#(also this applies to where i live which is germany so if you live in a country where may is just fundamentally different from what i just

[lyxchen]

Okay I'm just gonna say it. March is my favorite month but May is the best month. I'm not gonna argue because that's a fact. May is The Best Month!! <3

[yuri-for-businesswomen]

i just now learned about a recent case where a german man kidnapped and did unspeakable acts to two boys. one was german, one was a refugee. the first one was immediately treated as a missing case, but the second one was not because the cops were afraid the mother was hiding her son to avoid deportation. and the worst part is, that little boy was kidnapped in a government institution (lageso in berlin) where his mother went for help! its infuriating beyond belief.

racism is so deeply engrained in german institutions, its not funny. yet police refuses any reforms or real investigations and deny even the notion - despite mounting evidence - that there is an issue with systemic racism in german police. and we dont have an independent institution to control the cops, you know who investigates their failures and issues? other cops. and we all know how they stick together like literal shit.

but it also made me think about „missing white woman syndrome“. does anyone really care about an eastern european white woman who goes missing while being exploited in the west through prostitution, in the domestic field, nursing, or as a „mail bride“ dependent on her husband? does anyone care about a white woman in the usa going missing from a trailer park? does anyone care about a white woman who was homeless, mentally ill, drug addicted, disabled, impoverished, prostituted, or otherwise marginalised going missing? and do people not care about white men going missing?

and it also made me think about this current trend of oversimplifying and decontextualising racism. one thing i hope we all can agree on is that anti black racism is very persistent. i cant think of a single country where black people are treated preferably over other races, best case is to be treated equally as a black person, and even that is not the case in most countries. but this doesnt just apply to white majority countries. in japan or korea, or under the kafala system in the arabic gulf states, for example, black people are systematically discriminated against and exploited too. white people are also not the only ones guilty of colonialism and imperialism - albeit i dont want to minimise the scale of portugese, spanish, french, british/australin, german, dutch, belgian (neo)colonialism or the north american slave trade.

i dont know its just, everything always has to be put in context and looked at from an intersectional perspective but i feel a lot of people who fault white supremacy for everything dont do that. and dont get me wrong, white supremacy is the root of a lot of inequality and issues, but despite the name its not merely a black and white problem, its complex. for example, even if a roma or jewish person is white, neonazis dont consider them the same race as white people. or i remember my turkish professor once saying, „in turkey im considered white, but in germany im a person of colour“. because race is not just phenotype, it is also culture, nationality, location and ethnicity that matters for who is holding power and privilege.

meanwhile a lot of the same people will refuse to agree that sex matters. or claim that sex - which is a lot less ambiguous than race by the way and nobody argues that mixed race people prove that race is not real or doesnt matter the way they argue intersex people prove that sex is not real or doesnt matter - is a spectrum while chanting „black lives matter“. and i know that black communities do have that conversation about colourism and how whiteness is something even people of colour are supposed to „strive for“, which is why for example the harmful practice of bleaching your skin exists. so it is being acknowledged that race is a spectrum, but some of the same people who rightfully talk about black lives and how blackness is its own social category will call you a bigot for talking about female lives and how being female is a social category.

im not going anywhere with this, just some thoughts that came up regarding discussions on racism and sex and how they intersect too. feel very free to chime in especially as a person of colour obviously!

[johanna-swann]

Disclaimer (I can't believe I need to say this, but apparently it's necessary in this day and age): I do not condone murder, I do not blame the children caught in the crossfire for anything, I do not believe Israeli settlers deserve to all die. Moving on to the point of this post now.

During the third Reich the Nazis seized not only the property and lives of those not Aryan enough to fit into their Volksgemeinschaft, they also took a lot of land. This happened within Germany at first and later of course also in the countries the Nazis attacked and plundered.

They then sent German settlers to take over that land. It was sold to the German people as an easy and cheap way to become land owners and to secure financial stability for their families. (Apart from the whole "spreading German culture and values" argument.) It was a whole program you could apply to (my great-great-grandparents did, but weren't chosen). So you'd often find young, happy families moving into these houses and farms that were previously owned by jewish or otherwise "unsuitable" families. They were civilians looking to start a new life.

Later most of them claimed they had no idea of what was "really" going on, that the previous owners of that land had been displaced or arrested, taken to a Konzentrationslager and murdered. They claimed they had no idea that the land they lived on was bought with blood.

That is of course utter bullshit. Those farms and fields didn't just fall from the sky to accommodate German settlers. Everyone knew. People chose not to actively think about it, but they knew.

Now I read about Palestinians being displaced and taken away to a small strip of land which they can't leave, where they need to survive without clean water or electricity, I hear about "innocent" Israeli settlers claiming the Palestinian land for themselves and I think about the Germans who moved to Poland because they didn't care where that land came from or what had happened to the people there.

Nobody would dare argue that the German Nazi settlers were innocent. Those Germans weren't innocent, they were complicit. Yet somehow the Israeli settlers are.

Again, I don't believe the Israeli settlers deserve to be killed. But they are not innocent. They know who's land they're living on, where it came from and what the price was.

[simplyclary]

Of All Places, Why Paris?

(Screenshot by me)

*This is a break from all the purely TZP related content I've been putting out here and that content shall resume in a day or two but for now, have a Henry related post* ;)

Have you ever wondered about the specificity of Henry's answer to Alex when Henry said that he would live in Paris if he was an anonymous person in the world? Like why Paris? Henry could've chosen Italy, Germany, Switzerland, or Greece which are all lovely places but no, he chose Paris, France specifically.

I pondered on his answer for a little bit and I think I have an explanation for it. This is me sharing that explanation with you guys, if you also wondered about the reason why Henry wanted to live in Paris.

Paris, the capital of France is known as many things, the "City of Love (and Romance)", the "Fashion Capital" of the world and the "City of Lights". To be completely honest, Paris is one of my dream cities to visit since I was a young girl. I've always wanted to see the lights of the Eiffel Tower, go inside the Louvre Museum, visit the Notre Dame Cathedral, eat authentic French food and more.

I'll move on to the main point here before I get sidetracked by my random thoughts...

Henry was so specific when he told Alex that he wanted to live in Paris given the chance of being an anonymous person in the world. I think that given the chance, Henry wanted to live a life that is authentic to who he is and far from the conformities and traditions that force him to not live his life as a gay man.

Back in the olden days and even until now, being gay is not considered to be illegal in Paris. The city even has a very lively queer night life that celebrates all types of sexualities. This is the exact opposite of what is in the traditional English way of life, especially in the Royal Family, which is where Henry belongs in.

To quote what Nora said to Alex "Princes aren't allowed to be gay". Key word is allowed and so that means that until tradition changes, Henry is trapped in his "closet" and is forced to conform to something that is not authentic to him. Merely thinking about this just breaks my heart.

I also want to share some insights from an interview of a favorite author of mine, Cassandra Clare. For those who don't know, Cassandra Clare is the author of the bestselling Shadowhunters Chronicles (which is one of my favorite sagas of all time) and she has introduced me to a lot of my favorite queer characters, some of them also share the same predicament as Henry.

In one of her interviews, Cassie shared that queer people, especially gay men during the Victorian and Edwardian era, go to Paris for one thing: freedom. In Paris, these gay men can live their authentic selves without the fear of being judged by society and even those closest to them like their family and friends. This is also one of the biggest reasons why in one of her trilogies, about a couple of queer characters always reference going to Paris.

Going back to Henry, this idea can be applied because he wants to live his life freely and openly. He even mentions it to Alex during their Paris stroll that only his sister Bea fully knows about him. His mom probably suspects, his brother Philip is completely oblivious and his grandfather, the king, is a cold and hard realist.

Henry also mentioned to Bea after he returns to Kensington from Texas that the idea of royalty in the 21st century is antiquated, which is true because the royals live by tradition and most of them are not willing to change it, which is heartbreaking.

Also, in the film, Henry's grandfather states that the nation simply will not accept a prince who is homosexual. This hurts and angers me at the same time because they already live in the 21st century and yet they're acting as if it's the Victorian or Edwardian era where being gay is not allowed.

This turned out to be pretty lengthy and I may have veered off the tracks a bit at some parts but the main point is that Henry wanted to live in Paris because in Paris, he can live his life as a gay man who has nothing to worry about, not bound by traditions, simply free and happy in his own authentic self.

That's all my thoughts, folks. Note that all of these are my personal thoughts. Feel free to let me know your thoughts.

I did like writing this post and sharing my thoughts with you. Henry deserves the biggest hug and lots of support after everything he's been through and I'm happy Alex is with him.

Now, back to regularly-scheduled TZP-related posts for the rest of the year....(Partly kidding because a thought about Henry/Nicholas might pop up in my brain randomly and if I feel the need to share it, I'll definitely share it here).

Be well and all my love. Have a lovely day/night wherever you guys are.

[tigerdrachin]

I HAVE THINKS I NEED TO TALK ABOUT PLEASE READ

so hello again I have been thinking about the logic of this fandom because I'm weird and my brain works on pattern recognition so I automatically have to have ground rules that apply to a fandom.

And as this fandom literally does not have any rules in any way my brain goblin decided to make my own and try and talk to people in this fandom about them :) hi please give your opinion I desperately need intercourse and other peoples input on this.

Why do only the USA have state personification? Like we have seen Canada and Italy (in like one scene but anyways) why are they countrys? wouldn't they not be also split into their various states/provinces/whatever like Germany for example has sixteen (16) states and a similar state form as the USA logically germany as a personification should not exist as there isn't one for the USA instead there should be sixteen state personifications, same with all the other countrys. Why would the USA be the only one who's split into states instead of being the whole country?

just because it's big and has many different regions which are different from one another? well I will take Germany as example again. German states are also very different from eachother, I'm from west germany I would be lost in the south! Hell here in NRW is the culture in neighboring cities completely different you could go from bochum with a strong bond and personality bound to their city to essen (less than 30 mins per train depending where you live) who simply does not have that, they don't have a strong bond to their city.

So can you imagine the difference between Bavaria and hessen for example? they are neighboring states but they are still really different, alone the dialect is whole different think. Hessen don't talk like people from Bavaria, people from the pott speak ruhrpott deutsch and not kölsch (both dialects from nrw), berliner berlinern and hamburger (the original birthplace of the burger) speak with a haburger dialect.

Why would it be different for other countries? why woud the US be the only one to split? so many questions I need answers to :(

please somebody talk to me about it because I feel like I'm going insane!

also I'm may be thinking about introducing a few german states (as that are the ones I k ow the most about) into some of my fics just for funsies but I want the fandoms opinion on that.

[morgenlich]

can i ask what resources you used for info on moving to europe? its something im considering and i have been doing research myself, but a lot of good advice was on reddit and im not really sure if reddit is still usable.

well, first i'll say that most of reddit is still usable to me so don't lose hope on that front!

there's not a lot of advice i can give in general, only wrt moving to germany because that's where i'm going specifically so i've been doing So Much reading the past few months from official govt sites more than anything else--tho regardless of what country you want to move to, govt sites with info on immigration are a good starting point.

tldr, more details under the cut:

-you're gonna need housing and health insurance

-you're gonna need to look into visas/residency permits (visas are for entry into the country, if you're from the US or Canada you probably won't need one) and their specific requirements

-ur nearest consulate is going to be a good source of info and point of contact

the first things, imo, that you need to know are:

1 do you need a visa to get in (if so, what kind, what are the requirements, etc)

2 steps for establishing a residency permit once you're there

and getting all your ducks in a row on those fronts (often the visa and residency permit will have the same requirements as each other from what i've noticed, though as a US citizen i haven't paid much attention because i don't require a visa to enter the vast majority of european countries). this is all info that will be available on official websites, including consulate/embassy sites. it may be helpful to start out looking for info on the site of the relevant consulate website, they will often include links to further resources, or just shoot them an email with questions you have if you can't find answers there.

but important questions for these:

-is there a language requirement? for example, in germany, to be able to work you need to be at a B1 level of german on the CEFR scale. C1 is required for university admissions. etc.

--is there a possibility of a language learner's visa/permit if you're not at that level? what are the requirements for that? (again with germany as an example: you will not be allowed to have a job while you have this residency permit and therefore must prove to the govt that you can financially support yourself for a year through a locked bank account with a minimum of around 11k euro in it).

-what additional documentation is required, besides just your passport? how do you acquire it?

--you will probably have to get passport photos taken again after you've moved because (i'm assuming anon is from the US but i'm sure this applies to other countries too) required biometric photo sizes vary by country and you will almost certainly need one for any residency permit or other documentation.

the other important thing will be securing housing, which gets to be a massive fucking pain when you live on the other side of the ocean. doomspiral and i lucked out massively finding a prefurnished place in berlin (which is an especially hard city to find housing in in general). you are just going to have to keep trying to contact places until someone actually responds to you, unfortunately. and, realistically, you're going to have to trust that the listing is actually accurate to what you saw on the website.

also, i know that in both germany and austria, once you've actually moved, you will have to register your address with the local government (like within a matter of days, this is not something you can put off literally at all), so look into if you need to do that and what forms are required if you do (i forget the reqs in austria, but in germany it's your passport and a specific form you and the landlord fill out)

european countries are going to require that you have health insurance. there are companies that cater specifically to immigrants and/or students (if you happen to be doing uni there--look into the student insurance it'll be much cheaper lol). try to familiarize yourself with the way the insurance system works; for example, in germany it's not unheard of for you to have a deductible (this is still going to be Much Cheaper than a deductible from an american company lmao). also in general it doesn't hurt to be aware of things like abortion and birth control access (fun fact! abortion is totally illegal in germany and has been since the 1930s and yes you are doing that math correctly about who put those laws in place).

i highly highly recommend putting together checklists of documents you need for each major thing mentioned here. also learn how to use excel to create budgets because it's a lifesaver lol

[liianliann]

AvA/AvM OC Lore

Hi everyone!

In this post I've already given a quick introduction to Auburn, my AvA/AvM OC.

Now I want to talk a bit more about their lore and story, so here we go!

Auburn was born in a rural area of the outer net. Their grandparents used to have a farm which their parents inherited and sold when Auburn was a young child. This is also where their strong accent comes from.

From childhood on they lived in the outskirts of the city, and their family had a huge garden in which they often worked.

They are around the same age as King Orange, went to school with him, and they were friends until they parted due to different schools/careers

Ever since they were a child, Auburn had a knack for machinery, which is why they applied for a job as a mechanic in Victim's organization. They also strongly believed that technology would be the key to a better future for everyone.

As they moved into the city, a relative of theirs gave them an old and pretty broken-down house to crash in. Auburn took it, but didn't really take much care of it.

However, while working for Victim, an accident happened which left Auburn almost completely paralyzed from the waist down. The organization discarded them, and they were left on their own.

When they returned to their house, they took some time to rest, in which they looked around at the house and said "Looks like I'm as broken as you, huh?", which caused them to use their remaining funds to renovate the house.

This is where the majority of their scars come from. Renovating a house alone while being barely able to stand is difficult and dangerous.

Since the accident, they came to dislike technology strongly, and found comfort in books, which is why they built a bookstore, which became their current job.

They still have trouble walking or standing for a long time, and their lower body still hurts, yet they mostly recovered from the accident.

I drew a quick sketch of the bookstore as it is currently:

The entire store is made of black wood, looks rather vintage, is squished between two tall, modern buildings in the inner city and is strongly inspired by a bookstore I visited in Hamburg in Germany a while back (which I definitely recommend to visit if you are in the city):

The interior looks something like this:

It's not very big, but has a lot of floors that are covered in books. In the floor beneath ground level even is a little coffee corner and some bean bags to read. Generally, it's a pretty cozy and vintage atmosphere.

Their living space are some back rooms on the ground floor and one lower, but since stairs are still somewhat a hassle for them, they have multiple pieces of machinery that help them with their daily routine.

They don't have many customers, but the regulars are enough to get them by. Purple and King Orange also visit regularly.

They and King Orange reunited some time after Gold died, and Orange was trying to take down Minecraft. He found the bookstore in search of some certain books/resources, and Auburn was more than happy to help, since it was another accident with technology that cost a life this time, so they used some of their old job's information and papers they had left to help Orange, after which he visited more frequently.

I'll post new stuff should there be any, but as of now, I think that's it! If you've made it this far, thanks for reading!

If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask!

[everythingsinred]

for the ask game: 3, 26, 30

thanks for the ask!!

3. three songs you were recently obsessed with

this one is amazing and i have been playing it on repeat for like a month without getting sick of it!

theres also this one

i've been realizing lately that i tend to rly like dominic fike's songs

and lastly this one

it's really beautiful and so enthralling that i never even realize how LONG it is. also i watched little miss sunshine recently (this song is in it) and was reminded of how GREAT a movie that is <3 just good vibes all around

26. three favourite non-English songs

i have serbian citizenship so i have to represent here! (although we'll just say ex-yugo for the sake of simplicity and accuracy... i prefer to identify that way anyway despite the confusion that sometimes brings.)

this one is a classic! it's so fun to listen to and even more fun to sing along to

AND YET ANOTHER CLASSIC

i have loved this song for a rly long time. the title translates to "my life is switzerland", which is a metaphor, and not literal. my aunt asked me why i like this song so much because it didn't make sense to her that i would like a song i couldnt personally relate to. she, for one, "related" to this song bc shes a serb who moved to germany (close to switzerland...?) and considered it "her song". i didnt rly know how to explain to her that 1. she misunderstood the song entirely and 2. almost none of the songs i love apply to me personally

and for female touch there's this:

which is a cute and upbeat song <3 i tend to prefer this era of yugo music... new songs are hit or miss for me. i wanna listen to more music from serbia (and all ex-yu) but its kinda hard to get into it when i live in the us and am constantly surrounded by songs in english

30. three songs you really want your followers to know (for reasons other than all those above)

simple enough, there's this

i (thankfully) dont relate to this song and it's not aspirational or anything so it wouldn't fit in any category or be used by me in a ship playlist. i just LOVE it so much! one of my favorite songs by her <3

also this one

i really like this... i dont have a comment and thus it doesnt fit in a category.

moving on...

ONE OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITES. it's originally a balkan romani song that's gained popularity throughout the former yugo-countries. it has a sad story of being sung out of defiance by prisoners on the train from sarajevo to the jasenovac concentration camp, where the ustase murdered many serbs, jews, and roma (the exact number of ppl killed under the ustasa is not known after a long period of it being significantly downplayed and is subject to debate). that particular incident gives the song an extra sad flavor, but it's still a really beautiful song i love listening to. (i also apologize to anybody who knows more than me about the history of the song. i'm sure my description is minimal and could be expanded on)

thank u for asking, again! this was really fun <3

feel free to ask any more. i spend 20 hours a day listening to music so...

[transtalesofdoom]

Rant on the legal process of changing your name (where I live). (It's not the US.)

!!! HI THIS IS NO LONGER ACCURATE !!! AS OF NOVEMBER 2024 THE PROCESS IS MUCH EASIER !!! WORKING ON A POST ABOUT IT !!!

Originally figured I should start this side blog with my (not actually) tragic backstory or something. But then I wanted to rant instead.

So here's the current situation on changing your name in Germany, where I live:

Absolute fucking bullshit. Currently, you need confirmation from two separate doctors (three in some places) that you are a trans man or woman to request a name change. You have to pay these evaluations yourself. This also enables you to change the gender marker on your ID. You can take an illegal shortcut by finding a doctor to forge papers saying you're intersex, which entitles you to change your name and gender marker.

There are plans to reform this policy by November into a new law that allows every person to declare their own name and gender within reason. You no longer need to provide any medical evidence, but your name and gender cannot be changed frequently (you must wait like, a year? three years? in between) and when changing back to a previous gender, you have to retake the name you had back then. Still leagues better than what we have right now.

Also the names you choose have to be actual legal names. They will check in an actual physical book if your name exists. Thankfully, Germany dropped the requirements for names to be clearly gendered a while ago, but we still have a bunch of restrictions on naming children. (And I am going to assume they apply to trans name changes too but there isnt much material on that.) As a fun sidenote, you can legally name your child Adolf if you have a valid reason for it, but you cannot name your child Judas. You know, because of the negative connotations.

Source for most of this: My good trans friend who has a 5-year head start on being trans and the bureaucratic shitshow that comes with it

[troythings]

so im back again looking at dc’s original sin and their recent hypocrisy over depicting human rights, and this time its bruce timm’s dcau. you know, the one where batman is a groomer and sleeps with babs.

yeah. no shit they mess everything up. continued under the cut

in the amazons-centered episode “fury” there’s explicit war crimes. aresia, who will grow up to be an amazon intent on murdering every man in the world, witnesses victorious enemy soldiers opening fire inside houses and bombing her village. when she and her mother escape to a refugee ship, armed pirates take everything and then blow it up as they’re leaving.

this? this is actually a decent depiction of war for a so-called kids show. they’re clearly capable. which should make one think, gee, are they going to apply that same careful treatment to other horrors that happened in real life?

….

haha oh boy. this entire 3-part episode was a disrespectful clusterfuck and the writers were completely self-aware that it was a disrespectful clusterfuck. and im going to tell you why.

1) horrible alternate history writing.

well. this had to be the most braindead attempt at alternate history ive ever seen (along with everything else dc has touched relating to wwii) and it’s only topped by spike tv’s alternate history, which has a similar scenario to this one.

so it’s 1944. d-day fails and is the “beginning of the end omg omg” for the allied powers. i assume they mean the western powers because apparently, no american audience gives a shit about the soviet union and their vital part in beating nazi germany more than we ever could. and you know, how they were literally fighting for their lives against an entire country that wanted to wipe them out as a people.

also notable is that they leave out the pacific theater. because nooooo we can’t make fantasy bullshit about imperial japan!! but somehow nazi germany is okay to include in your shitty superhero setup.

yeah. so we later learn that vandal savage got all of his information from a laptop equipped with a cd player (lmao good luck charging that) with some loaded tidbits on how to win world war ii. it’s all cliche shit that you would learn from the history channel. “bla bla, hitler too crazy bla bla, need better technology bla bla bla, also d-day, bla bla bla.”

jesus christ did they just get super stoned and then watch one (1) documentary?

the technology in question is literally spiky rolling pins and jet planes. sorry dc, fancy technology isn’t going to save a dying war effort against a country that’s already developing an atomic bomb. nazi germany was fucked at this point and everyone knew it. nothing was ever going to bring it back. sorry. that’s the truth. dc also seems to have this problem with the typical “nazis get the bomb” scenario. which, doesn’t work either by the way, because they thought “atomic science was jewish.”

and don’t come at me with that “it’s just alternate history” excuse. alternatehistoryhub and pretty much everyone called out spike tv for the exact same divergence. this shit doesn’t get a pass either. bad storytelling is just bad storytelling.

now, if it was about america i mean the allied powers going full scorched-earth and leaving savage’s germany a radioactive, infertile wasteland…maybe id like it. it would be somewhat better than the crap we got here.

tldr: vandal savage is your average sweaty laptop-bound hoi4 player looking for worldwide validation. he gets an idea to send all of his hoi4 tactics to his 1940s self. the nazis then win the war with giant killer rolling pins.

that’s it. that’s the plot.

2) explicit holocaust denial and revisionism.

this one was only implied throughout the episode, but it was actually confirmed by the producers and writers behind the episode:

so stan berkowitz really ran his mouth here. because apparently, “to kill lots of people [in campaigns such as the holocaust] requires effort and manpower that could have been put to use elsewhere better, like defending the country.”

….

okay.

so. the holocaust was industrialized to the extreme. it was not a ‘bad allocation of resources’ that ‘could have went somewhere better.’ it was linked to the war, especially in the eastern front, where the goal was to ethnically cleanse and enslave eastern europe and replace its reduced population with ethnic german settlers. everything about it was all planned and discussed. figures were laid out. thought was put into the extermination of entire groups of people. the final solution was only the start.

what kind of ‘wasted effort and manpower’ are we talking about here? the einsatzgruppen following behind the wehrmacht? that process was phased out, but not because it was a ‘drain on manpower.’ the nazis wanted a more ‘efficient’ way of executing mass murder that could be done faster and with the ‘best results.’ the extermination camp system was the answer to that. killings were mechanized via the gas chambers and bodies were disposed of in the crematoriums, rather than being routinely shot and disposed of in mass graves. the only argument i could see for ‘manpower’ is the camp personnel, but even then it wasn’t the personalized approach to killing that defined the einsatzgruppen. starvation, forced labor, brutal conditions, and illness were killing the surviving camp prisoners too.

and it was the whole point. the holocaust was a deliberately structured, planned nightmare meant to kill off thousands of people just for existing. nazi germany applied the lessons of the assembly line to mass murder. to characterize it as a ‘pointless waste of resources’ reeks of historical insensitivity and ignorance. removing it from nazi germany is enabling holocaust revisionism and denial. both of which are common today. now you have a history in the dcau where “the holocaust was either cut short or never happened at all.” by doing this, you are spitting on millions of people by suggesting, even in a fictional context, that their trauma never happened. you are delegitimizing the memory of the holocaust by deciding, intentionally, to whitewash it outright.

the problem isn’t just that they couldn’t depict the holocaust. it’s that they knew, and chose not to because it would break their whole narrative.

the rest it is typical cowardice and ignorant writing. ‘defending the country’ as if nazi germany hadn’t started the european theater on its own after making a false-flag attack? what kind of ‘defense’ are we talking about here? if you start a war and other people fight back, that’s on you, dumbass. you reap what you sow.

and this thing with savage apparently ‘stopping’ the holocaust by being ‘professional’ if there even is such a thing in wartime? is that supposed to make me empathize with the character somehow? “yuh he work for nazis and is ebil dictator but least he’s not a fanatical murdering racist hurr durr!!!”

which brings me onto the main problem here.

3) portrayal of nazi germany and nazism as an ideology in general.

i think you have a serious problem on your hands if you’re going to use the iconography and history of nazi germany, but then shy away from depicting it accurately. am i supposed to suspend my belief and accept that a bunch of violent racist shitstains allowed a non-german foreigner, who is canonically a caveman and most likely classified very low in the nazi racial hierarchy, to just walk in and take over just because of ‘cool technology?’ and then gets allowed to halt their genocide program based on racism and eliminationism literally in the ideology?

i’m going to tell you something that you probably don’t want to hear. vandal savage would not be accepted in anything near the nazi party. at best he’s denounced as a freak against nature (as pretty much every other metahuman would be, despite this whole ‘superhuman’ narrative that people are trying to conflate to nazi racism) and his plans are stolen and credited to some other asslicking sycophant. what does his dcau version have besides immortality? maybe he’s ordered to be killed and it obviously fails. but being immortal doesn’t mean you can’t feel pain. or that your brain won’t eventually snap from the helplessness of surviving everything, living with the humiliation and never being allowed to end it.

didn’t like that? sorry, that’s the reality of nazism, racism, and exclusionary eliminationist mentality in general for you.

in the episode, nazism doesn’t get much of an explanation besides the general “take over the world” bullshit. swastikas and iconography are conveniently censored out, which is a problem in itself. unless you’re following the law, like say in germany, if you have to censor out parts of nazi germany, ideology and iconography included, because its not ‘appropriate’ for your audience…then maybe, you should try another plotline instead of sanitizing history. which shouldn’t be a problem for the dcau in the first place, because, once again. they have shown literal scenes of war crimes being committed against a child and her fellow refugees.

but dc comics has a bad history with this topic overall, and im going to confidently say that i’ve never seen anything that depicts nazism, explicitly named, as accurately as it should be. j michael stracynski’s first volume of wonder woman odyssey does a great job at explaining the methodology of genocide and the banality of evil without ever bringing nazi germany into the equation. it’s not even set in world war ii at all, but there is some offhand imagery that invokes nazi mass murder nonetheless. and it’s not surprising, considering JMS has personal experience with the ideology. his own abusive father was a war criminal and nazi collaborator.

dc can portray the ideology accurately and with the respect that the victims deserve, both historical and modern day. anyone can, if they do enough research. but the problem is, most of their ‘fun ideas’ lose the plot when confronted with the real horrors that they can’t face. there is no ‘fun’ in any of this. you either accept that truth and write conscientiously, or you fuck off back to your lane and never go near the topic at all. because it’s better not to have exploitative stories than suffer through actually reading one.

4) superhero brainrot over reality.

so why did the writers knowingly erase the holocaust from the dcau and omit all explicit references to nazi germany, even as they depicted other war crimes elsewhere and actually had a character intent on committing a global genocide?

the answer is simple. they even admitted it themselves.

that’s right. they didn’t care for the millions of lives lost in world war ii, or the human cost of that period to the point where “genocide” was coined as a legal term for the first time. no, this entire thing started off the base desire to recreate the jingoistic, american war propaganda of the golden age and satisfy some kind of itch. style was the motivator here over substance. that’s all. their own words speak for themselves.

conclusion

unless they have a personal, even harrowing connection to the ideology or knowledge of the topic (as jms does with his family history, or someone who has seen the ideology up close), a majority of people in the comic industry do not care about depicting the horrors of reality accurately. their motives are small-minded and focused on escapism. what the dcau writers wanted was a modern version of the golden age propaganda, where the american public knew next to nothing of the details in the final solution and nazis were just ‘stock villains.’ it couldn’t work, not with the knowledge we have today. so they cut out the holocaust, censored everything incriminating and watered it down to the point where it didn’t really matter.

and who out there, except a couple of people, are actually talking about it? for the most part, nobody else in the industry or the consumer market seems to care. look at the writers who are actually taking inspiration from this, or people citing it as something ‘decent’ for storytelling.

haha. oh god. we’re fucked.

tldr: despite being more than capable of depicting war crimes: the dcau writers couldn’t handle the reality of nazi germany and the holocaust, but still wanted their world war ii propaganda copium, so they intentionally pissed away every drop of their remaining self-respect and somehow got away with it.

[eleni-cherie]

ok nobody's gonna see or care this but I'm gonna rant bc I am sick of my life and maybe someone can relate: so long story short, I'm a 27 year old graphic designer who was working 2 years at a big e-commerce shop until the new asshole supervisor didn't want to continue my contract that expired bc of his hurt ego bc I (along w pretty much everyone else bc he liked to pick fights w ppl from all departments bc he got into everyone's business) dared to argue w him BC HE KEPT CHANGING HIS MIND EVERY TWO MINS AND KEPT CONTRADICTING HIMSELF ALL THE TIME. so I lost my job last October and ever since I'm unemployed. I live in germany (Berlin) so I get unemployment money, but it only lasts for a year and it's already the end of July and I still can't manage finding a job although I've probably applied to 90 jobs by now of which only about 10-15 turned into job interviews - or the new trend "getting to know you meetings". of which only 1 invited me for a 2nd interview. now I get there's sadly so many designers, the job market is kinda oversaturated and for one job probably 20-30 ppl apply. but then sometimes this isn't even the problem. I had an interview for what seemed to be my dream job so I was super excited for this but then when I met the two guys doing it, they were very underwhelming. I mean little to no reaction to what I was telling them about myself and at the end they only asked 3 quite superficial questions. that's it. meanwhile others for companies I'm less suitable for, ask me like 20. then there's this other case, where they give you tasks and I don't mind tasks but one time I'd have needed the whole creative suit for them and like - hello? I'm unemployed and don't have the extra money to spend 60 euros every month on Adobe? I only an old Photoshop Version and that's it. then another time they gave me tasks that were only 40% graphic design related (but very vague descriptions/no real info) and 60% marketing/copyright related and like sorry, but I only have basic marketing knowledge and I'm not a fcking ad writer? there's this trend nowadays, they say they want a graphic designer but what they really want is a graphic designer / marketing expert / social media manager / copywriter / photographer / editor / etc. but still w only a graphic designer salary, so they don't have to pay five different ppl. like FCK YOU!

and thing is, in my desperation I even applied to random jobs (which said "No experience needed" in the description) like vendor or barrista. even in a copyshop where I thought I should fit in bc of my knowledge of print products, but either no response at all or I "lacked sale experience". bc Idk how it's in other countries but here you need a certificate for anything. even for a shop vendor you need a 3 year long apprenticeship. for a moment I contemplated going freelance or self-employed but a) I got no fcking clue how and what I have to do and b) taxes and insurance system in Germany is insane, I read an article and was overwhelmed.

So yeah, I'm getting fed up and sad and mad mostly also very anxious about my fcking future bc it honestly seems like I'll end up just moving back to my parents at this point. idk what to do anymore. I try and try and try, but nothing happens and I'm just done. the pressure is overwhelming and the sad thing is, I purposely decided not to visit my relatives/my grandparents this summer (the live in greece) thinking I "might find a job" and even if not, I don't have the extra money for plane tickets! they're extremely overpriced. and it's sad bc whenever I talk to my grandparents they say they miss me and how they're worried about me being unemployed. and my grandparents aren't the youngest anymore either (83 and 89) and I haven't seen then in a year, so that only saddens me more on top of feeling like an overall loser.

[yeetlegay]

so i have some silly questions. ive seen you and a lot of other kp accounts talk about skam. where do i start? which is the og skam? do i start with that? are all the skams the same but in different languages? should i watch all of them or some or only one? is it ongoing or done or unfinished? where do i watch it? also what is the show about and what are its major tws?

Definitely not silly questions, but holy shit they're big ones 😂 I'll try to be as succinct as I can, with the caveat that I haven't watched all of them in their entirety and the remakes are very much NOT interchangeable despite being adaptations of the same show.

So to break it down—

What is SKAM about?: SKAM was a Norwegian show that aired from 2015-17 for four seasons. The show was set in a high school and centered primarily around two friend groups (fans usually call them the girl squad and boy squad). Each season focuses on a new main character from these friend groups and is told from their point of view, with plot arcs that range from SA to mental illness to coming-of-age struggles, but they're all very grounded and relatable teen issues told with (for the most part) a lot of empathy and hope. The seasons are pretty narratively distinct rather than having major plots stretching across multiple seasons, so while you might miss some context, you don't necessarily have to watch all the seasons or watch them in order.

Now what's really cool about SKAM, and what you unfortunately miss out on somewhat by not watching it live, is the multimedia component. The show's format is something that was never really seen before and hasn't really been seen since, at least not to the same extent. While it was airing, each scene in that week's episode went live in real time throughout the week. So for example, if a scene is meant to take place on Monday at 3:20pm in the story, that scene would be posted online on Monday at 3:20pm. Scenes could drop at literally any time, day or night, and on top of that the characters had real Instagrams that they'd post on and text conversations that would be posted too, again all in real time, so not only was there something new pretty much every day for the fandom to talk about, but all those media components (clips, Instagram posts/stories, texts, etc.) were interconnected so they all fed into the plot in important ways. At the end of the week, all the scenes would be compiled into the full episode, but you wouldn't see the other media components which really add a lot to the story even if they're not 100% essential. I think a lot of the remakes have a fan-made Tumblr where all the different types of content have been collected and put in order so you can get the full experience, so I'd definitely check them out first.

As for the remakes, all of the above applies to them too. There are a total of seven remakes, each from a different country: SKAM France (France), Druck (Germany), SKAM Italia (Italy), SKAM Austin (U.S.), SKAM España (Spain), SKAM NL (Netherlands), and wtFOCK (Belgium).

Where to start: I recommend the original Norwegian SKAM. Some seasons are better than others, and if you're just in it for the gays (I pretty much was lol) then season three is what you're looking for. It's been a while since I watched the og or any of the remakes so I'm not sure where they're available now, but that info should hopefully be pretty easy to find.

Are all the SKAMs the same but in different languages?: Sort of, but also not. Most of them follow the main plots of the og seasons but they vary widely in terms of how closely they adhere to the characters, tone, themes, etc. SKAM España, for example, is SUPER different to the point that it barely resembles the original most of the time (and it's GREAT). Also some of the remakes didn't get to cover all four seasons (SKAM Austin and SKAM NL only got two seasons and I'm still in mourning), while some remakes covered all four AND seasons beyond that (SKAM France just finished its tenth season).

Should I watch all of them or some or only one?: Everyone has remakes they like more or less than others, it's just individual preference, but they're all worth checking out imo. After watching the original, I'd probably recommend SKAM France, Druck, or wtFOCK first as a taste-tester, but genuinely all of them have their strengths and their flaws. My personal favorites are SKAM France (for the cinema and acting), wtFOCK (for the music and general vibes), and SKAM NL (for the cinematography, acting, directing, basically everything).

Ongoing or finished?: Most of the remakes are finished, with the exception of SKAM Italia (which just started season 5 like two days ago actually) and mayyyybe SKAM France and Druck, which both had seasons finish airing recently.

Major TWs: This is hard because the remakes are, like I said, distinct from each other, so some TWs won't apply to all of them, and especially with the remakes that have gotten additional seasons, they have more than the original. I also haven't watched all of them from start to finish so I don't know all the things to look out for.

For the original, you'll definitely encounter drug/alcohol use and abuse, SA and SH, Islamophobia, homophobia, bullying, as well as depictions of mental illness that could be triggering. The show has its heavy moments, but it's not gratuitous about it imo and at the end of the day still manages to be uplifting despite talking about some really serious topics, which is a feat tbh. If you have questions about TWs for specific seasons or remakes I can try to go in a bit more depth. Each remake (and the original) also has a fandom wiki with episode/season summaries that give you a good idea of what to expect, so that could be useful as well if you want to watch out for anything in particular.

——

I think I got everything! If you have more questions about SKAM, totally happy to help as I know it can be confusing at first to get up to speed with it all lol. And definitely hmu if you want deets about the gay seasons, which are the only ones I've consistently watched because...well, I'm gay obviously lol.

[fatgumsurpremacy-remastered]

What was it like for young Maddox to meet the other mercs? Was Dell officially his dad at that time? Which merc did Maddox like/hate the most?

Have a great day!

I love you dearly.

Imma add a cutoff so it doesn’t clog up the dash!

They all met him after Dell did.

Admin: Admin was intruiged and didn’t meet him until he was 7 or so. When she did meet him she loved to talk shit about his dad to him. It led to some beef between Dell and her but she lived for Maddox’s reaction. She was a huge beneficiary to Maddox’s acting career and had been to each of his shows, always cheering the loudest. It was fun seeing her out of her comfort zone but she spoiled this kid whenever Dell told her not to.

Ooh she was so sassy with the way she spoiled him to. When he came out she forced him to cut his hair into a dapper ass style before he went off to college. (She also got him addicted to coffee.) makes fun of him for not being good with women.

Demo: Maddox met Demo when he was around 8 years old at a play. Demo was invited because he’d come back to America to visit, Demo was so shocked at how mature Maddox was for his age. He and Maddox had such a silly relationship. They would play hide and seek with firecrackers were they both had to seek around to find one another and then they saw the other sneak up and pop them. Then run away and hide. Maddox is wonderful at this and it trained him for stealth missions later on.

Maddox and Tavish still have an amazing relationship and they write to each other frequently.

Heavy: Heavy met Maddox almost straight away. When he heard that Engie had a kid he demanded to meet him. He called him котик, because of his feisty attitude. He and heavy have always adored one another and throughout his life Maddox has made it his goal to look like Heavy. (He’s 5’2). Heavy loved this kid and when Maddox came out he took him camping close to the Urals.

Him and Heavy are super tight and still go camping today. (Heavy’s ma loves him and Zhana would fight for him.)

Medic: Ooh. Medic is a mixed bag. Medic was the first one besides Dell to meet Maddox and at first they were chill with one another. Medic was very excited to meet little Maddox and teach him what he knew but Maddox didn’t appreciate the enthusiasm. Here medic lives with Dell and his wife so when Maddox came into the picture Medic was always there. He (Maddox) was never really all that fond of Medic and felt that he was always too sassy with him.

So when his dad called for him to have his augmentations and medic helped his trust was completely broke. Maddox grew physically afraid of Medic, to the point where if they were in the same room he’d cower behind someone else.

Eventually Dells family traveled to Europe to meet some friends in Switzerland and Medic to Germany in the countryside. Dell and his wife had to hop on a plane back to the US because of a blizzard in the area. But no seats on the plane were free and it was unlikely anyone would give up their seats. Do Dell called for medic to come and pick Maddox up while he was sleeping.

So there, in yards of white power in the middle of nowhere Maddox was in a house with the guy he was terrified of. It took around a week for them to make any progress, and another for the storm to calm down.

Now Maddox is weary of Medic but he doesn’t fully distrust him. (Fun fact: Maddox learnt German in that two week period)

Pauling: Pauling didn’t actually want to meet him but met him on accident when he was in high school. He applied to an internship postion where she worked and when he introduced himself she was shocked at his age first and his maturity second. She loves pulling him to run errands with her and is constantly taking time off to pull him to a concert or cool event. She considers him her best friend and Maddox is kinda worried shed slip off the deep end if she over works herself anymore so he’s always obligated to go.

Pyro: Oh this was a fun meeting. Pyro Met Maddox when he was around 5 years old. And he immediately fell in love, he gave Maddox stickers, and dresses, and plush toys. Everything girly or childish. You name it. Maddox just thought that it was SO COOL to have someone who was perpetually in a mask as a friend. And it excellerated whenever they were tasked to start a bonfire. With the flames Maddox realized he LOVED fire. Which is why he forced his dad to let Pyro teach him how to control it.

When he got his arms augmented he thought he’d never be able to work with fire again. But thankfully when he got older his dad was able to install some flame resistant metal, and some mini colanders that allowed him to start fire in the blink of an eye.

(Favourite merc)

Scout: Scout was pumped to meet this sassy asshole. And when they did meet this man was BANANAS. He kept throwing Maddox face first into the pool, flipping the little shit. It wasn’t until they were both about to crash out on the couch that this guy introduced himself. And he became the marvelous uncle J after that. Maddox had to be this mans brain because he didn’t have one around this kid. He got so pumped when he saw him that Jeremy forgot to act like an adult.

Whenever Maddox was going through a rough patch he teleported himself to Jeremy’s house in Brooklyn and slept over there. Jeremy took this as an opportunity to actually teach him about life. And at ten Maddox had one of his first big life conversations on the roof of a wet Brooklyn home.

He and Scout still hang out all the time and Maddox couldn’t be happier to be around him.

Soldier: Soldier and Zhanna met him before Heavy did and they went ballistic.

“Annie is a wonderful name for a boy!” Soldier never realized Maddox was a girl at some point and kinda… stole him. From Dell. And when I say stole I mean they strapped him in a car seat and drove him across the state before Dell caught up with them and took him back. Maddox loves the two of them and he dated their son back in highschool. Part of this was because he never really considered them “aunt and uncle” but rather his friends. Soldier was the first one to take him hunting and it was also the LAST time he took him hunting. Zhanna insists on teaching him to wrestle and Maddox was NOT about to risk his life. (He did it though but told her to ease up)

Sniper: He and Sniper have the closest bond. Sniper was more like an older brother than an uncle but Maddox still calls him uncle mick. Sniper taught him all about the natural world and he did it visually, so Maddox could learn. Maddox loves him lots because Mick was one of the first people to show him how to do things that no other person knew. Madds grew up listening to Snipers advice and thus grew up with a complex understanding of the world around him.

During the rough patch with Dell he kinda went around and spent a LOT of time out with Sniper. They rarely spoke out in the bush but Sniper taught him some very precious things. They shared some fears, and Sniper was the first one to know about Maddox wanting to transition. Maddox layed his heart out to the man and sniper listened so they’re still really close.

Spy: Spy didn’t meet the man until his sophomore year of highschool where Maddox refused to wear a dress to homecoming. Maddox had heard of the elusive spy before but it wasn’t until the Greyed man pulled up to Maddoxes house that he’d met him. Spy tailored 10 suits for Maddox each for special occasions. Dinner, Quince, Acceptance speech, Wedding, Homecoming, Prom- you NAME it. Spy knew the NIGHT he met Maddox that he was trans and confronted him about it later on that same night. While Maddox refused Spy kept pushing until he sat him down and spoke with him about it.

Spy was very much the sassy wine aunt that Maddox needed to gossip to and Maddox nearly drove the phone bill through the roof speaking to the man. It came to a point that Dell had to install teleporters in his and spy’s home so they could cut costs.

When Maddox went to Oxford he’d take his breaks in France where Spy would teach him how to properly speak to people and be “elegant” in Europe. This led to Maddox being awkward when he got back to America because he was reserved and seemed very stuck up. (Also was halfway between a French and English accent so-)

[ploy-16]

How to going to study abroad by myself🛫📖🧫

Studying abroad requires good preparation. Whether it's financial preparation, study plans or language proficiency. in order to achieve the intended goal The preparation for studying abroad is like planning ahead. that help prepare not to miss or miss important matters For anyone who is preparing to study abroad This article has compiled 6 ways to prepare for studying abroad. that boosts confidence and increase readiness For anyone who is looking for new opportunities to go on to study Let's see how to prepare yourself to reach your intended goal.

1. Prepare a plan, find study information ready

Planning before doing anything can help reduce mistakes that will occur Preparing to study abroad is the same. Early planning is required. Both choosing a university and a course that you are interested in studying. To know what the university needs for a degree or grade point average. As well as what are the application criteria, you will be able to prepare yourself, such as the desired grade point average (GPAX) and the language level used for enrollment. The environment and weather are another factor that should be well studied. in order to prepare clothes The costume is correct and suitable for the weather More importantly, you can assess yourself whether your body can adapt to this different climate or not. Because if you can adapt slowly causing illness may affect learning in the long run

2. Prepare your language skills well before going to school.

to study abroad Language is very important. Usually, when going to study in an English-speaking country such as England, Australia. New Zealand And Canada, etc. The institution often asks for English language test results, whether it's IELTS or TOEFL. Therefore, preparing for studying abroad should prepare good language skills. 

Practicing listening, speaking, reading and writing skills on a regular basis.

Regular use of English

To study abroad, you must prepare English test scores to meet the criteria set by the institution, such as IELTS, TOEFL and SAT (some faculties).

SOP (Statement of Purpose) or Letter of Recommendation 

Having good English skills, in addition to being able to apply for admission to further study Can also be used to communicate in life as well When choosing a course and university to study further You should look at the requirements of each university to be ready for what exams to take. And what level should I get?

3. Prepare sufficient funds for study.

The funding factor is another very important factor, so when planning your preparation for studying abroad. Money should be ready. By calculating various expenses such as tuition fees, various living expenses and should have a reserve fund as well, as follows: 

tuition money

Tuition fees vary from institution to institution and course. If you have a clear goal of studying where you want to study should prepare the money in this section ready The average tuition fees in England, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. That depends on the level of education. The approximate expenses per year are as follows:

Undergraduate degree average 600-1500k

Masters degree average 700-1500k

PhD level average 800-1500k

These tuition fees are a rough estimate. however Expenses are subject to change. 

cost of living 

For the cost of living is a part of various expenses. In everyday life, whether it is accommodation, books, meals, travel expenses, water, electricity and other expenses. In which each city, the cost of living will be different, you may have to prepare about 40,000-50,000 baht/month 

emergency reserve

From various expenses including tuition fees and daily expenses Preparing to study abroad also requires an emergency fund. This part of the emergency fund may include in case of illness. accident lost wallet or what the children Unexpected to happen, so having a spare lump sum will make the kids. Feel safer and more at ease

4. Prepare to apply for a visa

Another important thing is getting a visa that anyone preparing to study abroad needs. Because each country has different qualifications and criteria for applying for a visa, you should study carefully which documents the embassy requires for consideration. The main student visa application procedures are as follows:

Fill out the visa application form. along with submitting documents specified by the embassy

Pay the visa fee

Schedule an interview with the embassy.

5. Prepare complete documents

When traveling to study abroad, quite a lot of documents are required for applying for studies, such as visas, passports. health certificate Travel insurance, etc. Some documents must be translated into English as certified by the embassy. 

important documents

Traveling abroad, it is necessary to have important documents ready and should be stored in order when it is time to use. or in case of emergency so as not to be in a hurry and can be picked up easily which important documents What should be prepared are as follows:

passport

visa documents

Insurance documents such as health insurance or travel insurance

dormitory booking form

plane tickets

Vaccine Passport

International driving license (if any)

Documents and test results for university submission

Documents required for admission to each university may vary. depending on the requirements of that university which important documents The most commonly used ones are as follows:

Application for admission

Transcript or graduation certificate

Graduation Certificate

English language test results such as IELTS or TOEFL

A letter or recommendation from a professor

Letter of recommendation (SOP: Statement of Purpose)

health certificate

work certificate in case the faculty or university requires

6. Pack your belongings in your bag, ready to go. 

The last way to prepare for studying abroad when everything is ready. can pack things into the bag and ready to go, where the children can make a checklist When everything is packed into the bag, check to be careful. And prevent falling essential items. In addition, personal medication should be prepared. exchange money from that country and generic medicines in the bag Make sure that the items you bring are not controlled, prohibited, or illegal in the country of destination.  Studying abroad is the dream of many, whether it's going to study for a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, or a short course. which requires good preparation for studying abroad To make every journey smooth, such as planning a study Get ready for the language prepare funds and visa preparation Importantly, in preparing for studying abroad, you should plan early. to be ready and will achieve the goal as intended

Natthakitta Thipthong M.5/3 No.16 (Ploy)

[ilgaksu]

Oohhh if you're still doing these: 🤲 and 🧠 (for Hei Xiazi)

Good luck with work proposal things, or if I'm late: I hope it went well!

i am absolutely still doing these!!! i'll keep doing them as long as people keep asking them <3

from these fic writer asks

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

(from in me is where the horror is, a wip fic with gender dysphoria, smut, and cohen's 7 monster theses as they apply to xie yuchen)

Look at him, he wouldn’t know what to do with a dick if he was given a diagram, he heard one mercenary say, pure as the driven fucking snow or some shit, and that was safer, among this sort of company, not to correct the assumption: to be viewed as hermeneutically sealed. Honestly, Xie Yuchen sort of found it funny. When the same man died the next day, Xie Yuchen simply stepped over the body and kept going onwards towards the real goal. 

Recently, at least he’s been able to sit next to Hei Xiazi while listening to the bragging of some minor asshole about some girl in some city somewhere, and been able to tell in the rising corner of Hei Xiazi’s mouth that they both heard the exaggerations. 

“Bet you fifty yuan he can’t find a clitoris with a map,” Hei Xiazi murmurs, or something along those lines, every time, his whole body a comforting press along Xie Yuchen’s side; and then he laughs, delightedly, when Xie Yuchen hands him the money on the spot. 

“Don’t be absurd, Xiazi,” he replies, low in his ear. “He’d have to believe it was real.” 

🧠 Pick a character, and I’ll tell you my favorite headcanon for them.

Ohhh, I mean, I think the obvious favourite headcanon of mine is Hei Xiazi as a medical student in Weimar Republic Germany. When I first started in the fandom, I hadn't seen any ideas really situating him there in English, and I actually do very little historical research for it - 1920s Europe is already an interest, so I know a lot of it by heart. I also lived in Germany very briefly. I think the upheaval and insecurity of Weimar Germany really fit with Hei Xiazi's sense of being dragged forward through eras and forced, like the Roman curse, to live in interesting times. I don't consider Mongolian Hei Xiazi a headcanon, because it is canon, but I am also very partial to my headcanon that he is the son of a concubine or second wife, and so grew up in a household answering to his own biological mother and to the first wife of his father.

I also think it's worth noting that I consciously chose to diverge from canon and have him going blind as the result of a then-unknown eye condition before he becomes immortal. He's already Hei Xiazi in mine, down to being blind, by the time immortality comes to get him. That was important to me. I don't dispute authorial choices and I don't presume to know the intent behind them, but honestly, as a reader and creator, I'm tired of disability in media being the result of something mystical or otherworldly. Disability is the most ordinary thing in the world; it's the biggest minority in the world, which anyone can join at any point in their lives, and if they're lucky to live a long life likely will. (I have a lot of other feelings about why I picked this so if you ever want to know, you can always ask, I just don't want to go off on my finely-crafted Hei Xiazi and Disability soapbox for too long unprompted.)

However, I'm going to pick something smaller: the headcanon that Hei Xiazi was 36 when he had his first sexual experience with another man is my favourite for him, especially when you remember that I write him as having been sexually active, on and off, from the age of 17. It's important for me to honour the queer experience as one that can feel like you're racing to make up for lost time, or one with a delayed start, but also for a character who I conceive of as so fiercely and unashamedly queer by the point we meet him in canon to have had an implied period of self-reckoning. For me, Hei Xiazi is a character who wants to appear effortless and yet all of it is very, very earned, and this for me was both a first hint of that to readers in my work and also a first hint of that to Xie Yuchen.

[itsjustanne]

Caryatids and Repatriation

This is a duplicate post of a blog post I made on my blog (I started a blog! For regular people who don't spend their lives on this hellsite (affectionate)). You can find the post here ! I did my best too translate it from a webpage format to a tumblr format but I'm sure things still got screwed up, so feel free to look at either post!

 Preface: I am by no means an expert on either ancient history or issues surrounding repatriation. This is a compilation of research that I've done. I will link sources where necessary in text and provide a list of sources at the end of this entry! I will always note when a conclusion I draw is my own opinion (which will be most of the time), and when my opinion is echoed by, similar too, informed by the opinions of experts.

Welcome to my first "lesson plan"/"lecture" style post. This is a format similar to what I would use as a rough draft for a paper, though there will be editing and consideration made for clarity. I hope that the way I've laid this out is acceptable and makes for easy reading. If you think there is a way to improve future "lecture" posts please don't hesitate to let me know!

For now, enjoy learning about the Caryatids, repatriation, and what it means for museums.

The Caryatids and Issues of Repatriation

I think the best place to start will be to explain, in a very basic sense, what repatriation are. Khan Academy defines repatriation as "the return of stolen or looted artifacts to the countries of origins." To go even further in depth, The Field Museum tells us that, domestically, within the United States, the act of repatriation follows the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and works to find cultural items and human remains and see them returned to the proper individual descendants and descendant communities. In international terms, the Field Museum states that they [the Field Museum] take full consideration for repatriation requests for the return of funerary items and human remains to "culturally affiliated descendants for whom NAGPRA does not apply." There are further examples of international repatriations, with France, Belgium, and Germany returning artifacts to various countries in Africa. Additionally, and more relevantly to the Caryatids that I'll be discussing soon, Sicily returned the portion of the Parthenon's frieze that was in the custody of the Antionio Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum. Currently this repatriation effort is part of a deal, sending the frieze to Athens and two objects (a headless statues and an amphora) to Sicily; set to expire in 2026 there is opportunity to extend it four another four years, while efforts are being made to make the repatriation of the frieze to Greece permanent.

This deal has also been noted to have cleared the way and provided a blueprint for the British Museum to begin planning to return a group of objects known as the Elgin Marbles. 

"The Elgin Marbles" refer to a group of marble works from the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Included in this group are: 15 metopes (square spaces often decorated with relief sculptures), 17 pedimental figures (a pediment is a triangular space as part of a gabled roof, often found above entry ways), and 75 meters of the frieze from the Parthenon (the frieze was originally 160 meters). One of these marbles that was brought to the British Museum is a tall columnar structure in the shape of a woman. 

She is tall, over life size, standing at 2.23 meters/7 feet tall. Her hair is sculpted into a braid down her back and on her head rests a basket made to bear the weight of a building on top. She wears a simple Peplos tunic, belted at the waist, which cascades down her body in beautiful folds. She stands in contrapposto, her let leg holding majority of her weight while her right leg is bent at the knee. She is missing one hand, that may have held a sacrificial vessel at one point in time. 

This astoundingly beautiful woman is known as a Caryatid (pronunciation guide: carry-ah-tid-). There are five more just like her at the Acropolis Museum in Athens. These five "sisters" leave a space open for the missing, while the Greek government attempts to reunite the six Caryatids as well as the rest of the marbles. 

These artifacts were taken from Greece by a man named Thomas Bruce, aka Lord Elgin, in 1802. During this period in history, Greece was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and Elgin had documented clearance to start an archaeological dig near on the Acropolis. Despite this, it is debated weather or not he had permission to remove anything from the country. 

Part of the British Museums arguments for keeping the collection of marbles comes from the belief that Elgin took these artifacts from the rubble. However, multiple experts have chimed in after examining the objects stating that this is not true. Anthony Snodgrass, a renowned classical archaeologist, has said that after examining the metopes from the Parthenon he can say that they were "violently detached." He has also been quoted saying that "it's incorrect to say that much of what Elgin took was already on the ground."

In 2022 the deputy director of the British Museum was quoted saying "there will never be a magic moment of reunification because half the sculptures from Parthenon are lost forever." Which to me is saying that there's no point in returning the marbles because the Parthenon will never really be whole again. Which is true, there were many statues destroyed and the building is in some state of ruin, however displaying the marbles in their true historical context sounds, to me, to be the best way of displaying them. Boris Johnson was also quoted saying that although he had "reflected deeply" on the marbles he thought that it would be a "grievous and irremediable loss if they left the British Museum."

This statement is, to me, incredibly insensitive. While I understand that individuals form attachments and memories with objects that they interact with, and that these objects may be very beloved within the British Museum, they are much more significant to Greece. Another issue I take is with a statement made on the British Museum website. 

The argument we are presented is as follows: the sculptures "convey the influences between Egyptian, Persian, Greek and Roman civilizations and argues that they are best presented in this context." While I assume that these sculptures are being presented to an audience in a setting that shows examples from each of these cultures, I don't think that the argument is as solid as it may first seem. The historical, cultural, and environmental contexts are all still very much present elsewhere in the world. The Acropolis museum is five minutes away from the Acropolis (according to Google Maps). The Erechtheion Temple, where the Caryatids originate, is still extant and you can see faithful and detailed replicas at the original site. While it may be a wonderful opportunity to see artifacts from different cultures displayed near to one another, it is still much more beneficial to see them in their original context. This allows for a greater understanding of the object. Its use, its aesthetic, how it may have gotten to its location, all of these are better understood in its original location. Once removed, an object may lose meaning to some extent because of the lack of context.  

It is my opinion that Greece is not being unreasonable in asking for negotiations regarding the repatriation of these artifacts. In the case of Sicily's repatriation negotiations, Greece has exchanged other artifacts for the frieze portion. The Greek Government has also offered an exchange with the British Museum, allowing for artifacts to visit the museum that have never before left the country. As far as I know, nothing has been done with this offer. The British Museum has offered for the Elgin Marbles to go on tour and visit places like the Acropolis Museum, however the Acropolis Museum and Greek government have turned this down in hopes of holding out for a permanent repatriation deal. The British government has tried to surrender the issue to the board of trustees at the British Museum, but UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) has ruled that due to how much government involvement would be necessary in the process, the British government would have to be involved to some degree. 

Greece is still fighting to bring home the sixth "sister" of its Caryatids, as well as the rest of its stolen artifacts, and repatriation efforts by Italy, Germany, France, and Belgium have provided Kytiakos Mitsotakis, the Prime Minister of Greece, with hope. Especially considering that "the majority of Britions," 59%, "appear to support" the efforts to repatriate the artifacts. 

The issue of repatriation is one of cultural importance, not only within the United States but also internationally. In cases like the one of the British Museum it feels to me like a left over of colonialism and imperialism, but thats just my thoughts on it. This summer I will be making a trip to the British Museum while I'm in London and it is my goal to see the Caryatid that is in their possession. Later on I definitely want to make an effort to see the other five "sisters" at the Acropolis Museum. It is my genuine hope that I will see the return of the lost "sister" to Athens so that I can see them in their natural home. 

At the very bottom of the page will be the places that I found the images used as well as a the links used in this post and extra citations that aren't noted in text. Like I said at the very top of this post, I am no where near an expert on these topics. This is all the research that I have found and interpreted within a fairly short span of time. I want to keep learning about issues of repatriation and it is my goal to help spread information about the topic as well. If there are any mistakes in this post please feel free to reach out and if you have any questions I can do my best to answer them. 

Until next time, keep learning and exploring!

-Anne