds like Cab Lover, which is fun!), is something rather important to me! The two have a lot of potential for a dynamic (could be platonic, too!) that gets often overlooked even by the show itself, and I’m hoping that this will help explain why this has invaded my brain for the past several months by this point. :)

Please note that this was all written before Season 4, and therefore cannot take any of it into account. If there’s something that either furthers or weakens this by then, I cannot know about it! Just keep that in mind if you were to come across this later on.

Dynamic

I think it’s best to start with their overall dynamic, or at least how I’d perceive it. Due to how little these two actually interact, this section in particular may end up having a lot of assumptions, so just keep that in mind.

To start with the basics, I think at its core, Cablover can be considered an “opposites attract” relationship. Clover is more carefree, Cabby is dedicated. Clover is lucky, Cabby has constant bad things happening to her. Clover is a plant and often connected to nature, Cabby is metallic and therefore can be considered “unnatural”. On its surface, there’s a lot of appeal for those who love relationships in which the characters end up rather different.

And yet… there’s still similarities, especially once you start digging! Both the two can be rather perceptive; in fact, Clover can identify her butterflies just by their differences in movement, and that requires a really good eye!

[ID: A screenshot of a transcript. It reads:

Brybee O...Oh... So... how can you tell your butterfly friends apart? They all look similar.

Clover: Oh, well, if you look closely: Cordelia tends to bob a little bit when she flies; Catalina is always precisely two to three inches above the others; Cassandra breathes a bit too loud; and Jake has less flaps a minute than the girls. But he makes up for it by being the lovable wittle scamp that he is. Don't you, Jake?

End ID.]

Both of them can be quite silly; Cabby very frequently cracks jokes about situations, often involving puns of all things.

[ID: A screenshot of Cabby and Bot from Inanimate Insanity. The two are among several gears, Bot even holding one of them. Cabby closes her eyes and points upwards as the captions describe her dialogue as:

"Alright! Now how about we go ahead and- SIFT GEARS! [CHUCKLES]"

End ID.]

Both of them care a lot for others, both of them have different struggles with self-centering, and both of them have felt like they had done too much to hurt others, even sharing a similar coping mechanism of self-isolating.

Their few interactions also indicate a friendly relationship. Cabby states herself that she thinks Clover is a “sweet girl” even if she gets distracted easily and was the first to observe that she was missing from the meeting. It’s also notable to me that Cabby never saw Clover’s luck as a bad thing; rather than viewing it as something that inevitably led others to harm (an assumption made by Nickel that even generally thoughtful contestants like Candle did not disprove, merely instead stating that Clover did not intend this harm), she viewed it as a way to help others in challenges. Even if a large motivation was strategy, Cabby did still seem fond of Clover while including her in the egg drop challenge, even side-hugging her while pulling her close to explain her idea.

[ID: A screenshot of Cabby and Clover from Inanimate Insanity. Cabby has her eyes closed with a finger pointing up, explaining something as she holds Clover close to her. End ID.]

Even shoving her off the cliff was more out of intent to show an example, accurately predicting that Clover would’ve been perfectly okay, and Clover found that fun! This is furthered by Clover directly telling Cabby that she had fun in the Season 3 finale episodes, even.

I think that’s a nice way to segue into more of Clover’s side of things. I think it’s easy to take Clover’s comment about “I would’ve done the same to you!” as some sort of lighthearted threat in response to something she didn’t enjoy, but like…

[ID: An image of Cabby and Clover from Inanimate Insanity. Cabby is looking confidently towards Clover as Clover seems excited, having a big smile with her eyes closed and her arms raised. End ID.]

Look at her :) she was truly so happy to experience that, I can imagine it would’ve been like a fun ride to her! Even if Cabby was confused and maybe anxious at the suggestion, I think it’s very possible that Clover has an inkling that Cabby actually would enjoy such a thing. Cabby is durable, so there’s far less of a danger to her than there would be for many other objects, and she had a blast literally leaping off a cliff in the first challenge; maybe Clover couldn’t have seen how joyous she looked during the action, but she surely would’ve noticed Cabby had no reservations coming out of the tube. Clover herself noted that Cabby had not done anything particularly malicious, and I think this was merely a clumsy attempt to bond with and cheer up somebody who evidently seemed quite unsure of herself even just in her speech.

Building off Clover’s surprisingly good perception, there’s a subtle detail in the argument between Cabby and Test Tube, and how Clover mediates it. Under closer inspection, it’s clear that Test Tube is who turned that into specifically an argument by outright insulting Cabby, even if Cabby was rather irritated while voicing a concern. While Clover does seem to view both sides at fault for the argument, it’s very interesting to me that she, again, goes to first flip Test Tube’s “smile”. Cabby was not perfect in that argument, especially not with what happened after that, but keeping in mind that subtle acknowledgment of the true instigator combined with Clover later saying she hadn’t viewed Cabby as malicious? I think it’s pretty clear that Clover had a far more optimistic view of Cabby than most other contestants did, and saw her intent to do well even through things that could be so, so easy to misunderstand.

Even if that’s about where their interactions end, I think there’s still more to explore with how this dynamic could develop.

Both of them have struggled with their self esteem issues, and even if they largely figured out ways to cope and feel better, that isn’t to say they could never still struggle with those emotions, never feel reminders. How much both of them could connect over the fear of hurting others, assuring the other that they truly mean well, that they don’t seek to cause harm, that they are worth being around.

Focusing on more positives, I think Cabby could help ground Clover in some ways, help her truly bring out that analytical side of her. Clover I think excels most at emotional understanding, leaving logical deduction to be harder for her… at least going off the fact that she assumed Bot would’ve incriminated themself through a crossword puzzle, of all things. They could come up with puzzles as a fun game, perhaps!

Maybe Cabby could even help Clover focus a little more. Obviously it is impossible for anybody to solve everything– Clover’s easily-distracted nature seems to just be how her mind works– but I imagine Cabby could still find coping mechanisms for her that could help, and I imagine it just feels nice to have someone else there for support regardless.

Similarly, I think Clover could help Cabby loosen up a little, feel happier about things. I think Cabby has come a long way in her development, feeling overall better about herself and feeling less of a need to be competitive, but I could still imagine that could be something she’d struggle with over time– and having a little bundle of joy in Clover would be perfect for that. Truly, they could go back to the simple days of leaping off cliffs, kept safe by both Cabby’s durability and Clover’s luck.

Knowing how well Clover can understand others, I think it’d help Cabby a lot to have another perspective on that, too. I imagine that even if she truly tries a lot, it can still be hard to understand others well just because of how her mind works. Having somebody more patient talking through situations with her, helping her analyze things she may be unsure of I imagine could go a long way.

There’s simply a lot to think about! Dynamic-wise, I think this is about all I can extrapolate without getting into outright headcanon territory, at least more than I already have– but I think this is at least a good start. I have more up my sleeve, though!

Connections

There’s some other notable things connecting the two even beyond what I’ve already mentioned, and I wish every single day this was all capitalized on. I can only hope for future content…

Regardless! I think the first thing that’s notable to me is that Cabby had been studying Clover from day one, and we even SEE this in the first episode.

[ID: An image of Clover, Fan, Bot, Goo, Test Tube, and Cabby from Inanimate Insanity. Clover is looking towards the rest of her team, who are all covered in pink dye; while most of her teammates seem excited to have Clover on her team, Cabby instead seems much more focused on writing down something in a file. End ID.]

Like, yes, surely she found her abilities to be very interesting… but, like, she pulled Clover close to her. She called Clover “sweet”. No matter what context you view these interactions in, it’s clear she had a fondness towards Clover.

Cabby’s intense studying of Clover is what led to the wide realization of Clover’s luck, including by Clover herself. In a twist of irony, what Cabby considered to be beneficial for everyone is immediately considered to be a curse by Clover herself, jumpstarting Clover’s arc from being a lighthearted, albeit self-centered girl to somebody with a deep fear of hurting others, now left trying to figure out how to just do good even in the face of outright murder accusations.

…Sounds a little familiar, putting it that way.

Truly, what Clover needed to learn all along is that her luck is beneficial, at least most of the time– she just needed to share it with others around her! Almost what Cabby seemed to pick up on all along by wanting Clover’s luck to help her team.

And yet… Clover does more than that. She needs to constantly be helping, to be making up for this innate gift that she has, no matter how much hatred it’s caused her from some, no matter how she could feel about situations where it may have even hurt her.

I think that’s something Cabby could understand all too well.

The two have had to do so much to prove themselves far beyond the bare minimum, to make up for their very being, just for who they are. They can’t just be baseline acceptable, they can’t just be some person who exists, they need to actively be doing GOOD for everyone around them at all times. I’d argue both have very significant struggles with moral OCD, but I think that’s a conversation for another time. The important bit is… I think both of them would get it. They would get the idea of just their mere selves being what causes harm, just from being there as themselves.

It is evident that this is something the two have also internalized to their core, causing them both to self-isolate in various ways as a result. There are implications throughout I Am Chocolate! that Cabby had been isolating herself away from others, rejecting any means of connection until close to the end, and even episodes later she still says that being alone is “what she does best”. Clover had done similar after believing her luck to be a curse, avoiding others as much as she could in order to avoid potentially “hurting them”.

There’s even something to be said about the avoidance of things deeply meaningful to them. Cabby had stopped using her files for a while after believing them to be a harmful, reductive view of everyone else, and when Clover temporarily became luckless, she went on to talk about how Goo and Balloon being evenly matched is exactly why there shouldn’t be any luck. Neither of them viewed something so important to them as good or helpful, even worsened by how everyone else seemed to treat these things.

And as a side note… even their eliminations have parallels. Both unanimous, and yet so different. Cabby unanimously eliminated out of pure hatred, Clover unanimously eliminated out of pure concern. If Clover is full of luck all the time, then Cabby is devoid of it with how awfully her life had gone throughout the season.

If Cabby was the one to see Clover’s luck as good all along, then Clover was someone who saw Cabby as good all along, even if she didn’t get many chances to say so. Clover pointed out that Cabby wasn’t malicious, and I think she meant it. Even if ultimately Clover wasn’t among those who voted for Cabby, I can still imagine it would’ve meant so much to hear that from somebody, especially somebody less biased due to not quite being friends.

I think there’s a lot of parallels that could’ve been capitalized on between the two. So many things that feel connected, that could’ve led to more ties than what were there. Even if the show hasn’t currently capitalized on any of this, I definitely sure will.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts about these two, and if I’ve helped you understand the ship more, then that’s a win in my book :)

As a bonus, here’s Clover’s favorite moment during her time on Season 3!

[ID: A screenshot of a transcript. It reads:

Brybee: Woah! Exciting! I think that's our cue for the lightning round! Fast answers! Phew! I am nailing this! What was your favourite memory from your time on the show?

Clover: Oh, stargazing with Bow and Goo! Cabby and Test Tube told us all about the constellations and how we-

End ID.]

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[ID: The Girls The Gays and Coleman meme, but edited to have Cabby replace Coleman. The text reads:

"Hey guys when you say something is for The Thinkers can you include me in that as well? The New Old Thinkers and Cabby if it's not too much trouble thanks guys"

End ID.]

My understanding of that alliance

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Mapping The Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color

(Kimberle Crenshaw, 1991)

I'm gonna leave this linked here, because I plan on using it in future lessons and I don't want it conveniently "lost" amongst the "long post" tags.

This essay is 60 pages. Not a hard read length-wise, but a harrowing one, for sure. Despite my personal inclinations otherwise, I've chosen not to post some of the more graphic quotations.

In exchange, I think that if you genuinely want to understand how both antiracism and feminism often leave women of color out, and how your own (presumably progressive!) beliefs may very well dismiss the experiences of or even actively harm women of color (particularly Black women) around you, this is one of many good resources; one of the OGs on the topic, in fact.

Be willing to get uncomfortable! You want to understand how and why a lack of grace and understanding towards Black women and girls (as characters AND in real life) is a very real, specific experience- "misogynoir"- and how it's been internalized and expressed by both those who hate and those who intend well, take a read!

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Leafy's Lament

If you hadn't already gathered, this is based off of Taco's Tirade screenshots (sorry that they're all super low quality)

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[ID: A digital illustration of Bomb and Orange Juice from Inanimate Insanity. On a dimly lot Halloween night, Bomb is lifting up OJ to help him reach pieces of candy in a tree. End ID.]

been getting into Bomb lately ft oj

[ID: A screenshot Inanimate Insanity Season 1 episode 7, "Sugar Rush" where the scene described above is occuring. End ID.]

redraw of this

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After the latest remaster episode, I genuinely question if there’s really any optimism for a nicer depiction of Evil Paper/DID systems in general at this point. I understand that they can’t deviate from II1’s original basis too much and, at its basis, EP is always going to be a problematic stereotype in of itself - but at this point it actually feels like they have very little intent of redoing *anything* beyond removing certain scenes.

I think it doesn’t help that Paper’s trauma with Idiotic Island is *still* being played for laughs, or at bare minimum their emotional breakdown definitely isn’t written with the same weight Suitcase’s arc or similar had in II2. I get that a serious depiction isn’t what II1 is for, but it’s kinda hurtful to see Paper still get treated like a chore or big overreactor by the plot (see: Baseball). It’s different from other situations in II where the ableism from other characters is actually taken seriously and called out. Here it feels like we’re still supposed to laugh and agree with Baseball that yes, Paper is making a big deal out of nothing! What a loser!

It doesn’t particularly help that remastered Paper’s voice direction is still referred to as “Paper’s evil side.” Evil Paper is in their name, but I think it’s different when it’s from the perspective of a staff member still calling Paper’s trauma arc “evil.” It makes me worried that II truly hasn’t improved much at all in writing characters with disabilities, despite the repeated promises to get better. I don’t know. Maybe other Paper fans have a different take on this. Sigh.

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so long as we're back to social justice 101 on this stupid website, u need to be aware of the feedback loop that emerges from disproportionate scrutiny: any social group that is placed under extra scrutiny, regardless of the actual prevalence of any particular behaviour, will appear to engage in that behaviour more often.

you see this most blatantly with racialised groups (more cops in black neighbourhoods = more arrests in black neighbourhoods = "omg look at all the crime in these neighbourhoods!" = more cops in black neighbourhoods etc). even if the rate of crime is the same (putting to one side the criminalisation of poverty which is also an important related factor), one group gets away with it way more often and a new generation of racists is indoctrinated with the crime statistics which "prove" that some groups are simply more criminal in nature. we see a similar phenomenon online with particular groups (trans women being a huge example) being subjected to mass stalking, their every move documented by weirdos and broadcast as representative of the group as a whole.

tl;dr - overscrutinising groups based on existing bigotries creates a recurring feedback loop, reproducing those bigotries across generations and nominally justifying them. this is bad, and you need to remember that you are not immune to it.

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Draw that canon character FAT

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Beloveds in the woods...In these hard times...

Ignore both of Leafy's current circumstances. shes happy I promise

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maybe I should start fandom posting again

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"Trans men and women are both suffering" and "trans women are often specifically targeted by bigotry and harassment even within their own communities and deserve to be able to talk about their own unique challenges without being talked over" and "trans men are often erased from conversations about how bigotry and transphobia targets them and are not exempt from all the horribly draconian laws transphobes are attempting to pass" and "being trans doesn't make you immune to participating in horrible transmisogyny even and especially if you aren't aware you're doing it" and "holy shit don't reinvent bioessentialism but for trans people like holy fuck men are not destined to be evil and women aren't automatically incapable of harm" are all opinions that can and fucking SHOULD coexist

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This still holds up, I will not be sharing any fundraisers indefinitely.

I. really do not want to make a big deal of this but as of now I am quitting my job as I am unable to do it and it is having unmanageable effects on my physical and mental health, as well as my ability to keep up with the other demands of adult life.

I live alone, and can only receive very limited help from family or friends or anything else. I am entirely relying on my savings to pay for my expenses while I try to find a job that I can sustain. I cannot donate and I cannot risk feeling obligated to donate.

I am still sorry.

TLDR: I won't be sharing fundraiser posts right now due to my financial situation and needing to not feel pressured to donate. I'll still try to share other types of important posts. Sorry.

For the time being, I will Not be sharing fundraiser/mutual aid posts on this blog.

This is not a deliberate attempt to absolve myself of responsibility. As it stands, I am in a fragile economic situation myself. With my new work schedule, I have a very small amount of money to spare each month after living expenses. I am also already a frugal person and have little "fun money" to redirect. (I only have one considerable expense right now that isn't a necessity, and I'm mostly relying on some of my savings for it currently.) Many of my recent donations have come out of my living expenses and I've been rationing my essentials as a result.

The pressure to donate is actively Dangerous for me. Sharing these posts has come with a mounting pressure to donate each time as well. It is very apparent how little shares matter in comparison. And I simply cannot keep up with the expectations nor can I safely deal with the guilt. I keep on donating so much money that I just don't have enough left in the month for my own expenses.

I am sorry for this. I have tried for a very long time to share fundraisers regardless of my ability to contribute to them, and I don't judge anybody for the, for lack of a better word, tactics used to get them attention and funds. But I can't be putting myself in jeopardy because I feel pressured to donate. I live alone and have nobody to catch me if something happens.

It is possible that my situation will improve in a few months and I will be able to donate again, but there is no guaranteeing this at the moment.

I will still try to share informational posts, but I may be more avoidant of posts that include donation links.

I am sorry if I am coddling myself or being selfish. I know that sharing fundraisers is one of the simplest ways to help someone. But it is, genuinely, severely, a problem for me. I am hoping that, even if you don't understand, you can give me the benefit of the doubt.

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[ID: An edit of the Trollface meme where the troll face has an immensely depressed expression with a strong dark overlay. End ID]

tumblr: constantly be aware of your own privilege. constantly be aware of your capacity of be evil. hey i know you really like that new piece of media but make sure you're aware of all of the problematic elements all the time. hey i noticed you reblogged a post from a designated Bad Person so please make sure you do a thorough background check on everyone you reblog from to make sure they're not bad, otherwise people might get the wrong idea about you. always be aware of everything bad that's happening in the world all the time because silence is violence. i see you not reblogging this post btw. activist burnout is a privilege so be aware of that. xyz people are required to reblog this post. if you're not constantly fighting against designated Bad People you are inherently complicit and therefore a Bad Person.

people with ocd:

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Shout out to all the Black ppl that can no longer participate directly in the fandom they love because of the stresses of racism 👍🏾 you contain multitudes of value and I'm sorry that the color of your skin and the power of your voice makes people not want to acknowledge that.