#Outstanding Children's Program

[coolmika745]

The Fairly Oddparents: A New Wish Receives Outstanding GLAAD Children's Program Award

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[muppet-facts]

Muppet Fact #1265

Every year, since the introduction of the "Outstanding Children's Program" award at the Producers Guild Awards, Muppets productions have won said award. In 2022, the award went to Muppets Haunted Mansion. The other years were all awarded to Sesame Street, as of 2023.

Source:

Wikipedia. Producers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Children's Program. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Producers_Guild_of_America_Award_for_Outstanding_Children%27s_Program.

[pjotvshownews]

James Bobin has been nominated for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs for 2023 for the first episode of Percy Jackson and the Olympians!

[not-too-many-eyes]

A Study on Mesmer Jr.

(Also Known As: Nott is obsessed with the bigot autistic girl from the time travel gacha game and its her birthday tommorow so lets talk about her.)

(CWs: Ableism, racism, child abuse) I Love Mesmer Jr. Which isn't a secret to any of my friends who have had to listen to me talk about her at length. I cannot get her out of my head. I think she's fantastically written, fun to read about, and just an all around interesting character.

As such, I want to take a moment to pull apart Mesmer Jr, and consider her place in this story. To contemplate why she acts the way she does, and to connect to the themes relating to her character. I hope you enjoy reading this.

A Curious Impression

Mesmer Jr makes an interesting impression when you first meet her. For one, she immediately causes alarm bells to rings when she talks to Sonneto, one of her earliest conversations, who she says she enjoys talking to because of their "shared values" she feels the need to say that she would have liked talking to her more if she were a "full-blooded human."

Which is something that you see a lot whenever she's complimenting an arcanist, or considering arcanists in any positive light. Even if it's inappropriate in the context, she feels the need to assert her beliefs, to say that:

Mesmer Jr, Praise: As an arcanist, your performance really amazes me. Wish you were a pure-blood human.

Of course, as we know, Mesmer Jr is an arcanist. She's a full-blooded arcanist. Being noted to be from a very Important family, and even being implied to be more talented than most of her family in their line of work: (The Fallacy of Idealism)

Nobody is more talented in this than Mesmer Jr. Her bloodline gives her outstanding ability and keen senses, which makes everything clear and intelligible to her.

She's also startlingly obedient. She has no noticeable outward negativity towards what Constantine has ordered her to do to Vertin, despite it seeming to cause pain or stress. Insisting that this is the normal treatment given to patients despite Madam Z's opinion, and we learn Much Later that her boss had an ulterior motive to all this.

She's even noted before we meet her to seem like a:

(Open Sandwich)

???: It is the other one- the one with indifferent outlines that makes her look like a refined machine.

Evoking images of perfectly programmed robots and droids that do what they are ordered to perfectly without question.

Of course, in the same part this line is from, the game is already nudging us to be open-minded when it comes to interacting with her. As the first thing we learn about her isn't her personality, isn't her appearance, isn't even her Voice.

It's her abuse.

Dirtied Hands

Open Sandwich is one of my favorite bits of writing in this game. It creates this incredible tension where you just waiting for the bad thing to happen, the line about how the child labor laws were turned into paper to wrap the sandwich is wonderful, and I love it.

But it's also the first time we ever actually hear about her. It depicts her having a Sensory Meltdown. Caused by her family's uh- blatant disregard for children's rights, and exposing her to a patient at age 12 because her skill was useful for the treatment. The trauma of the event marking the start of her "nightmare."

Of course this isn't the Only Thing she has gone through at the age of 12. The entire events of Nouvelles et Textes pour Rien happened during when she was 12. She might of had even more traumatic experience before that, considering she went to SPDM, a school that we know Very Well for their child abuse, and she Certainly had traumatic experiences afterwards.

She Is a 16 year old therapist taking care of The Foundation's most "unstable" patients, after all:

Mesmer Jr, Suitcase Climate: Those insane people screamed and rushed out of the guardroom. They kept meaninglessly and repeatedly roaring. Then, their blood shed on the snowy ground. I've seen that a lot.

The Rights of Children Don't Matter when there is Scarcity. Her needs are secondary to The Company's. Her welfare simply isn't important for the Foundation's Beautiful Future. Only the skills and infromation she can provide.

Constantine even manipulated Mesmer Jr into telling her the plan. Purposefully traumatizing her so that she would become scared and anxious. She Asked her to help them, trusting that Constantine, an adult she trusted, would be able to help. Constantine just lied, and made her continue to treat these people even when the experience mind numbingly traumatic for even fully-grown adults.

As a result, Mesmer Jr has developed multiple mental illnesses. Most notable OCD, but she seems to hallucinate in her Monologue.

She's not exactly a healthy person, which really compounds how much you Don't want her to be a therapist.

Of course, it's not like she would ever seek actual proper treatment for it.

For many reasons.

For one, Reverse 1999 is not exactly a kind world to the mentally ill, and she herself is a good example as to why.

Proper Treatment

Let's go back to the first thing I mentioned about Mesmer Jr. She's a bigot, she's a certified racist to every arcanist she ever talks to. She thinks humans are the superior race that will overtake arcanists.

She's also ableist. Just horrible ableist. These two bigotries are intertwined in Very important ways. Her hatred of arcanists is informed by her hatred of the mentally ill, and is further informed by what she has been taught about arcanists.

Reverse has established that the way arcanists and humans are generally viewed is that arcanists are the more emotional, unstable, immature ones and humans are the more logical, stable, and mature ones.

Now, this is a stereotype, one that has been proven wrong time and time again. There is nothing logical, stable, or mature about being so upset at a 12 year old you think killing her friends is a good idea.

And similarly, there is nothing actually inherently wrong about being a weirdo, or mentally ill. For one, uh, everyone is a bit of a freak sometimes, and two, Mesmer Jr treats it as if for the world to get better arcanists need to fully disappear and be replaced with human rationality, but Madam Hoffman says it best:

(Chapter 6 Part 15: With Hope Rekindled)

Hofmann: We have all heard it, humans are more rational and arcanists are more emotional. Hofmann: Their sensitive to the darkness of the world, so they can easily become absorbed in their own emotions and ignore reality Hofmann: But, if we put a human child in the position of an arcanist, who always takes on the world because of his uniqueness, who is never understood for his talents... Hoffmann: Maybe he too will become impulsive, sensitive immature and unstable Hoffmann: And that's why it sometimes dawns on me that if we put an arcanist child in the position of a human being who receives enough love, education, and positive feedback... Hoffmann: These 'instabilities' might be controllable. At least enough to keep them from hurting themselves or others.

But Mesmer Jr really does believe wholeheartedly that being a "freak" is bad, and that being an arcanist is to blame for why she is one.

Mesmer Jr, Hat and Hair: Thanks to it, we are all freaks now. Haven't you ever blamed your brain? Haven't you for once vomited due to the sound or whisper in your brain? How naive and ignorant.

That being an arcanist is something inherently wrong, and as a result of that inherent wrongness, that inherent "insanity," they need to be controlled by humanity.

Mesmer Jr, Chitchat II: I can only stand those arcanists from the Foundation and the Laplace. After all, their insanity is contained by humans.

She believes that humans are destined to overtake arcanists like it's natural selection. That it's only inevitable that arcanists will be overtaken by a species that in her eyes, is logical and understandable.

Mesmer Jr, To the Future: Just like Homo sapiens wiped out Neanderthals, arcanists will be eliminated as well. This is not a prediction, but a predestined fate.

This is, of course, due to the systemic part of Reverse's world constantly pushing this idea that arcanists are Inherently more immature and chaotic.

Constantine and her family deeply traumatized Mesmer Jr and then told her it wasn't actually their fault but this Other Group that She is also apart of but Don't Worry it can Be Controlled.

Mesmer Jr: It's not just about age. It was never going to be suitable for me. Mesmer Jr: Unless one day all the arcanists are gone. Pandora Wilson: Then you and I will be gone, too. Mesmer Jr: Exactly, along with the source of my pain

However, Mesmer Jr's own mental illnesses and susceptibility towards being overwhelmed by others emotions does really mean that she finds being around highly emotional people Taxing. She also finds that the unpredictable of life and other people Tiresome.

She was friends with Vertin in the rest when she was younger sure, but even then she did find arcanists overwhelming and "scary," even when she wasn't in the full thick of it, she saw them being treated and found it unpleasant and painful.

(Nouvelles et Textes pour Rien)

Mesmer Jr: But I'm not interested in arcanists. They are all mad people, and we had to treat them after all...They looked scary.

Now, usually, you grow out of this. She's not Born To Be Racist Forever.

In a better world she very much could have, I dunno-

Be able to actually internalize that arcanists aren't actually inherently a harmful thing, but that her needs sometimes conflict with the needs of others and grew up with the tools necessary to understand that this is a fixable problem that doesn't actually need a whole group of people including herself to die to be solved.

Or, something like that.

However, this isn't that world, this world thinks Mesmer Jr is a good therapist, and that her treatment is humane.

So she's seeks to create stability in the world as a result of that lack of support.

Mesmer Jr, Hobby: What you see is the alignment and tidiness. What I adore is this orderly state.

As much as she understands that it's a sign of her own "franticness" that she does this, it gives her comfort knowing that she has things that she Can Control. That her life isn't actually dictated fully by things out of her understanding. That she has the ability to direct her life in a small, maybe even insignificant way.

Cause, she really just doesn't have much control over her life.

Press the Button

Mesmer Jr, Clothing and Torso: ...Achieve the function.

A lot of Mesmer Jr's idolization of humanity comes from this idea of efficiency and simplicity. She talks so much about rationality and "tidiness," but as I've already established Reverse is full of so many instances of "human insanity" so it's plain ignorant to ascribe this trait to humans.

Which, well one she is ignorant, and also racism isn't rational and Mesmer Jr was taught human supremacy of course it's not going to be aligned with actual reality.

Which is true.

However, I do think it's interesting these traits that she idolizes are not from humans but from:

Mesmer Jr, Clothing and Torso: Humans are like machinery, simple and efficient. Arcanists are quite the opposite.

That's who she's actually idolizing here, isn't it? She's not really idolizing humans, that's just the framework she was given. She's idolizing machines and going "Wow humans are so cool."

Her Udimo is a machine.

Not just any machine, but a machine invented in part By Her Workplace, and even when she was 12 the narrator describes her as a "refined machine." Indifferent and rigid.

This is the beautiful controlled being that she is seeking! The beautiful tidy, orderly, calm being that just proceeds with whatever order is given to it. One that has...completely no control over it's life, and what to do with it.

Because, traditionally speaking, Machines do not have the ability to self-determine. They don't exist as people with conscious thought and emotion, but as Things and Tools that can Achieve Functions.

I noted way back in the start that Mesmer Jr is startlingly obedient. She does what she is told, and encourages others to do the same.

She's glad that Vertin:

Mesmer Jr, 100% Bond Conversation: ...Anyway, I'm glad you gave up on those insane plans.

Before saying that she doesn't want to be forced to Lobotomize Her, and that she doesn't actually want anyone to end up in Artificial Somnambulism.

But she doesn't say she won't do it. Just that she's happy Vertin did "give up" because it means that she probably won't have to. This seems to be her general approach. Even if she's not happy, she'll do it, her wants don't matter.

She assumes that she has no other option and that her only path forward is following orders from her boss. That the only path forward is the one set for her. There's no point in fighting it so she's just gonna continue on that path, and others should do the same or else they'll get Hurt. Learned Helplessness.

Sonetto is similar to her in this sense (Mesmer Jr says so herself,) and Sonetto is shown to hold quite a lot of repressed emotions, and to deviate from the rules or what is logical when she feels something is at stake.

After all: (Is ABA Really “Dog Training for Children”? A Professional Dog Trainer Weighs In.)

We all know that we can feel angry without expressing anger. That we can smile when inside we are crying. You can stop someone from expressing an emotion, but that doesn’t make the emotion go away. A dog who has been trained not to growl is considered by trainers to be a “time bomb dog.” When you read about a dog attack that came “out of nowhere” and “without warning,” it is because this sort of method was used to handle “problem behaviours.” Studies show that dogs trained with these sorts of methods actually have an increased rate of aggression, because punishing aggressive behaviour doesn’t deal with the underlying fear and anxiety that caused the aggression in the first place.

But Mesmer Jr, in contrast to Sonetto, who has an interest in poetry and curiosity in the outside world and has the aforementioned repressed emotions. Has no real distinct personal identity. She does not own anything that shows her interests, unlike her other coworkers who usually have at least Something on them. All of her items are stuff made by Laplace and exist unaltered. Even her cute little headband is a EM amplifier is part of the uniform.

She holds no control, no identity, no agency. She exists as a machine that someone can press the buttons of and achieve whatever function she needs to achieve at the given moment.

This is her current state of existence, and it's not something that's exactly sustainable. The cracks in this machine-living have been showing since she was 12. How many more do you think have been created now that she's 16?

The Foundation

Now, this is really depressing, but that's because Mesmer Jr is just a bit of a depressing character. She can't really get away from her job. For one, her parents are horrible, two The Storm means that the world is always on the verge of ending. Where else will she go?

But, as said previously:

A dog who has been trained not to growl is considered by trainers to be a “time bomb dog.”

Similarly, a girl trained to not develop any sort of identity will crack Someday.

I have no knowledge of what could happen next in her story, nor am I interested in theorizing about it. But I do find it interesting to think about.

[nnicknnelsonn]

Kit Connor’s Awards for Heartstopper

The very first Best Actor for a Lead Performance award at the very first Children’s & Family Emmy Awards ever. Making history, our Kit. No one will ever forget his name. 2022

The Royal Society Program Awards’ for Leading Actor: Male (competing against much older and more established adult actors). 2023

GQ Man of the Year with Joe Locke. 2022

Kit also won both the Best TV Performance: Male (Best Actor) and as part of the cast for the Best TV Comedy Award at the Queerty Awards this year! 2024. He wasn’t able to attend so Bash & Will collected it for him. (X)

See also (Xam Vvvv

2am

All the Heartstopper Children’s Emmy awards:

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Preschool, Children's or Young Teen (Kit Connor)

Outstanding Guest Performance in a Preschool, Children's or Young Teen (Olivia Colman)

Outstanding Youth Teen Series

Outstanding Writing for a Young Teen

Outstanding Casting for a Live Action

[docgold13]

The Folks behind the Toons

Rebecca Sugar

Rebecca Rea Sugar was born in July 9 of 1987 in Silver Spring, Maryland.  Sugar was raised in the Sligo Park Hills area of Silver Springs where she simultaneously attended Montgomery Blair High School and the Visual Arts Center at Albert Einstein High School.  

Following graduating from the School of Visual Arts in New York where she majored in animation, Sugar landed a job as a storyboard revisionist on the animated series, Adventure Time.  Her talent and quality of her work quickly led to Sugar being promoted to storyboard artist, making her debut during the production of the second season. Her first episode was ‘It Came from the Nightosphere.’  Whist working on the show, Sugar was encouraged by the creative team to put her ‘own life experiences into the character of Marceline.’

A talented musician and song-writer, Sugar write a number of the songs that appeared in Adventure Time.  This included ‘Everything Stays’ for the seventh season miniseries Stakes, the song ‘Time Adventure' for the series finale. Sugar returned for the Adventure Time spin-off Fionna & Cake to write the songs ‘Part of the Madness’ and ‘Cake on the Loose.’  

With encouragement from Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward and fellow animator  Ian Jones-Quartey, Sugar began developing her own animated series entitled Steven Universe.  The project was picked up by Cartoon Network while Sugar was still working on Adventure Time.  She left the show in its fifth season to work exclusively on Steven Universe.

At the series conclusion, Sugar directed the full-length television movie, called Steven Universe: The Movie.  The movie premiered on Cartoon Network in September of 2019 and was followed by an epilogue limited series entitled Steven Universe Future (also with Sugar as executive producer).  Sugar created several original songs for Steven Universe.   

Sugar acted as the executive producer for Steven Universe for its entire run, and a storyboard artist for several of its episodes.  The series premiered in November of 2013 and was a huge hit, running for five seasons. 

Along with being a fun, imaginative and much-loved adventure series, Steven Universe is notable for its emphasis on inclusivity and embracing of LBGTQ+ themes.  The show earned numerous accolades, including a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Kids & Family Program, as well as the 2019 Peabody Award for Children's & Youth Programming (the first animated series to win the award).  

At a panel at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con, Sugar noted that the LBGTQ+ themes in Steven Universe are in large part based on her own experience as a bisexual woman. In a interview on NPR in 2018 Sugar said that she created the series' ‘Gem’ characters as non-binary women in order to express herself through them. 

In an interview for Paper Magazine in 2020, Sugar expanded that she does not specifically identify as a woman yet had felt pressure to conceal this due to being known as the first woman to create a Cartoon Network series.  In truth, Sugar identifies as non-binary and utilizes both "she/her" and "they/them" pronouns.  

In June 2024, it was announced that Sugar would write a new Adventure Time movie alongside fellow franchise alums Adam Muto and Patrick McHale, marking her return to the franchise.  She is additionally working on a fantasy-adventure film directed by Matt Braly, with the script written by Sugar and Braly.  

Sugar married her colleague Ian Jones-Quartey in 2019.

[disneytva]

Congratulations to the crew members of Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney Television Animation, Disney EMEA Animation, Lucasfilm Animation and Disney Jr. Education & Inclusion for their wins at The 3rd Annual Children and Family Emmy Awards.

The Walt Disney Company took 25 wins with the 20th Television live action series "Percy Jackson And The Olympians" being the lead of the awards of the night.

Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (Disney Channel / Disney Television Animation)3 Wins

Outstanding Children’s or Young Teen Animated Series

Outstanding Directing for an Animated Series – “The Molecular Level”

Outstanding Writing for a Children’s or Young Teen Animated Series – “Dancing with Myself”

Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire (Disney+ / Disney EMEA Animation)1 Win

Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation – Character Design

Monsters at Work (Disney Channel/ Disney Television Animation)1 Win

Outstanding Voice Directing for an Animated Series

Once Upon a Studio (Walt Disney Animation Studios)1 Win

Outstanding Short Form Animated Program

Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures (Lucasfilm Ltd. /Lucasfilm Animation/ Disney Jr. Education & Inclusion)1 Win

Outstanding Sound Mixing and Sound Editing for a Preschool Animated Program

SuperKitties (Disney Jr. / Disney Jr. Education & Inclusion/Sony Pictures Animation Television)1 Win

Outstanding Voice Performer in a Preschool Program – Kari Wahlgren

[kwebtv]

Linda Lavin (October 15, 1937 – December 29, 2024) Stage, screen and television actress and singer. Known for her roles on stage and screen, she received several awards including three Drama Desk Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two Obie Awards, and a Tony Award as well as nominations for a Daytime Emmy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. She was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2010.

She made her television debut in Rhoda and had a recurring role in Barney Miller (1975–1976). She gained notoriety for playing the title role of a waitress at a roadside diner in the CBS sitcom Alice (1976–1985), a role for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and won two consecutive Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. She later starred in NBC's sitcom Sean Saves the World and the CBS sitcom 9JKL and took recurring roles in the legal drama The Good Wife (2014–2015) and the sitcom B Positive (2020–2022).

In 1967, Lavin made an appearance as Gloria Thorpe in a television version of the baseball musical Damn Yankees with Phil Silvers. In 1969, Lavin married actor Ron Leibman, and by 1973, the couple had arrived in Hollywood, California. After various guest appearances on episodic television series such as The Nurses, Rhoda, Harry O, and Kaz, Lavin landed a recurring role as Detective Janice Wentworth on Barney Miller during the first and second seasons (1975–1976).

She left Barney Miller to star in the lead role in Alice, which was a sitcom success that ran from 1976 to 1985 thru the CBS network. The series was based on the Martin Scorsese–directed Ellen Burstyn film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.

 Lavin also made numerous television appearances outside of Alice, including hosting her own holiday special for CBS, Linda in Wonderland (1980). She acted in two sitcoms, Room for Two (1992–93) and 1998's Conrad Bloom. In Room for Two, she played a mother who moved in with her daughter, played by Patricia Heaton, who has a show on a local television station. The daughter gives Lavin's character her own segment, called "Just a Thought", at the end of her program.

She made numerous television guest appearances, including roles on The Muppet Show (1979), Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The O.C., Touched by an Angel (1999), and HBO's The Sopranos (2002).

She also appeared in many telefilms between 1967 and 1998, including: Damn Yankees!, Sadbird, The Morning After, Jerry, Like Mom, Like Me, The $5.20 an Hour Dream, Another Woman's Child, Maricela, Lena: My 100 Children, Whitewash, A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story, Stolen Memories: Secrets from the Rose Garden, For the Future: The Irvine Fertility Scandal, The Ring, and Best Friends for Life. Lavin produced and starred in A Matter of Life and Death, the 1981 telefilm based on the work of nurse thanatologistJoy Ufema. She directed the 1990 telefilm Flour Babies. (Wikipedia)

IMDb Listing

[madamegemknight]

and they used a clip from I'm Pogey!!!! which I'm normal about!!

ph season finale yesterday. children and family emmys today. huge time to be a puppet enjoyer.

[muppet-facts]

Muppet Fact #1431

The Sesame Street special When You Wish Upon a Pickle won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program in 2019.

Source:

71st Primetime Emmy Awards. 2019.

[witchofanguish]

I've been tinkering around with this sci-fi setting for the past few months:

Basically, in response to continued freak out about declining birth rates, artificial wombs capable of ectogenesis are developed, and being that mass immigration has become a dead letter by this point, the government decides that the smart thing to do, if people won't have kids on their own, would be to produce tens of thousands of artificial wombs and raise the kids on their own. Over the cries about the obvious ethical concerns, the government builds massive complexes across the country consisting of the wombs, nurseries, classrooms, and anything else that might be needed to raise a large group of children from birth to 18.

Obviously, this runs into immediate issues. Nowhere near enough money for the program was allocated, so many complexes are left unfinished or improperly furnished, and once the first babies begin to be born, the facilities are left horribly understaffed. Most of the children are undersocialized, and even in the few facilities where there's enough nurses and caretakers, the reality of the situation with the funding issue means there's always going to be a revolving door of caretakers, so the children can never get attached to any given caretaker. With minimal oversight, the rates of child abuse in the complexes are through the roof, and a poorly motivated workforce means many common medical issues that would be caught early go undetected for years.

Things get worse as the kids age into grade school. Funding has continued at a steady rate, since everyone is motivated to tackle the "population issue," but it's nowhere near enough, and now that the program has been going on for years it's an open secret that a job in the facilities is one of the worst teaching jobs you could possibly take. Classroom sizes are high, teacher quality is low, and student motivation is... variable at best. Originally, there were plans to take children out to make sure they don't spend their whole lives isolated from the areas they're meant to economically stimulate, but being that the administrators don't want to humiliate themselves and the program as a whole, it's quickly decided that that idea should be scrapped. Most of these children live out their entire childhoods in the world of the complex, except for a few outstanding children who go to outside schools on scholarships. The rest are left in a nightmare of abusive caregivers, hostile teachers, and no connections except for what they have among themselves.

The story starts with our intrepid protagonist, from the first group of grown children, being kicked out the door on her eighteenth birthday with nothing but a few months worth of funding for housing, into a world she has next to zero familiarity with. Good luck!

[beardedmrbean]

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A group of 49 white South Africans departed their homeland Sunday for the United States on a private charter plane having been offered refugee status by the Trump administration under a new program announced in February.

The group, which included families and small children, was due to arrive at Dulles International Airport outside Washington on Monday morning local time, according to Collen Msibi, a spokesperson for South Africa's transport ministry.

They are the first Afrikaners — a white minority group in South Africa �� to be relocated after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Feb. 7 accusing South Africa's Black-led government of racial discrimination against them and announcing a program to offer them relocation to America.

The South African government said it is “completely false” that Afrikaners are being persecuted.

The Trump administration has fast-tracked their applications while pausing other refugee programs, halting arrivals from Afghanistan, Iraq, most of sub-Saharan Africa and other countries in a move being challenged in court.

Refugee groups have questioned why the white South Africans are being prioritized ahead of people from countries wracked by war and natural disasters. Vetting for refugee status in the U.S. often takes years.

The Trump administration says the South African government is pursuing racist, anti-white policies through affirmative action laws and a new land expropriation law it says targets Afrikaners' land. The government says those claims are based on misinformation and there is no racism against Afrikaners and no land has been expropriated, although the contentious law has been passed and is the focus of criticism in South Africa.

South Africa also denies U.S. claims that Afrikaners are being targeted in racially motivated attacks in some rural communities. Instead, the South African government said Afrikaners — who are the descendants of Dutch and French colonial settlers — are "amongst the most economically privileged" in the country.

The first Afrikaner refugees were traveling on a flight operated by the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based charter company Omni Air International, Msibi said. They would fly to Dakar, Senegal and stop there to refuel before heading for Dulles.

They departed from OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, where they were accompanied by police officers and airport officials when they checked in. Msibi said they would have to be vetted by police to ensure there were no criminal cases or outstanding warrants against them before being allowed to leave.

The South African government said there was no justification for them being relocated but said it wouldn't stop them and respected their freedom of choice.

They are expected to be greeted at Dulles by a U.S. government delegation, including the deputy secretary of state and officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, whose refugee office has organized their resettlement.

The flight will be the first in a “much larger-scale relocation effort,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told reporters on Friday. Miller said that what was happening to Afrikaners in South Africa "fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created.”

“This is persecution based on a protected characteristic — in this case, race. This is race-based persecution,” he said.

The HHS Office for Refugee Resettlement was ready to offer them support, including with housing, furniture and other household items, and expenses like groceries, clothing, diapers and more, a document obtained by The Associated Press said. The document said the relocation of Afrikaners was "a stated priority of the Administration.”

There are around 2.7 million Afrikaners among South Africa’s population of 62 million, which is more than 80% Black. They are only one part of the country's white minority.

Many in South Africa are puzzled by claims that Afrikaners are persecuted and meet the requirements to be relocated as refugees.

They are part of South Africa’s everyday multi-racial life, with many successful business leaders and some serving in government as Cabinet ministers and deputy ministers. Their language is widely spoken and recognized as an official language, and churches and other institutions reflecting Afrikaner culture hold prominence in almost every city and town.

The Trump administration has criticized South Africa on several fronts. Trump's February executive order cut all U.S. funding to South Africa over what it said was its anti-white stance and also accused it of pursuing an anti-American foreign policy. It cited South Africa's ties with Iran and its move to lodge a genocide case against U.S. ally Israel over the war in Gaza as examples of it taking "aggressive positions towards the United States."

[librarycards]

Following months of escalating protest over the organization’s response to Israel’s war on Gaza, and the recent withdrawal of over a third of this year’s nominees, the 2024 PEN America Literary Awards have now officially been cancelled. In the last hour, PEN America confirmed this cancellation in a press release published on the organization’s website: PEN America announced today the cancellation of its annual Literary Awards ceremony, and released the names of its 2024 award finalists and winners. It was a very difficult decision not to move forward with a public celebration to recognize this year’s honorees, according to PEN America’s Literary Programming Chief Officer Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf. “We greatly respect that writers have followed their consciences, whether they chose to remain as nominees in their respective categories or not,” said Rosaz Shariyf. “We regret that this unprecedented situation has taken away the spotlight from the extraordinary work selected by esteemed, insightful and hard-working judges across all categories. As an organization dedicated to freedom of expression and writers, our commitment to recognizing and honoring outstanding authors and the literary community is steadfast.” [...] For the cash prizes that could not be conferred, a decision about how to allocate the funds will be made on a case-by-case basis, according to the specifications of each award contract and the wishes of our generous award underwriters. Of the 61 authors and translators nominated for a book award this cycle, 28 authors chose to withdraw their books from consideration. Nine of the ten authors recognized as nominees for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award withdrew their work from consideration. Katrina Vanden Heuvel, Wendy Vanden Heuvel, and Bill Clegg, on behalf of the foundation and the Literary Estate of Jean Stein, provided the following statement: “Jean Stein was a passionate advocate for Palestinian rights who published, supported, and celebrated Palestinian writers and visual artists.  While she established the PEN America award in her name to bring attention to and provide meaningful support to writers of the highest literary achievement, we know she would have respected the stance and sacrifice of the writers who have withdrawn from contention this year. To honor their decision the Estate of Jean Stein has directed PEN America to donate the $75,000 award to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.”

[dailynicknews]

The GLAAD Media Awards honor outstanding fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of LGBTQ people and issues in media.

[yukaro353]

Random thoughts about Pemlinzin (but about AUs)

🪷A universe with kaiju where people with affinities for combat robots are bred for combat and used as little more than weapons. Tenzin becomes a robot engineer to be close to Lin, who is the best pilot of her generation. With sacrifice they gain permission to marry but the higher-ups want to introduce Lin to a "seedbed" program to preserve their bloodline even if it is against her will. To "balance things out" they are assigned a caretaker, Pema. Unfortunately things don't go the way the higher-ups want.

🪷Pema and Tenzin are "something", two boys in high school (he is about to graduate and she is just starting), their love story begins when she moves in next door and from there it seems like a classic shojo... Until one night something crashes in the yard, a creature that comes from the depths of the sky and calls itself "Lin Beifong"

🪷Lin is an untraditional woman in the 70s, she has always felt out of place in the feminine standard, her choice of a career as a detective does not improve the treatment of society either, but it is okay, she is married, she has a healthy daughter, at least that cushions things... Until her husband is kidnapped and she must enter a cult to bring him back, but she is not alone, Pema, a young woman in her twenties who ran away from home looking for freedom and meaning in her life sees in Lin (and in Tenzin) the opportunity to escape from that place that distanced her from everything, even from herself.

🪷Pema and Tenzin are summoned to the religious school because their eldest daughter was discovered kissing her best friend, that should serve as a push for both of them to get Jinora out of that school... But not before getting the number of Opal's aunt, whom they would meet at that meeting... Or at least Pema, Tenzin has things to confess.

🪷Tenzin is a university professor who is about to marry his lifelong best friend, a police officer who has finally given in after almost ten years of relationship. However, one of his new students, the very outstanding Pema, begins to get closer to him little by little, but it seems that it is not him that she is looking for in his cryptic paintings.

🪷Pema's life is perfect, she's married and has her spectacular children, she doesn't have to worry about anything but her family, however, her oldest daughter insists that she accompany her to her ballet classes now that her father has changed shifts at work. Pema accepts, discovering from the stands a complicated passion for that type of dance and for the woman who instructs him, perhaps hell is not the only thing that lies beneath his scarred face.

🪷Lin is a lonely girl. She was just a child when the world succumbed to the plague that destroyed society and now she wanders on her steed, evading death day by day. Her days seemed doomed to that until a strange couple at the wheel of a fortified motor home saves her from dying at the hands of the infected... Maybe living in the apocalypse isn't so bad.

And that, expect it in fic or drawing format, whatever comes up.

[disneytva]

Disney Television Animation And Disney Jr. Education & Inclusion Lead Family And Children Nominations For 36 GLAAD Media Awards

The 2025 GLAAD Media Awards nominations have been revealed.

Wicked, Queer, Love Lies Bleeding, Mean Girls and My Old Ass are among the nominees in the outstanding film — wide theatrical release category.

GLAAD, the LGBTQ media advocacy organization, also announced nominees in TV, music, journalism, Broadway and podcast categories. In the animation and family categories, Disney Branded Television snagged multiple nominations with shows and specials from Disney Television Animation, Disney Jr. Education & Inclusion and Disney Original Documentaries.

Disney Television Animation and Disney Jr. Education & Inclusion lead the nominations with Nickelodeon and Netflix as second and third place with shows like Heartstopper, The Fairly Odd Parents: A New Wish and The Really Loud House.

Outstanding Children’s Programming

Firebuds (Disney Television Animation)

Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures (Disney Jr. Education & Inclusion, Lucasfilm Animation)

Outstanding Kids & Family Programming or Film – Animated

Monsters At Work - "Powerless" (Disney Television Animation)

Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur - "The Gatekeeper" (Disney Television Animation)

Kiff - "Kiff: The Haunting of Miss McGravy’s House" (Disney Television Animation)

Hailey' On It! - "I Wanna Dance With My Buddy" (Disney Television Animation)

Primos - "Summer of The Heart Eyes" (Disney Television Animation)

The 36th annual GLAAD Media Awards are set to take place in Los Angeles on March 27.