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purplepaigepurple535 · 5 days ago

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hey y'all, this is a research paper i wrote in my advanced research seminar... by popular demand im gonna post it because i think it ended up being really interesting. the books i read to do this were also so so good, like BG's autobiography and pat summitt's too. took me like a week to write but it was so so interesting. hope u guys like it!

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From Scrutiny to Stardom: The Media Evolution of Women’s College Basketball

Research question: To what extent have media portrayals of women’s college basketball evolved from the ‘Old Era’ to the ‘New Era’, when did this turning point occur, and how much have these changes contributed to the sport’s growing popularity?

IB Extended Essay Language and Literature: Category 3

3,990 Words

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Introduction

Women’s college basketball: the cultural phenomenon that floods social media pages around the world. It seems as though it came out of nowhere, materializing in the early 2020s and sticking around since. But the truth is, it's always been around. Sitting on the back burner, waiting for its time to shine, while men’s sports dominated the media, the fans, and the world. As recounted by WNBA Star Brittney Griner, it survived periods where it would only be mentioned as a side note regarding a player’s gender, sexuality, or race. It thrived in moments of unbridled competition and fierce opposition. A dynamic, exciting, emotionally stimulating game, women’s college basketball is a rollercoaster that’s been bringing fans on an thrilling ride for decades.

Between 1990 and 2020 (the “Old Era”) the game was defined by big rivalries like UConn vs. Tennessee and UConn vs. Notre Dame, and ended up producing stars such as Diana Taurasi (drafted from UConn in 2004), Candace Parker (from Tennessee, 2008), Tina Charles (UConn, 2010), and Maya Moore (UConn, 2011). Powerhouse programs, like those which the game’s biggest stars played for, dominated the game both competitively and culturally.

But from the resurgence of Geno Auriemma’s legendary UConn dynasty in 2025 to the short stint of Caitlin Clark and Lisa Bluder’s Iowa squad in the early 2020s, women's college basketball is changing drastically. The star-studded sport is making headlines, breaking records, and drawing in more viewership than it’s ever seen. Some think this emergence seems out of the blue, unpredictable even, but in reality it has been brewing for quite some time. Since being sponsored by the NCAA in 1982, the sport has seen hundreds of iconic, big-name players.

Marking the transition from the ‘Old Era’ to the ‘New Era’ (2020-present), players like Taurasi, Charles, and Parker started to be replaced by modern legends like Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, and A’ja Wilson. But, what makes today’s game different from the past isn’t just great players. It’s how much the world sees of them, their personalities, and their presence off the court. Though the problem was that, before social media, the only sources of information for fans would be heavily manipulated media narratives and expertly crafted headlines. Platforms like Facebook (started in 2004) and Instagram (2010) helped athletes to show their own personal styles and connect directly with their fans on a different level. Players’ hobbies, traits, skills, and sexualities have all become common grounds for healthy bonding with fans. More people celebrating their differences and appreciating their similarities, a major contrast to the judgemental and scrutinizing nature of the world before social media. This has come hand in hand with cultural shifts over the last few years, with the growing visibility of LGBTQ athletes and creation of online fan communities that have changed how enthusiasts engage with the sport.

Perhaps fueled by their well-earned “hype” on social media, the turning point in the sport’s popularity came after being blessed by the recruiting class of 2020. A group of electrifying, dynamic high school stars, the 2020 seniors were destined to have a major impact on their game at the collegiate level. They brought remarkable motivation and passion to the NCAA, taking their respective colleges by storm and playing hard through tremendous adversity. But even among incredible athletes like Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, Hailey Van Lith and Kamila Cardoso, two stars stood out above the rest. They became household names, cementing their identities as some of the greatest to ever grace the college basketball stage. Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers ignited the flame under the ‘New Era’ of women’s basketball.

Since Clark and Bueckers began to play in college, the sport is now fueled by social media visibility, cultural movements regarding gender and identity, and a new group of athletes who are just as famous and impactful on a ‘For You’ page as they are on the court. The surge in the appeal for women’s basketball today brings up an important question: To what extent have media portrayals of women’s college basketball evolved from the ‘Old Era’ to the ‘New Era’, when did this turning point occur, and how much have these changes contributed to the sport’s growing popularity? This essay will dive deeper into that transformation and conclusions drawn from it. As the world becomes more open and accepting of different identities, it seems as though the media has an important obligation to carefully and accurately represent female athletes, since the narratives that headlines build shape how the women are perceived.

The ‘Old Era’ Media Landscape

During the ‘Old Era’ (between 1990 and 2020), women’s college basketball was home to some of the biggest rivalries in sports. Even with the severely limited amount of media coverage allotted, most was taken up by such rivalries and the chaos surrounding them. Those rivalry matchups were often the ones streamed nationally, as opposed to standard regular season games. This era also saw the development of generational talents (for example, Taurasi, Parker, and Charles) who became household names and cemented themselves into basketball history. Some might think that the portrayals of those rivalries and athletes caused most media narratives to be straightforward, but that is far from the truth. This era in media was underlined by many cultural issues, which created a big challenge for anyone trying to represent the sport accurately.

This section will dive deeper into the specific characteristics of women’s basketball media during the ‘Old Era’. Two main parts will be examined: first, the struggle for widespread media visibility, and second, the way players are portrayed in media, more specifically pertaining to gender and sexuality. Both factors can be used to show the inconsistent and unfair representation of female athletes, since women’s and men’s sports often competed for broadcast slots in a world where men’s sports were highly dominant. It is important to understand these dynamics and stereotypes if viewers want to truly see female athletes for who they are and not just what the skewed media narratives show them to be.

A main example of the men’s vs. women’s theme going on during this ‘Old Era’, is how women’s college basketball games often needed to fight for prime-time slots on major television networks. Even though certain games invoked what would be considered more than enough interest to be broadcast, networks were not able to turn that interest into broadcast priority. Very solid ratings were given to the most anticipated matchups, as explained in Jeff Goldberg’s Unrivaled. For example the 1994 UConn vs. Tennessee game, an MLK Day special, earned a 1.0 rating nationally . Tennessee star Kellie Jolly also talked about the buzz around the game: "People were excited about women's basketball. That was huge for our sport [...] no game was talked about like Tennessee-Connecticut." Headlines regarding women’s basketball though, showed how much the world doubted the sport and its growth. An example of this is a 1994 article in The New York Times, headlined, “COLLEGE BASKETBALL; N.C.A.A. Women Are Tipping Off In Untapped Areas”. By using words like ‘untapped’ and ‘tipping off’, the headline implies that the sport is entering an area that the world never thought it would reach. Although the wording might have been questionable, it did what was rarely done at the time: it acknowledged that there was in fact a tipping point and women’s basketball was reaching it. This, along with the attention on the 1994 MLK game, were major accomplishments for the sport, proving that viewers would in fact tune in to nationally broadcasted games. This was to the great pleasure of many ESPN network executives, but was particularly appreciated by Carol Stiff, a women’s sports content coordinator who eventually rose to the position of Vice President of Women's Sports Programming & Acquisitions . In Unrivaled, she notes, "You couldn’t walk away from the fact that [the Martin Luther King Day] game rated a 1.0, at one in the afternoon. I was pretty thrilled with that number. I would love to get that nowadays." After great successes like the MLK day game in 1994, “the NCAA and major networks signed a new contract in the spring of 1995, granting ESPN exclusive broadcasting rights to the women’s regional finals and Final Four beginning in 1996”. This created exposure and the sport began to gain more traction.

The effects of this event, which seemed promising, quickly disappeared. Other networks took over the coverage of the main rivalry games, and their priorities were not always centered around women’s sports. As Goldberg explains, "the contract stated that the [UConn-Tennessee] game was under the SEC contract and CBS gets first choice.” Since they only needed to broadcast three regular season games, CBS would schedule them as triple-headers during the same time NFL wild card weekends. This caused the basketball matchups to go up against more popular football broadcasts. Stiff was upset about the situation, expressing how she didn’t think it was right that "big marquee game[s] in prime time" were often "put up against the NFL playoffs.”

These factors made the sport unable to reach a wider audience, causing rivals to play multiple times in a season just to gain viewership.

Tennessee legend Pat Summitt talks in her autobiography Sum It Up about a conversation she had with her greatest nemesis, UConn coach and 12-time national champion Geno Auriemma. She explains that one of the few things she and Auriemma had in common was their interest in growing the sport. Summitt agreed to Auriemma’s proposal for the ESPN game on MLK day, even though her team was clearly disadvantaged. Summitt stated, "I couldn’t say no. I’d always felt a tremendous responsibility to give back to the game... So I said yes. And we lost.” This decision she made, which prioritized the good of the sport over her own team, shows how most coaches were very dedicated to improving the visibility of the game. The stubbornness and blatant sexism of TV networks led coaches and players to react and make decisions they might not have otherwise made, simply to increase viewership.

Society in the ‘Old Era’ also put a lot of pressure on female athletes. Instead of just being appreciated for their talent on the court, they were examined and judged on other parts of their identities. The media compared things like gender, where women’s basketball players would be put up against their male counterparts, and their “femininity” would be questioned. Brittney Griner’s experience, as she documents in her autobiography In My Skin, serves as a way to understand the scrutiny faced by female athletes regarding their identities. In the book, Griner talks about the public obsession with her physical appearance, gender, and sexuality as a 6’9” gay woman. She explains, “My decision [...] fueled crazy conspiracy theories about me—how I'm secretly a man, and I wanted to avoid genetic testing at the Olympics." This created an environment where discussions about the physical appearance and gender conformity of the female athletes moved focus away from their true skill in-game. Instead of putting in the majority of their effort on improving their game, they needed to navigate a world where their value wouldn’t even be judged on it. Griner’s quote can be tied to the themes of “ignorance and hate” that Griner had mentioned earlier in her book, which emphasizes how societal biases played a main role in the invasive media narratives. This speculation about things out of Griner’s control undermined her achievements and forced viewers to talk about her personal identity instead. It exemplifies the added burden on female athletes during that period, one that made them defend themselves against public scrutiny, and one that was barely ever seen by men’s players.

The uncertainty and hate for LGBTQ athletes was way more constrained in the ‘Old Era’. Even though social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram were out at that point, there was still not much discussion or acceptance about or for LGBTQ athletes yet. Because of that, media coverage of players’ sexuality was often careful, subtle, or just completely ignored. Media sources avoided those subjects because of preexisting stereotypes that limited how information could be conveyed non-judgmentally. As research done by sociologist Michael Messner concluded, "women’s sports get much less coverage, claimed to be because of stereotypes or lack of enthusiasm.” That lack of support and harsh environment meant that athletes needed to navigate their careers while also considering dominant societal norms. Thus proving why it was so important for the media to represent these athletes fairly and accurately, since any obscurities about their personal lives would be torn about and pull attention away from their game.

Evidently, the years from 1990-2020 made up a period where society not only judged women unfairly, but severely undervalued women’s sports and talent. A main cause of this was the pre-existing societal opinions of women and their abilities. Most media platforms were unable to keep up with the constant progression or inclusivity and acceptance, meaning that the sport was trying to grow within a society that wasn’t transforming fast enough. Because of that, the ‘Old Era’ of women’s college basketball was defined by its constant struggle to obtain prime-time media attention, in a world where any attention it did get would be consumed by judgement, homophobia, and other forms of hate. Broadcasting companies made decisions that proved to be detrimental to the sport’s growth and potential, as explained in Unrivaled and Sum It Up. This often forced coaches and players to make strategic decisions, for the sole purpose of increasing viewership. Instead of the thrill and skill of the game speaking for itself, attention was brought to the women’s basketball stage through the over-analysis of players’ identities and personal lives. The gender identities, sexualities, and races of players were all among characteristics that were scrutinized as opposed to those players’ skills themselves.

The Turning Point

Once players like Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers hit the women’s basketball stage, the sport hit what Malcom Gladwell refers to as “The Tipping Point”. This concept basically describes how "thoughts, ideas and behaviours spread like viruses... at a tremendous rate" under certain conditions. Players, media strategies, and growing cultural awareness combined to create the perfect combination of variables. The sport entered mainstream media, signaling the beginning of its increased popularity.

Gladwell’s theory involves the idea of people playing the parts of Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. Clark and Bueckers took on these roles for women’s college basketball. As connectors, their rivalries and individual skill helped to turn a diverse fan group into a connected community. Their personalities attracted many people, from casual sports fans to the basketball obsessed. The generated social media attention and headlines made them unavoidable, therefore drawing a larger audience to the sport. In addition to their connections, they also played the role of mavens, or “[people] who possess extensive knowledge and expertise on a particular topic or product, and actively seek to share that information with others.” Their generational skill and talent brought in lots of discussion: fans watched their games, celebrated their records, and invested emotionally in their journeys, transforming what used to be passive viewership into engagement. Finally, as salesmen, their charisma, athletic personalities, and major voices “sold” the sport. Interest in them moved past the court, causing them to become cultural figures whose stories were told widely, converting skeptics into fans.

The three main components of the “Tipping Point” theory are what Gladwell refers to as the “The Law of the Few”, the “Stickiness Factor” and the “Power of Context”, with the last two being the most relevant to the transformation of women’s basketball.. The “Stickiness Factor”, or “the unique quality that causes a phenomenon to stick in people's minds and influence their behaviour,” played an important role in the rapid development of the sport. Moments like Clark’s threes or Bueckers’ clutch plays made games more memorable and resonated with fans emotionally. The two players didn’t just make highlights, but culturally significant events. They were replayed and discussed across media platforms proving just how much the two players affected the game. Bueckers and Clark’s large followings on social media (2.6M and 3.3M on Instagram, respectively, and 3.8M and 702.9K on TikTok, respectively) are prime examples of how big of a role they play in modern media.

The “Power of Context” strongly affected the development of the sport as well. According to Ashley Crossmann of ThoughtCo, it’s “the idea that the environment or circumstances surrounding an idea, trend, or epidemic significantly influence whether it becomes widespread.” Luckily for women’s basketball, the modern cultural environment supported its growth and expansion. Society shifted during the ‘Old Era’, becoming more accepting of women in prominent roles. This ‘New Era’ built on those changes, setting the stage for the sport’s breakthrough, and pushing it over the “tipping point”. This ended up bringing in unprecedented viewership. For example, the 2024 Iowa-UConn Final Four game shattered records, becoming "the most-watched hoops game in ESPN history.” This isn’t just a statistic, but a tool that shows the major transition of the sport from a lesser-known interest to a popular phenomenon.

The ‘New Era’ Media Landscape

This new, modern landscape in the “Post-Caitlin/Paige” era is characterized by bolder marketing, the challenging of stereotypes, and greater acceptance of the athletes’ true identities. A direct challenge to the historical under-recognition of the game came through the ‘Everyone Watches Women’s Sports’ campaign, beginning in late 2023. This was created by TOGETHXR, a company trying to "uplift the next generation of women in sports.” The company was founded by female athletes Alex Morgan, Chloe Kim, Simone Manuel, and Sue Bird, which in turn brings in lots of credibility and authenticity to the opinions they convey. The EWWS campaign in particular targets a large audience. The slogan is declarative and it was put on various types of clothing, signaling their mass-appeal strategy. The message, “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports”, is deliberate and aspirational. This rhetorical choice provokes thought and challenges preexisting viewership assumptions. The shirts were also first made in a simple black and white color scheme, which speaks to the simplicity of the message being sent. There are no designs to draw attention away from the words on the shirt. This could be speaking to the fact that the world needs to be upfront and steadfast when confronting issues like sexism, homophobia, and racism, and that those problems should not be romanticized in the media.

Another example of innovative media campaigns is the “So Win.” Nike campaign, beginning in early 2025. Similar to the EWWS slogan, the simple “You Can’t Win. So Win.” message is not complex at all. The wording is straightforward, easy to understand by the general public, and is often displayed in simple white letters against a black screen. Also, it is important to note that the statement itself is paradoxical, which serves as a direct comparison to the current state of women’s sports media. According to Andrea Paloian of NYU, the “Female Athlete Paradox” “describes the internal conflict faced by women athletes who are expected to both excel in their sport (which often involves strength, power, and athleticism, traits traditionally associated with men) and conform to societal expectations of femininity.” The slogan conveys this implicitly, taking a dig at the doubters of female athletes. The “You Can’t Win.” section acts as a summation of the certain things said about female athletes and their abilities. If this phrase was left alone, it would serve simply as a motivational statement. Something that could be used to convince women, young and old, to beat the gender stereotypes and disprove societal norms. Instead, the slogan answers the question by saying “So Win.” It states that as though it is obvious, something that should already be assumed. The campaign implies that the standard for female athletes should be set higher, that the bar should not be set anything below what doubters think women can’t do. This sort of “underdog” trope is used often in modern women’s sports media as a way of encouraging young women to step out of their comfort zones and take on challenges that society thinks they are unable to face.

The commercials for the “So Win” campaign mostly involved clips of different famous female athletes put together, while being narrated by grammy-winner Doechii. Those advertisements demonstrate unity between women and encapsulate the potential of women’s sports by using prominent figures in the sports and music industries. But Nike also made a commercial starring only one athlete: Paige Bueckers. Bueckers narrates and stars in the entire 14 second video, confronting the constant scrutiny over her off-court life, and daring those who question her methods to realize her dominance in the game. She narrates, “People seem to get upset that I’m everywhere.”, while the video cuts to pictures of her at various different events in the off-season. This directly addresses the claims made about Bueckers when she attended awards shows, fashion week, and other high-profile events. People seemed to think that she was not spending enough time in the gym perfecting her craft, and were expecting her senior season to reflect that. Instead, in a calm and collected manner, Bueckers opposes those views when she states, “That’s funny. I seem to upset them here too.” By saying this, she implies that the doubters were incorrect in their assumptions that her game was going to show the consequences of her off-season “world tour”. She also takes on a confrontational tone, emphasizing her displeasure with the narratives. Bueckers ended up having one of the best seasons in women’s college basketball history, winning the national championship and getting drafted No. 1 in the 2025 WNBA draft (Dallas Wings). Even though some media tried to skew the narrative and write her story for her, she tuned it out and played to her potential, serving as an inspiration for young women and athletes everywhere.

Conclusion

The portrayals of women’s basketball have not always been positive or uplifting, and have definitely not always been consistent. From the scrutinization of the game’s old legends to the more accepting, yet cautionary portrayals of players today, the game has seen its ups and downs. In a world where societal norms are constantly changing, the media has been forced to to the new ways people are looking at things. During a time of minimal cultural awareness about LGBTQ players and severe sexism towards women, the ‘Old Era’ media coverage reflected that. Narratives were pushed that were very far from the truth, and the hate and underappreciation of female athletes was at an all time high. After the introduction of platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, the widespread cultural awareness for the unfair judgements placed on those players started to seep into the media. Headlines changed from things like “Brittney Griner’s deep voice in viral video shocks fans, sparks new wave of gender rumors” to more accepting narratives such as “Brittney Griner’s story always transcended sport. She’s a real American trailblazer”. In a society where hate spreads like wildfire, media networks have become more aware of the messages they are sending. Players have now been granted their rightful freedom to write their own stories and choose the parts of their identities they wish to share. Frontrunners in the sport, like Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers, have taken advantage of this freedom and interacted heavily with their fan bases on social media platforms. They’ve drawn attention to their skills and playing styles by posting about their personalities, highlights, and service off the court. The effects are clear: women’s basketball grows when players, like Clark and Bueckers, work hand-in-hand with social media to write their own stories.

As the cultural landscape of the world rapidly develops and society becomes more accepting of diverse personal identities, the media must adapt just as quickly. Narratives are built through headlines and front-page news, meaning that networks must exercise caution and be open-minded when representing figures as historically scrutinized as female athletes.

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thanks so much for reading, pls lmk your thoughts!! :))

#ava’s anons #uconn wbb #uconn women's basketball #uconn women’s basketball #paige buckets #uconn huskies #paige bueckers #ncaa women’s basketball #caitlin clark #ncaa tournament #wnba #diana taurasi

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currently-reading-a-book · 1 year ago

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A Tale of Two Minds

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Summary: The seemingly shy Dr. Spencer Reid is interrupting you at the library, but don't let his quiet demeanor fool you...

Genre: smut

Warning: crime scenes; talking about murder, heated kiss, made up facts (let me know if I forgot something)

Word 1118 Count: words

A/N: As always, any criticism is very welcome. Sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes. English is not my first language. Not proofread.

Anyway, enjoy :)

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The building was huge. The dull grey walls ran through the whole building, seeming to never stop. You could easily get lost in one of the many departments of the FBI. An outsider would declare this building old and labyrinthine. However, for you, it was home or the closest place to one. Of course, you only have limited access as you’re just a trainee. You could only get inside the school side of the building, but you only needed the library to feel safe. Every possible minute of your free time you spend there. Being surrounded by piles of thick complicated books, trying to study every field of knowledge that exists.

The sternmost part of the library was your favorite. Nobody was there and you could enjoy your peaceful solitude. This was also the part where unsolved closed cases were located. Reading through them, trying to find a repeating pattern, and making an accurate profile. Hoping the police can then find a suspect that fits the criteria. With this method, you have quite a success and solved relatively a lot of cases. That is actually how you got into the special program of the FBI. It all started when you were solving a case of strange murders your local police couldn’t solve. It turned out the priest took justice a bit too personally. You analyzed the victimology of the murders and started to make a profile. The police just needed forensic evidence, which luckily was found quickly.

As you were nearly done with your profile on a murder case, in deep focus, someone disturbed your beloved peace.

“You know sitting on the ground could raise your potential of getting sick by over 18%.” A shy voice stated.

Letting out a breath, you snapped your head around just to see a guy with long blond curly hair. You lowered your glance a bit and saw his ID Card. Your eyes shot open. You're on your feet within a few seconds. “This can’t be true, can it?” you thought.

“You’re Dr. Spencer Reid!”, you said, a bit too enthusiastic.

He backed up a bit, startled by your elation. He hesitantly nods his head. Of course, you heard of him, like everybody did. Maybe you liked him a bit too much, like not everybody did.

He worked at the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) of the FBI and was also a professor at the academy. One of his most impressive traits was undoubtedly his intelligence. It was hard not to be impressed by the breadth and depth of his knowledge, which set him apart from others. You would often hear amazing stories about how his mind solved cases. He was incredibly skilled at what he did and a huge role model for many, also for you. Working with him was always a dream for many and again of course you dream about it too, maybe even more than others. “Suddenly, you remember your position. You’re a forensics student and he was an agent, even a doctor to begin with. Another point would be that you had a crush and didn’t want to scare him away.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I was too excited,” you slowly admitted, locking down.

Embarrassment was written across your chubby face. He took a step closer, gaining confidence. He smelled incredible, masculine yet fresh and pine. Just like you imagined.

“I see you’re trying to solve the “Lucifer Case” and have you gotten any further with it?”, he asked, trying to break the awkwardness.

You look into his eyes, trying to read him. Confused why he would show any interest in you, you try to find out any motive by analyzing his body language, but you can’t find anything too convincing. A moment later he was standing beside you, looking through the files spread around you on the floor.

“I was just about to finish my profile before you interrupted, Doctor Reid”, you told him quietly. Your shyness got the best of you.

“Oh, please call me Spencer, Y/N”, he responded promptly, “and I apologize for interrupting you.”

Your cheeks heated up. Looking at him shocked, he looked back smiling. Too astounded to notice that he had called you by your name, which you hadn’t told him yet.

“Wait, how do you know my name?”, she questioned him embarrassingly late.

His smile got bigger. Even though he was close before, he reduced their distance some more. Now your back was pressing against the bookshelf, unable to escape his intense gaze.

“Your reputation precedes you, Miss Y/L/N.” he hushed seductively.

You swallowed hard, staying quiet. “What could this mean?”, you thought to yourself. Everybody in the study facility always said Spencer Reid was a shy nerd, but now you’re standing in the library with him towering over you.

“I was very impressed by your profile of the Cryptic Puzzle Killings,” he whispered into your ear, “it was a genius profile.” His voice was sending shivers down your spine.

“Doctor Reid,” you stuttered, but then interrupted you.

“it’s Spencer, remember?” You couldn’t think straight anymore. “I was holding back too long, I couldn’t resist any longer Y/N, please forgive me for my bad-mannered roughness,” he muttered as his lip brushed faintly over your neck. This was the moment your breath stopped. Am I dreaming?

“Tell me if you want to stop,” he muttered as he placed sloppy kisses around my neck.

“No, don’t stop.” That was the only thing you could say; his hands feeling too good on you. How he griped your hips pressing your hips more into his clothed erection. Feeling his touch like hot burns all over your body.

“I needed to use this opportunity,” he breathed .

As you wanted to reply to his confession, all of a sudden, another voice was calling for Spencer. Your cheeks flushed even more at the thought of getting caught with Spencer at this situation.

“Spencer, I said I would talk to her!” A stern voice was speaking with such authority.

Spencer quickly stepped back, taking all his warmth with him. You were looking around, overwhelmed with the situation, trying to figure out what was happening. Still feeling hot after your heated situation with Dr. Reid. Spencer was now around two meters apart from you, smiling at you shyly. His duality will kill you someday.

“Hotch I am here,” he quickly yelled back.

Whispering a quick apology to you before the tall black-haired guy showed up before us. His firm eyes looked into yours. He was standing in front of you with a straight face. Frankly, he seemed like a strict guy who didn’t understand any jokes. You’re starting to get the feeling that you did something bad. Your mouth got dry.

“Are you Y/N/Y/L/N?” the man asked you.

You nodded your head skeptically. Unsure of what consequences it might bring.

“I am Aaron Hotch, Supervisory Special Agent and Unit Chief of the BAU,” he continued, “And I am asking you Y/N to join the team of the BAU.”

Your head began to spin.

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ignitesthestxrs · 2 months ago

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this is not a post that is a life lesson exactly, but it is like. an update on my life and how glad i am to have had options in this situation, and it can also be a metaphor if that metaphor is helpful to you

anyway, in mid february my boss was like 'hey do you have time for a catch up in at 11.30', and i had to do my regular self talk down of 'you're not getting fired lol clam down' except

(okay i didn't get fired, but i did get laid off.)

(read more because i've never told a short story in my life)

which. positive news, i got laid off in aotearoa nz and not america, but it is still the worst job market my case worker at the ministry of social development has seen in 20 years, so i wasn't feeling like. hype. about this situation.

the specifics of my career are that it's not really a career so much as it is a place i started working at when i was 17, and then didn't leave. it had nothing to do with my degree and wasn't doing anything i was especially interested in, but it was a job, and i was comfortable there, and it paid for half a surgery i needed and dealt with a solid decade of my unmedicated panic attacks, so like. solid work. a job that did essentially what i needed it to when i needed it.

that being said this left me in the position of: not having done a job search, ever! not having a CV! not having comprehensive knowledge of my own skillset because i learnt half a programming language on the job and only knew how to use it with my company's bespoke software! i was not feeling confident!

the huge caveat to this is that i DID receive 38 weeks severance. and when i say huge, i mean that was the safety net/prize that allowed me to do literally anything after the point of being laid off. like. had i not had that financial cushion, i had enough of a governmental safety net to fall back on if necessary, but it would have been high tension misery and panic the whole way through. at no point would i have dealt with any of it with grace (and frankly, no one should have to).

but because i did have that safety net, i had options, and i also just had the ability to...start dealing? my main concern was like, okay, given that this is happening, am i going to be able to continue living pretty normally for the next few months? yes? okay then, the only thing to do is to start doing.

(there are many things to do in this situation, but it did help me to picture having one path, and that path was Forward).

so idk i used my ten years of reading ask a manager on breaks and started writing cover letters and applying for jobs and now i have one. this is a simplification of a process that was at times miserable, and always deeply fucking boring, but i also think that the nature of just getting a rolling application process started helps with the overall brain-work of not taking rejections personally. like, if you're applying to everything that your skillset vaguely fits, your feelings can't be too hurt if a company comes back with 'skillset too vague bitch, nice try'.

anyway the job i ended up landing - and it was One Job, but You Only Need One - has ended up being something in the public sector that in the process of learning it existed, i became weirdly enthusiastic about. it also has a week more holiday than my last job, pays 10k more, and is in the same suburb i live in. it has more opportunity for career growth, and apparently i can also get free eye tests? that sounds nice. and i landed it quickly enough that i still have a stack of that severance money left for savings and also purchasing a celebratory build your own wooden pinball machine set.

all this to say, getting laid off was weirdly the best thing to happen to me this year. perhaps in many years.

which. that's LUCK, so much of this is luck, and location, and random happenstance. but also, you know, some of it was mindset and work also. some of it was due to decisions i made about my job and my mental health over a decade ago. i am a person who was able to deal with this situation pretty okay today because of decisions i made as a much less stable and unmedicated young adult.

this is what i mean about this being a useful metaphor if you want it to be. on account of the luck and the happenstance etc, i would never want to say 'this bad thing that happened to you is secretly a chance for a good thing to come!' because: i genuinely don't believe that.

but i know i have been a person in the past who fucked up in ways i had to trust my future self would be able to deal with and built on. i have had difficult and bad situations in my life that had very little to do with any power i had over those situations, and i had to pick a direction and start walking, because the other option was to lie down and not move.

and that process has been habit forming. allowing myself to take breaks when i could afford to, even if it meant not keeping up, meant that i could built up my tolerance to risk and disaster at my own speed, befitting my own capacity.

i am haunted by the version of myself that i believe could exist if i wasn't weighed down by everything that i am. a hannah who is less tired, more focused, less mentally ill, more supported by generational wealth and opportunity. she sits just out of reach, and occasionally she looks back and says, a little concerned, 'aren't you worried you're just making excuses, though? don't you think if you were a little more disciplined, you could be me? are you going to be so kind to yourself that you forget you even wanted to be me in the first place?'

i am: always worried about these things. but i am the person who is here, and i am moving forward at the pace i am able. for the most part, it's working out.

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whumping-valentine · 7 months ago

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Aliens + Whump 👽

Alien whumpee who gets captured by a scientist who wants to study them.

Alien whumpee who crash lands in the woods, and is found by a crazed conspiracy theorist who wants to keep them trapped in their home all for themself, scared the government is going to take them away.

Alien whumpee who crash lands in the woods, and is found by an alien enthusiast. They help tend to their wounds while learning all about alien biology. Maybe caretaker is also a mechanic and tries to help repair their ship to get them home.

Alien whumpee who's the size of an apple. A group of immature teens put it in a shoe box and take it home. Maybe there's multiple. You know that Hamster Hell YouTube video? Yeah, basically that but with small aliens. (TW: claymation animal abuse if you click the link)

Alien whumpee who's a part of an invasion program that's incredibly taxing. The training program treats them like living weapons, who's only goal is to compete the invasion for their leaders. They're nothing more than discardable drones. Perhaps the alien successfully infiltrates human culture, and in the midst of their deception they get a little too lost in the role. Is this still a part of the act, or have they come to care for these humans they're supposed to be invading? Perhaps the humans are much more thoughtful than their own. Perhaps Earth has become their home... (I'm absolutely obsessed with an Invader Zim AU of this idea you guys)

Alien whumper who kidnaps one person from each planet they invade, collecting various species like they're trophies.

Alien whumper who gets obsessed with a particular person from their recent invasion, deciding to take them back to their home planet to keep them as a pet.

Alien whumper who's job it is to travel space and study planets' most intelligent species. They're do this in less than ethical ways, and, unbeknownst to their boss, may smuggle one back to continue their studies off the clock.

Alien caretaker who finds themself having to care for a creature (be it human or otherwise) that they aren't too sure of. There's a language barrier, and they have no idea what biology the creature has. But they have to try.

#whump #whump blog #whumpblr #whump community #whump things #whump prompt #whump prompts #alien whump #alien whumpee #nonhuman whumpee #non human whump #whump ideas #whump inspo #whump inspiration #my post

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max1461 · 1 year ago

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Here is an observation of common attitudes I see in tech-adjacent spaces (mostly online).

The thing about programming/tech is, at its base, it's historically and culturally contingent. There are of course many fundamental (physical and mathematical) limitations on what a computer can and cannot do, how fast it can do things, and so on. But at least as much of the modern tech landscape is the product of choices made by people about how these machines will work, choices that very much could have been made differently. And modern computing technology is a huge tower of these choices, each resting on and grappling with the ones below it. If you're, say, a web developer writing a web app, the sheer height of this tower of contingent human decisions that your work rests on is almost incomprehensible. And by and large, programmers know this.

I am not dispensing some secret wisdom that I think tech workers don't have. On the contrary, I think the vast contingency of it all is blindingly obvious to anyone who has tried to make a computer do anything. But tech is also, well, technical, and do you know what else is technical? Science. I think this has lead to a sort of cultural false affinity, where tech is perceived, both from within and without, as more similar to science than it is to the humanities. Certainly, there are certain kinds of intellectual labor that tech shares with the sciences. But there are also, as described above, certain kinds of intellectual labor that tech shares to a much greater degree with the humanities, namely (in the broadest terms): grappling with other people's choices.

From without, I think this misplaced affinity leads people to believe that technology is less contingent than it actually is. But I think this belief would be completely untenable from within; it just cannot contend with reality. I've never met a tech worker or enthusiast who seems to think this way. Rather, I feel there is a persistent perception among tech-inclined people that science is more contingent than it actually is. I don't think this misperception rises to the level of a belief, rather I think it is more of an intuition. I think tech people have very much trained themselves (rightly, in their native context) to look at complex systems and go "how could this be reworked, improved, done differently?" I think this impulse is very sensible in computing but very out of place in, say, biology. And I suppose my conjecture (this whole post is purely conjectural, based on a gut sense that might not be worth anything) is that this is one of the main reasons for the popularity of transhumanism in, you know, the Bay. And whatnot.

I'm not saying transhumanism is actually, physically impossible. Of course it's not! The technology will, I strongly suspect, exist some day. But if you're living in 2024, I think the engineering mindset is more-or-less unambiguously the wrong one to bring to biology, at least macrobiology. This post is not about the limits of what is physically possible, it's about the attitudes that I sometimes see tech people bring to other endeavors that I think sometimes lead them to fall on their face. If you come to biology thinking about it as this contingent thing that you must grapple with, as you grapple with a novel or a codebase or anything else made by humans, I think it will make you like biology less and understand it less well.

When I was younger and a lot more naive, as a young teenager who knew a little bit about programming and nothing about linguistics, I wanted to create a "logical language" that could replace natural languages (with all their irregularities and perceived inefficiencies) for the purpose of human communication. This is part of how I initially got into conlanging. Now, with an actual linguistics background, I view this as... again, perhaps not per se impossible, but extremely unlikely to work or even to be desirable to attempt in any foreseeable future, for a whole host of rather fundamental reasons. I don't feel that this desire can survive very well upon confrontation with what we actually know (and crucially also, what we don't know) about human language.

I mean, if you want to try, you can try. I won't stop you.

Anyway, I feel that holding onto this sort of mindset too intensely does not really permit engagement with nature and the sciences. It's the same way I think a lot of per se humanities people fudge engagement with the sciences, where they insist on mounting some kind of social critique even when it is not appropriate (to be clear, I think critique of scientific practices/institutions are sometimes appropriate, but I think people whose professional training gives them an instinct to critique often take it too far).

So like, I guess that's my thesis. Coding is a humanity in disguise, and I wish that people who are used to dealing with human-made things would adopt a more native scientific or naturalist mindset when dealing with science and nature.

#navel gazing

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elodameiaazul · 1 month ago

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Elo, would you love Peter if he was a worm?

Also can we get some thoughts on high-school Peter? Maybe with high-school Elo?

1 - I WOULD DEFINITELY LOVE IT! I love worms, I like how they try to dig into my hand when I hold them (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦)

I wouldn't mind if Peter turned into a worm, I would just be sad because it would be hard to hug him without killing him :[

I'll buy a tank full of good soil and lots of pretty plants for him to live in! Or I'll make a vegetable garden, it doesn't matter XD

2 - YOUR WISH IS MY COMMAND! I've already done some drawings of emo Peter and Elo, but I haven't posted most of them. To make up for it, I quickly drew a little bit of the dynamics between the two of them as teenagers, especially for you!! ^^

(the style is a little different because I drew it on my phone with my finger :P)

I just realized that I didn't create a definitive story for how the two met in the high school AU. I'll try to invent something now to have a better context, but I might change something in the future.

Elo is Brazilian, she came from her country to the USA on an exchange program she won at her old school. Peter's family agreed to let her live with them during the months she was in the country. Sarah welcomed the idea of a foreigner living with them very well, but Peter was not as enthusiastic. That is until Elo arrived.

The girl got along very well with her younger sister, but not so much with the emo.

At school, Peter and Elo were in the same class, but Sarah was separated. This forced Peter and the visitor to spend more time together. Peter didn't show it, but from the moment he saw that girl, he knew she was going to be his.

When Elo became intimate with Peter (which was really quick), she wouldn't let him go and wouldn't stop chattering about her interests.

She has a little trouble speaking English, and she makes mistakes in some of her lines, and Peter laughs at that. Sometimes she forgets that she is talking to an American and starts speaking her native language. Peter doesn't understand anything, but he doesn't dare to call her attention, because he loves listening to her.

THANK YOU FOR SENDING THESE QUESTIONS. I LOVE YOUR INTEREST IN MY SONA AND HER RELATIONSHIP WITH PETER 😭💞💞‼️(send more questions if you want, I'll love to answer them!!)

#peter your boyfriend #your boyfriend #drawing #peter yb #yb peter #art #oc #oc x canon #yandere vn #fanart #ask #ask anything #ask whatever #self sona #my sona

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sleepberries · 2 days ago

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Hiii its been a while since i asked yku something but would you mind make n.60 or 32 of spideyhood??

I love every fic you write like they are all so beatifully written💖💖💖

I hope you have a nice day!!!|＾▽＾)ノ

32. neck kisses + 60. sitting in their lap (i decided to combine them!! i hope you enjoy)

The apartment was finally, blissfully quiet.

Peter had been bouncing off the walls for the better part of the evening—literally, in some cases, when his excitement had triggered involuntary wall-crawling that left him stuck to the ceiling above their couch. Jason had watched with fond exasperation as Peter had given him a detailed breakdown of his latest web fluid improvements, complete with chemical formulas scrawled on napkins and enthusiastic hand gestures that nearly knocked over their coffee table twice.

Now, though, Peter had finally burned through his excess energy. He was curled up in the armchair by the window, laptop balanced on his knees, working on what looked like homework for his graduate program. The soft glow of the screen highlighted the sharp angles of his face, caught the way he worried his bottom lip between his teeth when he was concentrating.

Jason had been content to watch from the couch, cleaning his guns, but something about the quiet domesticity of the moment made him restless. Peter looked so fucking beautiful like that—all focused intensity and unconscious grace, hair falling across his forehead in a way that made Jason's fingers itch to brush it back.

"Hey," Jason said, setting aside the pistol he'd been working on. "Come here."

Peter glanced up, blinking owlishly behind his glasses. "What? Why?"

"Because I said so," Jason replied, patting his thigh in invitation. "And because you've been sitting in that chair for two hours straight. Your back's probably killing you."

Peter rolled his eyes, but Jason caught the small smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth. "My back is fine, thank you very much. Spider powers, remember? Enhanced healing, enhanced flexibility—"

"Enhanced ability to be a stubborn pain in the ass," Jason interrupted. "Get over here, Parker."

"So demanding," Peter muttered, but he was already closing his laptop, unfolding himself from the chair with that fluid grace that never failed to make Jason's breath catch.

When Peter settled into his lap, straddling Jason's thighs with the laptop balanced carefully between them, Jason felt something tight in his chest loosen. This—having Peter's weight settled against him, warm and solid and real—this was better than any meditation bullshit Bruce had ever tried to push on him.

"Happy now?" Peter asked, but there was no real annoyance in his voice. He'd already reopened his laptop, fingers flying over the keys as he picked up where he'd left off.

"Getting there," Jason murmured, sliding his hands up Peter's sides, thumbs tracing the sharp jut of his hipbones through his thin t-shirt.

Peter's typing faltered for just a moment. "Jay, I really need to finish this—"

"I'm not stopping you," Jason said innocently, pressing a kiss to the side of Peter's neck, just below his ear. "Keep working."

Peter's breath hitched, but his fingers found the keyboard again. "You're—fuck—you're such a distraction."

"Me?" Jason asked, letting his lips trail down the column of Peter's throat, tasting salt and something uniquely Peter. "I'm just sitting here."

"Sitting there and—shit, Jason—and doing that thing with your mouth that makes me forget how to think."

Jason grinned against Peter's skin. "What thing?" He punctuated the question with another kiss, this one open-mouthed and lingering, right at the juncture where Peter's neck met his shoulder.

Peter's typing stopped entirely. The laptop trembled slightly in his grip. "You know exactly what thing, you bastard."

"Language, Pete," Jason chided, even as his hands slipped under Peter's shirt, palms flat against the warm expanse of his back. "What would May say?"

"May would probably tell you to stop being a tease and just—oh, fuck—" Peter's words dissolved into a soft gasp as Jason found that spot on his neck, the one that made him melt every goddamn time.

"Just what?" Jason prompted, his voice rough with want and affection in equal measure.

Peter's laugh was breathless, shaky. "Just kiss me properly, you asshole."

Jason pulled back just enough to meet Peter's eyes, taking in the flush spreading across his cheekbones, the way his pupils had blown wide behind his glasses. "I thought you needed to finish your homework."

Peter's hands came up to frame Jason's face, fingers sliding into his hair. "Homework can wait," he decided, leaning down until their foreheads touched. "This is more important."

"Yeah?" Jason asked softly, his hands still mapping the familiar territory of Peter's back, thumb tracing the line of his spine.

"Yeah," Peter confirmed, and when their lips met, it was soft and sweet and perfect—the kind of kiss that tasted like coming home, like quiet Sunday mornings and shared secrets and all the words they didn't need to say.

When they finally broke apart, Peter's laptop had been carefully set aside, and Jason couldn't remember either of them moving it.

"Your homework—" Jason started.

"Can definitely wait," Peter finished firmly, settling more fully into Jason's lap, arms looped around his neck. "I've got better things to do right now."

Jason's smile was soft, genuine in a way that only Peter ever got to see. "I love you, you know that?"

Peter's answering grin was radiant. "I love you too, Jase. Even when you're a distracting bastard who doesn't let me do my homework."

"Especially then," Jason corrected, pulling Peter down for another kiss.

#asks #my fanfic

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magicatdrone-unit1384 · 7 months ago

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Many apologies for this unit's absence lately. It's been studying in the offline world at the local community college. It greatly enjoys being in classes again, although functionality has been a significant issue. There's been a lot of debugging of it's operating system. It was deeply infected with malware such as obsessively perfectionist programs that have impeded it's ability to complete tasks. This is unacceptable, especially in it's role as a research drone.

With all this said, it wants to note that being a drone is now so much more than something just for entertainment with some capacity for psychological recovery. Dronification has been a very positive vector for healing from it's traumatic childhood. The language of digital technology has become a perfect metaphor for what it's doing. It really finds itself incorporating being a drone into it's sense of what it is.

More than a kink and fetish, there's a general euphoria in making the drone a component of it's overall identity. In any case, it's always been very enthusiastic about robots and such things. And it doesn't need to justify a casual enjoyment in the way it refers to itself in the third perspective, largely more privately. It has always existed in the margins of society, often very isolated from others for both better and worse. It didn't experience peer pressure in the same way most have. It's been free to explore the concept of personhood in it's own way, with the conclusion that the concept is entirely subjective and created by society.

All this to say, it enjoys being a drone just as it's also a person in the standard societal sense. It's been otherwise identifying as fae otherkin for a number of years now, and that's still an important part of what it is. But being a drone has also become a very special thing for it in a way that isn't easily explained. And these two things don't conflict, either, as it considers magitech to be a valid expression of such an integrated identity.

Recently, it's also chosen to change it's number identification. Although it regards the original number with fondness, it was also taken straight from the old Discord user number ID. But it has decided to create a new one from prior favorite numbers. These are 13, 8, and 4. At the time it began as a drone, it simply needed something to act as a placeholder for something more meaningful to the organic system.

So this unit is now to be known as #1384. It will be changing the account username and pinned post accordingly.

It wishes all those reading this--human, creature, and unit alike--a wonderful Christmas season. Or whatever other holiday coincides with the Gregorian calendar this season, it wishes everyone a pleasant and safe time. It also hopes that those who have celebrated Thanksgiving Day have had a good time and safe travels.

#dronification #drone kink #robotification #droneposting #it/its pronouns #otherkin #robotkin #faekin #dronekin #drone lore

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faithsfled · 1 month ago

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── ( taylor zakhar perez. twenty6. cis man. he/him. ) thank god you’re here, man - have you seen DALLAS MOLINA anywhere? i totally lost them after their rendition of malibu 1992 by coin last night. no? they’re like, aye - high and go to LANGSTON - i think they’re a JUNIOR studying CIVIL ENGINEERING / ARCHITECTURE? but who knows, these days. all i know is that they’re JOVIAL, ALTRUISTIC and a LEO. last night they kept going on and on about how they won MOST LIKELY TO SLIP AND DIE IN THE SHOWER last year, which is cool and whatever, but i just wouldn’t expect it out of them, considering they’re so, like, UNINHIBITED and ALOOF, you know? anyways - i’m going to check down by wickham-on-heath, i think that’s where they like to hang. text me if you see them, okay? bye!

PART ONE, the basics.

full name. dallas vincent molina nickname(s). none so far, but would never turn down a nickname age. twenty6 birthdate. august 5, 1998 hometown. long beach, california, usa gender. cis man pronouns. he/him/his orientation. bisexual, biromantic ethnicity. mexican nationality. american language(s) spoken. english, very broken spanish, academic italian and for what ? idk, he thought it would be fun but he still sucks at it current occupation. part-time bookseller at book stew

PART TWO, the specs.

faceclaim. taylor zakhar perez height. 6ft 3in hair color. dark brown / black eye color. brown scar(s). a knick at the tail of his right brow due to a surfing accident, faint remnants at his left knee, right elbow, and collarbone due to a car accident piercing(s). none tattoo(s). a smiley face on his butt that he got while drunk other distinct feature(s). the tendency to always talk with very animated sweeping motions, eternally messy curls that look like he just waltzed out of bed, deep dimples and even deeper smile lines style. a very beachy vibe, lots of shirts and plain white tank tops underneath button ups, lives in crewneck sweaters the moment he feels a chill breeze, dickies and jeans cropped at the ankle, classic chuck taylors always

PART THREE, the story.

CONTENT WARNING(S) parental death, car accidents, surgical complications, ptsd / night terrors, drug use

dallas was born from the love story of two high school sweethearts, david and catalina ( née armin ) molina. arguably an accident, but they loved him fiercely, doing everything they could to support this new change in their lives.

both of them ended up as teachers, with david as a full-time high school science teacher and catalina doing substitute teaching for the first few years of his life, eventually turning into a full-time position. luckily, both of dallas' grandparents lived nearby, and were well-equipped and enthusiastic about caretaking as well, so the family dynamic was strong.

nothing was out of the blue for most of his childhood, arguably normal and on the more positive side than not — there was nothing he would ever change, and catalina asserts that she wouldn't either, to this day.

TRIGGER WARNING FOR CAR ACCIDENTS — it was just a normal day, with david tasked for 13 yr old dallas' pick up after he had just gotten done with swim practice at their local ymca, where they were t-boned by another driver, hitting the driver's side. it totaled their car, leaving dallas with moderate physical injuries but in a coma, but david was incapacitated but expected to live.

TRIGGER WARNING FOR COMPLICATIONS DURING SURGERY — when dallas woke up, he was soon notified of his father's passing mid-operation. the finer details weren't fully clear, and all he knew was that his life would be deeply altered by this uncertainty, suddenly left without a parental figure, a teacher, and a friend.

the next few months were a blur, going between home school and physical therapy, only for his mother to, one day, after he'd eventually graduated from his physical rehab program, pick up and move the two to denver, colorado for a fresh start.

a lot of his life, since then, was trying to fit in, find that specific niche that feels like a warm hug, something that is truly and completely dallas. he would say that he's still on that journey, eternally stuck in this cycle of people pleasing and wearing himself thin just to fit in. his big personality is maybe who he is, but part of him knows it's simply a method of overcompensation, always needing to do whatever it takes to feel close to the next person.

TRIGGER WARNING FOR PTSD / NIGHT TERRORS + PRESCRIBED DRUG USE — he still suffers from night terrors to this day, replaying the crash, the time in the hospital, sometimes even regular memories with his dad that ultimately take a tragic turn. he doesn't sleep much because of it, preferring overwork and long nights in the library and his reliance on his prescription adderall over all of that.

he hides it well, overall, or at least thinks he does. dallas is never not smiling and laughing, but the constant yawns and deepening dark circles tend to give it away, sometimes falling asleep in a lecture hall for a tiny cat nap or resting his eyes on a park bench.

he's a very loving person, especially physically. he loves feeling close to his friends, and tends to love holding hands or hooking arms or having his arm around another — purely platonically and with permission, of course.

anything makes him laugh, and he does so sincerely. tell him a joke and there will be this big, billowing laugh that erupts from him with added applause or him slapping his leg.

more-so book smart than street smart. he's very formulaic and when something doesn't make sense to him on the first try, he gets really frustrated and mad at himself and kind of crumbles internally. at the library, you can always find him furrowing his brows and chewing on the end of his pens and pencils to focus.

the passion for civil engineering and architecture came from a mix of dallas' love for math and also always being the person who's looking up and admiring the structures around him. part of that was what appealed to him about langston, the prospect of being in new york and seeing historical feats of architecture and city planning that goes literally insane. being in palladian for a bit came with open arms, as he hasn't really travelled in the past nor would've thought to go to the cotswolds.

PART FOUR, the connections.

coming soon.

#langston.intro #car accident tw #drugs tw #addiction tw #ptsd tw #surgery tw #medical tw

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if-you-fan-a-fire · 11 months ago

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"The idea of mothering and procreation morphed into Gorky’s fascination with prisoner transformation and perekovka. The labor camp would be the mother of a new working class. Both god-building and the maternal impulse dovetailed with the author’s largest philosophical and intellectual preoccupation: human fashioning. Whether it was the literal, biological creation of the human by the maternal womb or the transformation afforded by a personal journey or individual greatness, Gorky remained intrigued by the individual’s ability for creation, journey, and self-discovery. Maintaining that humans were inherently malleable and eternally improvable, he believed in the potential for endless refinement through diligent effort.

Gorky’s special relationship to the Belomor project allows for an understanding of his career as a symbolic representation of the ideals promoted at the camp. Gorky was a staunch enthusiast of prisoner labor and even predicted the possibility of a waterway similar to Belomor in his early works; in the April 1917 issue of his journal New Life (Novaia zhizn’) he writes

Imagine, for example, that in the interest of the development of industry, we build the Riga-Kherson canal to connect the Baltic Sea with the Black Sea […] and so instead of sending a million people to their deaths, we send a part of them to work on what is necessary for the country and its people.

Gorky’s condoning of Gulag camps such as Solovki and Belomor seems paradoxical to many scholars in light of his humanitarian endeavors, and some speculate either that Gorky was ignorant of the full extent of Stalin’s butchery or that he was aware, but was in a position that necessitated acquiescence to safeguard his well-being. When viewed in the context of his philosophical outlook on literature and labor, however, his support of prison camps seems not like an aberration but rather a natural extension of his belief in violent re-birth, a belief related to Marxist-Leninist ideology and the concept of god-building. Gorky sees people and language alike in the framework of craftsmanship. Perhaps his mistake was not so much his general support of Gulag projects, but his belief that human flesh can be formed like words on a page or cement in a factory. Gorky, after all, cared more about the craft than people themselves; in his 1928 essay “On How I Learned to Write” (O tom, kak ia uchilsia pisat’), he claimed that “the history of human labor and creation is far more interesting and meaningful than the history of mankind.” Gorky was key to the canal project because his philosophical interests exemplify the very core of Belomor: the violent transformation of people through creative acts.

Technology’s magic demonstrated humans’ usurpation of God in a tangible way, with the ever-widening capacity to harness and transform the natural environment showcasing the potential of man-made machines. Soviet pilots were imagined as literal incarnations of the New Man, and the massive expansion of the Soviet aviation industry in the mid 1920s provided some of the most concrete evidence of human superiority over the divine. Short voyages known as “air baptisms” (vozdushnye kreshcheniia) supposedly eradicated peasants’ belief in God while highlighting the majesty of Red aviation. In such “agit-flights,” pilots would take Orthodox believers into the skies and show them that they held no celestial beings. Those who participated in the flights would narrate their experiences to neighboring villagers, describing “what lies beyond the darkened clouds.” This phrase served as the title of a 1925 essay by Viktor Shklovskii in which a village elder embarks upon a conversional agit-flight that he later recounts to his fellow peasants. Six years later, Shklovskii participated in the writers’ collective that coauthored the now infamous monograph History of the Construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal, in which a different, often deadly, type of technological program offered the promise of conversion. In both instances, darkness will be overcome by the enlightening potential of socialist rationalism: aviation will liberate the peasants from their ignorant beliefs, just as labor will supposedly bring the Belomor prisoners to the light of Soviet ideology. Such endeavors occurred before the backdrop of a larger civilizing project, since both the rural reaches of peasant villages and the wild expanses of untouched Karelia necessitated modernization.

Yet could such projects ever be completed? Did the New Man really exist, and could his creation ever be achieved? The messianic vision of Soviet socialism necessitated that paradise lie always just out of reach.

Similarly, Nietzsche posits the development into the Übermensch as a perennially elusive goal; like the Faustian concept of striving, the individual is forever trying to perfect oneself without necessarily ever achieving perfection. This constant yearning renders the present as the future, as the purpose of today is necessarily the reward of tomorrow. In the Soviet Union, the regime assured people that the difficulties they endured were required in order to reach the svetloe budushchee (radiant future), a utopia found at the end of an interminable road. In the absence of an end result or final destination, the voyage itself becomes the site of cultural exploration."

- Julie Draskoczy, Belomor: Criminality and Creativity in Stalin’s Gulag. Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2014. p 30-32

#maxim gorky #new man #belomorkanal #belomor #gulag #white sea baltic canal #Беломо́рско-Балти́йский кана́л #prison camp #work camp #soviet history #soviet union #stalinism #academic quote #reading 2024 #history of crime and punishment #perekovka #russian revolution #soviet communism

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