#Association of College and Research Libraries

[archivlibrarianist]

"This toolkit is a curated collection of resources to equip academic library administrators and library professionals with the resources they need to advocate for the value, roles, and contributions of academic libraries to their campus communities. The toolkit was created in response to current and concrete pressures many academic libraries are facing including challenges related to budgets, workforce challenges, professional roles, and more."

[thesegotoxi]

6 am, can’t sleep, have to be up in an hour to take my sister to school and here i am like hmmmmm should i go back to school for a masters in library and information science ????

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: The Research Process

Research is an essential process to keep yourself informed on any topic with reliable sources of information.

Research - the process by which you gather reliable information on a specific topic, typically to answer a particular question, form an opinion, or make a decision.

Academics often separate research into 2 distinct types:

primary research (in which the researcher acquires firsthand experience with the topic) and

secondary research (in which the researcher looks at research others have done on the topic).

There are many different research methods, including:

internet research (using search engines, webpages, and other online resources),

scientific research (using the scientific method to test hypotheses),

local and university library research (using books, encyclopedias, newspaper articles, peer-reviewed journal articles, catalogs, and academic databases and directories), and

interviews (using questionnaires and discussions with subjects).

How to Research

The research process can apply to everything from a scientific research paper to a personal question; each type of research has different expectations and processes. In general, here’s a step-by-step tutorial:

Start with a question. The first step of the research process is to have a question. In the case of academic research, your research question might be on a broad conversation in your field. For example, in humanities, a research question might be: “How did feminism affect American literature in the 1970s?” In the case of personal research, your question might be smaller and more specific: “How do I wake up feeling more rested?” If your research is for a high school or college paper, you might need to brainstorm to come up with a question or move on to the research phase to see what kinds of questions and broad topics interest you.

Search broadly. Your preliminary research on a topic is likely to be general—this search strategy enables you to gather as much general information surrounding the topic as possible. This helps you develop a clearer sense of the scope of your question. In the case of academic research, you might read widely (in topics like feminism, the 1970s, and American literature). In the case of personal research, you might conduct general internet searches for secondary sources that discuss related topics (like alarm clocks, pillows, and meditation techniques).

Narrow your focus. As you conduct research, pay attention to the moments that pique your interest—use them to determine where to conduct more in-depth research. Perhaps a specific novelist seems especially interesting, or you find yourself more drawn to alarm clocks than memory-foam pillows. It is at this stage you should also take time to evaluate the information sources you’ve found to make sure they’re reliable and unbiased.

Conduct specific research. Once your question begins to narrow, you might need to do additional research to hone in on your particular topic. Look around to see if other researchers have had similar questions and published or posted their findings. Alternatively, you might do some primary research and begin testing particular hypotheses. For an academic research paper, it is at this stage you likely have enough information to begin crafting your thesis statement or central claim.

Complete the project. The final stage of the research process is to complete your research project—this might mean writing a final paper, forming a particular opinion, or purchasing a specific solution for your problem. For research that involves writing and publishing a paper, the researcher must also abide by rules of plagiarism, citation information and formats—such as the Modern Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA), Chicago, and so forth. Even though this is the final step of the research process, it doesn’t mean the project is closed forever—you might find later you need or want to do follow-up research as the topic or your interests change.

Research is a vital process that increases your knowledge and understanding around a topic, rather than forcing you to rely on simply your own background information. Good research allows you to become more informed before you answer a question, to consider all angles before you form an opinion, and to use the experience of others before you make a decision.

Source ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Could our favorite traumatized kids take on Buffy Summers and associates?

All right, let's assume it's the six Animorphs vs. Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles, Cordelia, and Oz, during Buffy's senior year. Both in the interest of symmetry, and in not making Willow ridiculously OP.

Animorphs Advantages:

Team coherence. This is always their big one; very few groups are as codependent tight-knit as they are.

Their access to different environments, and ability to thrive there, is unparalleled. Buffy et al. are squishy humans who can't even survive outside suburbia, much less in the ocean or Arctic.

Brute strength and speed. We sometimes see Buffy using a crossbow or Giles a spell, but most weapons they have lying around are small and handheld.

Scooby Gang Advantages:

Magic, duh. Especially once we add the uncanny pee-your-pants factor and the lack of Animorphs' countermeasures.

Giles would murder six kids in a heartbeat, if they threatened his slayer, even if he would be sad about it later. It's a thankless job, but somebody's got to do it.

Intelligence, training, and ability to research. Their team includes a world-class hacker and a magical librarian. Even the alleged airheads of the team score high on the SAT (Cordelia) and can get into college (Buffy).

Animorphs Disadvantages:

Need for secrecy. They have to start acting like normal teenagers and/or animals any time an adult walks by, and most of them have curfews.

Lack of resources. Especially when compared to the Scoobies' ability to call upon fellow witches, ex-boyfriends, bandmates, additional Slayers and Watchers, and the occasional demon or vampire. But the Animorphs also lack a home base or much in the way of earthly possessions.

Their skill sets overlap a lot more than the Scoobies' do, in that they all have the same superpower and all have about the same (8th grade) education. That means a single well-placed attack could take them all out.

Scooby Gang Disadvantages:

Overspecialization. Although they sometimes use rocket launchers and nitroglycerin, any weapons they'd have at hand in case of an attack are specifically meant to counter vampires and demons (e.g. stakes, crosses, magic knives).

With the exception of Buffy, they're squishy humans. And even Buffy needs to take a few days to recover from a broken arm. Marco or Rachel could shrug off a broken arm in literal seconds.

Loose lips. They don't try that hard to maintain secrecy, they meet in a library where random people are constantly walking in, and they only ever half-heartedly avoid admitting they're demon-fighters. The Animorphs would know all their plans, all the time, as soon as they're made.

Conclusion: Depends on who sets the terms of the battle. If the Animorphs have time to plan and stealth and choose when to strike, then the Animorphs could wipe the Scoobies out in minutes. If the Scoobies know that the Animorphs are coming and have time to prepare, or if they're the ones to attack first, then they'd probably win.

[lady-embers]

The Scholar and Her Hockey Player

Gwynriel Week: Day 11 - Alternate Universe

It is AU day for @gwynrielweeksofficial and here is the full piece I teased yall with that I had commissioned by Shinkxart!

Artist: Shinkxart & Commissioner: Foxylady13/Bookish_Embers (either one of those works for me)

A little bit about this piece:

I knew I wanted Gwyn and Azriel to be in a college/library setting given Gwyn's role in ACOSF and that's where she feels safest (at the moment). I also wanted her to be carrying books as she is known for helping Merrill with her research. Her being in blue just fits her perfectly with her coppery colored hair, her association with the blue Invoking Stone in ACOSF, her eye color, and well blue is associated with Azriel to.

As for Azriel...Azriel just screams a hockey player to me (probably because I've been on a hockey romance kick lately). The number 7 on his jersey is a nod to how many Siphons he has in ACOSF as well as the time he found himself arriving in front of Clotho to drop off a gift for Gwyn. Him leaving that encounter feeling a spark in his chest and tucking the thought away deep down of Gwyn's teal eyes lighting up when she sees the gift makes me giddy inside. 💙

Please feel free to like, comment, and share on other platforms with proper credit to the artist and me as the commissioner!

[scotianostra]

Scottish writer, Sheila Burnford was born on May 11th 1918.

Sheila was born and educated in Edinburgh then Harrogate College in Yorkshire, England.

She was one of the first women in Scotland to receive her Aviation Certificate. During the Second World War she worked as an ambulance attendant and driver. Sheila married David Burnford, a surgeon in the Royal Navy, and in 1948 the Burnford family emigrated to Canada, settling at Port Arthur in western Ontario.

Sheila loved the great outdoors, particularly walking and hunting. She became friends with local artist Susan Ross. The two shared an interest in the lives of indigenous people and they inspired each other in creative endeavours.

Both Sheila and Susan were members of the Port Arthur Puppetry Club. It was during her time with the Club that Sheila began writing – scripts at first and then articles describing life in Northwestern Ontario for English magazines and newspapers such as Punch and the Glasgow Herald.

Sheila was a great animal lover, although she always said she had a practical view of them. After the death of her Bullterrier, Bill (who had kept her company during the Blitz in the Second World War), she decided to write a book, in part to memorialize him.

That book became The Incredible Journey.

The animals in the book were based on the personalities of her own animals. In addition to Bill, she had a Siamese cat (Simon) and a Golden Labrador (Raimie). She researched incidents similar to the ones in the book and used the area around her home and cottage (Loon Lake) to describe the terrain.

The book was an international bestseller and was eventually translated into more than 17 languages. It would win a number of awards, including the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children.

In 1963 the Walt Disney adaptation of the film was released. The premiere of the film was held in Port Arthur with over 10,000 people lining the streets for the parade preceding the showing. Actors from the film and the film’s director, Fletcher Markle, attended the premiere. Although the book was based in Northwestern Ontario, it was actually filmed in the Toronto area.

In 1964, Sheila published her second book, The Fields of Noon, a collection of essays on life in Northwestern Ontario. It included a number of essays that had previously been published in English periodicals.

In the late 1960s, Sheila and Susan Ross spent a great deal of time visiting native reserves in Northwestern Ontario. Both women had long held interest in native life and found the opportunity to actually learn about native life to be irresistible. While there, Susan Ross drew sketches of the people and Sheila observed. As a result of these visits, Sheila published Without Reserve, using some of Susan Ross’s drawings as illustrations.

Sheila and Susan next travelled up to Pond Inlet and experienced the life of the Inuit, including travelling by dog sled to see the narwhal. From this experience came One Woman’s Arctic. This book also included illustrations by Susan Ross.

The Incredible Journey was acclaimed as a children’s book, even though Sheila herself did not think of it as a children’s book. In 1973, she published an actual children’s book, Mr. Noah and the Second Flood. The story focused on the impact of consumerism and waste on the planet.

Sheila’s last book, Bel Ria: Dog of War, was the story of a little dog caught up in the horrors of the Second World War. In writing the book, she drew upon her own experiences in the Blitz and used research to maintain authenticity.

In 1984 Sheila Burnford died of lung cancer. She had moved back to the UK to live with her second husband, Dr. J.D. Loughborough.

In 2017, a documentary of her life, Long Walk Home: The Incredible Journey of Sheila Burnford, was released by Sheba Films.

[sissyisawitch]

Rainbow in the Sky

Relationship: Ominis Gaunt x f!MC

Summary: What happens when blind Ominis learns that his best friend MC is a synesthete who associates certain traits of personality to all the colours he can't see? Synaesthesia = Perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory pathway.

Word Count: ~6.1k

Author's Note: Hi! It's been a while since I last posted, but college exams took up all my time. Anyways, I'm back with my first Ominis one shot, so I hope I did good enough for all the Gauntlets out there🤞 This one is for all my fellow synesthetes💕Enjoy!🌈

"Wake up, sleepyhead. Class is over."

"Mmh?"

MC's eyelids fluttered open as a hand gently nudged her awake. Still a bit groggy, she slowly realised that she had unintentionally dozed off during History of Magic. But most importantly, she noticed that she had inadvertently fell asleep on Ominis. A tidal wave of embarrassment washed over her, making her brusquely straighten up.

"Oh, Ominis, I'm so sorry, I didn't realise–"

The blond boy put his hand up to stop her, and smiled softly, "Don’t apologise. It's fine. That's what Professor Binns does to people."

MC tried to forget how much of a fool she had made of herself by gathering her belongings. Ominis did the same, then followed her out of the classroom.

As they began to walk together through the corridors teeming with students, the palpable awkwardness remained between them. The silence was thick, and neither knew quite how to break it. However, Ominis was rapidly becoming frustrated by the tension, and decided to inject some humour into the situation.

"You...uh, sleep really peacefully… like a serene Puffskein." He attempted to lighten the mood with a compliment, albeit clumsily. "Pardon me, I'm not trying to compare you to an animal... I just wanted to say that you were cute– Not that you’re not always cute, of course!"

Instead of easing the tension, his words hung in the air, unintentionally adding another layer of discomfort to their stroll through the corridors. MC mustered a polite smile, forgetting that he was unable to see it, as she was too busy worrying about whether the wand in his hand, with its tip pulsing with red light, could relay the fact that her heart had soared after hearing that he thought she was cute.

Screaming with joy on the inside, but trying hard to remain calm of the outside, MC desperately wished for a change in conversation, "Sebastian must've spent his free period at the library, like the bookworm he is. How about we go fetch him and head to lunch?"

MC thought Ominis would be happy to put an end to this moment of embarrassing torture, but against all expectations, his face contorted into an expression she had never seen on him before. He replied with one short, quick word, "Sure."

Without adding another word, they arrived at Central Hall a few minutes later, right when their mutual friend was coming out of the library and already taking long strides in their direction.

"Synaesthesia!" He shouted out of the blue as soon as he got in front of them.

"Bless you." Ominis joked, although his bitter tone was still present.

"Ugh, no!" Sebastian rolled his eyes at him before turning to his other friend. "MC, remember when you told me that you saw numbers as a certain colour, or that you gave personalities to colours?"

"You can do that?" Ominis questioned, quirking an eyebrow dubiously.

MC remained oddly silent, and turned as white as a sheet. It was Sebastian who answered for her, "Yes, she does. She never told you?"

"No…"

"Oh well, now you know." The brown-haired boy shrugged. " Anyway, I did some research at the library because I was curious and wanted to know why you had that. It took me hours to find a book about it, but I finally did. A Muggle did some research on it not long ago. He couldn't explain where it came from, but he did give it a name – synaesthesia – which is when someone perceives a sensation in addition to the one normally perceived.... So MC, you're a synesthete! It's exceptional!"

Sebastian's enthusiasm, conveyed in his loud tone, attracted the attention of curious ears around them. But as incredible as Sebastian considered this discovery to be, it was not the same for everyone else. It was just one more singularity, one more abnormality in the girl, making her once again the black sheep of Hogwarts.

"Synesthete? Wasn't being the Hero of Hogwarts enough for her? She just had to find something else to prove she was better than everyone else, didn’t she?" Leander Prewett scathed, thinking he was being quiet when in fact he was as discreet as a bull in a china shop. He scoffed. "What a stupid cow."

Next to him, Cressida Blume – Hogwarts's biggest faultfinder – nodded eagerly, “She’s such an attention-seeker.”

MC knew she should not allow herself to be affected by such stupid and immature words, but it was extremely complicated to do so when the people she was closest to could also hear these negative remarks, which could possibly have a bad influence on the way they viewed her. She looked away and bit the inside of her cheek, trying to think of something else.

Sebastian, notoriously impulsive by nature, recognised her expression immediately, which made his blood boil. He approached Leander at a slow but terrifyingly determined pace, until he towered over him, which made Cressida, who had a yellow streak, take several steps backwards

"The whole school already knows you've only got two brain cells left, Prewett, and yet you still open your mouth to prove you're still as daft as ever."

The redhead frowned as he looked up at him, "You tryin' to pick a fight with me, Sallow?"

"’Course I do! It's good that you still manage to notice the obvious. Even if it takes you a lot longer than what's considered normal. Perhaps you've lost another brain cell?" Sebastian smirked derisively.

Quickly tiring of being taken for a fool, the Gryffindor reached into his robe pocket to pull out his wand... but Sebastian saw right through him.

Seeing red at the idea of Leander having the ridiculous audacity to think that he would be able to defeat the best duellist of Hogwarts, the Slytherin drew faster than Leander, right before the redhead could complete his incantation.

Sebastian cast spell after spell with such an astonishing speed that his opponent was unable to evade the incoming magical onslaught. His wand danced through the air, sending various spells that formed a whole colour palette. He began with a simple Levioso to neutralise him, followed by a Flipendo to humiliate him in front of the spectators who had clumped together to watch the spectacle, and finally a Depulso to finish him off in style.

A powerful impact propelled Leander backward, and with a resounding thud, he collided face first with the solid stone wall, before falling limply back to the equally hard ground.

Preventing Sebastian from savouring his victory, Professor Weasley's horrified gasp resounded, "Mr. Sallow! What on earth possessed you to attack another student for no reason? Such savagery will not be tolerated! One hour of detention with me. Right now."

"But he insulted-" Sebastian tried to defend himself.

However, Professor Weasley cut him off sharply, "Two hours."

"But he started it! Why should I be the one to waste my time in detention?"

"You've wasted your time attacking a fellow student. Surely you can waste your precious time in detention too, can't you? Now, will it be three hours, or will you follow me in silence?"

Sebastian let out an irritated exhale through his nose before turning his gaze to MC. Without saying a word, the intensity in his pupils was enough to convey his message. 'If that's what it takes to defend you, I'd do it again.' Still, MC sent him a rueful yet thankful smile, and watched him follow Professor Weasley.

"Oh, Miss Blume." The Deputy Headmistress stopped momentarily in her tracks and turned around. "Take Mr. Prewett to the hospital wing, please."

Cressida rushed at Leander's side and helped him to his feet. His black and blue face was now displayed for everyone to see. He held on tightly to his housemate as he seemed on the verge of blacking out. But before they could disappear to the Hospital Wing, Ominis approached them, guided by his sentient wand.

"Prewett." Ominis spat his name as if it was an insult. When he no longer heard footsteps, he knew he had his attention. "If I hear or even get wind of you speaking ill of MC one more time, I won't hesitate to ask Black to have you expelled. You know how good friends he is with my father."

Ominis could not see his reaction, but his silence and the heavy tension growing between them was a satisfying enough response.

"That goes for you too, Blume." The Slytherin added, just to make sure he had made himself clear.

Ominis only heard Cressida make a short 'humph' of displeasure before the sound of their footsteps against the stone faded away. He subsequently turned back to his friend.

"MC?"

No response. He could not even sense her with his wand anymore.

"MC!" Ominis called out again, just in case she was still in the vicinity, but just far enough away to be imperceptible to his wand.

Still no response. She had run away.

"Fuck."

Obviously, she had not gone to the Great Hall to get lunch without him (Ominis knew her too well to think about that even for a fraction of second). No, he knew that she would want to hide after being the centre of unwanted attention, and he could only think of one place where she could have taken refuge... The Undercroft was his destination.

Trusting his instincts, he navigated the familiar twists and turns of the castle. He approached the secluded clock in the Dark Arts Tower, and opened the secret passageway with a simple flick of his wand. Once the gate to the Undercroft was raised, Ominis entered, the echo of his footsteps reverberating against the walls, making the boy doubt whether his friend was truly here. Nevertheless, the secret room did not remain silent for long, for MC made her presence known on her own.

"Here to make fun of me, aren't you? Another one of your snarky comments?" She asked, her voice coated with bitter sarcasm.

The jest failed to elicit a laugh from Ominis, who replied most solemnly, "I would never dare. Not with you."

"Good. Because you should know that if you did, I'd hex your arse until you joined Prewett in the hospital wing."

"I am perfectly aware of that." He smiled tenderly, approaching the direction from which her voice came.

"Good." She repeated. Once he had stopped in front of her, she pulled him by the wrist to sit on the floor next to her, their backs against the wall. Once he was settled, she released his hand.

Displeased at the loss of contact, Ominis felt the need to make himself interesting again, "Speaking of Prewett, I want you to know that I wanted to do something before Sebastian, but... you know how brash he is."

"I know."

"However... I talked to Prewett – well, more like threatened him actually – but point is, he'll never bother you again."

"Thank you, Ominis." She replied, and he could hear the genuine gratitude in her voice.

But something was not quite right because, if usually the way she pronounced his name with such warmth and how it rolled perfectly off her tongue did wonders to make him feel better... at this moment it was not enough.

“...You could have talked about your synaesthesia with me as well, you know? I could have been just as good of a listener as Sebastian.” He declared without thinking, hurt taking over his facial features.

“I know, you would. Even better than him, without a doubt.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

There was a moment of silence before he heard admit, “I was scared you’d think I’m stark raving mad, and–”

“I find it fascinating." He swiftly cut her off, not wanting to give her the time to depreciate herself any further. "How you give personalities to things that people don't even look at twice, I've never seen that level of creativity before. It just shows how deeply caring and thoughtful you are. You have a heart of gold, and the most kind and beautiful soul I have ever come across."

MC had tears in her eyes just from hearing him speak. Never before had such beautiful words been spoken to her, "Do you really mean that?"

"Every single word." Ominis insisted. "You have a unique talent. Do not let people's jealousy drag you down."

“It’s not a very useful talent though…” She mumbled.

“Allow me to disagree.” His falling intonation made it clear that his sentence was finished. Yet MC knew him well enough to recognise his expression when he had something to add, but did not dare.

“Go on.” She encouraged him.

MC’s soft words were the spur the young man needed to reveal what he had in the back of his mind, "Well, I always hear people talk about colours, or read about them in books, but I can't see what they look like, so...” He paused for a moment, either shy about his request, or afraid of refusal. “Perhaps you could help me understand what they feel like?"

“Oh, Ominis…” She cooed upon seeing the pastel shade creeping up his high cheekbones. She instinctively put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to make him at ease again. “Of course, I’ll try my best. What colour do you want to know about first?”

“Let’s start with your favourite colour. Pink.” He declared without even having to think about it.

MC felt her own cheeks becoming beet red in turn. It was the way he remembered that insignificant detail they had rarely talked about. But it was also the way he had uttered the name of her favourite colour with confidence, without the slightest ounce of hesitation. He was always so attentive, and it made her feel all giddy. In fact, he always made her feel that way with the slightest show of affection, so it was nothing new, and yet it still remained exhilarating.

Unfortunately, as thrilled as he made her feel, he made her just as nervous, and she often ended up stammering (which she was sure ruined any chance she had of ever being able to charm him), “Uhm well… P-Pink is really sweet and kind, even if she’s quite naive. She's someone who looks at life through... well, rose-tinted glasses. She sees the good in everything and everyone, and is often lost in a daydream. Dreams mostly of love, while her cheeks turn pink to match her name.”

MC waited patiently for Ominis to respond in whatever kind of way, rather than remain agonisingly silent, with his eyes piercing right through her soul even though they could not see. She needed to know what he thought of her. If he understood her, or if he judged her. If he thought she was weird, or even worse, terrifying for thinking that way. She just desperately needed him to say the slightest word.

What she did not know, however, was that Ominis was remaining obediently silent because he was waiting for MC to continue with her explanations, which he found captivating.

“Am I detailing things enough? Does it help you?" MC decided to ask in a small voice to end the nerve-wracking silence.

Ominis offered her a soothing smile, "It does. You're doing a brilliant job."

"Brilliant...” She repeated awkwardly. “What colour do you want to hear about next?"

"Sebastian once told me the colour of the Slytherin house was green. What does it represent to you?"

“Pure joy. As soon as you see Green arrive, you're instantly relieved, because you know happiness is back. A bit like when grass reappears after a long winter when snow covered all nature and deprived it of its colours. But don’t get me wrong, Green isn't at all extroverted and attention-seeking. No, Green’s the kind of quiet, everlasting delight that makes for true happiness.”

Ominis took his time to process MC's explanation, before frowning, "Don’t people usually say that yellow is the colour of happiness?"

“Mhm, you’re right. They do. Usually because it’s the colour of the sun and a lot of flowers. But I think it's a hypocritical colour. She's always glowing, so brightly that all you can see is her, as if she wants to show off her happiness to everyone. But it's impossible to be that happy all the time! People like that are always hiding something.” The further MC went into her description, the more her calm tone disappeared and became louder.

Ominis listened intently to her, nodding along words, “Duly noted. I'll be wary of Yellow.”

“As you should.”

Even while being blind, Ominis knew by the tone of her voice that she was adorably pouting with her arms crossed in front of her chest. Witnessing how riled up she could get over colours, it made him inevitably chuckle, "All these colours, they really are like true people to you, aren't they?"

“They are. My brain has created all these characters for as long as I can remember. I’ve lived my whole life with them, so I can’t help but take this at heart…” She confessed, somewhat insecurely. “Is it weird?”

“Not at all. To be entirely truthful… I think it’s endearing, and makes me want to know how that beautiful mind of yours works even more. I only wish I could know you down to the smallest detail.”

MC could not understand how Ominis managed to say such sincere words out loud without the slightest difficulty. He admitted them to her as easily as if he were reciting the recipe for a potion, even when they were face to face. She wished she had even a quarter of his charisma... perhaps then she would have the courage to confess how she really felt.

She looked down, nervously tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, "So, uhm... let's continue, shall we? How about red?"

"I'm listening." He replied softly, smiling as if to give her confidence.

MC cleared her throat, “Red is really powerful, and so everything they feel is powerful. It’s always something like anger, or passion. They’re hot-blooded, but that’s why they feel warm and pleasant. But! You should be careful, because they can burn you if you come too close to them.”

"Sounds like a dangerous colour then." Ominis remarked.

"They can be. But if they like you, then you can trust them with your life. It's a really loyal colour, just like Blue. Blue is–"

“Oh, I know that one!” Ominis exclaimed proudly, now sitting more upright. “Blue is the colour that represents sadness. That’s why people say they’re blue when they’re sad, isn’t it?”

“Yes, you’re right…” MC paused hesitantly. He seemed so happy to finally know something about colours, that it broke her heart to have to tell him that she had a different kind of perception. “But… just like for Yellow, I don’t see things the same way as everyone else.”

Ominis's face fell a little. He had tried to impress MC by showing her that he was not completely ignorant, but he had failed miserably. Nevertheless, he forced himself to keep a slight smile on his lips to mask his disappointment, “How do you see it then?”

“Well, in my mind, Blue is the very definition of serenity and comfort. He's always perfectly calm and peaceful. He always knows just the right words to say. You'll never find anyone more trustworthy than him. You look up to him as you would look up to the sky.”

"Blue sounds majestic, I like him. I think it’s my favourite colour so far.” Ominis declared, making MC grin as she was delighted to be able to convey some emotions to him through her explanations. “Do you have any colour associated to sadness, then?"

“Purple. She’s always sad, because she looks like Blue and Red died and melted together to make her, so she can only mourn them. I wish there was a way to cheer her up, but it’s impossible. That’s how things are, unfortunately. She’s the representation of perpetual heartbreak.”

"And wouldn’t another colour be able to help her? Like Orange maybe?" Ominis suggested, now fully immersed in his friend's imaginary world.

MC could not hold back her scoff, "Oh, Merlin, no. Orange is so arrogant and big-headed! He thinks very highly of himself. He believes he's better than everyone else, because he's not a colour you often see in nature. So when he's around, he stands out so much from the crowd, that he's the only thing you can see.”

“So by that logic, someone who wears orange is a person who wants to draw attention to themselves?” He questioned, tilting his head slightly to the side out of curiosity.

“I guess you can say that.”

After concluding, MC recited the rainbow in her head, to make sure she had not forgotten any of the colours. Realising that she had presented them all to Ominis, she smiled in satisfaction.

"Well, I think that's it. We've talked about all the colours!" She announced cheerfully and clapped her hands together, just about to stand up.

"Wait!" Ominis held out his hand to stop her from leaving.

He put his hand where he thought her shoulder was, but his aim was too low. His fingertips brushed against her, running up her arm, and even through the layers of her uniform, it sent electric sparks all over her skin, resulting in her heart skipping a beat.

Blissfully oblivious to what he was making MC feel, Ominis continued, “I also read about brown. What does it feel like?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot about that one.” She hurried to answer, lest he think that she wanted to wrap up their conversation quickly. “Technically, brown's not a colour that's part of the rainbow. But anyway, it's a really basic colour that you cand find anywhere around you. Sure, he’s common, but he never disappoints you. He’s in harmony with everything. I reckon he’s the type of person that seems calm on the outside, but who has so many exciting – even chaotic – things going on in his mind. I associate brown to Sebastian a lot.”

Ominis jerked his hand away from MC's shoulder and recoiled from her, as if he'd received an electric shock. His jaw tightened and his eyebrows furrowed, creating a shadow over his misty opal eyes. They had always been full of light, giving them the ability to soothe MC, but seeing them at that exact moment, the girl could do nothing but wonder what she had said or done wrong to render them so dark.

(Un)Fortunately, Ominis was quick to give her some guidance on the subject with his next line, "So Sebastian gets a colour? What about me? Am I not good enough to have one?"

Piqued by the poison that was intoxicating his intonation, MC did not let it faze her, "Quite the opposite, actually. You're too important to only have one."

"Whatever does that mean?"

“It means that whenever I think about you, I feel red... like…" She flirted with the edge of the precipice, but her voice cracked and failed her before she could fully launch herself.

Even though he could hear the distress in her voice, MC was infinitely grateful at this moment that he could not see her cheeks as red as a poppy, as well as her eyes which were starting to fill with tears because her nerves were starting to fray.

Sensing that she was struggling, Ominis immediately abandoned his cold, distant attitude. Instead, he decided to reach out to her again, but this time he rested his hand on her knee, "It's okay. Take your time."

This simple gesture was enough to give MC the strength to continue what she wanted to tell him. She took a deep breath before crossing the point of no return, this time with determination, and seized the golden opportunity to reveal her true colours.

“I feel red like my ardent feelings for you and the way they overpower me whenever I'm around you. Or like my jealousy when I see you close to other girls. I also feel orange, because I’m pretentious enough to believe that I'm the right person for you, that we belong together. Yellow is hypocrite, just like I am when I pretend to be content with us simply being friends. I'm overcome with green every time I see you coming towards me with your beautiful smile. I see blue when I look into your eyes. They’re the most magnificent and reassuring place on Earth. They remind me that you’re the most trustworthy person I’ll ever meet. I trust you with my life, because I know you’d never do anything to hurt me. I feel purple when I remind myself that you might never return all the love I have for you. And lastly... I feel terribly pink right now, because I'm naive enough to think that my confession won’t ruin our friendship, and make you run away from me."

Ominis never really found himself at a loss for words, it happened once in a blue moon. He had always had a knack for finding the right comment at the right time. MC had said so herself earlier. But now, after hearing his best friend make the most beautiful and honest of declarations of love – and rest assured he had heard a good handful of them in his life with all the pureblood girls trying to charm him in the hope of joining the overrated Gaunt family – Ominis was simply rendered speechless. And a few seconds later, he also found himself breathless when he heard MC's melodious giggle echoing between the stone walls.

The girl was laughing for a whole list of reasons. Firstly, because the situation seemed so surreal. When she woke up this morning, she never thought she would end up pouring her heart out to Ominis. It was such a thrilling yet white-knuckle experience.

The second reason was how lighter she felt now that everything was off her chest, and out in the open. She could no longer understand why she had decided to carry such a heavy weight in secret for so long.

Lastly, it was impossible for MC to remain impassive in front of Ominis's hilariously adorable expression of frustration. With his defined arched eyebrows raised, and his remarkable eyes as wide as they could possibly be. Then there was the red tinge that had taken hold of his pale skin and even his ears. Not to mention his mouth agape, ready to utter the words that were stuck in his throat, while his bottom lip quivered, only making MC want to suck on it and graze it between her teeth.

"You're the rainbow in the sky of my life, Ominis!" She added with a radiant joy in her voice that was as obvious as the sincerity and beauty of her words. The warmth of her intonation was such that it could warm the cold, dark room that was the Undercroft. It was a sound that made Ominis's heart beat faster, and yet made all the tension in his muscles vanish. Never in his life had he heard anything or anyone as soothing and angelic as MC.

He took a moment to think about what he was going to say next, searching for the right words to express what he was feeling, and when he found them, he expressed them without the slightest tremor in his voice, “You’re right. You’re truly naive, because this is going to inevitably devastate our friendship.”

MC gasped out of fright but Ominis did not let her get a word in edgeways before he was finished.

“However, you were wrong about the second part. It did nothing to make me want to run away from you. Quite the opposite, in fact. It gave me the courage to finally act on my innermost desires, and get closer to you, like I've always wanted.”

Now that he said it, MC realised how he had scooted closer to her unnoticed, until their sides were leaning against each other, making their knees brush, and their hands touch. Using his little finger to caress the back of MC's hand and test the waters, Ominis fully grasped his beloved's hand and intertwined their fingers together when he realised that she was not reluctant to his touch.

Thrilled by his gesture, MC looked up at his beautiful face that she now could see up close thanks to their intimate proximity. She could not help but be mesmerized by the intricate details of his features, starting with the numerous beauty spots that adorned his pale skin and caught the light in such a way that it was impossible for her not to trace their contours with her eyes. She was fascinated by the realisation that, over the many years of their friendship, she had memorised the location of each of these moles, like familiar landmarks on a map she treasured. One small cluster as black as coal was just below his cheekbone, as well as on his jaw, highlighting its sharpness.

As she continued her silent inspection, MC's fingers began to twitch with the urge to gently trace the paths between those beauty spots, resulting in her squeezing Ominis's hand instead. She wanted to map them with her touch in the same way she had done with her eyes. Especially the isolated one next to his left eye. It stood out from the rest and added a touch of charm to his gaze, drawing attention to his unique and expressive eyes, with their irises that were a mixture of azure and creamy rays, giving them a welcoming depth in which MC wanted to drown. His eyes could not see her, and yet they looked at her with such warmth and admiration, echoing the emotions he concealed so well. Every nuance of his expression spoke volumes, revealing a vulnerability that only exacerbated her own feelings. MC could feel her heart beating faster, a gentle reminder of the unspoken connection they shared.

Still sensing the way she was admiring him as if he were the incarnation of Apollo himself, Ominis brought their entwined hands to his lips, and placed a tender, lingering kiss on her knuckles, “I've loved you since fifth year, and I've fallen for you more and more with each passing day, but..."

"But what?" She breathed, her voice barely louder than a murmur. She feared that her curiosity would put an end to their moment of complicity.

"...But I always thought you fancied Sebastian.”

“Sebastian is dear to me. But like a brother. He has been the confidant of all my admiration for you.”

With that revelation, Ominis's face drew nearer, until she could feel the warmth of his breath, a tantalizing whisper against her skin. The air seemed to thicken with anticipation, making MC close her eyes in an attempt to calm her rapid heartbeat. She soon realised it was all in vain, for the scent of the boy she cherished immediately overcame her senses and excited her even more.

Ominis's perfume wafted through the air, enveloping MC in its amalgam of cedar and bergamot aromas, a blend of sophistication and warmth. She allowed herself to briefly savour the fragrance, before opening her eyes again.

But, in the blink of an eye (literally), the moment shifted. Ominis, perhaps aware of the charged atmosphere, had leant in even closer. MC's gaze flickered to his lips, and for a moment, time seemed to stand still. The unspoken tension lingering between them reached its zenith, and the uncharted territory of what could be hung in the air. A fleeting thought suddenly crossed MC's mind – was this the red-letter day where he would bridge the gap between friendship and something more?

And sure enough...

“Can I kiss you?” He asked in a soft, sensual voice. He was only a couple of inches from her now.

MC was tickled pink, “You don’t need to ask. I’m all yours.”

Ominis raised his hand to where he thought MC's head was and, sensing his hesitation, the girl guided him to her cheek. This small gesture gave him the final green light to do whatever he wanted with her. Once his palm made contact with her skin, he searched for her lips with his thumb, and when he found them, he traced their contours with as much delicacy as if he were touching the petals of a fragile flower, reflecting all the esteem and care he had for her.

Ominis smiled at the softness of her lips before deciding, at last, to feel them with his own. He kissed her in a slow and tender dance. He took his time to appreciate all the sensations that were new to him, appreciate his first kiss with the witch of his dreams. Each lick and suck were a deliberate exploration as if he aimed to imprint every subtlety and nuances about her into his brain – from her sugary taste of remnants of Chocolate Frogs, to the shape of her full and plump lips, by way of her hypnotic floral fragrance.

When she had explained all these colours to him, he had managed to imagine them, but now... Now, he understood them.

Red for the intensity of his passion for her. Orange because he wanted her to only have eyes for him. Yellow for his hypocrisy when he played the act of the gentleman who wanted nothing more than a chaste kiss. Green for... well, how could he be anything but unmeasurably happy in this instant? Blue because, just like it was his favourite colour, she was his favourite person. He always wanted to be with her, just to feel like he was somewhere he belonged. Purple when he thought of the possibility of this magical moment being nothing more than a dream, a wicked trick of his imagination. And yet pink, because he hoped he was living a dream come true, and would get to keep her by his side forever.

When he felt himself starting to lose control over his actions, when his urges threatened to take over his chivalry, he immediately pulled away. This was one of the rare occasions where Ominis was grateful to be blind. Because if he was able to see her tantalising lips, he just knew that he would be doomed. He would never be able to spend even a second of his life without kissing them.

His hand which was still cupping her cheek, started caressing her smooth skin, "Not only do you make me feel all these colours, MC, but you're also the first person to make me experience them as well."

Sure, Ominis's confession was lovely and went straight to her heart... but MC could not take her mind off the primal urge to kiss devour Ominis that coursed through her veins. And so, instead of responding with words, she chose to convey her love with a different language, a more physical one.

She threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, causing him to topple backwards, resulting in MC lying on top of him on the floor. Without waiting, she smashed her lips back on his – which, let's face it, was far more meaningful and accurate than any words she could have come up with.

She clutched his wrists to place them on her waist and hips, like an enthusiastic invitation to explore the new curves of her body, which Ominis accepted gladly, starting to trace her contours and memorise them. Whereupon, one of her own hands wandered up and down his chest, trying to feel as much of her lover as she could through the textile barrier that was his white shirt. Meanwhile, her other hand snaked around his neck until it reached the top of his nape. She tangled her fingers in his golden hair, pulling it lightly by the roots, earning a needy whimper from Ominis that was muffled by their fiery kiss.

Time seemed to suspend as they entirely immersed themselves in the experience, as if etching every fibre of the other into their memory. The way they pulled each other closer, the way they wanted desired and desperately needed each other...

They were so engrossed in each other's electric touch that they did not hear the rattle of the wrought-iron gate being opened. They only snapped out of their own little bubble when they heard Sebastian's whistling as he caught them red-handed, followed by his quippy voice exclaiming, “Took you guys long enough!”

[paper-beats-writers-block]

The Marauders, Modern Facism, and Me.

This post is mostly for me, but if it makes you feel something too that's a bonus.

tl;dr for those with a TikTok attention span: The Marauders lived through their own version of the rise of facism. Use their story as not only inspiration, but as hope. Their passion and their love is what killed facism in the end.

The extended cut:

My name is Ren, and I live in the USA. Not just the US, but a red state in the midwest. And I am fucking terrified.

As well as being terrified, I have also really really struggled with being a part of the marauders fandom. Being a subsector of the HP fandom still means being in the HP fandom, and that's a hard thing to swallow right now for a lot of people for extremely good reason. We don't want to associate at all with Jackass Rowling, but we don't want to let the meaning and memories we've made of the content surrounding the series go, because that's a terribly hard thing to do.

I found the marauders at the ripe old age of fourteen, right after I had finished the HP series. I checked the seventh book out of my high school library on the last day before everyone left for quarantine on March 12 of 2020. After finishing the books I was scrolling pinterest and came across a piece of art that happened to be a cover of a marauders fanfic. The art was a link from pinterest, and it took me to wattpad, and that's how I found fanfic. They were the self insert characters "twin of sirius black" "the not like other girls female fifth marauders" and I probably read like twenty of them in a week. In the recommendeds of one of these stories, it took me to a full blown series of the marauders, clocking in at 2 million words+, and the author is still updating. and they're INCREDIBLE (the first four books (900k+) are on ao3 if anyone is curious let me know). I read all seven books at the time over my freshman year spring break.

I read for escapism, as many do, but I started to put these characters in every aspect of my life so I wouldn't be alone. I spent most of that summer in my bedroom researching on the HP website and plotting out a massive multi year fic that I started and never finished, and likely will never finish. But that one fic series I read did a lot for me. It gave me hope, and it gave me comfort. It gave me inspiration to write a series of my own and to plan and think and be creative. The most important thing that it did, though, was talk me through what it was like to be queer.

Third year Remus falling for his best friend and not having a clue in the world what to do about it, and Lily setting the best example I could ever ask for of how to react to that. Sirius realizing it right back a few months later. I spent my whole life in catholic schooling. I had never even heard of gay people. I read about Nico di Angelo when I was ten but it flew right over my head. and I had no idea yet, but Just like Remus, I was also in love with my best friend. Because of this series, I managed to skip the unskippable cutscene of most religiously-raised queer kids--the shame that usually comes with being a queer kid. Most of my high school friend group was queer. Nearly all of my college friends are. And I'm in a happy relationship and going on nearly three years with the same best friend I fell in love with at fourteen.

Onto the modern fascism part. America. land of the free, home of the brave and the dreamers. *scoffs* Tarrifs, billionaires, deportations, nazis, police brutality, inflation, and more horrible awful things that I didn't name. And that's just in my country. There's so much hate everywhere all the time and it just feels like bad news after bad news. I've spent the past few days bedridden with a sprained ankle with no motivation but to doom scroll and it only made me more depressed than I already am.

But what I was too young and naive to understand at fourteen, I have a better grasp on now being a few months from twenty: they grew up during the rise of wizard facism and wizard nazis. And when they left school, they fought like hell against it. They stood up for each other, they let their community stand strong. They lost friends and family, and people they trusted betrayed them, but they didn't lose every shred of hope they had. And even more than that, they still showed up for each other. They had meals together. They got drunk together. They celebrated birthdays and engagements and weddings.

We the Facist Fighters have already lost countless people. We the Facist Fighters have already been betrayed by the people that we trusted. But I am choosing to be inspired by these characters created by a jackass and make them my own--our own--instead.

"We buried our friends in the morning, we protested in the afternoon, and we danced all night. The dance kept us in the fight because it was the dance we were fighting for." -Dan Savage. This quote was originally about the AIDS crisis, but it can, and I believe should, be applied both to the era of the wizarding war of the 70s, and now, in the real world 2020s.

[freak-attorney]

Do you have any school related (highschool and/or college) related AA headcanons? I'm not sure how schooling worked exactly for Mia, Maya, and Pearl given where they lived, so I dunno. Mainly Phoenix, Edgeworth, Franziska and Gumshoe

Ace Attorney HS/Uni Headcanons!

(I admittedly haven't thought about this much before but I'm happy to share!)

Phoenix Wright

High School

Really good at creative writing

Good at the humanities in general

Barely passed chemistry (started a fire in the lab and had to let his partner take over for the rest of the year)

Best friends with his Language Arts teacher

Got detention for being late to class too much

Did NOT pass the Presidential Fitness Test (he couldn't do a pull up)

On a first name basis with the lunch ladies

Applied to maybe 3 colleges

He was a band kid for sure... probably played the clarinet

University/College

Was really good friends with his roommate but they lost touch once he went to law school

Not great at pottery but still made little projects to give to his friends whenever he took a class

Rushed a few fraternities (he didn't get a bid to any of them)

Didn't learn how to talk to girls until Dahlia/Iris

Took a few philosophy classes and yapped in every discussion

Joined a debate club.. he lost most of the time but it made him want to get better!

Was very much oblivious to every girl that ever attempted to flirt with him

Had a group of 3-4 friends that he ate lunch with at the same time everyday

Got super wasted at a party and ended up in the front yard of a frat house off campus

Sweatpants + a hoodie were his go to fits

Miles Edgeworth

High School

Did not get along with many others

Went to public school up until high school where he went to a fancy private school

HATED group projects (asked the teachers if he could just do it himself)

It still haunts him that he got a "B" in Physics

Definitely took APUSH/any AP class he could

Did dual enrollment (completed his Associates)

Helped with the theatre program but only as part of the crew (probably stage manager or lead tech)

Valedictorian

Grade "A" instigator (he started a few fights)

Perfect attendance

Headphones in ALL THE TIME

Applied to at least 30 colleges

Scarily good at dodgeball whenever they played in phys ed

Threw up when they had to do frog dissections

College/University

Refused one of his top choices due to their communal showers

Never spoke a word to his roommate

Became a fan of women's rugby (introduced Franzi to it)

Thought Greek life was a waste of time and never even thought about rushing

Didn't go to a single party

Practically lived in the library

Took a class that introduced him to digital art and he really liked it (he didn't have time to continue it once the class ended)

Franziska von Karma

High School

Well-liked or feared?? Depends on who you ask

Fancy private schools her entire life. High school was no different.

Went through a phase of growing out her bangs but hated it

Full face of makeup every. single. day.

Straight A's (Papa would NOT be happy with anything less)

Extremely competitive with EVERYTHING (even the pacer test)

Excelled in the hard sciences but still went into law

She was the teacher's pet but no one dared to call her on it

Applied to every college she could find

Color coordinated notes for each class

Turned in assignments weeks before they were due

Dual enrollment/AP/IB is a given

She was in chorus (Alto)

Used a leather crossbody in place of a normal backpack

Valedictorian but she doesn't see it as a "real" achievement

College/University

Heavily involved with research

Knew her major the moment she applied (probably before then)

President of the debate team

Requested to not have a roommate

On the women's rugby team

Made out with one of the members of said rugby team and was too embarrassed afterwards to show up to practice for the next week (this one is so specific sorry)

Dressed well for class no matter how early

But she preferred late classes

Took many walks around campus at night

Got invited to Greek life formals (they were very bluntly turned down)

Overpacked for the school year every single time

Started the knitting club

Took ochem "for fun"

Godot/Diego

High School

Looked like a jock stereotype

Bullied the bullies

Public school all the way man

Kept photos of all his friends in his locker

On the track & field team (pole vaulting was his favorite)

Did swimming for a year (butterfly is his stroke)

Had several girlfriends before buckling down senior year and focusing on studying

Failed History

Took Spanish for his foreign language (he already knew it)

Applied to any college where he could get a scholarship

College/University

Involved in EVERYTHING

Didn't get along well with his roommate (Diego's side of the room was always messy)

Switched his major several times (started with music, then bio, then landed on polysci)

Definitely a tour guide

Continued playing sports throughout uni (including intramurals)

Joined 2 frats

Volunteered a lot (service distinction)

Got a job at a coffee shop near campus and that's where it all began...

Started growing out his facial hair sophomore year

Dick Gumshoe

High School

Not the smartest guy, but probably the nicest

Got along with everyone no problem

Found ways to skip phys ed

Friends with the nurse (very clumsy)

Excelled in trigonometry but not much else

Went to all the football games

Probably signed up to be the mascot

Did just enough to pass his classes

Fell asleep during class a lot

The chatty guy on the bus

Unintentional class clown

Spoke up in class a lot even if he was wrong

College/University

Only got into one college... but it was the one he really wanted!

Didn't do well in core classes but once he got to things he was interested in it was practically straight A's

Considered being a teacher for a long time but decided on detective

Signed up for a philosophy class but dropped it

Super interested in entomology

Joined club basketball (he wasn't super good but he had fun)

Kept the same roommate for all 4 years and still talks to him from time to time

Pretty well known on campus ("oh you mean the big, loud guy with the green jacket?")

Started wearing his iconic jacket at this time

Always wore jeans no matter the weather

Went to a few parties even though it's not his scene (some friends wanted him to go with them)

Received surprise bids from some fraternities but he declined

That's what I have for now! I hope you enjoyed, anon!!! I added Godot because I love him 🙂‍↕️

(feel free to request any other headcanons, I love making them! Other fandoms I'm in include Danganronpa (only played THH), Banana Fish, Haikyuu, Free, and Kakegurui!)

[hlficlibrary]

HL FIC LIBRARY ✤ AUTHOR REC

AO3: juliusschmidt

Tumblr: @juliusschmidt

STATS:

✤ Number of fics: 67

✤ Posting Since: 2013

TOP 5 FICS:

1️⃣ Cameras Flashing {E, 81k}

With his breakout single platinum three times over and his second album still selling out in stores around the world, Louis Tomlinson has made it to the top. However, his position as Pop Heartthrob of the Decade is threatened by the edgier, more artistic Zayn, who happens to be releasing an album a week after Louis’ upcoming third. Louis needs something groundbreaking- scandalous, even- to push past him in the charts. Much to Louis’ dismay, his PR team calls in The Sexpert.

Consulting with PR firm Shady, Lane and Associates pays the bills so that Harry Styles can spend his down time doing what he really loves: poring over data. On weekends and late into the evenings, he researches gender, presentation, and sexual orientation, analysing the longitudinal study that is his father’s life’s work. That is, until his newest client, the popstar with the fascinating secret, drags him off his couch and frighteningly close to the spotlight.

As the album’s release date approaches, will Tomlinson and Styles be able to pull off the most risky PR scheme of the millennium and beat Zayn in sales or will the heat of their feelings for each other compromise everything?

2️⃣ Introduction to Dynamics {E, 29k}

Louis Tomlinson is the outspoken omega in the 'Introduction to Dynamics' course Harry wishes he didn't have to take. He's nearly certain to present as a beta, after all. Things will be simple for him.

3️⃣ I'll Fly Away {E, 122k}

Harry and Louis grew up together in Lake County, Harry with his mom and stepdad in a tiny cottage on Edward’s Lake and Louis in his family’s farmhouse a few minutes down the road. But after high school, Louis stuck around and Harry did not; Harry went to Chicago where he found a boyfriend and couple of college degrees. Six years later, Harry ends up back in Edwardsville for the summer and he and Louis fall into old patterns and discover new ones.

ft. One Direction, the local boyband; Horan’s Bar and Grill; families, most especially children and babies; Officer Liam Payne; many local festivals and fireworks displays; and Anne Cox, PFLAG President.

4️⃣ little wings on my shoes {M, 39k}

You have C Lunch?” Louis asks, peering over at Harry's work. The problem Harry’s just finished is printed neatly, the correct answer circled. Harry’s finger marks the next problem in his book as he copies it onto the page. It doesn’t look like he’s stealing the answers out of the back. Nice. 

He’s dimpled and smart. 

And probably gay.

[The American High School AU in which no one is cool (except Niall) and Harry wears a rainbow bracelet.]

5️⃣ The Worst Fucking Idea {M, 3k}

Liam suggests Harry and Louis do Seven Minutes in Heaven, just like they always used to in high school.

HIDDEN GEM:

💎 the bearded stranger {M, 1k}

Harry wakes up to a bearded stranger in his bed.

[notwiselybuttoowell]

(Original title: Why is Trump targeting the Smithsonian?)

Recent changes by the Trump administration are affecting how US museums and institutions tell the nation's multicultural history to travellers.

In the last few months, US President Donald Trump has threatened to annex Canada; warned that the US will "go as far as we have to go" to seize Greenland; and imposed tariffs on all nations, effectively initiating a global trade war. But while many of Trump's most dramatic "America first" actions are aimed at other countries, his sweeping new policy changes are also affecting how the US tells its own multicultural story.

Several highly touristed landmarks in the US are already facing significant changes.

On 27 March, Trump signed an executive order titled Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, arguing that there has been "a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation's history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth". The order took specific aim at the Smithsonian Institution, whose 21 museums, 21 libraries and many other research and cultural centres comprise the world's largest museum complex and were visited by nearly 17 million people in 2024.

The order threatens to bar congressional funds from institutions that espouse "improper, divisive or anti-American" beliefs. As an example of this, Trump cited programming from the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History & Culture, the only national museum devoted exclusively to documenting African American life, history and culture from slavery to the modern era.

Headquartered on the National Mall in Washington DC, some of the Smithsonian's many museums focus on marginalised communities in the US – including the National Museum of the American Indian,the National Museum of African Art, the National Museum of the American Latino and the embattled National Museum of African American History and Culture. 

Many activists and historians have expressed outrage over the order's broader meaning and argued that it is actually a brazen attempt to do what Trump is denouncing: rewrite US history. This begs the question, which version of the US will visitors find?

"It seems like we're headed in the direction where there's even an attempt to deny that the institution of slavery even existed, or that Jim Crow laws and segregation and racial violence against Black communities, Black families, Black individuals even occurred," said Dr Clarissa Myrick-Harris White, a historian and Africana studies professor at the historically Black Morehouse College in a statement to the Associated Press.

This concern was echoed by the American Historical Association, whose 10,000 members represent the world's largest organisation of professional historians. In a statement co-signed by 31 organisations, the association says the executive order "egregiously misrepresents the work of the Smithsonian Institution", which was established by Congress more than 175 years ago for the "increase and diffusion of knowledge".

"The stories that have shaped our past include not only elements that make us proud but also aspects that make us acutely aware of tragedies in our nation's history," the statement notes. "No person, no nation, is perfect, and we should all – as individuals and as nations – learn from our imperfections." 

Some feel Trump's targeting of the Smithsonian is part of a broader culture war he has been waging against "woke ideology" across many of the nation's federally run institutions. Since returning to office, Trump has worked to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, which oversaw grant funding for numerous Native American, Native Hawaiian, Latinx and African American museums across the country; and Trump's agencies have reportedly issued a list of words to limit or disappear from government websites, like "women", "Black" and "cultural heritage".

Some of these references have already been removed from websites or displays of traveller-friendly landmarks. In February, Stonewall National Monument in New York City, which is run by the US National Park Service, erased references to transgender people. In March, Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia – which is managed by the US Department of the Army – scrubbed its website of any information highlighting the contributions of African American, Hispanic or female servicemembers, including removing stories about veteran and civil rights leader Medgar Evers and the Tuskegee Airmen, the US's first Black Airforce pilots. In nearby Washington DC, a two-block section of 16th Street leading to the White House with the words "Black Lives Matter" was recently repaved in response to threats to cut transportation funding if the plaza was not renamed.

Since the Black Lives Matter protests five years ago, many museums and other cultural institutions have sought to include more diverse perspectives in their exhibitions, a move that often boosted their visitor numbers.

Visitors to the US may now find that even larger museums and organisations have been forced to make sweeping changes to their programming in light of the new policies. The DC-based Art Museum of the Americas cancelled two planned exhibitions highlighting the work of Black and LGBTQ+ artists in March, reportedly in response to the administration's new diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies. Meanwhile, the United States Marine Band, the country's oldest continually active musical association, recently cancelled a concert that was supposed to feature young musicians of colour. Perhaps most famously, in February Trump seized control of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, one of the US's premier arts institutions. Since Trump's takeover, a host of acts have cancelled their planned appearances in protest.

Here are three museums that the staff of Cultural Heritage Partners feel help to tell the story of US history, and could use visitor support.

• Museum of the Cherokee People

(Cherokee, NC) – One of the oldest tribally operated museums in the country, the museum's mission is "to preserve and perpetuate the history, culture and stories of the Cherokee people".

• Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia

(Richmond, VA) – Housed in the historic Leigh Street Armory, the institution highlights the history, culture and contributions of African Americans from Virginia, from civil rights heroes to Nascar's first Black race car driver.

• National Museum of Women in the Arts

(Washington DC) – From the 17th-Century work of Mary Beale to the modern rhinestone-encrusted portraits by Mickalene Thomas, this museum tells little-known stories of women in the arts.

[cottoncandytrafficcones]

10 Cool Jewish Women from Modern Day: Part 5 because Jewish women are awesome and we should be talking about them more

Ava Lalezarzadeh, and actress and writer from Southern California. Co-writer and star of the award winning short In the Garden of Tulips, inspired by her mother's story of living in Iran at the height of the Iran-Iraq War. She has appeared in several off-Broadway productions, and is set to be featured in Sanaz Toossi's English.

Jy Prishkulnik, an actress, director, and storyteller and first generation Americana and MENA Jew. Born in Brooklyn, she has been involved in performing arts since a young age. She earned her BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing and a double minor in Theater and Film from UCLA (summa cum laude). She aims to produce stories about women.

Meorah Ha Me'ir, creative director and religious entrepreneur currently serving as the Executive Vice President of the Jerusalem Great Synagogue, and the founder & creative Director of BARA Worldwide (a nonprofit dedicated to breaking the cultural barriers around Torah-observant Judaism). A Korean-American convert, Ha Me'ir documents her life as Jew in Israel on YouTube and Instagram.

Amy Albertson, A Jewish-Chinese advocate, educator, and influencer from California who has been living in Israel, where she created "The Asian Israeli." Former president Hillel, she is the recipient of the WIZO Warrior for Israel Award and was featured in Hadassah Magazine.

Cindy Seni, born in France to a Sephardic family, she and her family moved to Canada due to rising antisemitism. Founder of her campus Hillel, she has been involved in international relations. After moving to Israel, she began to document her journey as an olah and lone soldier. She currently freelances as an independent content creator, and has been featured on the Netflix show Jewish Matchmaking.

Revital Moses, a Desi Indian-Israeli who was raised in India and made Aliyah. A co-host of IsraelTech.com, videographer, and editor, her blog and YouTube channel follows her as she explores Israel. Her goal is to bridge India and Israel through cultural advocacy, and her videos often feature Jewish Indian, Indian, and Israeli culture.

India Naftali, a journalist based in Tel Aviv who works as a digital content creator for i24NEWS. After graduating from University of Georgia, she moved to Israel. In addition to videos about Israel, she also features stories about being Indian and Jewish.

Lilia Akhaimova, a retired Russian artistic gymnast who won a gold medal in the team event at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Born in Vladivostok, she has resided in Saint Petersburg since 2012. She is a two time World silver medalist and a six time Universiade medalist.

Erica Lyons, a Hong Kong-based children's book author and chair of the Hong Kong Jewish Historical Society, the Hong Kong Delegate to World Jewish Congress, and the founder and director of PJ Library Hong Kong. In addition to writing, she is a speaker.

Francesca Bregoli, an Italian-American professor and researcher. an associate Professor at Queens College and The Graduate Center, her research focuses on early modern Italian and Sephardic Jewish history. She is the author of several books.

[notbecauseofvictories]

one of those pictures is from Marsh's Library, which is a collection assembled in the early 18th century by the Archbishop of Dublin and a former Provost of Trinity College. Subsequent additions have been made as well, and its current claim to fame is that it's where Bram Stoker did his research about Transylvania and vampires.

It's a very cool space, and the staff on duty didn't mind my bothering them about why so many books were marked "opera" (from the Latin, meaning work in collection) and why there was a skull sitting in the reading room (it's a cast of Esther Johnson's, who had an ambiguous relationship with Jonathan Swift).

However, most interesting to me was that…it's just a library. Very little is behind glass, there were none of the blink-y lights or bulky monitors I associate with maintaining a historical collection of books. You can't check out the books, obviously---but then, you never could. I don't even think there was air conditioning.

When I asked about it, the curator said that the library has existed for so long, it's its own ecosystem. The books swell or shrink together as the room warms or cools; the shades are drawn to prevent direct sun damage, but that's about it. Staff basically just monitor moisture levels, and if it it goes the wrong way?

"We open a window," the curator said with a shrug.

[petervintonjr]

"Powerful people don't like educating the people they oppress, because once they're educated, they will take the reins."

We kick off Black History Month 2025 with a look at the unique academic trajectory of John Henrik Clarke. Born on New Year's Day 1915 in Alabama to impoverished sharecropper parents, Clarke would later add his middle name after the playwright Henrik Ibsen. While his family had hoped he would one day also become a farmer, John eventually opted to leave home at the age of eighteen and ventured first to Chicago, and then to New York City --fortuitously timing his arrival with the emergence of the Harlem Renaissance. An autodidact who never actually graduated high school (he was in fact an 8th-grade dropout), Clarke was nevertheless drawn to academia. One of Clarke's earliest tutors was Arthur Schomberg (see Lesson #131 in this series), who encouraged him to study African history. After a short stint in the Army during WWII, Clarke returned to join the Harlem Writers' Workshop and Harlem History Club.

In 1949, at Schomberg's encouragement, the New School for Social Research asked Clarke to teach courses in a newly created African Studies Center, and was during this period that Clarke began to take close notice of the systematic racist suppression and distortion of African history, noting that detractors reliably took a disappointingly Eurocentric view of the subject; arguing that Black Africans somehow had no culture before European colonization... that their culture in fact began with slavery. Going forward Clarke would devote his life to refuting --and redirecting-- this eroded viewpoint. During the years of the Black Power movement, Clarke became an outspoken voice for the place of Africans in world history; challenging the conventional views of academic historians and helping to shift the manner in which African history was studied and taught.

In association with the Black Caucus of the African Studies Coalition, Clarke founded the African Heritage Studies Association in 1968, an organization dedicated, to this day, the exploration and promotion of intergenerational African heritage and legacies. Additionally, Clarke was principally responsible for the creation of the Black and Puerto Rican Studies Department at Hunter College in New York City. He later lectured at Cornell University as a distinguished visiting Professor of African history; he also traveled extensively to Africa and was a regular lecturer at the University of Ghana and also wrote articles for the Ghana Evening News.

Among other roles, he also took on the responsibility of co-editor at the Negro History Bulletin, wrote regular features for the Pittsburgh Courier (a black-owned enterprise), and co-founded the Harlem Quarterly. He also founded the African-American Scholars' Council, the Black Academy of Arts and Letters, and the African Heritage Studies Association. He was a close friend and advisor to both Malcolm X and Kwame Nkrumah, and edited the definitive biography of Marcus Garvey (a name that has begin to trend again on social media, these past few weeks!)

In 1986, the Africana Library at Cornell University of Ithaca, New York, was named in his honor. At the age of 78 Clarke at long last received an honorary doctorate degree from Pacific Western University in Los Angeles. Clarke's numerous works include A New Approach to African History (1967), African People at the Crossroads (1992), African People in World History (1993), the aforementioned Marcus Garvey biography, and significantly The Boy Who Painted Christ Black (1975), which is perhaps his best-known work. He died in New York City in 1998.

[blueiscoool]

AI Helps Decipher First Text of Unreadable Ancient Herculaneum Scroll

With the help of artificial intelligence, a colorful ancient Greek word has emerged from a text damaged in the A.D. 79 eruption of Vesuvius, marking an important milestone in the centuries-long attempt to decipher an unparalleled ancient library assumed to be lost forever.

That word, πορφύραc, referring to purple dye or purple-colored clothes—a color closely associated with royalty and power—comes from one of the famed Herculaneum scrolls discovered by workers digging up the ancient town of Herculaneum near Pompeii in 1752. The roughly 1,800 unearthed papyrus scrolls—believed to contain literary and philosophical works from the first and second centuries B.C.—had been reduced to brittle, charred lumps by the heat and gasses of the eruption. And those carbonized scrolls that workers didn’t throw away more than 250 years ago have largely languished since then in storerooms, written off as unreadable curiosities.

Technological developments over the past two decades have helped researchers get closer to being able to “read” the fragile scrolls. But only the very recent acceleration of artificial intelligence and computing have finally made it possible to begin unlocking their secrets—all without opening them.

Researchers backed by Silicon Valley investors put decoding efforts into overdrive this spring by launching the Vesuvius Challenge.The global competition offers prize money for significant benchmarks in coaxing the long-lost Herculaneum texts from their carbonized husks by applying machine learning techniques to digital images of the scrolls.

The challenge awarded its first installment of the $1 million total prize pot today to two competitors—an American college student and an Egyptian graduate student in Germany—who separately revealed at least 10 letters from a single small area of an intact scroll, including the colorful and complete “πορφύραc.”

With this achievement, scientists say they are now one step closer to being able to read full passages and—someday—entire scrolls that had previously been considered unreadable.

“We knew if we could read just one [scroll], then all the other ones would be available with the same method or some augmented method,” says Brent Seales, a computer scientist at the University of Kentucky who’s been trying to decode the Herculaneum scrolls for the last 20 years and leads the university’s Digital Restoration Initiative. “And this is a big moment because we are now proving not just to ourselves but to the entire global community that the scrolls are readable.”

Reading the Herculaneum scrolls, he says, will help connect us to the past in “astounding” ways.

“These people were humans just like us,” Seales adds. “These were intellectuals. Their thoughts were complex. It says something about what it means to be human to be able to read a thought that came directly from a single person or a group of people so long ago.”

An era ‘shrouded in mystery’

Since the mid-1700s, people have made various attempts at reading some of the less damaged scrolls from Herculaneum. One method involved cutting the scrolls in half and scraping away layers one at a time to see the text inside; another involved slowly unwinding the scrolls with a specially built machine. Though these 18th and 19th century efforts did allow conservators to copy down some of the words inside, they often damaged—or, worse, totally destroyed—many of the scrolls in the process.

Many of the previously opened scrolls revealed Greek philosophical texts, including some by philosophers Epicurus and Philodemus. But, by and large, the contents of the unopened scrolls are unknown—and that’s part of what makes the quest to open them so enticing. On top of that, the Herculaneum scrolls, discovered in a villa likely belonging to Julius Caesar’s father-in-law, represent the largest known surviving library from classical antiquity. Revealing their texts would be a boon to historians and to our collective understanding of the past.

“Some 95 percent of the material from the classical period is lost, so we just don’t have anything, and yet we know it was one of the most important philosophical periods of humanity,” says Seales. “It’s an era shrouded in mystery for which we’ve lost most of the material.”

Between 500 and 600 carbonized scrolls from Herculaneum—kept in museum, university and national collections in England, France and Italy—remain unopened, though the exact figure is hard to estimate because many are fragmented. The scrolls are extremely brittle, which means physically unrolling them is not a viable option. “If you drop one, it would shatter like glass,” Seales explains.

Technological advancements since the early 2000s have helped researchers overcome this hurdle, including using CT scans to make 3D images of ancient scrolls. From there, the Digital Restoration Initiative team developed software that could “virtually unwrap” the 3D images to produce flattened segments. This method enabled them to read previously hidden text from the Ein Gedi scroll, a charred and fragmented scroll from the Middle East dated to the third or fourth century A.D.

When researchers tried to use this method to read the scrolls carbonized by Vesuvius, however, they ran into another roadblock. The ink used on the Ein Gedi scroll contained metal, which meant the letters were visible on the CT scan. The Herculaneum scrolls, by contrast, were written with carbon-based ink, which, to the human eye, makes the symbols indistinguishable from the carbonized papyrus on the CT scans.

Undeterred, researchers wondered if higher-resolution scans of the scrolls produced by a particle accelerator could provide an even more detailed view of the carbonized papyrus. Sure enough, at very high resolutions, the scans revealed visible areas where the ink slightly altered the shape and texture of the papyrus fibers. “The carbon-based ink sort of fills in the holes that are the grid of the papyrus—it coats them and makes them a little thicker,” says Seales.

Seales and his Digital Restoration Initiative colleagues then developed and trained a machine learning model to detect these subtle differences in the carbonized papyrus surfaces. But to take the project any further, they needed human beings to help. That’s where the Vesuvius Challenge comes in. Hoping to harness the collective power of citizen scientists around the world, Seales teamed up with Silicon Valley investors and put his team’s data, code, and methods online for anyone to access. The challenge’s pitch? After 275 years, the puzzle of the Herculaneum scrolls has been reduced to a software problem—one that anyone, anywhere with access to a computer could, in theory, contribute to solving.

In March, the challenge team released thousands of 3D images of two rolled-up scrolls, as well as a machine-learning algorithm trained to detect the invisible letters and symbols written on the layers of carbonized papyrus. They also offered $1 million in prize money to incentivize participants to build upon the AI technology and, ultimately, speed up the deciphering.

Two competitors extracted the new snippet of text separately: Luke Farritor, a 21-year-old undergraduate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Youssef Nader, a 26-year-old doctoral student at Freie Universität Berlin. Because Farritor revealed the text first, he wins $40,000, while Nader wins $10,000. Papyrologists also authenticated their findings.

Still on the line is the $700,000 grand prize, which will go to the first person or team that can reveal at least four separate passages from the two scrolls. Each passage must contain at least 140 characters of continuous text, with no more than 15 percent of the characters missing or illegible, by the end of 2023.

Citizen scientists can find everything they need online, from the history of the scrolls themselves to downloadable data, algorithms, and tutorials. And while the contest is open to anyone, it’s technical work that’s so far mostly attracted computer scientists who are already well-versed in machine learning. Competitors are helping advance the project forward by virtually unwrapping additional sections of scrolls via software and methods developed by Seales; they’re also working to improve the machine learning model by providing it with additional training examples from the newly unwrapped digital segments of papyrus.

‘The scrolls are readable’

The competitors—an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 of them in total, according to Seales—have done their part. In just six months, they’ve made huge strides toward solving this puzzle, including the three full lines of text that Farritor and Nader recently revealed. “We’ve seen 10 or 20 person years of work from these competitors,” says Seales.

So, what’s motivating the contestants to volunteer hours and hours of their time toward the project? The prize money is a big factor (both Nader and Farritor say they want to win the grand prize) but, on top of that, some competitors are simply intrigued by the scrolls themselves. “When things were a bit frustrating and things were not working, I felt like I was unable to give up because I was just too curious—I really need to know what’s going on here,” says Nader.

There’s also the allure of working on a project backed by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and investors. Former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman launched the contest, along with venture capitalist Daniel Gross; other startup founders and investors also chipped in prize money. “There’s kind of this Silicon Valley prestige,” says Farritor, who spent the summer interning at SpaceX.

From here, the machine learning model should continue to improve even more and reveal additional letters until, ideally, researchers will be able to decipher all of the Herculaneum scrolls. These efforts could pave the way for future excavation work at Herculaneum, where some experts believe even more scrolls are still buried.

“Some people might think, ‘What are you going to all that trouble for?’ but I don’t believe that,” says Seales. “This is an amazing period in human history. We’re talking about more works from that period. Yeah, I want more, I want it all.”

By Sarah Kuta.

[talismns]

𝙵𝙸𝙻𝙴:/// 𝗪𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗬 𝗟𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗪𝗔𝗟𝗦𝗛. 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚜: alive.

(  kathryn newton  .  cis woman  .  she/her  )  .    ⸻  wendy walsh  ,  a  twenty-six  year  old  ,  has  survived  another  day  in  red  creek  where  they  have  lived  for  her entire life, until college  .  the  gregarious  is  known  for  being  energetic  and  dramatic  and  is  often  associated  with  smiling at strangers, pink lipstick kisses on a napkin with your phone number, and wild, unruly hair  .  in  a  small  town  where  they  work  as  a volunteer at red creek library,  word  travels  fast  .  it’s  hard  to  keep  a  secret  ,  and  it  looks  like  the  boogeyman  knows  that  [SIRENS BLARING].

𝗕𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗦.

full name. wendy lillian walsh age & birthday. 26 & september 28 astrology. libra sun, leo moon, aquarius rising sexuality. bisexual hometown. red creek, mi current residence. san francisco, ca traits. charming, energetic, sharp, dramatic, apprehensive, sensitive mbti. enfj-a, the protagonist alignment. neutral good temperament. sanguine references. erin quinn ( derry girls ), rachel green ( friends ), sutton brady ( the bold type ), andie anderson ( how to lose a guy in 10 days )

𝗛𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬.

finn’s intro did a good job summarizing some of this stuff but if you want the long-winded version, then you came to the right place <3

wendy and finn are the luckiest mfers on the planet with the parents they got. henry and thea are kind, patient, generous, supportive, and about every other adjective you could think of when you’re trying to describe the world’s most perfect parents. like must be nice 😐 naturally, wendy grows up pretty fearless. she’s not afraid to ask questions, not afraid of laughing too loud — not afraid of being annoying, i mean. you can imagine what happens when she starts school :/

kids are mean! and wendy’s teeth are a little too big for her mouth, and her hair’s a little too big for her head, and she wants the gold star in every lesson every day forever, so she’s an easy target if i’ve ever seen one :/ the bullying is pretty severe, and wendy doesn’t have thick skin the way finn does. it doesn’t slide off of her. for most of her elementary school years, she comes home crying at least once a week. her parents try their best to console her, and even offer to speak to her teachers for her, but wendy knows that it’ll just be more ammunition to be used against her. so she just deals. she can fight her own battles! ( she cried on the grass every day during recess </3 )

middle school is probably the seventh circle of hell, and wendy is no exception. to make things worse, she got braces 😐 all this to say, despite the bullying, and despite how much of it wendy took to heart, she still never really backs down from being herself. she’s still the most eager student in every class, still the first to raise their hand at a question. and you bet your ass people hated her for reminding the teacher about the project presentations everyone was supposed to do. she spent all weekend researching her topic and making models! of course she wants to present! her room can’t have looked like a glitter bomb exploded in there for nothing

and now we get to high school where we really start cooking with gas. it’s a classic summer transformation. wendy hits puberty, her braces come off, she figures out how to manage her curly hair— it’s still curly, it just doesn’t look like a rat’s nest anymore. the teasing stops almost instantaneously. she gets asked on a date for the first time and wendy is so surprised, she says no. after the initial shock though, wendy begins to lean into it. she joins the cheerleading team, and begins to run around with that crowd. it isn’t her only focus though. she’s still her. so she’s in a million extracurriculars on top of juggling her now flourishing social life. her calendar’s a nightmare of sticky notes and color coded events. even her naps are planned. once she said “pencil you in” to finn and he flipped her off

all of it pays off though because she graduates with a near flawless gpa and is accepted into the university of san francisco with a full ride <3 she’s been in sf ever since because a year after graduating, she was offered her dream job with her dream company yay <3

( cancer tw ) wendy comes back to red creek frequently enough, usually at least the holidays and then she tends to try and make a few trips throughout the year but only for a week at a time. with her mom sick though, wendy’s taken a leave of absence at her job to be with her family and her beloved apartment is currently being subleased. so that’s why she’s back womp womp

terrible timing too because even though finn is happy to use the murders as a distraction, wendy is absolutely not like that. she LIKES her boring small town where nothing happens. she wants nothing to happen everywhere forever!!!!

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬.

wendy’s full of a lot of life. she’s charming and bright and eager; one could argue that as a first impression, it can be a bit much. despite how extroverted she is though, she’s not too quick to trust people. she rarely trusts her first impression, having been all too familiar with a kind gesture or a smile being used as bait for something more sinister. she’ll trust her second though, and wendy doesn’t do anything without putting her whole heart into it. still, she’s the type who puts her career first— who lets everything fall to second position in her pursuit for success. she’s not really a #girlboss by any means, it’s just her favorite type of validation.

i think wendy tries as hard as she can to be kind to people and most of the time she does succeed! my sweet girl <3 she does have a bit of a superiority complex though and can think of herself as better than others and sometimes it rly shows :/ but for the most part wendy is never really mean spirited, she can just come off a bit arrogant sometimes. which, can you blame her. she tries harder than anyone else and literally always busts her ass

𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗖𝗔𝗡𝗢𝗡��.

songs. rock with you ( michael jackson ), you're so vain ( carly simon ), vintage ( niki ) movie. notting hill show. sex and the city book. black swan, eve babitz season. summer color. pink

she has a little beagle named blue ☹️ and she brought her with him to red creek. he is not well behaved <3

funny combination of incredibly high standards but also desperate for love. she'll go on a date with anyone who gives her even the slightest bit of validation but it takes her soooo much to actually commit bc she's too picky lmao

very much an article girly 🫶 she has a subscription to the ny times, and i’m not joking she starts her day off with matcha and an article she’s also always sending articles to people, it’s her love language!!!

terrible terrible lightweight. will be under the table two shots in. but also an aggressive drunk who wants to fight everyone even though she's tiny and HAS gotten kicked out of bars for her behavior. also very prone to getting hurt while drinking. because she’s aggressive while drunk

sorority girl 😭 she joined during her second year of college and it’s where she met a lot of her closest college friends. the connections she made in it also helped her secure her current job !!

gets white coat syndrome. she’s still pretty good about getting a check up once a year but she dreads doing it and cannot stand the sight of blood or gore. it makes her queasy

wendy’s all time favorite show is sex and the city!!! she loves the girls, and she always tells people she can’t wait for her thirties when she can be in her satc era. and carrie bradshaw is the one who inspired her to embrace her natural curls <3

𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗞𝗦.

playlist. / pinterest.