#I'm so anti Duolingo now

[edwinspaynes]

Since you've talked a bit about your idea for a TLH/DBD crossover fic involving TLH characters experiencing the modern world as ghosts, what do you think would be various TLH people's favorite/least favorite things about the 2020s?

I am GOING TO WRITE THIS CROSSOVER I am REALLY PUMPED AND PASSIONATE ABOUT IT.

The only TLH characters in my fic will probably be my core five, so I'm just going to do them. Also because that's what I want to do. Lol.

I think Cordelia would oddly be a massive fan of outdoor shopping malls. I know this is a weird one, but she would have SUCH a fun time browsing the dresses with Anna and Matthew and trying things on. Plus, what's there not to love about Dippin Dots? Dippin Dots for Cordelia Carstairs 2024. I can't really think of anything she'd hate right now beyond the concept of minimum wage work, lol.

James would be so so happy about the existence of audiobooks. You cannot change my mind. He would be able to take his books with him everywhere and would have the chance to read while he walked all over London. Much easier than what he did in ChoG when he read while walking about the gardens. I think that something he would dislike is streaming television because cancelation based on shitty and arbitrary metrics is the enemy of good storytelling, and I firmly believe that James adores storytelling.

Matthew would obviously ADORE the modeling and fashion scenes, especially those in major cities. I think the modern bustle of places like 2024's London and Paris and New York would appeal to him, since the world was a lot slower-moving in the early 1900s. It'd be a ton of fun for him to explore, speed around on trains, try vois (lol), and walk through busy high-end streets to get amazing clothes. I don't think Matthew would enjoy chain companies at all. Like, why would he go to Starbucks when he could go to a nice little hole-in-the-wall coffee shop? Diversity is the spice of life!

For Thomas, I think we can all agree that he would be a Duolingo Stan. Languages, an owl, fun colors and sounds - what more could one want? He'd probably also love YouTube and the ability to feel connected to other people sharing ideas with him. That sounds like a Thomas thing to enjoy. A thing I'm pretty sure he'd dislike though is public transit. Not because he's anti transit, but because he wouldn't easily be able to fit on the Tube or in a bus seat, which would be awkward as hell.

I think Alastair would adore Spotify. He'd have constant access to any and all music that he'd want to listen to, and once he became more comfortable singing again he could even start his own channel. However, despite this love for Spotify, I think he'd have a love/hate relationship with Smartphones. He's not someone who'd like being accessible 24/7 because he likes alone time and wants to just chill with Thomas.

[ayeforscotland]

hey! just a question since i happened across your anti-duolingo posts (no worries if you dont have an answer to this) --- ive been using it for german and irish (as a supplement to actual classes, w/ re gaeilge), and obviously the difference in quality between the two languages is massive, but there are so few helpful tools out there for practicing less spoken languages. i also use it to brush up on latin every now and then and their latin stuff is really appalling (but im less fussed about that than irish, for obvious reasons). all this to say it clearly sucks and id love to delete it out of solidarity w their workers and bc its obviously getting steadily worse, but i dont have anything to replace it with. do you have any ideas/suggestions/thoughts about other language learning resources out there that can sort of fill that gap?

At the end of the day if you want to stick with it, that's fine. I'm not going to hate anyone who just has the routine and likes the 'gamification' (Gamification can be fun, but feel like it can also be predatory at times but that's a whole other thing)

The thing that Duolingo has going for it is the 'glossiness' and accessibility. I just don't rate the quality of the language learning on it, and I'd recommend seeing if there's more local resources available from minority language speakers.

I can't give specific examples on Gaeilge but maybe someone who follows me might have an idea.

[private-bryan]

20 questions game for fic writers

Thanks for the tag @areseebee!

How many works do you have on ao3? 8

What’s your total ao3 word count? 63,699

What fandoms do you write for? Derry Girls. I once had a Zootopia fic on AO3 from a few years ago, but that was expunged with predjudice when I blew the dust off my account for my Derry Girls fics!

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Charming, To Travel, A Confederacy of Fathers, Ruminations for a Sleepless Night, Coming of Age

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I didn't use to, primarily because I'm quite a shy person, but I try to do it now (at least for the early part of a fic's lifespan if I'm otherwise busy in real life). I need to get better at responding to new ones left on older fics though

What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? "Tell me I was wrong"

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? "She" was literally written to have a happy ending, but I would personally say "A Confederacy of Fathers"

Do you get hate on fics? Not so far, and hopefully that continues

Do you write smut? If so what kind? No. The smuttiest thing I wrote was in the epilogue to "She", and that was just one or two paragraphs with several euphemisms.

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve ever written? Niet! Not unless you count butchering Irish mythology

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not as far as I know

Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope

Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have a hard enough time writing by myself. I'll spitball and theorise with people about the plot, but the actual writing is all my own

What’s your all-time favorite ship? Jerin is my favourite, and I ship them hard and love to write them. I think my oldest one I can remember (and one I'm still slightly bitter that it never really left dock) was Ash and Misty from Pokemon. Honourable mentions to Lizzie x Gordo and T.J. x Spinelli too

What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? This depends on whether I can keep the writing impetus going or not, but "Mary Quinn's Cookery Book" has kind of reached a roadblock creatively. Hopefully I can get back to it once the current WIP is done, but we'll see.

What are your writing strengths? This question is highly anti-English, as we don't like to extoll our strengths! I like to think there's a flow to the stories I write, and that if there's little plot there's at least a good understanding of character. And I can weave in canon reasonably well

What are your writing weaknesses? I think know I can be florid - mainly in an effort not to continually repeat the same word, but it doesn't always feel natural. Also I can't plot for toffee; "She" notwithstanding, pretty much all of my fics are essentially single scenes, are un/strenuously connected scenes, or take place over a really short time period. Oh, and I seem to be having a love affair with the semicolon...

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I'm a monolinguist, unfortunately. One day I'd like to write in Irish (if Duolingo doesn't let me down), but for now it's good ol' Google Translate if I need another language.

First fandom you ever wrote for? Published? Lizzie Maguire, on fanfiction.net. Unpublished? Pokemon.

Favorite fic you’ve ever written? Probably "To Travel" - it's topical, exploring 2010s Northern Irish abortion rights in the wake of the 2022 Roe vs. Wade ruling, it was a challenge to write as person who the subject matter doesn't directly relate to, and it was fun to explore James and Erin on the cusp of getting together through the eyes of Anna.

[aquaticptato]

Hey taters n' skaters! You can call me Tato (online alias for safety :P) and my pronouns are she/her!

This blog will be more for lurking than for posts, but if you want to occasionally see some random content that follows my hyperactive brain, feel free to stick around! I'm in lots of fandoms, but at the same time it feels like none at all, lmao.

Intro and Navigation! ✨

🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙

Lil bit about me 🥔

🩵Tato

💙17

🩵She/Her

💙Biromantic, Asexual

🩵AuDHD

💙Roman Catholic ✝️(don't worry, not the kind who hates everyone and tries to force conversion. That's actually entirely what Jesus is against.)

🩵Favorite color: Any variation of blue!

💙Favorite food: Potatoes in their many forms (though some require bacon and cheese to be worthy)

🩵Favorite pastimes: Drawing, reading, writing random music that pop into my head, petting animals, playing Minecraft, watching shows

💙Music Taste: All over the place lol. Some of my favorite artists include:

Alan Walker

mididuck

Set It Off

Stessie

Sasha Alex Sloan

Hatsune Miku

Being Me The Horizon

{The Hazbin Hotel soundtrack}

LongestSoloEver

Lolirock

I Prevail

Motionless In White

Magnolia Park

Shawn Mendes

DJVI

Waterflame

Duolingo

C418

TheFatRat

💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵

🥔Fandom Masterlist🥔

🍟Artwork Masterlist🍟

Tags for navigating my blog:

#tato shut yo bitch ass up - random thoughts and rambles

#tato reblogs art - reblogged art and fics (writing is a form of art that's why fics are included)

#whoa tato made something - my original work!!

#tahahato- memes/shitposts/humor I reblog

#tato dispenses knowledge- answering asks

#serious topic- serious things.

And of course, there will be fandom tags.

HOWEVER- I am too lazy BUSY to go edit the tags in all the stuff I've already posted/reblogged (cause it's a LOT). So anytime I edit my tag system, womp womp. Anything I posted before is still the same tags or lack thereof. Sorry, yes, confusing.

And for posts that date back to before I changed my alias to Tato, the tags are:

#aqua shut yo bitch ass up

#aqua reblogs art

#whoa aqua made something

#hahaqua

(no ask tag)

Next, VERY IMPORTANT thing:

💥⚠️DNI LIST⚠️💥

DO NOT under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES interact with my blog if any of the following applies to you.

🚫 You support the Israeli government (and the complicit countries such as U.S. of Ass) in the genocide of Palestine (NOTE: THIS DOES NOT MEAN NO JEWS OR ISRAELIS ARE ALLOWED. BUT IF YOU TRULY BELIEVE THAT THE GOVERNMENT IS DOING THE RIGHT THING BY MASSACRING THE INNOCENT, FUCK OFF.)

🚫You support Russia in the invasion and massacres of Ukraine

🚫 You are homophobic

🚫You are transphobic

🚫You are biphobic

🚫You are aphobic

🚫You support J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter fans welcome, we can separate art from artist.)

🚫You are antisemitic

🚫You are anti-Muslim

🚫You discriminate based on any other religion or lack thereof

🚫You believe that your religion gives you the right to abuse others in the name of "preaching the truth"

🚫You are racist/xenophobic

🚫 You're a Trump supporter

🚫You are a ped*ph*le (M.A.P. IS NOT A VALID QUEER IDENTITY AND NEVER WILL BE, YOU CREEPS)

🚫You are a proshipper (INC*ST, PED*PH*LIA, AND R*PE ARE NOT OKAY, EVEN IN FICTION. THEIR REPRESENTATION IN FICTION SHOULD ONLY BE PORTRAYED AS NEGATIVE AND BE FOR THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION ON SURVIVORS' STRUGGLES)

🚫You ship things that erase hard-earned canon representation (i.e. shipping Amity Blight with Hunter when Amity is a canon lesbian and Dana Terrace fought hard to include that rep)

🚫You are a zooph*le

🚫You DISCRIMINATE AGAINST ALL FURRIES AND THERIANS BECAUSE YOU ASSUME THEY ARE ALL ZOOPH*LES (THEY ARE NOT)

🚫You think abortion is not necessary healthcare or a human right

🚫You think gun reform is a stupid idea (SAY IT TO MY FACE, I FUCKING DARE YOU. BECAUSE I BET ANYONE WHO THINKS THIS HAS NEVER LIVED THROUGH THE TERROR OF A SHOOTING OR BOMB THREAT. LIKE I HAVE. SO SAY IT, YOU BITCH.)

(now, saying it's gonna be nearly impossible and be hard and take a long time, that's fine. But saying it's not important enough to even be worth trying gets you blocked here.)

🚫You support Autism Speaks

🚫 You discriminate against people with physical disabilities

🚫You discriminate against people with mental disabilities (THIS INCLUDES USING THE R WORD)

🚫You are over 30 (EXCEPTION: If I already knew you before you turned old [/j], you can stay)

Yes, the list is long, because UNFORTUNATELY there's a lot of different kinds of people who aren't welcome here.

🩷💜🩵🩷💜🩵🩷💜🩵🩷💜🩵

Aight, that's it! If you think you like the vibes, feel free to stay!

Sea you later!!

-🌊🥔

[survey--s]

659.

Are you one of those lucky people to own a walk-in closet? No. They're not really a "thing" here for most people as our houses are generally not very spacious.

Is there a random object you own that has a huge personal significance? Yeah, my teddy bear.

Do you use Google? Yes.

Would you like to go swimming right now? No.

Can you play electric guitar? I can play a few chords (well, I could years ago) but that's about it.

Do you have an HDTV? Aren't they all HD these days?

When was the last time you drank something through a straw? I don't remember.

Have you ever tried to teach yourself a different language? I've taught myself some Italian and Spanish using DuoLingo.

What do you think makes you unique from others? I mean, I really don't think anyone is all that unique or special.

How long was your last phone call? I have no idea, probably only a few minutes.

Do you need to repaint your nails? No.

Has there ever been a horoscope that came true for you? I don’t pay any attention to horoscopes.

Are you a fan of industrial metal? No.

Are you one of those people who chew two pieces of gum, not one? Yeah, sometimes. One piece just feels too small for me.

Do you have a wall calendar? We do for next year actually, Archie is on the front cover.

Have you ever taken the pictures from a calendar and used them as posters? I'm sure I have done in the past, yeah.

Can you handle the cold? Yeah.

Have you ever been to Canada? Yes.

Do you believe in superstitions? No.

When was the last time you took a taxi somewhere? I honestly don't remember. Years and years ago.

Would you ever join the army, air force or navy? No.

How old is the person you last kissed? He'll be 40 in January.

Is there a friend that you can always rely on to get you out of a jam? Yeah, my husband.

What was the most embarrassing thing you’ve had to buy? I don't really get embarrassed buying stuff, to be honest.

Have you ever tried to balance the light switch between off and on? Yeah.

Do you believe in ghosts / supernatural occurrences? Nope.

Have you ever mistaken a person’s gender? Probably.

What was the most expensive thing you’ve broken? A car.

Has anyone texted you yet today? No. I'm having the most anti-social weekend ever and it's amazing, hahah.

Did you stay calm during the whole swine flu scare? Sure, it never really affected me, I have to say.

Is there a light on in the room you’re currently in? Yeah, fairy lights plus the overhead light.

Are your feet touching the floor? No.

Have you ever been in a car accident? Yes, a few minor ones. One as the driver (non fault) and several as the passenger.

Do you usually make back up plans? Sometimes. Like I'll say "if X walks cancels, we can do Y".

Can you focus well in high-stress situations? Yeah, it's afterwards that I fall apart.

Without the aid of mascara, do you have long eyelashes? Yes.

Is there a kind of music you listen to that helps you release your anger? Yeah, heavier rock type stuff.

Are you one of those people who keep their feelings bottled up? No, I wouldn't say so.

Is one of your friends extremely odd but you love them regardless? Everyone's odd IMO.

Is there anyone you dread going into public with? Nope.

Are you a victim of writing run-on sentences? Not really.

Graffiti: an art or an act of vandalism? Both.

Do you buy things online? All the time. I pretty much never shop in person anymore.

Are you easily frightened? By some things, yeah. Other things don't bother me.

Do you have a favorite model? No, I don't really pay attention to stuff like that.

Have you ever watched Titanic? I actually haven't. I got halfway through but it bored me senseless.

What’s your current facebook display picture of? Our wedding day.

How about your IM display picture? I don’t use IM.

Is there anyone whose hair you envy? Anyone who doesn't get frizzy hair, basically.

Would you act in a movie if offered a role? Yes.

Does speaking in front of people make you nervous? Not so much anymore, but I don't really do it anymore.

Can you read in a moving vehicle or does it make you sick? I can't. I get car sick even without the reading lol.

Have you ever dated someone who was extremely shy? Yeah. Well, we had one date but still.

Or have you dated someone who took things too fast? Yes.

Does the idea of driving 220 mph sound exciting to you? Not really.

Everyone has a weakness, what’s yours? Carbs.

Do you or anyone you know have an account on Deviantart? No. This isn't 2013.

Thoughts on the Dunkin Donutcommercial that says “America runs on Dunkin’”? I've never heard of it before.

Do you bother buying movies on DVD anymore or do you just download them? I stream everything these days.

Do you listen to Daughtry? I used to - I do like their music they're just not a band that really crosses my mind much nowadays.

Do you get your eyebrows waxed? No.

How do you take your coffee? At home I just have it with milk and sugar, but if I'm out I prefer flavoured lattes or Cappucinos.

If you have a dog, what breed is it? He's a beagle.

Do you make up nicknames to refer to people you don’t like? Not now, but I did as a kid.

Have you found someone who makes you unconditionally happy? Yes.

Do you have a friend who always seems to be dying their hair? Nope.

Would you swap names with a friend? No.

Do you plan on going to university? I graduated university in 2011.

Guys who wear muscle shirts, yes or no? I don't know anyone who does that.

Are you a fan of Carrie Underwood? I've never really heard any of her music.

Do you make playlists on iTunes? I do on Spotify, yeah.

Have you ever forgotten someone’s birthday? I'm sure I have.

Are you scared of being left behind? No.

Do you remember your last dream? Nope.

Do you know someone who is an obsessed Star Wars fan? No.

Is politics something you don’t care about? I care but only to a certain extent.

What’s a movie/tvshow/book/series that is way overrated? Marvel movies. <--- yes!

Do you think Barbie presents an unhealthy image to young girls? I mean, it's a doll. It's not real.

Is there a pet that you desperately want? In an ideal world I would have a horse but I can't afford it and we don't have the space, so there we go.

Would you ever get your bellybutton pierced? It's already pierced but I haven't worn jewellery in it for years.

Are you musically talented? Nope.

Have you ever shot a gun? No.

Do you have a friend that always changes their mind last second? No.

Are you not afraid to voice your opinion? I'm not afraid, no.

Are you one of those people who are always pushing their limits? No, I don't think so. I kind of know my boundaries now and I'm getting better at learning to say "no".

Is there a word that you will always find humorous? Sure.

Do you frown upon immature people? It depends? Not as a general thing but it does happen.

Have you ever slipped on ice and hurt yourself? Yeah, way too many times lol. I work outside and walk in all weathers so it happens multiple times a year ha.

Do you try to have an intimidating impression? No.

Living in the big city or chilling in the country? I prefer country life but with access to the city.

Do you pity women in history who had to wear corsets? No. They went through far worse.

No one seems to obey the legal drinking age, do they? No.

Do you like your country’s flag? I have no strong opinions either way.

Have you ever made a totally amazing snow fort? No. We never get enough snow for that.

Do you use Bounty Paper Towels? We don't have those here.

Are you the one usually behind the camera or the one in the picture? It depends.

If you get married, will you have a traditional wedding? Ours was just a small registry office wedding.

Do you feel your slowly losing one of your friends? Nope.

If you draw, what’s one thing you always have trouble with? I don’t draw.

Is there someone you know moving away any time soon? Not to my knowledge.

Do you ever go on Tyra.com? Nope, never heard of it.

Allergic to anything? Aspirin.

How many cars have you owned? Four.

What are you going to do after this? I have no idea, probably more surveys ha.

[gorematchala]

I've been thinking about redownloading duolingo even though I hate that fucking owl, but I'm torn cuz I want to go back to either Chinese or German, and I have a foundation in Chinese from high school, but its so different from english I don't think I'll get very far without someone who speaks it fluently to help me. Then with German I'm like self analyzing if its JUST because of Signalis, which I dont think it is because I've wanted to visit Germany before. I've always heard its nice and that they have anti-nazi laws but I really dont know much about them as a country these days. The language seems similar enough to english to be learnable also. Idk. Either one would have more real life applications than Klingon though as much as I love that stupid ass backwards fake language. I think knowing the 3 or 4 phrases they say in TNG is probably good enough for now

[cappymightwrite]

Didn’t grrm himself said he hate show sansa? Why are you assuming she gonna end up similar to her show counterpart let alone having the same ending if he hates it

I’m assuming? I'M assuming, anon? Dearie me.

Just… just hold your horses there buddy… I'm guessing (NB: not assuming!) that the part of her show ending you take issue with is Sansa ending up as QiTN. *sighs* ... ok, that's your opinion, your own assumption you might even say. Doesn't have to align with mine.

"Didn't grrm himself said he hate show Sansa?" Umm, I don’t think he did? Maybe I'm just ASSUMING here but I believe the only thing he's said explicitly in relation to show Sansa, which expresses any disapproval, is that book Littlefinger would never wed Sansa to Ramsey… I think it's a bit of an ASSUMPTION to interpret that to mean he "hates" show Sansa as a whole. It's even more of an ASSUMPTION to understand that to mean Sansa's ending won’t involve her in a position of power and influence (most likely queenship) in the north... because GRRM "hates" it.

Look, I could find you sources and whatnot, and we could potentially debate back and forth… but I don't want to, lmao 😅 It's been a long day and I haven't yet done my Norwegian duolingo practice... I've got better things to do, quite frankly. Anyway, this is my little blog with my fun little thoughts and, amongst other things, I like to make predictions about asoiaf on it and I like to base those predictions on textual analysis… so I take a bit of issue with you saying I'm "assuming" anything. Anon, as an MA student in a humanities subject, working on "assumptions" is not how I operate, thank you very much 😒 I appreciate that you're not really being rude but... still.

Besides, it's my interpretation (NB: not assumption). And you're welcome to yours, anon. If you think I'm wrong cool, fine, ignore me! If a narratively satisfying Sansa ending for you is not to have her in a position of power in the north, knock yourself out! Clearly, I very much don't share that opinion. But that's the fun thing with literature and speculating on an unfinished series like this... we just don't know for sure until it's finished. Only GRRM knows.

Now, I can't tell if you're a Sansa and/or Jonsa anti, but whether you are or not, like I said anon, I'm not interested in battling it out in the asks. We think differently. All my asoiaf musings are tagged as "cappy's thoughts" — so it's all there for you to read, should you wish, and then privately and respectfully disagree with, should that be the conclusion you come to. If you want to create an angry you think vs. I think kind of discourse or discussion I suggest you look elsewhere 👋

I'm not here for that. I'm just here to post good scenery, Jonsa + Old Norse metas... and to thirst over Ben Barnes. It's really that simple.

If anything, thanks for this ask anon, because at the very least I did enjoy finding and using these Ben Affleck memes, lmao.

[wouldnt-it-be-hilarious-if-i]

Dobry wieczór!

Today's soundbyte says: Cześć! Jestem z Ameryki. Mój ojciec jest zambijski. Moja mama jest Niemką, Włoszką i rodowitą Amerykanką. Ja mieszany. Mowie po angielsku i uczę się mówić po polsku. Miło mi poznać! Do widzenia!

I'll be honest. I struggled with every single word in this video today. You can even hear it in my goodbye 😂 I hated every second of this simply because no syllable would come out right. It might be because I still have a sore throat from being a bit sick the last few days.

Since I've been feeling a bit better, I decided to get out of bed and do some extra studying for Polish today.

Here's what I did:

1. Duolingo, of course. I try to do this in the morning, but I slept in until well after noon today so I just did this as soon as I woke up.

2. Took notes from the Teach Yourself Polish book. I'm on unit 2 now, but I'm going to continue to work on memorizing everything from unit 1. I want to make sure I can recognize and say every word I was taught. Today, I learned how to go into detail about myself and share where I am from and what my nationality is.

In this book, they only share the Polish words for European countries (and Australia, Canada and the US) 😃 since apparently the Asian, South American and African continents didn't exist in 1994 when this book was published. I had to Google the word for Zambia.

Though I know my nationality is different from my ethnicity, I wanted to practice saying the different words anyway. I was hoping that when I was explaining that I am mixed, I didn't accidentally use some sort of informal slur. Unfortunately, I might have? It feels a bit like a slur.

Interestingly enough, I looked into the polish words for mixed and had a really good laugh when I realized the not only does the word for biracial mean, of course, biracial, it can also mean promiscous and crossbreed. So, um. Yeah. I'm not sure if that's what people actually say there, but I likely won't be referring to myself as a crossbreed on purpose if I ever get the chance to use Polish. I'd rather just say I am white and black. The other word I found is actually unfortunately even more of a slur.

There's a whole history behind it in the US, but it's also very much tied to Europe (I've met Europeans who get upset at the mere idea that a word they use could be racist, and claim I'm just pushing American issues onto them---as if the US isn't quite literally made up of European (and others, of course) descendants who passed this cultural lingo down through the generations and these culture issues faced the African diaspora today aren't absolutely faced around the world, including in Poland.)

The other word was mulatka, which means mulatto. I generally don't use this word, and neither do most Americans. But it is a word that was historically used to refer to mixed race children of African and European lineage. It is generally considered offensive, though some mixed race people have taken it back, such as American born rapper Latto (formerly known as Miss Mulatto). Fun fact: She grew up in the same town as I lived in during middle school around the same time as me, and had quite literally the same experiences as me 😃 She didn't go to my school, but hers was not far from mine.

Anyway, finding out this low-key offensive terminology to describe myself actually led me to an interesting article about black lives in Poland.

It was really eye opening for me, as I had no clue about this issue in Poland. I, unfortunately, wasn't surprised. Not because I think Poland is racist, but more so because I know that anti-blackness thrives everywhere on this earth. It's next to impossible to escape.

I also found this article because I read something similar to the above article when reading about police brutality and mistreatment toward black Germans a few months ago and was interested.

Interesting enough, my mother met a Polish woman and her husband at work today and had a conversation about Poland. Somehow the conversation got to be about race, and the Polish woman insisted that wasn't an issue in Poland at all. No one cares about that.

My mom told me that after they left, someone she works with who grew up in Poland and is a person of color said that woman was a liar. Racism is awful there.

Obviously I have no idea, as I am merely an American with a months worth of knowledge about Poland and it's culture. But I will say that I do know a few things about Europe, from personal experience as well as from friends, and this doesn't sound totally far from what might be true given what I've learned about Belgium (a friend got called the N word multiple times a day and that's the nicest thing she heard), France (follow a mixed race family who has shared her daughter's experience being told she couldn't play with a few little girls by the children bc she was an ugly monkey), England (Literally just look up any article about Meghan Markle and her son), Germany (Police bias, for one thing), Russia (A great example is their routine use of blackface in their performances despite international outcry), Romania (a few friends of mine were called the N word multiple times while a group of teenage boys laughed and pointed at them despite being asked to stop and then lied to the hostel owner about not knowing what the word meant), the list goes on.

Anyway, all of the articles I found made me viscerally upset. So, I tried to just save everything to read in pieces when I'm in a better mindset to take the level of racism I was seeing.

Here are a few of the articles I found

Blackface in elementary schools

Racism toward Black and Roma people in elementary schools

People of color fleeing Ukraine being attacked by Polish nationalists

The first one upset me most, but is something I know isn't central to just Poland. The Netherlands, if I remember correctly, also celebrates a holiday that includes Blackface (look up Black Pete), as well as Russia, who regularly engaged in blackface in their ballets at the Mariinksy theatre (which is state funded).

I've gotten into arguments about why blackface is offensive in the past, and definitely dogpiled on in YouTube comments for defending someone who pointed out the hurtful past of this practice.

People argued that it was an American problem, but spreading stereotypes is still spreading stereotypes and it is always harmful to those that are being stereotyped.

Anyway, I decided that I wanted to look into more cheerful things for now because that really, really disturbed me.

5. I researched the Polish National Ballet 🩰🦢🇵🇱!

The Polish National Ballet has a very interesting history, as written above. However, I was most interested in learning about the ballerinas and ballerinos associated with Poland. I learned about two ballet masters, Helena Cholewicka, who was considered a polish prima ballerina assoluta, which at the time was the most important title for any ballerina/o and she kept it for a little over a decade, and Aleksander Roman Turczynowicz, who was a ballet master and is the namesake of the Polish National Ballet School.

Here's what I learned about Helena Cholewicka:

🦢 She studied under the guidance of the Italian dancer Maria Taglioni (1804-1884), who at that time was the leader of European ballet stages.

🦢She was the first in the history of Polish ballet to receive the title of "prima ballerina assoluta"

🦢She was not considered a pretty dancer. She was considered frail with a slight build and and "unattractive exterior." Interestingly enough, Anna Pavlova was also considered an ugly dancer. Now, she is one of the most celebrated ballerinas in Russia. It's almost like the perfect ballet body is a social construct. Astounding.

Here's what I learned about Aleksander Roman Turczynowicz:

🦢 He was born on January 24, 1813 in Radom, Poland as Aleksander Roman. When he was nine, he was transferred to the Warsaw dance school at the then National Theater at Krasiński Square.

🦢 By age 20, he had already had such an illustrious career as a dancer, he was offered the position as a teacher at the Warsaw school to teach the youngest dancers.

🦢 During Russian partition and the long-term domination of Italian ballet masters in the Grand Theater, his many achievements in creation of romantic era ballets and productions were destroyed. Today, the memory of his work only exists in books. This is why the Polish National Ballet School is named after him, and why he is celebrated every year in his birthday at the school.

6. I learned about another Polish connection to the US: Little Poland in New York City 🏙️🇵🇱! You might think the above picture is from Poland, but nope! That, my friend, is in New York City.

Things I learned about Little Poland:

🇵🇱Little Poland is situated in Greenpoint, New York City, New York. This is in Northern Brooklyn (me!), just north of Williamsburg.

🇵🇱 It is home to the second largest concentration of Polish immigrants in the United States after Chicago. At the turn of the century, Polish immigrants began settling in the US. After the cold war, however, they came here in droves, only slowing down in about 2004 when Poland joined the EU. The majority of polish immigrants settled in Brooklyn (meeeee!!), New York. The rest settled in other places, like Chicago.

🇵🇱Polish is the 11th most spoken language in New York, and it's spoken by .73% of the population. However, in Little Poland, you can find signs in both Polish and English, as well as magazine stands and other things written in Polish. You can also hear lots of conversations spoken in Polish.

7. Learned about Polish American contributions to the United States and Other fun Polish American facts. (For example, Polish American heritage month is celebrated in October.)

Other than Marie Curie and Chopin (who didn't really contribute to the US that I know of, but did obviously contribute greatly to classical music), I found a lot of actors and actresses if Polish descent, like Jared Padalecki (kinda knew this one but still cool to confirm), Pat Benatar (had no idea she was of polish descent!), Nicholas Cage, JoJo (she has Polish, Irish and French ancestry), Zac Efron (Polish grandparents! He's also Jewish!), and Kat Graham from The Vampire Diaries! (she has Russian and Polish grandparents. Her maternal and paternal grandparents were both refugees, due to the Holocaust on the maternal side and from Liberia on her father's side)

I was thoroughly surprised by some of these people being of Polish descent, especially Zac Efron and Pat Benatar, who is actually from Greenpoint, New York.

That's it!

Goals for tomorrow:

🩰Make flashcards

🩰Do another worksheet excercise

🩰Find more Polish worksheet exercises

🩰Learn about Little Poland in Connecticut and Chicago.

🩰Get the ingredients to make a smaczny Polish meal.

Notes:

Learning about racism in Poland was thoroughly disheartening. Especially when I read a few Twitter comments about people's thoughts on the matter. I got really upset knowing some of these things, but I was unfortunately not surprised. It does make me appreciate Atlanta though, and reminds me that with all the issues America has with race problems, we are a lot farther ahead in tackling those problems and having important conversations about them, which I think we deserve to give ourselves a lot more credit for.

I loved learning about Little Poland, and found it cute that a little more of Poland is a part of me in some way, even if it is just a place in my namesake city. I love connecting with other cultures in very personal ways, and I think this is a nice way to connect with a culture that I deeply appreciate but isn't one of mine.

I unfortunately had trouble finding any full ballets put on by the Polish National Ballet, but I'll try looking again in the future since I didn't devote a lot of time to this.

Poland is such an interesting and pretty country that has its downsides just like my own country does. I love learning more about it's history outside of what I already knew due to my history major (English lit and history).

I want to read more about Polish national dress. I really want to get my own authentic drindl since my family is from Germany. The similarities between Polish national dress and German national dress(es) is very interesting, and it something I'd love to explore further.

Dobranoc!

[michelangelinden]

grey, plum, maroon! hope you're doing well (and staying safe - heard things have been messy in our fav city oof) <3

Ahh thanks! <3 I'm doing well and I'm safe, but omg shit's going down here (for anyone wondering, there are a lot of anti-corona-measures protest in the Netherlands evolving into destructive riots, including in Groningen where I live)! Anyways

grey - how many languages do you speak? do you want to learn any more?

I'm German, so I speak German. And I'm also fluent in English and I'd say I'm pretty good at Dutch, I can read and understand a lot I just haven't spoken it in a while oop (ironic, now that I live in the Netherlands). But I'm doing Italian on Duolingo right now and really wanna learn it better. And I kinda wanna learn Norwegian but eh, don't have the brain rn. I really like languages.

maroon - do you care for clothing brands?

Not really? I honestly just wear what I like on me and feel comfortable in. That being said, I'm a proud owner of Docs, Vans and Converse (queer culture)

plum - a food you've never tried

Probably a lot, I'm scared of trying new foods because I'm scared of textures. But I've never had dumplings or gyoza and I really wanna try them!!

Send me colours

[sweetiepie1990]

As a 1/2 black, 1/2 puerto rican girl who doesn't speak spanish (although my mother's side of the family does) and feels disconnected from the latina culture sometimes, what do you say? I always worry that I focus on stereotypical things to feel more Puerto Rican, or like I'm not puerto rican enough. It doesn't help that I'm extremely dark, and look pretty much like I'm only black. I just feel like not speaking spanish is really horrible, and though I took it in school, I'm horrid at it!

Hey so first? let me give you a hug. 

I’ve been hearing a lot lately about people who don’t feel connected to their Latin@ heritage. And I get it, but I also really want everyone who’s Latin@ to be able to embrace their identity. 

Latin@ culture is  easy to feel disconnected from in the US. Especially depending on where you live, and how accessible your culture is. Uh, there’s a lot to talk about so I hope I get to everything and don’t just ramble at you. 

When I was in high school, I went to like boarding school? It was like the first time I was away from my family, and a major Latin@ community. I felt like without them, I just blended in as another white person? Which, I know it’s not the same experience and being white passing (and colorism in general) comes with it’s own set of privileges that shouldn’t be ignored. But it was really invalidating. 

I felt like I was constantly losing a piece of myself because I didn’t have a community to fall back on. So I started relearning Spanish (the US is a bitch about multilingualism but hold that thought). I had this period where I binge watched the George Lopez show? I tried to throw phrases they said into conversations with my friends (even though my mom would make me wash my mouth with soap if she ever heard half the stuff I said). And I tried way too hard to like tamales and to be friends with people I didn’t get along with (but they were Latin@ so--)

There were a lot of holes I was trying to fill to make myself feel like I was a “real person”. Including how much I clung to my ex because he made me feel like I was queer enough to call myself bisexual. Basically, my life has been a series of intersecting identities that all don’t feel like I’m enough to call myself something but I’m also not heteronormative enough either. 

I think ever since then, I’ve gone through periods where I tried too hard to feel “Latin@ enough” or tried too hard to fit into the mold white heteronormativity. Honestly, I think coming out as genderqueer helped a lot with that? Because it became really clear that I definitely couldn’t fit in with white cishet people, so it helped me embrace being Latin@ a bit more. 

Which, obviously you don’t have to be queer to use the term Latin@. It’s gender neutral, but I also took a lecture with my best friend at a community college one time called Queer Latinidades about different Latin@ identities that don’t fit the norm, and being Afro Latin@ is so fucking valid and amazing but it’s constantly overlooked because Latin@ culture has a tendency to veer toward internalized racism and Anti-Blackness. Which is really shitty, and as a community we need to do fucking better. 

So, uh, I hope this doesn’t come out wrong, but fuck anyone who says or makes you think you don’t look Latin@ enough. Being Latin@ means being from or descendant from Latin America. Latin America is just as (if not more) racially diverse as the US. We’re Nativos, Filipino, Punjabi, Bengali, Chinese, Japanese...being Latin@ is about being mixed race and dealing with all of the shit that comes with that. But it’s also coming from rich backgrounds and getting to celebrate being one of a kind. 

(but yea, there’s also the whole “one of a kind can feel really isolating” thing) 

Going back to Spanish. It’s a fucking Catch 22 honestly. The US is really shitty about people being multilingual. People make shitty assumptions about you if you can speak a second language (that isn’t French) well. Then the foreign language curriculum that are required by most schools are inadequate. They don’t focus on comprehension and immersion, they focus on repetition and “retention”. So it’s hard to be good at Spanish when you don’t have the resources to do that. 

Um, I’m really lucky because my best friend is also Latin@ and they were raised in El Paso. So they practice with me all the time now. But before, I just watched telenovelas and practiced on duolingo if I felt like I was slipping. (That’s this constant fear I have, that I’m loosing my language. That one day I won’t understand shit and I won’t be me because I won’t have Spanish to fall back on.) Which, I know is bullshit. But it’s hard to unlearn the idea that speaking Spanish makes us more Latin@. Plus, some Latin@ people from other countries get REALLY smug when Latin@ people in the US can’t speak Spanish. As if they’ve never struggled with English. 

It’s honestly ok if you’re not great at speaking. Fuck, sometimes I crank up some Raggaeton as loud as possible and don’t pay attention to half of what they’re saying. I think when you can’t make exactly a community for yourself, it’s about digging deeper and finding ways to appreciate your culture.  

So taking in art (music, films, tv shows, paintings/pottery/etc, books ~ Isabelle Allende is Peruvian but her books are good and have been translated to English) and...events? Like, I think I never feel as Latin@ as I do than when I get to visit Mexico. But that’s one of those things that’s based on economic privilege more than practicality. So when I can’t do that--museum exhibits and theater are cool. Being Latin@ can mean being this really eclectic blend of spiritual and religious. Which honestly doesn’t have to be more than keeping some holy water and homemade rosary beads around. Or, if you’re like mi abuela, talking to dead people. 

 Wow, this went on longer than I thought it would. Uh, I hope this helped? Basically, you’re not alone, you’re feelings are valid, and you’re really fucking amazing. I hope you know that. Thanks for sharing