#Colonialism is a continual process‚ not a one and done action.

[snapcracklepop-myjoints]

im seeing some people in the notes rightfully point out the horrible treatment of the Inuit in Greenland at the hands of the Danish government, but then stop short of identifying the joke of buying the land of the US as weird. Particularly the line that says "[the US] could be transformed from a vast land mass into a great nation". Like. how does that not immediately strike you all as horrifically colonialist. The entire joke is predicated on colonialism being funny. come on now

[hero-israel]

Can i just say I am so sick and tired of people claiming genocide. I mean with saying Israel is committing genocide on Palestinians right now. Every time I see it I want to scream. This is one of the numerous reasons why the pro palestine movement sucks. They can't just say something is bad, focus on real grievances. Instead they have to exaggerate and claim everything is the worst possible version. They can't just say "palestinian civilians are suffering," or even "excessive civilian deaths." No. they have to claim genocide.

it’s disgusting. they are appropriating terms and watering them down in the process. genocide is a very real horrific problem that is ACTUALLY happening to people right now... and they have to claim that term for their situation because why? to paint israel/israelis as the ultimate evil? to claim this issue is the worst ever and insist everyone else drop everything and only care about this? to add more emphasis on their lies and propaganda of israel being a colonial empire practicing apartheid? intentional flipping because they know Jews have been victim to genocide (we see this more explicitly when they compare Israel in this war to nazis)?

Maybe part of it is that if israel is responsible for genocide, then there’s no need to acknowledge how HAMAS and their actions play a significant role in palestinian suffering? (It can't be that hamas steals aid for civilians, no it must be 100% israel’s fault and only theirs! Also joe Biden I guess! /sarcasm)

No matter what, it’s a cynical ploy and absolutely disgusting.

In some ways it reminds me of how people online have taken terms like “trigger,” “gaslight,” and more, and completely twisted and watered down their meaning, turned it all into a joke ... except obviously much worse, here.

what really grinds me up is seeing how many people are buying into this. especially gen z. I am so done with my generation honestly. im ashamed to be associated with these people. part of me doesn't get it. im not jewish. and i try my best not to be antisemitic, educate myself. it does take work, but also it’s NOT THAT HARD to just NOT post completely unverified stuff, NOT absorb your news from social media, NOT give accusations of genocide without doing any research, bothering to learn about historical context, actually understanding what experts say and explanations why it is not genocide? And most of all actually LISTEN to jewish people when they talk about their own history and heritage?

Im not saying this to say im so great, in fact it's the opposite: what im doing is nothing special and amazing. it's really BASIC. yet SO MANY PEOPLE fail this??? what the fuck????

I understand people cannot educate themselves on literally very single topic. But then if they are ignorant, then they should just SHUT UP and not weigh on something they didn't take the work to understand. That is not hard!!!! NOT casually throwing around accusations of genocide should be the bare minimum and yet here we are.

All of the above. I am sorry you are dealing with this from so many among your cohort, and deeply appreciate your commitment as a non-Jew to resisting the new Christ-killer / stab-in-the-back mythology. It will continue to be difficult. For decades - for CENTURIES - all the wealthiest and most educated people in societies worldwide "knew" the Jews were guilty of these terrible things.

Derek Chauvin was convicted of the second- and third-degree murder of George Floyd. There were people at that time who were upset he hadn't been nailed for first-degree murder - he was obviously guilty! Look what a horrible thing he did! Get him for everything! But there actually really are different standards of evidence for different crimes and if prosecutors had tried to go for that one they would have lost.

I don't doubt for an instant that the IDF has committed multiple war crimes during this entirely preventable, entirely pointless cataclysm. But people are racing past the crimes that are clearly visible and could be supported by evidence because they want - need - HOPE for the very worst one to be true. It is a moral obscenity. And you can tell how much they are enjoying themselves, how fine it feels to be able to invoke genocide against Jews and Uno-reverse that nagging Holocaust card, by how quickly they revert to petty Internet slang to silence counter-arguments: "lol WELL ACTUALLLYYY, so you're JUST ASKING QUESTIONS rite, nice SEALIONING." It is meant to be an inherently, automatically truthful claim, one that the Jew has no right to deny.

The Disputations of our time.

And as we did in the past... we must answer, because not-answering will not help.

[artemis-fowl-incident-report]

Okay this might be a long ask but your thoughts on how Arty made a mistake in book one brought up a topic I’ve thought about before.

okay so in the lost colony, when he’s trying to get No1 back; there was something much simpler than what he could have done and is technically, in all ways of the word, a mistake.

now Artemis, lovely boy he is knew how intelligent Minerva is. She’s never quite on par with Artemis, but she’s close. She lacks the cunning, in my opinion. But Artemis knew how she thought, because he thinks the same way.

Im going to close in on one moment, when he’s hiding behind some rocks. Now in the books he says it’s the most logical spot to hide because it’s the least obvious, but that’s not true.

see, Artemis should have picked the most obvious but unseen spot. It’s not a thing of how it should be done, but if you’re playing a game of hide and seek, you’ll never hide in the first spot the seeker will think of, which is what the seeker knows, so you hide exactly there.

if he had hidden in the other crop of rocks Minerva would have messed up, thinking he was somewhere else entirely, which isn’t a big plot point, but could cause issues if this mistake is continued.

thoughts?

You do have some good points, and its possible to expand further. Its not just that Minerva could have made a mistake, but it would also have affected her confidence, potentially deterring her from making certain choices later on.

We could also see this another way. Did Artemis want her to find him? Did he want to, either consciously or unconsciously, test if she really was as smart as him?

Narratively, what Eoin Colfer does here is very cleaver. He not only tells us, the reader, that Minerva and Artemis think alike. He shows us by explaining Artemis's thought process and having Minerva follow the exact same one back to him. So, did Artemis chose the "least most obvious spot" to hide, or to make Minerva look for him?

Also, on your other point, its not that Minerva lacks Artemis's cunning, she lacks a reason. Artemis very rarely does things purely for his own glory (bar the Eternity Code, in which he was a right idiot). Even at the start of the series, at his most selfish, where he kidnaps Holly, he does so in the name of his father and as a way to prove himself worth of the Fowl name. Minerva's actions are driven from wanting to prove herself... to prove herself. Yes, helping the Demons might have been a part of it, but its nowhere near her main motivation.

[iammisthaven]

Redesigning the Two-Spirit Flag for Pride Month 2025

𖤓 Happy Pride Month Everyone! 𖤓

I wanted to share the designs I have been working on for the Two-Spirit pride flag, as we continue the ongoing fight for LGBTQIA+ rights worldwide and honor those who have lost their lives for the movement. 

𖤓 The Original Flag 𖤓

The most prevalent Two-Spirit pride flag is the traditional pride flag (or the trans or nonbinary flag) with the symbol of a circle, denoting oneness, and two feathers, signifying female and male. This flag design was initially submitted by Tumblr user 2Sanon on December 17th, 2016. 

Although I like the traditional design, I wanted to create additional variations of the Two-Spirit flag so that our community has options as to which flag they’d like to display to celebrate their identities. I belief that the Two-Spirit flag should foster pan‐Indigenous solidarity and reject the colonial labels placed upon Indigenous LGBTQIA+ individuals. With that being said, here they are (with explanations as to my thought process)!

𖤓 Redesigned Two-Spirit Pride Flag 𖤓

For my initial redesign for the Two-Spirit pride flag, I took inspiration from Anishinaabe, Ojibwe, Mapuche, Inuit, and Sámi flags. Although that's an expansive selection, I wanted to gain a comprehensive picture of the colors which have traditionally held meaning to a variety of Indigenous peoples. It’s important to allow Two-Spirited people to attach their own meaning to the stripes and circular symbol, however, here is a guide which explains their symbolic meaning as a Two-Spirited individual to me: 

𖤓 The design contains a red stripe, which traditionally has represented global Indigenous solidarity and a call to action for the MMIW Movement. 

𖤓 Green symbolizes the Earth, healing, endurance, new growth and the sovereign rights of Indigenous peoples to their lands. 

𖤓 White, as in the transgender flag, represents those who are intersex, consider themselves to have a neutral or undefined gender, or are in the process of transitioning. 

𖤓 The lighter blue stripe represents the sky or the universe, as well as a connection with spirituality or the sacred. This specific shade of blue is drawn from the flag of Nunavut, where it represents the North Star. 

𖤓 The darker blue stripe represents knowledge and assurance, as well as the elixir of life, water. 

𖤓 The yellow circle at the center of the flag represents oneness, as the circle does in the traditional Two-Spirit flag, as well as symbolizing the sun or the moon.

A concise history of Two-Spirit identity

For those unfamiliar with the history of the term “Two-Spirit” or “Two-Spirited,” it’s an English translation of the Anishinaabemowin term niizh manidoowag. Queer Indigenous activists in Canada and the United States created the official term for alternative indigenous gender roles and identities during Third Annual Native American, First Nations, Gay & Lesbian American conference held in Manitoba in 1990. Two-Spirit identity facilitates the reclamation of indigeneity from Western discourse and combats against the settler-colonial imposition of cis-heteronormativity on indigenous peoples.

For those interested in learning more about the history of Two-Spirit identity, check out these educational articles:

More flag designs!

A variation of my redesign without the circular symbol: 

While researching for this project, I came across this brilliant piece of artwork done for the 10th Annual International Two-Spirit Gathering held in 1997 in Onamia Minnesota. The painting is by George Littlechild and is currently held in the Oakland Museum of California. 

The following alternative redesigns for a Two-Spirit pride flag are inspired by Littlechild’s painting. The colors are drawn from his piece, but retain the same meanings for me as in the initial redesign. 

Thank you for reading this post!

I hope that everyone has a safe pride month. Here are some additional video resources on Two-Spirit identity for those who would like to learn more about how to protect and uplift the community: 

Links to the flags which inspired my designs: 

[athetos]

Finished Babel by R F Kuang and wowwwwww what a fucking book. I have a lot of thoughts and I’m not sure how to properly translate them from my brain to words (haha). The magic system was really interesting, and I unexpectedly fell in love with the main students. I really felt like I was at Oxford myself, which is kind of wild. Of course the real meat of the book was its discussion of colonialism which was thought-provoking and enlightening; despite reading many fantasy novels centered around anti-colonialism, and considering myself fairly knowledgeable about practices of decolonization, it never felt like she was regurgitating things I’ve already heard stated a dozen times elsewhere, and the context changed a lot of things. It’s really impressive how historically accurate the novel is, even if she admits to taking some minor concessions with University College itself. I learned a lot, which I of course researched to make sure it was accurate, and it was!

The core of the book comes down to its title: “the necessity of violence.” It tackles whether revolutions have to be violent to succeed, and, well, you can probably infer from there how things play out. Multiple characters have different views on this, and they’re all pretty sympathetic; they also change over time. It also shows the utter contradictions in the beliefs of colonizers, who make up justifications for their bigotry; they only care about money and power. Everything else is just a pretense. There are other (white) characters who claim to be sympathetic to their cause, but continue to be completely unaware of their privileges and benefit so much from a system of others suffering that they view it was unchangeable and say things like “hey, you’re the few lucky ones, don’t waste the opportunities you have that others don’t, be grateful.” This is of course still a mindset people have today, and we use social media after all, we all know about performative activism.

Around 2/3rds of the way through the book, things go dramatically sideways for the protagonists, reaching the point where things are never going to be the same again. It’s here we see how powerful the bonds the 4 students have forged are, for better or worse. I was on the edge of my seat and filled with anxiety, worrying about their fates until the final pages. There’s some heartbreaking moments that had me in disbelief - did that really happen? The ending of the book is for sure going to be controversial, for a couple of reasons. I won’t spoil anything, but it was very heavy for me, I was satisfied. Of course, I was saddened that there are so many ramifications of their actions that we don’t see. But colonialism is a machine oiled by blood, and there’s no way to stop it so suddenly. Decolonization is not something that happens overnight; it is something that takes far longer than any of our lifetimes. The idea that such a process can happen quickly and succinctly is actually dangerous, because it can leave people jaded when it doesn’t happen, and for them to abandon the cause after a single victory. I personally don’t think there was any other way it could end, and I was pleased to see that one character in particular was able to have a hopeful ending. Theres even a suggestion that this story isn’t over, and that there may be more works set in this universe in the future, and I will be first in line to get my hands on them if they come to fruition.

There’s a lot to debate about this novel, and if the paths that the students took ended up being the right ones. Could they have done anything differently? Is there a way for nonviolence to bring about revolution at all? I don’t think so. As Kuang states at one point, the only language that colonizers know is violence. And I think this is something that many people are being awoken too today, as we near a full 12 months since the “start” of the Palestinian genocide (I say “start” because this genocide has been in the making since the very founding of Israel).

It can often feel like an insurmountable battle, both in real life and in books. But no matter how impossible it seems, or how badly the odds are stacked against the characters, there is a sense of hope pervading it, much like in Seth Dickinson’s Masquerade series. Even as we know this is just the beginning of a long battle, it feels like we will triumph, one day. And after reading this, despite everything, I feel more hopeful that our efforts in reality will eventually succeed. We must not become jaded or look the other way. There is a way for us to prevail - but they will only understand us if we speak their language.

[junidruiddosit]

Dennis “Dion” Newmann Written by Lerüth of the Post-THeN

Writer’s Note: The Post-THeN condemns the existence and inhumane practices of sanitariums and mental asylums and has pledged to take all viable legal actions against the establishment and continuation of any such institutes that it finds.

For any readers struggling with ill mental health, please contact the Dumebian Mental Health Helpline at 13DU-9595-1208 or Eoan Mental Health Helpline at 17EC-8767-0504 for professional and confidential support and information on how to access long-term mental health services.

Born in 1900 CE, Dr Rhys Fulwith was nothing short of a one-man renaissance for the treatment of individuals ill mental health. He made full use of the Fulwith fortune that came with his father’s death in 1923 CE (Natrĕlon Death Registry, August 15th, 1923 CE). He made staggering efforts to extract the few morally just workers and sanitariums in Therӓff to establish an effective mental healthcare system that endured billions of years of use and the end of the human race on Dumeb. He was also a pioneer in the philosophy that is still applied to individuals eligible for assisted death services.

Rhys* met Dion once in the last recorded September of Dion’s life, and in Rhys’ diary entry respective of that time, Rhys expressed deep disturbance and sadness at seeing what Dion had done to countless SWDI “clients”**. Rhys’ next visit to the SWDI was to relocate all clients to rehabilitation homes staffed by trained psychologists purposed to help said clients process the trauma of SWDI and to integrate back into society. He proceeded to completely renovate the SWDI facility, with “the key factor of the clients’ wellbeing in mind” (Dr Rhys Fulwith’s 1929-1933 Diary, Entry No.1,467, January 7th). He called the reinstated institution Fulwith’s Hearth. He slowly gained ownership of every sanitarium, mental asylum and mental institute around the globe, and renovated both the buildings and culture that surrounded ill mental health at the time. His mental health organisation in its original form was called The Hearth.

Rhys eventually established the Harbingers of Choice (later the Harbingers of Choice Family as the organisation branched out to colonies on other planetary bodies), a philanthropic organisation purposed to advocate for mental health and equality. However, there was still a necessity in exploring the phenomenon of Aural Scalding. Rhys spent philanthropy grant after grant on building a safe environment for individuals with Aural Scalding to explore what impact contracting Aural Scalding has on an individuals’ mental health alongside the impacts of the social environment around Aural Scalding. Kelenn Brooks, a young physician at the time, worked alongside Rhys from 1956 until Rhys’ untimely death in 1962. Mx. Brooks explored the physical changes that individuals infected with Aural Scalding undergo, which is an area of study that continues within the Post-THeN.

In the 6 years of partnership, Rhys and Mx. Brooks built a committee and framework designed to continue far beyond their lifespans. That much they achieved, and to a great extent - generation upon generation of the committee has evolved into today’s Harbingers of Choice Family, billions of years after the death of the last Dumebian human. This committee has countless confidential records of Aural Scalding typically only available to medical practitioners that serve people with Aural Scalding and the clients themselves. Infected individuals continue to be found at random amongst biological civilisations, Europan Human Europa and Dumeb Colonies included.

Aural Scalding is still known as a chronic, life-changing and sometimes terminal condition that has no known cause.

The SWDI Mental Health Records were legally seized from SWDI in 1932 CE by The Dumebian Harbingers of Choice and digitised in 14 TE by The Europan Colonist Harbingers of Choice.

Overview Written by: 3,000,374,032 TE by:

Lerüth of the Post-THeN

*In Dr Rhys Fulwith’s will, he asks to be referred to as a friend by members and partners of The Harbingers of Choice Family. We the Post-THeN respect his wishes and thank him posthumously for his achievements in life and the millennia of positive change he started.

**The Post-THeN shares ownership of all known diaries and diary entries by Dr Rhys Fulwith with The Harbingers of Choice Family. Some entries include confidential information that requires moderation before being referenced

[exploring-oneleft]

Sources

Adamek, Rachel. “Korean ‘Comfort Women’ of WWII: Cultural Trauma and Formation of National Identity (2021).” International Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses 2 (2021). https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=intl-std-theses

Rachel Adamek’s article is centered in the observation of the cultural trauma South Korean women were, and are, afflicted with. With an emphasis on solely female participants, the article conveys how comfort women’s experiences and traumas have transcended through generations, continuing through the current day. It particularly inspects how the topic impacts the perception young Korean women have towards Japan, and how the country’s actions might have held a heavy hand in South Korea’s national perspective to Japan over the years. When applying a closer look to One Left, Adamek’s article provides a helpful reference on the South Korean population’s opinion, and adds cultural context to better understand the societal and personal impacts of comfort women.

Cho, MiJin. “Victim Silencing, Sexual Violence Culture, Social Healing: Inherited Collective Trauma of World War II South Korean Military ‘Comfort Women.’” VCU Scholars Compass, 2020. https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=pkp

The subject of comfort women often focuses on the critiques of the Japanese government’s lack of acknowledgement, but Cho provides another vital angle. This article focuses on the South Korean government’s timid stance towards possible reconciliation, and the letdown it has given to women’s rights activist groups. It critiques the process of dealing with said issue from the end of World War II up to modern day and suggests a new way to approach rectification attempts via a victim-centric mindset. Over the years there has been a consistent silencing of comfort women who have bravely tried to seek justice, and when dissecting a book on such a dark topic the understanding of what is being done today can provide a full circle level of understanding as well as a reminder that, although a horrific historical event, comfort women’s human rights are still being fought for.  

Lee, Hye-Ryoung, Jamie Chang. “From the Front Line of Contemporary South Korean Feminist Criticism.” Azalea: Journal of Korean Literature & Culture 14 (2021): 215-41. https://doi.org/10.1353/aza.2021.0014 . 

This article touches on the #MeToo movement and its significance on feminism in Korea in modern day as well as how it affected modern feminist writers. It even goes on to give criticism to some novels including One Left. It emphasizes the worry that the novel focuses too much on alienating comfort women of other nationalities, specifically Japanese comfort women. 

Min, Pyong Gap. “Korean ‘Comfort Women’ The Intersection of Colonial Power, Gender, and Class.” Gender & Society 17, no. 6 (2003): 938-57. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243203257584.

This article analyzes the factors that went into the suffering of the Korean victims of sexual slavery during the period of Japanese colonialism in Korea. Instead of just being either colonization or gender hierarchy as the main issue it argues the intersectionality of those things plus class is the only way to fully explain their suffering. This article can help reinforce the themes present in One Left as well as provide more insight into what the victims went through.  

Nicolini, Emma. “A Retrospective of “Comfort Culture:” a Paradigmatic Study on the Creation of the “Comfort Women” System Constructed by the Imperial Japanese Military From 1932 to 1945." (2024).

This article talks about the creation of comfort women and the institution’s lasting impact. There is a “comfort culture” in Japan that was created by the idea of comfort women. There are also effects stemming from early modern Japan such as nationalism, racism, and imperialism. The end of World War II did not end the sexual exploitation of women in Japan. It created a lasting astigmatism around sex workers, going as far as to call the comfort women “sex workers” instead of sex slaves.

Oh, Bonnie BC. "The Japanese Imperial System and the Korean “Comfort Women” of World War II." In Legacies of the comfort women of World War II, pp. 3-25. Routledge, 2015.

This book talks about how there were hundreds of thousands of women forced into sex slavery by the Japanese imperial army. About 80 percent of these comfort women were Korean. These “comfort women” were stationed in “comfort stations” throughout Asia and the South Pacific. Despite being subjected to verbal and physical abuse, their stories were not widely known until recently. The UN and other womens’ rights groups around the world have pushed for apologies and reparations from Japan, but they have been ignored.

Park, Jee Hoon, KyongWeon Lee, Michelle D. Hand, Keith A. Anderson, and Tess E. Schleitwiler. “Korean Survivors of the Japanese ‘Comfort Women’ System: Understanding the Lifelong Consequences of Early Life Trauma.” Journal of Gerontological Social Work 59, no. 4 (2016): 332–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2016.1204642.  

This research article shows the results of interviews done with comfort women that are now older and does thematic analysis to gain an understanding of the trauma that has impacted their lives ever since. It explains how it has affected their family relations, their inability to marry and conceive children as well as their overall mental and physical wellbeing. Considering One Left is a story about a woman after she came back to Korea from being a comfort woman and the hardships she faces; this article can give an understanding of how accurate the portrayal is.   

Soh, Chunghee Sarah. "The Korean “comfort women” tragedy as structural violence." In Rethinking Historical Injustice and Reconciliation in Northeast Asia, pp. 33-51. Routledge, 2007.

This study focuses on South Korean historical struggles, with special attention given to comfort women and girls. These women are represented now as military sex slaves to imperial Japan. “Comfort women” is a translation of the Japanese word that refers to young women and girls that were forced into sex slavery for the Japanese troops. It is estimated that the amount of girls that were taken into slavery was between 100,000 and 200,000.

Kim Soom, One Left. Translated by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton. University of Washington Press, 2020.

This is the novel we are discussing.

Ushiyama, Rin. “‘Comfort Women Must Fall’? Japanese Governmental Responses to ‘Comfort Women’ Statues around the World.” Memory Studies 14, no. 6 (December 9, 2021): 1255–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980211054308.

When discussing a book focused on comfort women, the understanding of both countries’, specifically governments’, opinions and actions is crucial to conceptualizing the situation as a whole. Ushiyama’s article discusses the resistance Japan’s government has shown towards statues built in the name of honoring and remembering comfort women’s experiences. Through this example, Japan’s theme of craving ignorance is highlighted with their frustration towards comfort women becoming a worldwide women’s rights topic, and through their wish to deconstruct these monuments that are creating international interest and unrest towards their previous atrocities.  

Wininger, Jessica. “Broken Bodies, Shattered Dreams: The Aftermath of a Life as a Korean "Comfort Woman.”” The Gettysburg Historical Journal 2, no. 5 (2003). https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1033&context=ghj

This article provides insight into the lasting impacts of the trauma comfort women experienced, and helps to express not just the gravity, but also the importance, of this book’s topic. Wininger delves into the Japanese government’s continuous mishandling of rectifying their past actions, which adds support for how comfort women’s trauma is still an ongoing, life altering issue that needs to be healed. 

Yoon, Bang-Soon L. "Imperial Japan's Comfort Women from Korea: History & Politics of Silence-Breaking." Journal of Northeast Asian History 7, no. 1 (2010): 5-39.

This study inquires about two questions. Why was there such a long silence about Korean comfort women from the Korean government, and what changes were made internally to allow the silence to be broken in 1991, and allow for the comfort women movement to be created? Yoon talks about three main arguments. The first is that nobody acted as agents of interest to be the one to speak out in support of the victims’ rights and welfare. The second is that the orientation of women’s movements in South Korea lacked women-centered political activism. Thirdly, the democratization of the political climate as well as the impact of global feminism is what allowed the movement to be heard.

Yoon, Heo, Jamie Chang. “The Story "Our Grandmothers" Could Not Tell: Representation of the Comfort Women and the Physical Manifestation of Memory.” Azalea: Journal of Korean Literature & Culture 14 (2021): 311-34. https://doi.org/10.1353/aza.2021.0018.  

This article explains the problematic ways that comfort women were represented in media and other forms throughout the colonization by Japan up to modern day. It goes into detail about the sexualization that they faced and how finally the way they were represented needed to be reassessed. It mentions multiple important moments in time where representation of comfort women changed. One Left is meant to show the pain of life after coming back to Korea after being a comfort woman so I think this source could give historical context to the story.

Additional Sources:

“Kim Sum.” Wikipedia, October 13, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Sum. 

Due to the popularity of One Left growing with the recent English translation release, there are very few resources discussing author Kim Soom’s life and history. Wikipedia is not a first-choice-source, but with the lack of in-depth biographical information on Kim, it was the main option. The information that is available on other websites matches Wikipedia’s information, for example birth year and location. Given that verification, it felt safe to use Wikipedia as a source in this instance.

Amnesty International. 2015. “70 Years On, the ‘Comfort Women’ Speaking out so the Truth Won’t Die.” Amnesty International. September 2, 2015. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2015/09/70-years-on-comfort-women-speak-out-so-the-truth-wont-die/.

‌This article provides information on comfort women in Korea and the Philippines. It describes the author meeting these comfort women, who are well into their elderly years, and listening to their stories from the times they were enslaved as comfort women.

Park, Han-sol. “[Interview] Author of ‘comfort Women’ Series Urges World to Hear Their Testimonies.” The Korea Times, March 7, 2021. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/culture/2021/03/135_305026.html. 

A long and detailed interview, offering insight into Kim Soom’s thought process and opinions as an author.

BBC News. 2019. “North Korean Women ‘Forced into Sex Slavery’ in China - Report,” May 20, 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48340210.

‌This report describes how North Korean women and girls are taken or coerced into sex slavery in China.

BBC News. “North Korea: Sexual Abuse of Women ‘Common’ - Report.” 2018, November 1, 2018. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46053342.

‌BBC reports how the sexual abuse against women is commonplace in North Korean society, perpetrated mostly by men in high-ranking positions.

Human Rights Watch. 2018. “‘You Cry at Night but Don’t Know Why.’” Human Rights Watch. November 1, 2018. https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/11/02/you-cry-night-dont-know-why/sexual-violence-against-women-north-korea.

‌This research displays how common the aforementioned sexual abuse is in North Korea.

Mathilde Penda. 2023. “The Concept of Rape in South Korea - Institut Du Genre En Géopolitique.” Translated by Zoé Llacer. Institut Du Genre En Géopolitique. October 30, 2023. https://igg-geo.org/en/2023/10/30/the-concept-of-rape-in-south-korea/.

This article displays the shortcomings of South Korean policies in terms of defining things like rape and the subsequent poor treatment of survivors who report their assaulters.

[phynewrites]

🍥 Writing Question Tag🍥

Thank you @janec23 (here) for tagging me! I always find these questions fun to play with and endearing.

What is your absolute all-time favourite ideas you’ve ever had?

Spontaneous ideas are the best. Actually, most of my wips came from spontaneous ideas that just randomly popped in my head. I often get them in flashes of inspiration while watching/reading something else, that's why it's really important I have a notebook with me so I can jot it down while its still there.

Is there a question you’ve been asked in the past that really stands out to you, and you still think about sometimes?

I'm afraid there isn't any HAHAHA I think there were but nothing that I still think about it right now.

What is your favourite part of being a writer? What parts could you take or leave?

My favorite part of being a writer is having the freedom to create anything you want. Fuck all the filters, I'm writing the story that I want to tell. It's also because I get joy from the act of creation itself; that one day I will look back and say "I made this? That's so cool!" I guess the opposite side of that is -- just on my side -- I have to find a perfect time that it completely uninterrupted because I don't like writing for short periods of time. I want to write continuously, so there has to be a perfect uninterrupted time for it.

What is your greatest motivation to write/create?

Discipline and seeing it to completion. it's really the process of creating something and seeing it through to completion, being immersed in the world, experience it in the eyes of my OCs, and seeing them suffer and triumph. There is a certain euphoria in typing in every word and realizing that their journey unfold with every clack of the keyboard.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever read or been given as a writer?

Non-verbatim, but it goes along like "Write your story, because there is no one else who could have done otherwise." Honestly, this is also what keeps me going in writing because it tells me my story is worth telling. I also cannot stress how I, as a consumer of media, have found stories from small creators and loved them, despite being unpopular. It's a testament how somewhere out there, our stories are made for someone; maybe in another time or place that we don't know, but there will be someone who will be appreciative of it.

What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing?

Don't be overly conscious of the first draft. I had this mindset that it should be okay so that I don't have to go over it, but no. At the end of the day, we will really have to go over it. Editing is part of writing, unfortunately.

What is your favourite story you’ve written to completion? Link it if you’d like and can!

Right now, I only have one complete story. It's a play script that is written in both Filipino and English called Karikultura. It's a play that incorporates symbolism and is a critic to the effects of colonialism. You can read more about it here and if you're interested, you can read the manuscript here (I update every week because I double edit each act before each act).

What is your favourite out-of-the-box quote?

I'm gonna define "out-of-box quote" as a "saying or quotation that pertains to taking action outside of the box." If it's a specific quotation, I don't really have one. Generally, I'm a person who is very open to anything, if that counts as "out of the box;" So, there is no specific quote that I relate too since it's kind

Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so, and how do you personally feel about their ideals?

ACTUALLLYYYY I am at the part in my wip (In Death, Forever) where Mary and Connor are fighting about this, so I would say its Connor because he's too altruistic (That is literally his character flaw too) Especially too since he is part of the police and part of him believes his comrades are all good or rather ignores if that fact if they aren't , which is something I don't believe. In my country alone, there are some police officers who were ordered by the ex-president to kill drug addicts without due process of law, so there's that. But hey! I like incorporating various worldviews in my characters, I think it important to understand where they are coming from too, and this is one way I do it.

Gently tagging @the-golden-comet @bootstrapparadoxed @sageswriting @sm-writes-chaos @flurrysahin

If you, when you first started writing, met you now, what would younger you think?

I think young me will be really proud. She would not have known that we would have a completed play then, at least four more wips outlined and progressed, and a community of writers that she will have solace with. She would not have known that we made it this far. In the Filipino saying, "Malayo pa, pero malayo na" (Far from our destination, yet far enough from where we started).

Here is an empty template:

1. What is your absolute all-time favourite ideas you’ve ever had?

2. Is there a question you’ve been asked in the past that really stands out to you, and you still think about sometimes?

3. What is your favourite part of being a writer? What parts could you take or leave?

4. What is your greatest motivation to write/create?

5. What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever read or been given as a writer?

6. What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing?

7. What is your favourite story you’ve written to completion? Link it if you’d like and can!

8. What is your favourite out-of-the-box quote?

9. Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so, and how do you personally feel about their ideals?

10. If you, when you first started writing, met you now, what would younger you think?

[mythictold]

well, that didn't go as expected. - chakotay @ janeway

out of all the things that have gone 'not as expected' in the delta quadrant - this is what's blindsided her the most. perhaps it shouldn't have, but it's certainly a sharp slap in the face to the past seven or so years. standing at one of the windows of her ready room, kathryn stares at a blessed sight - earth, it's vibrant blue beauty having very much been missed. she can see small pinpoints around, ships moving in and out of orbit or waiting for clearance to enter space dock. it's a flurry of activity, half caused by their return and half business as usual in the sol system.

starfleet has barely let her process the fact that they're home.

"i knew there'd be testimony - but i was hoping they'd be willing to be a bit damned flexible." she mutters, folding her arms across her chest. a court martial, issued to her - starfleet has been combing her logs from the past seven years before they'll be allowed to land.

there are teams on board already going through ship, the modifications that have kept them alive the past few years. she already knows it'll be dismantled when they finally get clearance to land - which won't be for another few days at least, she estimates. starfleet is being cautious and it's at a boiling point. people on voyager want to see their families beyond the screen of a video message. they're all antsy to be back on earth - kathryn included, though now she suddenly feels like she ought to dread it.

"i'll just be honest." she continues, gesturing vaguely at the air. "the decisions i made were for our survival, that's all. are there things i shouldn't have done? yes. a great many things. but i won't regret them. not when it's led us here." she grabs her empty mug of coffee and crosses to the replicator to refill it (holy hell will it be a blessing to have actual, real coffee again).

she massages her temple in anticipation of a beaurocracy headache. it's probably a formality, give her a chance to explain some of the more complicated logs - especially around the borg, she assumes. but kathryn has never quite liked this side of starfleet.

"you - the former maquis, they'll probably drag my ass across the carpet for it, but i don't want you or be'lanna or any of the others to worry. i'll defend you just as i have in my logs." besides, how can admiral paris put the mother of his new grandchild in a penal colony? and how can starfleet neglect the contributions chakotay and the others have made to their survival? voyager never would have made it. frankly starfleet should be bowing down and licking their boots.

"i'm telling you, as a friend." kathryn adds after another moment, lifting her head to him. "don't tell the others - they'll only worry. they deserve to enjoy the celebrations, to look forward to the homecoming. not worry they're about to lose their jobs and ranks and thrown in a jail cell."

she doesn't expect starfleet to do much - after all, voyager has done the unthinkable and it's crew are an asset. if starfleet does even so much as consider demoting them for actions taken when they were fighting for survival - well, she imagines the press and the thousands of others heralding their return will put up one mighty stink. and kathryn is willing to let them.

"now we just have to wait for them to decide the pomp and circumstance and i'm sure they'll put on a good face, throw some insane party and we'll have to pretend we're absolutely delighted to go." she mutters, rolling her eyes as she lifts her mug to her lips. "before reality comes crashing down around our ears." kathryn murmurs, quieter. her fingers curl around the warm mug of coffee, lips pulling into a soft frown. "as much as i've looked forward to this day - it's going to feel strange. not waking up to the hum of the ship. not seeing everyone all the time. i love this team with everything in me and faced with the fact that it's over . . . i already miss it."

@stcrdate

[acepetronia]

Forgive me, I haven’t done any sort of writing in a while but here’s a short blurb that came to me from the Emperor himself.

———

The Warmaster held a look of silent rage as he listened to Torgaddon. The celebration of bringing another lost colony of humanity to the Imperium had turned sour when the table was set on fire during the grand feast, which he explained he had not intended to do. He was only trying to show one of the delegates an astartes fine skills of dexterity with some of the candles set around the venue. The captain of the 2nd company kept a jovial persona as he went further on to explain his actions, much to his Mournival brothers’ warnings not to. They stood at the side with pained expressions as Torgaddon continued to quip and add wit to his report.

Horus shook his head, raising a hand to silence Torgaddon. “I’ve heard enough of your excuses Tarik.”

There was a flash of fear that swept down Torgaddon’s face before he steeled himself, holding his breath. The Mournival watched as their genesire turned his back on them to approach his desk, his figure but a small shadow against the newly complied world behind the window of his office. “Do you know how delicate the process had been to get this world under full compliance?”

It was a rhetorical question, but before any one of them could speak, Horus was quick to answer. “Our equerry have done all they could to make sure the delegates of 63-20 could be reason with, they share our views about the Imperium and are willing to cooperate under my father’s rule. We only managed a peaceful negotiation because they were willing to share pleasantries us. Our legion stands as a forefront of the Imperium, Captain. Do you know what that title entails?”

“Yes sire,” Torgaddon said.

“And did you show what that title truly means for the rest of the legion?”

Torgaddon struggled to find the words. There was an odd, tight feeling in his throat as he tried to speak again. “I-”

“Did your actions tonight bring our legion pride, Captain?”

“N-no my lord.” His voice shook as he avoided looking at his father, turning his gaze over to the rest of the Mournival, each of them holding expressions ranging from shame to anger.

There was a moment of silence that fell over the room, and no one from the Mournival dared to break the tension, feeling imminent fury from their father rising from the fur of his pelt draped over his shoulders.

“You have brought shame down on our legion, Tarik,” Horus shook his head before turning around to face his sons. “and the rest of you have also brought disappointment in me.” His eyes fell over to the rest of the Mournival, their faces struck with shame.

“But my lord, they had nothing to do with what I have done.” Tarik tries to interject, only for Horus to slam his fist down on his desk, splintering the wood.

“Don’t try to excuse your brothers for their inactions. You all should know better than to let each other fall short of what it means to be AN ASTARTES!” Horus voice startled them. They all stood frozen in place, as they watched their father turn his back on them yet again, bringing a hand up to his rub his temples in exasperation.

“Get out of my sight, all of you.”

The Mournival complied, bowing out of fear and respect before leaving his quarters. As Torgaddon slips out last from the room, Abaddon comes up behind him to send a slap behind his head. “This is all your fault!”

“Ezekyle stop!” Loken stops him from continuing his assault as Aximand helps Torgaddon from his stumble, holding a hand over his bleeding his scalp. “He’s had enough, he’s learnt his lesson!”

“He needs to know his place within our legion!” Abaddon shoves Loken aside. “There’s no room for someone like him who can’t even take anything seriously and treats everything like a joke!” He approaches Torgaddon, but is stopped by Aximand putting himself between them.

“We haven’t even left our lord’s presence and yet you’re already dealing out punishments here? Please think this through Ezekyle.” Aximand pushes him back, giving Loken the opportunity to slip by them and guide Torgaddon away from more of their bickering. Aximand is more than capable of soothing the First Captain’s wrath.

Loken and Torgaddon walked far enough that they couldn’t hear any more of their brother’s bickering. By then the cut on Torgaddon’s head had healed, leaving just a trail of blood that soaked through the neck of his body suit. Still he looked down on the floor, avoiding Loken’s gaze.

“I’m sorry.” Torgaddon spoke softly that Loken barely heard it.

“It’s alright, what’s done is done. You know better now than to act before thinking things through.”

“I know, I don’t think I can be around Ezekyle for a while though.”

“He’ll come around, eventually.”

Torgaddon hummed in agreement. “The last time the Warmaster had yelled at any one of us like that was when Ezekyle contested the negotiations with the Interex.”

“I remember that, you had to get him back to apologize.” Loken gives a slight chuckle to lift his spirits, but Torgaddon’s somber expression didn’t change.

“He threw his cup aside and shattered it. Now he just punched his desk in half when I tried to say something.”

“Perhaps there’s a lot of things that are weighing down in his mind.”

“You really think that?” Torgaddon gives a small huff, hiding a bit of his amusement.

Loken just shrugs, putting a hand over Torgaddon’s pauldron as they continued walking. “I’d react the same way if one of my men set fire to the dinner table.”

They both chuckled as they walked down a corridor, lit only by stars shining through the windows of the ship.

Tarik getting shouted at by horus and looking at the rest of the mournival like this almost sent me to the great beyond earlier. So I had to doodle it.

[kneedeepincynade]

The 25th of April has come and gone with all itscontradictions, and my mind can not but wonder what is left of those glorious days that many years ago? Very little or none at all. We liberated our homeland with such patriotic impetus that it is difficult to believe we are the same people in the same country of those heroes of old. Today, we have betrayed everything the liberation was for. We have allowed our nation to become occupier again, and we have allowed the fascists to rule again and intimidate again, we swapped the German occupier for the American one, we swapped the PNF for a fake democracy that serve the serve purposes of the old PNF, we change Dvce every 4 years but much like the first one, this rotating tyrants still do the work of the occupier, the same repression with different methods but with the same aims. But was it all for naught? Were all those deaths wasted? Was all that heroism, that courage, those sacrifices wasted? No, they were not! They did not die in vain! The partisans are an example for us. They have shown us that we can resist, that we can defy the occupation, that we can free ourselves! We live in bitter times, it's true, but we have the gift of courage and daring of our ancestors, the flame of liberation forever lit in our hearts waiting to become a fire that will burn this sistem and this occupation to the ground. While our colonial government, ever in service of Washington, spits on the legacy of liberation and our constitution, while this installed government aid genocide and imperialism abroad, while our occupying government send weapons and ammunitions to the fascist junta in kiev and to the criminals of Israel, we the people resist and will continue to resist!

But when was our liberation betrayed? When did we lose those ideals? What was the moment that we lost everything? It's difficult to answer, to pinpoint a moment in history or to put the blame on a single man or a single date. It was a process made of many dates and of many traitors, some share more blames than others, some didn't know they were betraying all they fought for, and some never fought for what they betrayed. However, if we want to try and find a beginning, I dare say that it was all when the fascists were pardoned, when what was supposed to be the Italian Norimberga didn't happen, when it was decided we didn't need de fascistization, thar was probably the moment it all fell apart. On that point onwards, all hope for independence was lost. We had become another pawn of American imperialism, another cushion state with the est, another bulwark of anticommunism, and of European submission.

But what has to be done now? What can we do to uphold the values of our resistance? What can we do to restore what was lost? It is a long road and it's impossible to have all the answers. But we can say where to start. We must oppose the occupation government in all it does. No lie must go uncontested. No action taken by the government left unanswered. No oppression left uncontested. There must be unity of purpose and action, not an easy task as it was proven time and time again by the behavior of many a reality but we do not have the right to give up, it is not our right to abbandon the fight for a new liberation and a new resistance!. We must form a unified vector of attack, a unified doctrine and a unified idea.

But most importantly, we must make sure that the forces of reaction do not appropriate the memory of the resistance. For decades, those who, by their actions, spit on the resistance and what it meant for our nation, appropriate the resistance and its memory, decades of allowing this have turned the 25th of April into a commemoration devoided of its meaning and of its original spirit. It as become a farce, a commemoration of antifascim by those who spit on antifascism in their daily life, a commemoration of resistance by those who commit the oppression that must be resisted.

Il 25 aprile è andato e venuto con le sue mille contraddizioni e la mia mente non può fare a meno di chiedersi cosa è rimasto di quei giorni gloriosi di tanti anni fa? Molto poco o niente. Abbiamo liberato la nostra patria con un tale slancio patriottico che è difficile credere che siamo lo stesso popolo, nello stesso paese, di quegli eroi del passato. Oggi abbiamo tradito tutto lo scopo della liberazione. Abbiamo permesso alla nostra nazione di diventare di nuovo occupata, e abbiamo permesso ai fascisti di governare di nuovo e di intimidire di nuovo, abbiamo scambiato l’occupante tedesco con quello americano, abbiamo scambiato il PNF con una finta democrazia che serve agli scopi del vecchio PNF. , cambiamo Dvce ogni 4 anni ma, proprio come il primo, questi tiranni a rotazione continuano a fare il lavoro dell'occupante, la stessa repressione con metodi diversi ma con gli stessi obiettivi. Ma è stato tutto inutile? Tutte quelle morti sono state sprecate? Tutto quell'eroismo, quel coraggio, quei sacrifici erano sprecati? No non lo erano! Non sono morti invano! I partigiani sono un esempio per noi. Ci hanno mostrato che possiamo resistere, che possiamo sfidare l’occupazione, che possiamo liberarci! Viviamo in tempi amari, è vero, ma abbiamo il dono del coraggio e dell'audacia dei nostri antenati, la fiamma della liberazione accesa per sempre nei nostri cuori in attesa di diventare un fuoco che raderà al suolo questo sistema e questa occupazione. Mentre il nostro governo coloniale, sempre al servizio di Washington, sputa sull’eredità della liberazione e sulla nostra Costituzione, mentre questo governo insediato aiuta il genocidio e l’imperialismo all’estero, mentre il nostro governo occupante invia armi e munizioni alla giunta fascista di Kiev e ai criminali di Israele, noi popolo resistiamo e continueremo a resistere!

Ma quando è stata tradita la nostra liberazione? Quando abbiamo perso quegli ideali? Qual è stato il momento in cui abbiamo perso tutto? È difficile rispondere, individuare un momento storico o attribuire la colpa a un solo uomo o a una sola data. È stato un processo fatto di tante date e di tanti traditori, alcuni condividono più colpe di altri, alcuni non sapevano che stavano tradendo tutto per cui avevano combattuto, e altri non hanno mai combattuto per ciò che hanno tradito. Ma se vogliamo provare a trovare un inizio, oserei dire che tutto fu quando i fascisti furono graziati, quando quella che doveva essere la Norimberga italiana non accadde, quando si decise che non occorreva la defascisizzazione, quello è stato probabilmente il momento in cui tutto è andato in pezzi. Da quel momento in poi ogni speranza di indipendenza andò perduta. Eravamo diventati un’altra pedina dell’imperialismo americano, un altro stato cuscinetto con l’est, un altro baluardo dell’anticomunismo e della sottomissione europea.

Ma cosa bisogna fare adesso? Cosa possiamo fare per sostenere i valori della nostra resistenza? Cosa possiamo fare per ripristinare ciò che è andato perduto? La strada è lunga ed è impossibile avere tutte le risposte. Ma possiamo dire da dove cominciare. Dobbiamo opporci al governo occupante in tutto ciò che fa. Nessuna bugia deve rimanere incontrastata. Nessuna azione intrapresa dal governo lasciata senza risposta. Nessuna oppressione lasciata incontrastata. Ci deve essere unità di intenti e di azione, compito non facile come più volte dimostrato dai comportamenti di tante realtà ma non abbiamo il diritto di arrenderci, non è nostro diritto abbandonare la lotta per una nuova liberazione e nuova resistenza!. Dobbiamo formare un vettore di attacco unificato, una dottrina unificata e un'idea unificata.

Ma soprattutto dobbiamo fare in modo che le forze della reazione non si approprino della memoria della resistenza. Per decenni, coloro che con le loro azioni hanno sputato sulla resistenza e su ciò che essa ha significato per la nostra nazione, si sono appropriati della esistenza e della sua memoria, decenni di narrazione incontrastata hanno trasformato il 25 aprile in uno commemorazione priva del suo significato e del suo spirito originario È diventata una farsa, una commemorazione dell'antifascismo da parte di coloro che sputano sull'antifascismo nella loro vita quotidiana, una commemorazione della resistenza da parte di coloro che commettono l'oppressione a cui bisogna resistere.

[tcartcommunity]

Personal Manifesto: We are talking to the ideal world

This kind of contemplation happens often in my life. When I stand in the galleries, in front of the extraordinary works in the museums, in front of the seemingly irrational graffiti on the street corner... I always get caught up in thinking: What is the interrelation between me and art? What have we done for each other? It has so precisely taken over my life for so long. Despite from the beginning, our encounter wasn't even my personal choice. Like every parent who believes in the importance of art interests in elite education, I was sent to a painting class when I showed only a slight interest in painting. After that, I have continuously interacted with art for the next twenty years.

Nevertheless, I am desperately eager to know this interaction's significance - that's why those contemplations happen. They are often like a tsunami, flooding my mind without warning. It's different for this time; it happened because I was assigned to write a Personal Manifesto for my art engagement class. This progressive assignment asked students to create a personal manifesto in the literal form and then transform it into a visual expression. Then, share with the rest of the class and facilitate the conversation and discussion about the arts and experiences.

I looked around the walls of my room; there were the paintings I'd drawn, the designs I'd done. At a time when all actions need to have a specific purpose and output, I never reckoned art to be merely a tool for me. On the contrary, our relationship is one of absolute equality. Like an old friend from childhood, she can accurately convey the thoughts I don't know how to phrase and express in many moments without confirmation. Thus, when I wrote this manifesto, I sounded more about my faith and beliefs towards the world and self-recognition instead of promoting the position of arts in my life.

(My personal manifesto, 2023)

While visualizing my manifesto with collages, art became the mirror that told the truth. The reflections were not about my hypocrisy but the perceptions I once could not see clearly and directly. I'm not a planned creator; I follow my intuition and emotions. The resulting artwork, however, was more of a psychological sand-play for me - it reinforced my belief in the relationship between me and the arts as equals. I didn't endow the meaning to my art; our conversations kept happening, and even my art was the one always explaining what kind of person I was. I also felt this in the discussion in class. To be more specific, the charm of individuality was particularly intense when each person presented their visualized manifesto. You can see from each work how people perceived the external world, connected with their inner world, reflected their ideal world through the languages of art, and formed their philosophy.

( fellows' visualized manifesto, 2023 )

I suddenly understood my relationship with art in the process. We are never on the opposite sides. Everything that happened was about breaking, reorganizing, and constructing. The final artwork, or artistic intervention, is our dialogue with the ideal world. Creative engagement is never just about enlightening society; artists should not see themselves as saviors or advocators. All we do is concretely make our ideals happen, and what everyone gains from this process should be inclusive. Imposed views are just a different expression of colonialism, and art itself has everlastingly been an honest and open discourse.

Written By Caroline Que

[readingrobin]

I'm still trying to get the hang of the whole "posting content" thing, but I think providing a reading wrap-up every month will allow me a little more to work with. January was a fairly standard reading month. I was able to get through ten books, though I added quite a few to my TBR. Kind of had a mini heart attack when I realized that, according to my Storygraph, I have about 1,731 titles on there. Well, at least I know I'll never run short of reading material.

Total Books Read: 10

Total Pages Read: 3,689

Books Read:

The Devil Aspect by Craig Russell - (Review) (3.5/5)

Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier - All I have to say is that the best kind of children's fiction tends to be the ones that expertly balance the harsh cruelties of life, especially during the Victorian era, with an unshakable sense of hope and a lot of heart. Sweep is one of those books that doesn't shy away from the reality and history of children in peril, but there is a warmness in its pages that comes from feeling and seeing the love and protection of dear ones long since passed. Definitely a bit of a tearjerker, but in a good way. (4/5)

The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu - (Review) (4/5)

Property of the Rebel Librarian by Allison Varnes - Looking at the world around us, this book couldn't be more relevant, as book bans are sweeping across schools and kids are left without a choice in what they want to read. Though it presents a somewhat simplistic scenario of censorship gone wild, it's definitely meant as an accessible way for young readers to be introduced to the process of book banning and what can be done to make your voice heard. (4/5)

Season of the Bruja Vol. 1 by Aaron Duran and Sara Soler - A really beautiful graphic novel that highlights the conflict of surviving indigenous traditions vs. religious colonialism. Stories that point out the hypocrisy and brutality of the Catholic church scratch such a good itch for me. The world is a little shaky though, not much is exactly explained and you almost need some prior knowledge of Mexican mythology going in, but it's worth checking out. (3/5)

A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos - (Review) (4/5)

Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison - (Review) (4/5)

The Ivory Key by Akshaya Raman - Though it takes a while to get going, The Ivory Key does have a great readability to it as the action finally kicks in about maybe halfway through. Up until then, the book spends a great deal laying the foundation of this world: tensions between cities, the role and history of magic in this society, the dynamics of the main characters. I will say, being introduced to at least seven different important characters in the span of 30 pages is a tad overwhelming at first, but it levels out the more you keep reading. While I did enjoy it, there was nothing particularly exemplary about the story that wowed me. The Indian-inspired setting and mythology makes it stand out, but everything else used the same tropes, beats, and twists that I've seen time and time over with little to add to them. I liked it enough to want to read the second book coming out later this year, but probably not enough to keep it on my personal shelf. (3/5)

Black Panther: The Young Prince by Ronald L. Smith - Read this one in a day and was fairly satisfied with it. It'll definitely appeal to middle grade readers looking for Marvel tie-in stories, as it has a quick pace and a good amount of action and mystery. For me, I don't think I enjoyed it enough to continue with the sequel, but it was nice to see a younger T'Challa and M'Baku out of their element away from Wakanda and how dynamic changed over the course of the book. (3/5)

Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim - For a book inspired by The Count of Monte Cristo, the story itself was incredibly simple and told fairly straight-forwardly, but I think that works in its favor. I'm at the point where I'm starting to tire of long-winded society dramas so I appreciated it for having a bit of focus. Everyone's motivation is clear, with a natural twist or two popping up along the way, plus a great amount of casual queerness. Though the world-building wasn't exactly intricate, there is a good sense of aesthetic and personality in the setting of Moray from its high status venues to the seedy gambling dens. I'm interested to see where the story goes in the sequel! (3.5/5)

Average Rating: (3.6/5)

[californiannostalgia]

Things I Loved About Thor: Love and Thunder

*SPOILER WARNING*

1. The Gods Metaphor: I think the gods council could be a metaphor for a lot of different things, but I understood it as a metaphor for a council of leading world powers. Individual countries approach for help against an oncoming war, aid against the pandemic, famine, massacring dictators, rising sea levels and sinking homes, etc., to which the council will reply, Regretfully there is nothing we can do for you. Your country's problems are your own.

Maybe if you have enough power to call yourself a leading world power (said power having been acquired through war and colonialism, or in other words, human sacrifices), you also have a responsibility to give aid back to the world? I don’t know. (BTW, climate change is real and the irreversible consequences get catastrophic in 30 months, please ask your government representatives to write climate agreements, things are looking real bad.)

Like the other gods, Thor still has the colonial power metaphor working in him too. At the beginning of the movie, he destroyed a holy temple while winning a battle for the native people there. Saved the people, but destroyed a cultural monument in the process. He does apologize for the destruction, though, and he doesn't ask for any compensation. He saves people for the sake of saving, which sets him apart from the other gods.

2. The Classic Thor Adventure: Here's the formula. Thor experiences loss, Thor gets character development, and Thor saves people despite high personal costs. Not necessarily in that order. This movie, like the previous ones, stuck to the formula. It works for both Thors.

3. Terminal Illness: Sometimes cancer treatments don't work. But there is a way to interpret death by illness as something other than "a lost battle"! The chemotherapy, and continuing the fight for everyday life, that is a battlefield! That is a warrior living life and achieving Valhalla through their courage and tenacity! (Also made me think about the pandemic’s ongoing death toll. There's a reason humans invented the concept of the afterlife.) (A Warriors' Welcome awaits all who fall in battle, you know! You get it!) (I cried in the theater.)

4. The Hammer: I think, no, I hope Mjolnir doesn't form attachments to its wielders. Mjolnir chooses wielders based on their willingness to sacrifice themselves for a just cause. The power of the hammer doesn't have anything to do with saving its wielder. It is a resuscitation device meant to last long enough for the wielder to do what needs to be done. I think it would be cruel for that hammer to be sentient, both to the hammer and the wielder being chosen. Of course, I don't think the wielders themselves would be as sad about the implications as I am. They're self-sacrificial heroes.

(Stormbreaker is definitely attached to Thor though. That ax has got a personality.)

5. Production Value: The cinematography was absolutely gorgeous, and the lighting in the fight scenes? Phenomenal. I love glowing eyes and arcing lightning so much. The battle scenes are so satisfying. I can't stop talking about the action sequences. The use of slo-mo is ethereal.

6. Hotness Scale: Thor and Valkyrie are so hot. Dr. Jane Foster, so incredibly hot. Your catchphrase is so cool, Mighty Thor. (MY BLORBOS.)

7. The Kids: If I were still a twelve-year-old and I’d just watched a movie where children weren't merely helpless victims who needed to be rescued by adults, but they were also cool heroes of their own right who had an incredibly badass action scene as they rescued themselves?? I mean, I know what my all-time favorite superhero movie would've been henceforth. (Maybe this is why I loved the Percy Jackson books so much.)

8. The Lovers: Jane Foster and Thor Odinson are in love. They fell in love sitting around a campfire talking about stars, and somehow they never stopped. The downside of being in love with a superhero is that you never know which world-saving mission will take your lover away. From beginning to end, they were star-crossed—and yet they didn't stop waiting, or crying; and whenever they saw each other they unfailingly said, "I still love you."

(They went to Halloween parties and learned rollerblading together. They bounced hero catchphrases off each other. They're awkward nerds who forget to explain the context for the weird stuff they blurt out. I just. Can't deal.)

9. LGBTQIA Representation: Hey, look, trans rep! Gay rep! Lesbian rep! The characters are important to the story and all survive too! That's pretty cool. Especially for a mainstream Marvel movie expected to be watched by a whole bunch of people. 

10. Life Stages: This is possibly the last movie for the Old Avengers. Marvel is changing their target audience from middle-aged men/ex-children to current children. It's a necessary transition. It feels fitting that the final Thor movie asks our severely traumatized, still living hero: After everything is said and done, what will you do? And Thor adopts a child to raise with love. Neither of them have family left, so they might as well become new family for each other. (God of Thunder and God of Love, huh. That’s some myth.)

(This movie was a great sendoff for Thor in terms of reopening your heart after grief and giving power to the younger generation, but I'm seriously going to miss Thor, holy fuck. I. My og team time bomb. Now they're all really bowing out and exiting stage left. Bruce is gonna be the last hand-off.)

(They had a good run. I will miss these myths.) (FANFICTION, SAVE ME.)

11. The Deer: There is a very specific kind of deer called the Korean water deer (Hydropotes inermis argyropus) that screams like a human. It is the dominant deer species in Korea but endangered practically everywhere else. They are so many of them in the mountains. My friend once recorded them screaming at night because they were holding a metal rock concert. I guess what I'm trying to say is, the concept of the screaming deer is not new to me, but the screaming deer were still pretty damn funny.

[deflare]

Day 19 brings us the last of the loyalist First Founding legions,* so everyone give it up for the XIX Legion, Raven Guard!

The XIX Legion were the Rogues of the early Space Marine legions. They specialized in stealth actions, infiltration, and reconnaissance, quickly and quietly murdering key opponents of the Imperial regime. They developed a pretty dread reputation in the process, mirroring their flesh-flaying cousins in the VIII Legion. They acted as support for the other legions, providing intelligence and wreaking havoc on enemy supply lines and HQs.

Meanwhile, their father Corvus Corax was saying “fuck you” to the prison industrial complex. He’d landed on the moon of Lycaeus, a prison colony whose people were used as slave labor by the tech guilds who lived on the planet Lycaeus orbited. The prisoners took in baby Corax and taught him how to be real sneaky, with the help of his ability to cloud people’s minds and render himself effectively invisible. He rallied the prisoners and launched a guerrilla war against their captors, eventually driving the slavers off the moon. He then went a bit Dark Side, using nuclear weapons to finally defeat the tech guilds and renaming the moon Deliverance.

Right as his work was done, Corax was swept up by the Emperor, and after a training period, he took over his legion. One the one hand, the newly-dubbed Raven Guard (yes, Raven Raven leads the Raven Guard, the names are bad) fit into his vibe in terms of being a bunch of sneaky bastards. On the other hand, he wasn’t really on board with the terror tactics side of things. Corax quietly split off a lot of the more unseemly elements of the legion--mostly the older Terran veterans who he didn’t think were worth saving--and sent them off on a long crusade at the edges of the galaxy; these are the likely ancestors of the Carcharadons. The remainder, he reformed into the premier covert operation forces of the Space Marines, specializing in sabotage, assassination, and backline disruption.

At the start of the Horus Heresy, the Raven Guard were one of the legions sent into the initial battle against the traitor legions, where they got backstabbed and devastated (along with the Iron Hands and Salamanders). The Raven Guard spent the rest the war scrambling to recover. There was a whole thing with trying to quickly recruit some new Space Marines, only for the geneseed to be sabotaged and turn the new recruits into bird monsters. They didn’t have much impact on the rest of the war, though they managed to do some Raven Guard stuff to the traitor supply lines. They went along with the subsequent division of the legions, becoming the modern chapter. Corax himself was filled with guilt for what he had to do during the Heresy, and as penance, he wandered off into the Warp to try to assassinate one of the traitor Primarchs. He may be a weird mutated bird-monster now?

The modern Raven Guard continue to be a bunch of sneaky bastards, relying on skilled scouts to identify key points to hit. In other words, they operate the way that a unit of 1,000 supersoldiers SHOULD work, rather than having them try to stand as a phalanx in the middle of nowhere like a bunch of dinguses. Militarily, they’re iconically associated with jet-packs, lightning claws, and beak-shaped helmets. They’re known for being grim and brooding, with the chapter being full of Edgar Allen Poe references. Their geneseed makes their skin bleached-white, and gives them black eyes, making them even spookier. But they do also retain a core of compassion for non-supersoldiers from Corax’s days championing the oppressed, even as they become enforcers for the most brutal and oppressive regime in human history. They’re not... good at being the Good Guys. Especially since right now, they’re fighting the actual good guys, the Tau**.

The Raven Guard! They’re the Reasonable Marines, but they’re also easy to overlook. Honestly, I find them deeply disappointing; Corax had the potential to be one of the Primarchs who looked at the Imperial project and went, “Hey what the fuck,” but he got roped in just like everyone else. There’s some commentary in there, maybe.

*There’s a non-zero chance that GW has a very funny surprise in store for me tomorrow.

**The Tau are not the good guys.

The Tau are one of the newest rising powers in the galaxy. They’re blue humanoid aliens who live out on the eastern edge of the Milky Way. Not too long ago, they had stone age technology and were fighting internecine battles that threatened to wipe themselves out. Then some prophets rose up and rallied the Tau together under a new philosophy, that of suppressing their individual wants and needs to instead serve the Greater Good. Since then the Tau have developed new technology at a truly astounding pace, carving out their own space-faring empire.

The Tau are split into five different castes. The Air Caste act as their pilots and spaceship crew. The Water Caste are traders, administrators, and diplomats. The Earth Caste are scientists, engineers, and farmers. The Fire Caste are soldiers and police forces. And the Ethereals are descendants of those prophets; they’re the leadership and clergy, guiding the other Tau toward the Greater Good. (The Ethereals may be aided in their leadership by mind-influencing pheromones; it’s not clear.)

One of the things that makes the Tau unique in the galaxy is that they don’t kill every new alien they come across. When they encounter a new species, or one of the bazillion human-controlled worlds, the Tau will patiently build up trade relationships with them and try to incorporate them into the Tau Empire. Several alien species have accepted the deal, most notably the Kroot, bird-like hunters who can incorporate the DNA of things they eat into their genetics, and who thus serve as frontline melee combatants in exchange for first pick of enemy corpses. A number of human worlds have also voluntarily joined the Tau, seeing a much better deal there than in the Imperium.

The Tau have developed sophisticated weapons systems, including high-powered railguns and plasma weapons significantly better than what the Imperium uses, and an ever-more-complex array of battlesuits (effectively, mecha). A mix of good luck and unexpected tenacity have kept the Tau alive against Imperial assaults; while the Tau Empire could obviously never stand against the full weight of the Imperium, there are always bigger fish to fry.

Like I said, the Tau are not the good guys. They are, however, maybe the least evil faction in the 40k setting. They’re imperialistic, culturally chauvinistic, and strictly theocratic. They employ mind-control technology on their own people and on their alien auxiliaries (most notably the insect-like Vespids), and subject rebellious worlds to cruel punishments. They’re also growing increasingly erratic as their leadership struggles to handle the outside-context problem of Chaos and the Warp. But, they’re not genocidal fascists, and that makes them good guys compared to the bastards in the Imperium.

Master post here

[sayruq]

Why do you like the Martells? Besides them being poc

they’re the ultimate underdogs. from the rhoynar resisting colonialism and slavery under the valyrians to meria martell resisting imperialism by waging guerrilla war on 3 dragons riders who were intent on burn everything and everyone in dorne. the martells and dorne is general have always faced insurmountable odds and they always survived. they live in a desert but they are the main producers of citruses in westeros. they have managed to have strong trade ties with essos, they resisted multiple attempts to colonise their kingdom and when they joined the seven kingdoms, it was in their own terms. despite having more disadvantages than the other kingdoms, they have done well for themselves. this is because of the martells, their leadership allowed dorne to continue existing despite the existential threat posed by the dragon riders. dragonfire destroys life and makes land infertile, yet in the mother rhoyne, life flourishes centuries after the near extinction of the rhoynar. that symbolises dorne best.

the modern day house martell has many distinct characters who love each other deeply. no other house has such a familial love that permeates all of their chapters. they act because they love each other and they hurt each other because they love each other. do you think arianne would care about her father dismissing her if she didn’t love him? do you think the sand snakes would carry out doran’s plan if they didn’t love him and oberyn? that love pulls them apart at times but it also brings them together. 

the martells have the most compelling story too. their lives were derailed, whether they knew it or not, because one of them was viciously murdered. elia martell is dismissed by many but she meant the world to her brothers and they have been working to get her justice for nearly 2 decades. of course because they’re martells, they’re underdogs in this situation. their enemy was part of a huge alliance that includes nearly every great house and on top of that, they have use of the greatest spy in the world. the weight of their task was heavy. oberyn responded by settling down with the love of his life and having a family; doran’s family fell apart as his sacrifices become too much for his wife. 

oberyn’s happy home didn’t hide his obsession and this too had an impact on his family. in the end, he died, leaving his oldest daughters grief stricken and unable to process that grief outside of seeking vengeance, just like their father. in affc, the family is at odds with each other. the sand snakes want immediate action while doran prefers to be very cautious. arianne wants her position as heir solidified while doran plans for daenerys and quentyn’s return. and because of this, they end up working against each other. it’s not easy not is it something they enjoy or even want to do but they don’t understand each other. over the course of 3 chapters, doran, his daughter and his nieces end up on the same page and they are now working as a unit with one goal: eliminating the lannisters. of course since they are martells, tragedy is never far. quentyn dies in adwd and when his family avenges elia and oberyn, once they learn of quentyn’s death, they will want to avenge him too. 

with oberyn’s death, it’s up to the next generation to find justice for elia and rhaenys and the little baby boy who was killed with them. arianne and her cousins set out to do so in adwd and i believe they will succeed. aegon will remove the lannisters from their place of power and he will become king with his cousins by his side. this will later end up causing bloodshed when his aunt arrives but for a while, the martells will come up on top. they were underdogs facing a strong alliance but that alliance is broken and elia’s son will take the throne as he was intended to as the crown prince’s heir. the martells have lost greatly but they managed to persevere over the centuries and that will be the case when the books end. in ados house martell will live up to its motto once more, it will be unbowed unbent unbroken.

the family itself is pretty distinct from other families and each other despite the fact that we have only about ten chapters with them. you don’t mix up obara with nymeria or sarella with tyene. there are 3 male characters (doran, quentyn and oberyn) and they’re all great esp oberyn but there’s a lot of focus on the female members of the family with arianne being is the main character, her cousins have different strengths and they’re just seriously cool, ellaria has one of the most poignant speeches of the entire series, elia sand and elia martell break your heart. it’s so easy to remember them and root for them. i could read dozens of chapters about them all and grrm agrees otherwise he wouldn’t have expanded their roles while he was writing affc and adwd.

overall, i think they’re the best house in the entire series and i can’t wait to see them again in twow