#WE NOW HAVE A SWEDISH MACHINE

[thornescratch]

This is really fucking funny.

[falesten-iw]

Urgent 🆘️ call: 🚨🍉 Please help..🥺😓🙏

My name is Falastin, and I am a mother of three small children, ages 5 years, 2 years, and 3 months. I am not very good with social media, but I am writing to seek your help to give my family in Gaza the chance to live their lives again.

Due to the ongoing genocide we in Gaza are experiencing, my family need your help to survive, leave Gaza, and find safety.

In november 2023 last year, i lost three of my cousins from my mother's family with their wifes and children's, some of them still under the rubble untill now. 

In mars 2024 this year i lost another 2 cousins in Alshifa hostpital, this shock after three months of the first lose was a big slap into our face, it was a harsh reminder that death didn’t stop, and that none of us is an exception in this genocide, not a woman nor a child, everyone of us is a target to the death machines above our heads.

My family has lost everything. Some of them have tragically passed away, and those who remain are without shelter, moving from one temporary place to another in a desperate attempt to stay alive. Currently "After more than 20 times of being displaced and having to leave our house escaping from rockets and death " they have fled south and are living in a makeshift tent made from plastic bags and torn clothes.

Each day is a battle for survival. Each day, my family wakes up not knowing if they will have food to eat, clean water to drink, or a safe place to rest. Their homes have been wiped, and their children sit sleepless waiting their death. In Gaza, there is no where to seek shelter, no bunkers, nowhere to hide. Gaza is no more than 40 kilometers long and 10 kilometers wide with a population of just over two million. Gaza's border is completely surrounded by fences and barbed wire. The only way out of Gaza is to Egypt.

I used to introduce myself as the youngest in the family but in this GENOCIDE I’m a big sister who see her siblings’ future getting lost in front of her eyes, as i see my brothers kids who are still young and supposed to be in school, my mom who is 73 years old unable to find her medicine, as I see them, I made it a mission to myself to save my family or who’s left alive from it, to save their future from all of this and to escape Gaza.

Despite everything, I still have hope to save those who remain of my family. But I need all the help I can get from every person on earth. This challenge is not easy for me, especially since I am not good with social media and i dont have so many follower to reach and ask them for help. However, I am trying, and maybe with your support, the impossible can become possible.

Asking for your help is the only way I have to save my family’s life and future. Your help can be our hope when hope seems far away. Because of that, I appeal to your generosity and compassion, asking for help so that we can gather the necessary funds to help my family.

Photos of "Lina," who was born at the start of the war, and she is now 9 months old. Your donation could give her the chance to survive, leave Gaza, and find safety with her family.

I would like to thank everyone who has donated, shared and supported my campaign so far. Your generosity has given us hope in the darkest of times, and I am deeply grateful.

So far, we have raised 3,950 SEK of our 2,000,000 SEK goal - August 15th. While this is a small step, it is a crucial one, and it shows that together, we can make a difference. We still have a long way to go, and I urge you to continue sharing our story and contributing if you can.

Every donation, no matter the size, brings us closer to saving my family and giving them a chance at life. Please read and act as if it were your family, your mother, your siblings in these conditions. 🙏🙏🙏💔💔💔💔

Important note: Donation value:

** 1$ = 10.5 Swedish kr

** 10$ = 105 Swedish kr

** 100$ = 1050 Swedish kr

** 1000$ = 10500 Swedish kr

VETTED and shared by 90-ghost, also as no. 282 in The Vetted Gaza Evacuation Fundraiser Spreadsheet compiled by el-shab-hussein and nabulsi and shared in the masterpost.

We have also been verified by Al Jazeera News. Here is the video. I added this video today, august 15th. Its showing my cousin and aunt in the hospital, where she shares how the Israeli army airstruck them with their kids. Listen to my aunt Suad "Em Mhammed".

Best regards,

Falastin and her family.

[73-advocate]

‼️🛑 Don’t ignore this. Please help my autistic child live a normal life and help my family survive death. Hello, I am Doaa from Gaza 🍉. I apologize for what I'm about to ask. I have a heavy and tired heart. Unfortunately, the situation became difficult after I left Gaza, and I did not receive any assistance to treat my child and help us live except through you and your donations. . A donation of just $20 from each person, $20 will save my child and my family in Gaza. $20 equals 220 Swedish krona. I lost my home, my workplace, everything, and I don’t know whether or not I will bear all this responsibility outside Gaza to help my child and my family, but I know that your help will contribute to saving my child and my family. Sorry about all this.

HELP DOOA AND HER SON

please, only a minute of your time.

Dooa is a grieving and tired Palestinian mother taking care of her son, Omar, who is non-verbal and only 5 years old. They have escaped Gaza and now are residing in Egypt, but the rest of her family are left in Gaza.

Before the genocide, she used to run an embroidery business, she is restarting it again to raise funds for the rest of her family’s escape and for the safety of her child and herself. She was able to buy a sewing machine with the funds she’d raised, now we just need a little more so that she could reunite with her family and give her son a proper education.

I can only imagine how difficult it is to run a business alone and managing an autistic child. Please lend your support and donate atleast 40 dollars, that much is enough.

more info is on @dodoomar12345’s pinned posts and reblogs. take note that this is a verified campaign.

and please, go to my blog to reblog gofundmes that aid in the relief of gaza victims and donate there.

[woso-dreamzzz]

Interviews

Hardersson x Child!Reader

Part of The Big Adventures Universe

Summary: Your Momma and Morsa sometimes have to talk to people on a screen for their job

Sometimes your Morsa and Momma don't play football for their jobs.

Sometimes they had to sit at a table with a computer and talk to people on the other side of it.

It was pretty boring so you like to sit under the table and play with your toys, leaning back against Momma's legs to let her know that you hadn't disappeared.

(You had done that once and Momma had burst into tears when she found you at the vending machine with Caroline Graham-Hansen.)

"Of course, you're both role models for girls individually and as a couple but also to working mothers as well. I know that your daughter was living in Germany with you, Pernille, but how has the move been for her?"

"It has been good," Pernille replies with a smile," y/n is still quite little so she's adapted pretty well to everything. I think Magda is the one that was thrown for the first few weeks."

You vaguely hear your name, muffled from where you're hiding under the table. You shuffle closer to Momma on your bum, peaking out from your hiding spot.

Both Momma and Morsa are smiling at the computer.

"As Pernille said, it is good," Magda continues," It is nice to be here, together as a family. y/n is getting to that age now where everything is new and shiny and she's just beginning to understand that Momma and Morsa get to kick a ball around for ninety minutes and win medals."

The interviewer laughs. "And is she a big Chelsea fan?"

Magda laughs as well, shaking her head. "We have only just got her to stop calling it 'Not-Wolfsburg'."

You hear Morsa say 'Wolfsburg' and your interest is renewed. You shuffle out from under the table, on your hands and knees.

The table your parents are sitting at is very tall and you're very small so your forehead barely peaks up over it. You stand in the space between Morsa and Momma's seats and lean forward on your tiptoes - just about tall enough now to be able to peer over the table.

There's a woman on the screen with a microphone. She looks nice but she's speaking English and she's a stranger (Morsa always tells you to be careful around strangers) so you don't really like her on principle.

"Oh, hello there. It looks like you have a little visitor."

Your English has gotten a lot better now - you understand everything she tells you.

(Momma always says you are like a sponge with languages because sometimes at home you flip between Swedish, Danish, German and English when you forget a word in one of your languages).

Morsa turns to look at you, smiling. Her big hand comes to rest on your head, ruffling your hair. You smile back and pass her your favourite stuffed swan before you clamber up into Momma's lap.

She grabs a hold of you securely, moving the chair so you're both tucked in properly and there's no chance of you falling.

"That's a pretty jersey," The woman on the screen says.

You look down at yourself, pinching the emblem.

Momma bounces her knee up and down as she rests her chin atop your head. "What do you say, princesse?"

"Thank you," You say shyly," S' Momma's Not-Wolfsburg jersey."

The adults all laugh and you frown.

You're not entirely sure what you said was funny.

Adults are weird sometimes.

"Is it a competition? On whose jersey she ends up wearing?"

"Usually, yeah," Magda says, looking at you and Pernille fondly," We have had to start dressing her in normal clothes so we don't argue but it's media day today so we thought that she should probably represent the team."

"And how did you decide today?"

"Rock, paper, scissors," Pernille replies.

"Pernille cheated!"

"I did not!"

"She did. She distracted me with y/n before we played."

You giggle as your Morsa pulls a funny face at you and makes your stuffed swan kiss your face. Momma presses a kiss to the top of your head as another peal of laughter escapes your mouth.

"Now, before I let you all go. y/n what's the best thing about living in London with your mums?"

You cock your head to the side for a moment. "Er...Morsa does my hair all pretty and Momma makes nice breakfast! And-And they have a big bed! Sometimes, Momma gets me up in the morning and lets me sleep in the big bed with Morsa!"

You continue to ramble on, more than happy to talk about your favourite subject, only tapering off when your tummy grumbles.

Momma checks the fancy watch Morsa got her for their anniversary.

"It looks like it's lunchtime for the princesse. Can you say goodbye, y/n?"

"Bye!" You smile at the woman on the computer and wave, allowing Momma to place you back on the ground and Morsa to hand over your toy.

As they log off, you grab Morsa's hand.

"We have lunch now?"

"Yes, princesse, we'll have lunch now."

[gshina]

When I think about the difference between Finland and Sweden in Eurovision, it has always been clearly different for me.

Sweden knows how to be that factory-like perfect machine that creates songs. I myself have never liked Swedish representatives that much, I disliked Måns Zelmerlöw’s as well both Loreen’s songs with the simply reason - its boring. In the last decade I can name only two Swedish songs that I have liked which are Frans’s If I Were Sorry (2016) and Benjamin Ingrosso’s Dance You Off (2018). I've been of the opinion for a long time that swedish songs are the same, it’s the same perfectly sound pop machine song what you can hear every day on radio. it's like playing the same old record over and over and always the jury eat the same old smelly cheese and it's not fair. The problem with that is that it encourages countries to send in non-offensive pop music in order to appeal to the professional jury, most of which will be very mediocre and boring to watch. If the people didn't get a vote, we wouldn't see entries like Finland or Croatia. Those kinds of performances are what people watch Eurovision for! Nobody (should not) wants to see a non-offensive pop music contest. We want originality! We want fun! Eurovision is about the fun, this is not The Voice or Idols.

When I think about Finland, the success has been variable, but what I'm proud of is how at least Finland doesn't send the same old garbage every year. We have taken risks, risks which certainly not every one of them has been my favorite but I think that daring to take risks is one of the most appreciated quality what you can have. The last night Finland had one of the most unique songs ever and now I am not afraid to say how I feel I have been cheated. And before anyone has time to comment that "Finns are just bitter when Sweden took the victory in front of their noses" this is about much bigger than national cheating.

Käärijä's popularity among the international Eurovision nations has been extraordinary. During the five-day week polls, comment fields and reaction videos were filled with green emojis, Finnish flags and Cha Cha Cha shouts. The reactions of the live audience at the finals were also incredible. During Käärijä's performance, the large audience wildly sang along. The greatest moment, however, was when the impatient audience got tired of Sweden's growing neck in the town hall votes and burst into shouts of protest.

Three minutes later, in the midst of all this ecstasy, the rug was pulled from under our feet. The situation was simply awkward that all felt wrong in every blood cell of me. This can't go like this. The public had made Käärijä a phenomenon. The audience cheered Käärijä in a way that has not been seen before in the history of Eurovision but the professional jury made all of that look like nothing.

There are five music professionals in the jury of each country. So 185 councilors have been given the same power as hundreds of millions of viewers at home. council whose task was originally to prevent favoritism from neighbors? Nevertheless, year after year, it is precisely the "professional jury" who, by chance consider their own border neighbors and language partners the best of all. How is this fair?

The audience was just entertained by Käärijä. So much so that viewers wanted to use their own money to show their support for their favourite. Who is the show even made for if the audience doesn't get to choose their winner?

My not-so-unpopular opinion is that jury votes must be abandoned or at least reduced in weight. The Finnish Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu has already taken a great step in this regard, when in the finals of the competition, the public votes had a weight of 75 percent and the international juries only 25 percent. By renewing the voting system, the power would be given to those for whom the program is made to those who listen to Eurovision songs.

Today, Sunday, Finnish flags fly in Finland, of course, in honor of Mother's Day. But in my heart, the blue cross flags have been hoisted equally for Finland's victory.

Because that's who we are. Real winners.

In bitter disappointment I'm hovering right now and I'll be hovering for a very long time my mind also brushes with thoughts like how I would like to deny yesterday's results, abolish the jury vote praying so hard something shady happened with the jury votes and the result will be declared invalid oh and a bit also ban Sweden too, but especially the juries.

unfortunately I have to bring it up as well how we all know that Eurovision voting is also a bit shady..? It's Abba's anniversary next year? Doesn't seem suspicious at all. To win twice and bring back the trophy on an important year? yeah it does seem fishy. A lesser known artist catapulted into stardom? Loreen been internationally known for years. A country getting a chance to host after never/rarely doing so before? Sweden’s had it 6 times already. An underdog taking the crown by being an audience pleaser? She was the bookies’ favourite from the start. Eurovision being one of the biggest, most exciting things they’ve ever done? She’s done it all before.

None of these things are personally Loreen’s fault, and I actually feel bad for her that this win will be remembered as one that the public clearly wanted to give to someone else and being hated by so many people now and most won't even remember that she won. But it does all feel extra slimy and calculated on Sweden’s part, especially given the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s Waterloo just happening to be next year. It all feels very hollow and it will become pointless to argue.

I think that at this point it has become clear to everyone that I am from Finland myself yes and I really love my home country. My intention is not to bash Loreen this was not her fault nor to take away opportunities from any country. Sweden is my dear neighbor despite all this, but I hope that everyone understands the disappointment and even anger that I feel right now. I want to get justice that belongs to my country and was decided by the public and audience. For my country but also justice for every country that gets discriminated just because the jury think they know ”better” than the audience who is supporting, dancing, cheering, breathing and loving Eurovision air more than anyone else. Power belongs to the audience.

[someoneintheshadow456]

I said before, now that Cait Corrain’s true self has come out, I can finally elaborate on what happened with her. To put a long story short, I was one of her very first victims - long before she became an original fiction author and back when she was known as Enterprisingly on AO3 - the author of Play to Win.

I know that #reviewbombgate was back in December, but at the time, I did not know about it because I’m not involved in BookTok. However, I WAS involved with the Reylo fandom, albeit indirectly.

The final chapters of Play to Win went on a tangent that seemed bizarre to me at the time. In fact, it seemed so strange that I brushed it off almost completely. It was only when I found Play to Win’s Wayback Machine page after recalling memories of the Reylo fandom last year when I read the chapter properly (instead of skipping ahead to get to the Reylo scenes). And a proper reading made me realize what was so unnerving about it:

Anyone who has engaged with my blog (especially from 2015-2019, when I used to post a lot more content about my personal life) can see the strangely... specific way this character was described. In order to go into this level of depth, one has to have been following me intently and keeping tabs of all the personal things I posted.

And then, she goes from eerily specific descriptions, to straight up maliciously lying about me:

Keep in mind, this screed takes up an ENTIRE chapter in itself. Said character, Ejya Fjord, is a background NPC who is mentioned a total of 121 times in a 161,000 word story. In fact, her name is mentioned so little that you could be forgiven for not remembering her at all:

You'd think, if someone would do something like this, I had to have done something terrible to her, or even just gave her a negative review. But I never did.

As you can see here, I have only engaged positively with her. Since Play to Win was also taken down and you can’t see old comments on Wayback Machine. Unfortunately after this, I can only give my word without receipts.

Play to Win was published first in 2018. I reviewed her story in March of 2018, possibly even earlier. In my review, I praised the writing, worldbuilding, and dialogues, but gave a small constructive criticism in that the politics could be better integrated into the story without feeling disjointed.

In the very early chapters, Ejya was clearly intended to be 100% Swedish - as one can tell from the name. However, at some point in the later half of the story, she retroactively became mixed race and a rival for Ben's affections, while Ben seems to be having none of it. It's clear these choices were made to portray me as some kind of horny fangirl for Kylo Ren who will stomp on other girls for his sake:

When I read the last chapter first, I was horrified. But now I'm just... bemused that someone would ever see me as some kind of calculating vixen who dresses like a Euphoria high school student and only likes masculine hobbies to pick up dudes. When in reality it took me until 2020 to be able to type the word "sex" without having heart attack and have never so much as posted a selfie on here.

It's also funny that Ejya is petite and flat chested while my actual body type is the exact opposite... which she would know since she stalked my blog so thoroughly. Almost as though she's implying something about her own insecurities...

Initially, I was under the impression that Corrain targeted me because of my association with @ainomica - due to her ruffling the Reylo fandom’s feathers (and ending up on Corrain’s hit list) over her opinions on John Boyega. However, that controversy happened in 2020. When Corrain wrote this libel about me, @ainomica wasn’t even on her radar, not to mention it was a year before we had ever even met. This libel was done to target me, and me exclusively.

In essence - Corrain weaved libel about me into her story because my existence pissed her off. We know now that Corrain had a penchant for targeting sapphic authors and WOC almost exclusively. So it's safe to say she was just being a typical white saviour liberal who shows what she actually thinks of minorities when they don't toe the line.

While this does make her less unhinged in my eyes than using me to target someone else, it still means that Corrain was, and always has been capable of aggression towards anyone she’s remotely offended by. Especially if said person happens to be a minority of some kind.

[horrorhorizon]

Occupy Umeå University Okupera Umeå Universitet

Image ids and translations:

Four pictures showing the front and backs of flyers

1) a Palestinian flag is the background. White text with a black shadow reads "FREE PALESTINE!

OCCUPY UMEÅ UNIVERSITY"!

Bakgrunden är en Palistinisk flagga. Vitt text med svart skugga läser

"BEFRIA PALESTINA!

OCCUPERA UMEÅ UNIVERSITET!"

2) black text on what background reading

"CAMPUS OCCUPATION FOR PALESTINE!

We occupy the campus in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Across the world, campus occupations are spreading like wildfire from the US to Switzerland, Denmark and now Sweden

Unlike during the war in Ukraine, Umeå University has neither raised the Palestinian flag nor made any statement of support for the Palestinian people. Meanwhile, students raising awareness on campus about the genocide have been driven away by security guards.

Because of the student occupations in the US, Biden has had to stop arms shipments to Israel - as the protests have gotten too large to ignore. In Sweden, the Swedish Armed Forces signed a billion-dollar deal with Elbit Systems, which supplies Israel with drones used to kill children in Gaza. We can and we must stop the war machine, both in Sweden and in the world.

The imperialists, politicians, media and universities are on the side of the oppressors. We students and workers are on the side of the Palestinians

One thing is clear: we must take matters into our own hands. Through common struggle we can crush imperialism!

JOIN US at the Campus pond, Umeå University"

White text on a read background on the bottom reads

"WE DEMAND:

That Umeå University speaks out in solidarity with Palestine

That all universities stop their cooperation with Israel

A national student occupation for Palestine part of a general workers' mobilization to stop arms trade with Israel"

Svart text på ett vitt bakgrund läser

"CAMPUSOKUPATION FÖR PALESTINA!

Vi ockuperar campus i solidaritet med palestinier människor. Över hela världen sprider sig campusockupationer som en löpeld från USA till Schweiz, Danmark och nu Sverige

Till skillnad från under kriget i Ukraina har Umeå universitet har inte hissade den palestinska flaggan eller gjort någon deklaration av stöd för det palestinska folket. Samtidigt studenter höja medvetenhet på campus om folkmordet har drivits bort av ordningsvakter.

På grund av studentyrkena i USA har Biden varit tvungen stoppa vapentransporter till Israel – protesterna har blivit för stor att ignorera. I Sverige skrev militären på en miljardaffär med Elbit Systems, som försörjer Israel med drönare som används för att döda barn i Gaza. Vi kan och vi måste stoppa krigsmaskinen, både i Sverige och i världen.

Imperialisterna, politikerna, media och universiteten är på sidan av förtryckarnas sida. Vi studenter och arbetare står vid sidan av av palestinierna

En sak är klar: vi måste ta saken i egna händer. Genom gemensam kamp kan vi krossa imperialismen!

VA MED OSS på Campusdammen, Umeå universitet"

Vitt text på röd background på botten av bladet läser

"VI KRÄVER:

Det Umeå universitet uttalar sig solidariskt med Palestina

Att alla universitet slutar sitt samarbete med Israel

En nationell studentockupation för Palestina del av en allmän arbetarmobilisering för att stoppa vapenhandeln med Israel"

3) En svart vitt bild av en man som viftar Palistinisk flaggan. Flaggan är färgat, men resten av bilden är svart vitt. Mannens rygg är vänt imot oss och stor över en stad. Han har en tröja med keffiyeh designen. Vitt text med svart ram läser

"Lev

Palestina

Bojkotta

Isreal"

På botten, höger sidan av bilden stor det " ETT OCKUPERAT FOLK HAR

RÄTT ATT GÖRA MOTSTÅND"

Under bilden så står det "rku" och " kommunistiska partiet kommunisterna.org"

A black and white image of a man waving the Palestinian flag. The flag is colored, but the rest of the image is black and white. The man's back is turned towards us and large over a city. He has a shirt with the keffiyeh design. White text with black border reads

"Long Live

Palestine

Boycott

Isreal"

On the bottom right of the picture black text reads

"AN OCCUPIED NATION HAS

THE RIGHT TO FIGHT BACK"

Underneath the image is text "rku" and "the communist party kommunisterna.org"

4) Röd text på top av bladet står det

"DEN SJÄLVKLARA RÄTTEN ATT GÖRA MOTSTÅND"

I vänlig text står det

"75 år har gått sedan Israel bildades. 75 år har gått sedan denna stat fördrev 800 000 palestinier och stal deras land. Idag uppgår dessa flyktingar till närmare sex miljoner människor.

Både FN:s resolution 3070 och fjärde Genevekonventionen är tydlig. Alla ockuperade och koloniserade människor har rätt att göra motstånd - även väpnat motstånd.

Denna rätt till motstånd är särskilt viktig i Palestinakonflikten eftersom Israel är en apartheidstat som behandlar den egna palestinska befolkningen som andra klassens medborgare, som ständigt förtrycker, förnedrar, misshandlar, fängslar och dödar palestinier och som håller över två miljoner människor isolerade i världens största utomhusfängelse- Gaza.

Israel struntar i internationell rätt

FN:s resolutioner 194 och 242 slår fast det palestinska folkets rätt till sitt land och att alla palestinska flyktingar har rätt att återvända hem. Israel har konskevent struntat i att följa dessa FN-resolutioner

I stället har de ökat sitt förtryck och sin fördrivning av palestinierna genom dagliga övergrepp och byggande av fler olagliga bosättningar.

Köp inte israeliska varor

Ett sätt att sätta press på staten Israel är att bojkotta israeliska varor. Köp inte israelisk frukt, grönsaker eller andra produkter som börjar med streckkoden, det så kallade EAN-nummeret, 729

Semestra inte i lsrael. Kräv ett stopp för allt ekonomiskt, politiskt, kulturellt och idrottsligt utbyte med Israel till dess att det palestinska folkets rättigheter är uppfylla.

Bojkott är en ickevåldsmetod som kan göra skillnad, något omvärlden visade när apartheid i Sydafrika pressades bort."

Röd text står

"FÖR ETT FRITT OCH DEMOKRATISK PALESTINA

BOJKOTTA ISRAEL"

Svärt text i en grå låda står " Ta kontakt med Kommunistiska Partiet: info@kommumisterna.org"

I en seperat grå låda står det i rött " Läs mer om Paleistina frågan i Proletären!" Och i svart text "Proletären är Sveriges enda revolutionära arbetartidning, som kommer ut varje vecka fullmatad med inrikes- och utrikesnyheter krönikor, kultur och politiska analyser.

Läs mer på proletaren.se och ta en prenumeration!" Till höger av texten är en bild på ett magasin och en QR kod.

Red text at the top of the paper reads "THE OBVIOUS RIGHT TO RESIST" underneath in regular text it says

"75 years have passed since Israel was founded. 75 years have passed since this state displaced 800,000 Palestinians and stole their land. Today, these refugees amount to nearly six million people.

Both UN Resolution 3070 and the Fourth Geneva Convention are clear. All occupied and colonized people have the right to resist - including armed resistance.

This right of resistance is particularly important in the Palestine conflict because Israel is an apartheid state that treats its own Palestinian population as second-class citizens, that constantly oppresses, humiliates, abuses, imprisons and kills Palestinians, and that holds over two million people in isolation in the world's largest outdoor prison- Gaza.

Isreal disregards International rights

UN resolutions 194 and 242 establish the Palestinian people's rights to their land, and that all Palestinian refugees have the right to return home. Israel has consistently ignored these UN resulations.

Instead, they have increased their oppression and displacement of the Palestinians through daily abuse and the creation of more illegal settlements.

Do not buy Isreali items

One way to put pressure on the state of Israel is to boycott Israeli goods. Do not buy Israeli fruit, vegetables or other products that begin with the barcode, the so-called EAN number, 729

Do not vaction in Isreal. Demand an end to all economic, political, cultural, and sport exchange with Isreal until the Palestinian population rights are awarded.

Boycotting is a peaceful act that can make a difference, something the world showed when apartheid in South Africa was pushed away."

Red text reads

"FOR A FREE AND DEMOCRATIC PALESTINE

BOYCOTT ISREAL

Black text in a gray box reads "Contact the Communist Party: info@kommumisterna.org"

In a separate grey box, it says in red "Read more about the Palestinian debate in Proletären!" And in black text "Proletären is Sweden's only revolutionary workers' newspaper, which comes out every week packed with domestic and foreign news, chronicles, culture, and political analyses.

Read more and subscribe at proletaren.se

To the right, in the box, is a magazine cover photo and a QR code

End ids

Note I am not apart of the communist party or have any associations with any of the above (communest parties) mentioned. I am an anarchist associated with bokkafe angbett and återta pride

[vanderwoodlings]

fire escape: a dan&vanessa playlist (x)

Tracklist and commentary under the cut:

1. “We’re Going to Be Friends,” The White Stripes. Here we are, no one else/We walk to school all by ourselves is definitely the specific line that made this one for them as little kids need to be here—there’s a very specific way that Dan and Vanessa’s friendship involves (but quietly and unacknowledged) their family bullshit

2. “Kids In The Dark,” All Time Low. They left alone, the kids in the dark/To burn out forever or light up a spark

3. “You Get What You Give,” New Radicals. This whole damn world could fall apart/You’ll be okay, follow your heart/You’re in harm’s way, I’m right behind/Now say you’re mine

4. “Little Cellist,” Bears In Trees. Hmmmm yeah I think they’re a little fucked in the head

5. “Walk Backwards,” Maude Latour. We’re still early days, here, little fourteen year olds who haven’t quite had anything go wrong with them yet and so they’re orbiting closer and Dan hasn’t really noticed that Vanessa’s got a crush and neither of them know it’s a bad idea

6. “Bruises,” Reneé Rapp. …but the truth is I bruise easily/And sure I’m down to be the joke/Metaphorically though.

7. “Prodigal,” David Wirsig. In the beginning we were banished/Then we stoked the fires/And scrapped our songs for salvage. The thing is, like, Dan craves acceptance by the cool kids even as he holds up his pretentiousness as a shield and Vanessa is an outsider who wants people to meet her where she is and accept her

8. “Forgive Me Friend,” Smith & Thell feat. Swedish Jam Factory. This kind of tracks us into s1: And I, I promised that we would never change/That you and me would always stay the same/How I let you down

9. “That’s What Friends Are For,” Dionne Warwick, Elton John. Keep smilin’, keep shinin’/Knowin’ you can always count on me for sure/That’s what friends are for/For good times and bad times

10. “Old Friends,” Pinegrove. …Significant amounts of this playlist may be bitchy. Maybe I should have gone out a bit more/When you guys were still in town/I got too caught up in my own shit

11. “Platonic Cuddling,” Breakup Shoes. But significant parts are also sweet! Lovely day to watch the clouds race/Lovely day, nothing I would change

12. “You’re My Best Friend,” Queen. They are. So stupid for repeatedly trying to date. I love them

13. “Give It Up,” I Fight Dragons. The UES is a seductive kind of hell. Give it up for human nature/Give it up now, bit by bit.

14. “Misfit,” High Dive Heart. I know people say that you’re a misfit/But that’s the thing I like about you

15. “Everything I Had,” Sub-Radio. And sometimes you grow apart and you don’t want to admit that things are falling apart and here you are anyway

16. “Youth,” Daughter.

17. “I’ve Been Over It,” Geowulf. Time and time again, my head just wants to find a reason why/I needed another lesson in choosing who to give my heart. Wherein you date the guy

18. “Grow Up and Be Kids,” The Cab. But it’s still gone.

19. “Dial Tones,” AS IT IS. All we ever share are dial tones

20. “Twins,” The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. I didn’t mean to let you down/And now I know everything that’s good is gone

21. “I’m Not Calling You A Liar,” Florence + The Machine. I’m not calling you a liar/Just don’t lie to me

22. “It Ain’t Me, Babe,” Johnny Cash with June Carter Cash. Go away from my window/Leave at your own chosen speed/I’m not the one you want, babe/I’m not the one you need

23. “When We Were Writers,” Indigo Girls. This… might’ve been the first song on here? Idk the sense of artistic nostalgia just worked so very Correctly with their vibe

24. “Sober Up,” AJR feat. Rivers Cuomo. Won’t you help me sober up/Growin’ up, it made me numb/And I wanna feel somethin’ again. And we have arrived in early s4!

25. “Quarrel,” Moses Sumney. I love Moses Summey btw. Everyone should just go check him out. Quoting this as a quarrel so immorally implies/We’re equal opponents and we both antagonize

26. “i hope ur miserable until ur dead,” Nessa Barrett. She can be a little evil. As a treat. I hope you be yourself and lose your friends/I hope they call you out for shit you said/I hope you’re miserable until you’re dead

27. “Somebody That I Used To Know,” Gotye, Kimbra. But then she gets completely written off the show so… ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

28. “Please Leave A Light On When You Go,” fun. How do you fix something/That you can’t touch without hurting?/The lesson you’ve learned is leaving you dumb/Please leave a light on when it’s done

29. “Call Off Your Ghost,” Dessa. We’ve lived too close for too long

30. “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead,” Stars. I put this one one the Vanessa playlist, thinking about her and Dan, and I knew I was going to end with it the moment I started this one—it’s kind of both the best and most tragic ending for them, to me, saying ‘I’m not that person anymore’

[shadowjackery]

This post was brought to you by Parts of the Body and the letter H.

Continuing the train of thought from: https://www.tumblr.com/shadowjackery/709801424218963968/pick-a-live-action-movie-keep-one-human-actor?source=share

Design sketches and casting notes after the cut.

The token human is Hamlet. This seems obvious to me.

Bert and Ernie are Guildenstern and Rosencrantz. Their doppelgänger are what-not muppets, who turned out looking a lot like Andy Candy and Eddie Spaghetti from "Captain Vegetable" on Sesame Street.

Gonzo is The Player. Again, this feels perfect to me. The death-challenging artiste! Gonzo turned out to be surprisingly tricky to figure out how to draw well.

Piggy would demand to be Queen Gertrude, so Kermit has to be King Claudius. Mirroring her, Link Hogthrob in drag is the Player Queen. And for the Player King, Camilla, also in drag, to stay in theme.

I never got around to casting the Ghost of Hamlet's Father. Maybe Rolf? You could talk me into Uncle Deadly, or a bedsheet ghost, or that Jim Henson muppet they used in the ol' jugband numbers, or the hideous CG recreation of Jim himself with a machine AI voice.

In Stoppard's text, the youngest player, "Alfred", plays a Queen. I changed that here: Elmo plays Alfred who plays a Princess, mirror to Ophelia, and for her I just made up a girl monster because the girl monsters on Sesame Street seem too young to be fooling around with college boys. Though, yes, now that you mention it, Elmo is also far too young to be pimped out by Gonzo, but that part of the play is supposed to be transgressive, and anyway have you ever seen Elmo interviewed on a late night show? He and Gonzo would love the joke. They would conspire to make it somehow worse.

Last minute thought that I never drew: Ophelia could also be played by a fish, because she drowns.

Laertes: "...How?!" Claudius: "Well, it's too complicated to go into here. This play is long enough." Laertes: "I understand entirely. Shall we continue?" Claudius: "Please."

Sam the American Eagle is perfect for Polonius, and I invented a different bird for his player equivalent.

Grover plays Laertes cranked up to 11, and I think that's Harry Monster or someone similar as his player equivalent.

Scooter could be Horatio. I did think of Rizzo the Rat at one point, but he would not put up with Hamlet's shit for very long, while Scooter would shrug and roll with it, which is more true to the text.

I never quite figured out castings for Osric and Fortinbras, who don't appear in these drawings, because I honestly like Sweetums for either part and couldn't decide. I think I tend toward making him Osric ("A palpable hit!"), because the Swedish Chef playing the Norwegian Prince could be hilarious:

Fortinbras: "...Wat du hey?!"

Horatio: "What is it ye would see? If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search."

Fortinbras: "De chicky cri un hackensvacken! O Morp, Wat festen toward yer unendinlindinlindin cell Ther thoo soo muchen kingen in un kaboom So bludili hast stroock?"

(My apologies to Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians...)

And, naturally, the Gravediggers who gleefully desecrate the grave of a certain much-despis'd court jester couldn't be anybody else but Statler and Waldorf.

[indierpgnewsletter]

New Games From December 23 and January 24

I. Dear Reader Another regularly scheduled roundup of games that have been released on itch.io that caught my eye over the last two months. Usual disclaimer that I haven’t really read or played these games; they just seem cool based on the pitch alone. Also, most of them now come to me by people using this form.

Protect the Child: A Forged in the Dark game about monsters caring for a strange, mystical child. Playtest version. (Mintrabbit, Free)

Aftermath: A solo-friendly sci-fi about a team of first responders trying to make the world a better place after a terrible war. (Ember and Ash)

Space Aces: Voyages in Infinite Space: A comedy scifi sandbox inspired by the Hitchhikers’ Guide. (Stephen Hans)

The Connection Machine: A cerebral scifi game about exploring a dreamlike world and overcoming trauma. (Tanya Floaker & Julia Nevalainen)

Daybreak on the Battlefield: An unofficial set of extra playbooks for Girl by Moonlight, the excellent magical girls game. (Ben K Rosenbloom)

Buried in Ice: A mystery for Apocalypse Keys, the Hellboy-inspired PbtA game. Something trapped in a glacier thaws out and causes havoc. (Morgan Eilish)

Boyfriend Dungeon: Life on the Edge: The videogame gets officially adapted into a PbtA game. Explore your inner psyche, confront you fears, and also smooch swords. (Trumoi)

Like Real People Do: A two-player prompt-driven game about a mage trying to keep secrets in a vault but the vault wants to be a real person. (Meghan Cross)

The Mystery Business: Scooby Doo-inspired mystery solving game with no combat. You beat the baddies by setting traps to catch them. (Greg L)

The Flood Bell Tolls in Saint Magnus: A system-neutral campaign set in a drowning city on the verge of rebellion. (Tempest RPG, PWYW)

Also, cheeky last minute addition, the Showcase Zero bundle features games that came out of my playtest community. It’s got my scifi horror game, This Ship Is No Mother, as well as the mecha game of friendship and war, Spectres of Brocken and more.

II. Media of the Week

People Make Games take a good look at jubensha, a gaming phenomenon in China that started out just as spiffy murder mystery party games but has transformed into much more, including what sounds like scripted larps where everyone cries at the end. Really cool story.

The new season of DiceExploder is back with John Harper talking about Psi*Run, a unique game by Meguey Baker that should’ve inspired a slew of games but inexplicably didn’t.

Please consider joining 100+ other patrons and support the newsletter on patreon to help keep me going.

If you’ve released a new game on itch.io this month, let me know through this form so I can potentially include it in the end of the month round-up.

III. Links of the Week

Reviews

Indie Game Reading Club reviews Stonetop, the community-focused iron age fantasy game from Jeremy Strandberg.

It’s a solid review and also features this neat bit of analysis about how PbtA developed: “Monsterhearts spawned the branch of PbtA games that are concerned with constrained, evocative moves with a strong editorial voice. Dungeon World, conceived as a reverse-engineering of Dungeons & Dragons style play, is concerned with efficiently resolving tasks, boiling down the activity to its core essence.”

Cannibal Halfling reviews Free League’s vanilla-ish fantasy game, Dragonbane: “…when we live in the world of Old-School Essentials (also a translation, though from Gygax to English instead of Swedish to English), there’s clearly recognized value in taking an old system, cleaning it up, and sending it back out.”

Explore Beneath and Beyond has a blog series reviewing and discussing all the early adventures and scenarios published for D&D. This is part one.

Possum Creek Games publish their 2023 year in review including completing the mammoth Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast.

DIY & Dragons explains why we should all probably stick to calling it “Jaquaysing”.

A short post about the oldest ttrpg forums �� usenet groups.

Misc

ZineMonth 2024 is around the corner and since the “official” site isn’t ready yet, there’s an unofficial” page listing all the projects being crowdfunded. Take a look and submit your own if you’re doing one.

There’s a game jam to create a megadungeon in honour of Jennell Jaquays.

From the archive

Skerples’ cool blog post about how to portray aliens and alien intelligences in your game, approaching it from a bunch of different angles. (Issue #8, Sep 2020)

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

On Tuesday, Rep. Claudia Tenney announced that she had nominated Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, citing his "groundbreaking efforts to foster peace and cooperation between Israel, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates" via the highly praised Abraham Accords. Tenney compared the former president's work to that of the 1978 peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia and the 1994 Oslo Accords, both of which were recognized and rewarded by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.

"Donald Trump was instrumental in facilitating the first new peace agreements in the Middle East in almost 30 years," Tenney wrote in a statement. "For decades, bureaucrats, foreign policy 'professionals,' and international organizations insisted that additional Middle East peace agreements were impossible without a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. President Trump proved that to be false." "The valiant efforts by President Trump in creating the Abraham Accords were unprecedented and continue to go unrecognized by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, underscoring the need for his nomination today," she continued. "Now more than ever, when Joe Biden's weak leadership on the international stage is threatening our country's safety and security, we must recognize Trump for his strong leadership and his efforts to achieve world peace. I am honored to nominate former President Donald Trump today and am eager for him to receive the recognition he deserves." This is not the first time Trump has been nominated for the prestigious award as the result of his Middle East policy. As the CBC reports, the former president received a slew of nominations from all over the world for the 2021 prize. Among those who put his name forward citing the Abraham Accords were a quartet of Australian law professors and conservative members of the Swedish and Norwegian parliament. The latter, Christian Tybring-Gjedde, had previously nominated Trump for the prize following his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. [source]

----------------------------

The difference between the numerous global wars taking place under the Democrats and the unusually peaceful Trump years is striking and undeniable: No new wars were started under Trump's presidency, and he made great strides in de-escalating conflict everywhere.

Whereas, six months into taking office, Biden started bombing Syria, and during his term we have seen the U.S. send tens of billions of dollars worth of killing machines to Ukraine to run a proxy war against Russia, bringing the entire world closer to nuclear war than it has been in 40 years. and now it's Gaza. All this has happened in only 4 years, but the corporate media has pushed an entirely opposite narrative to the facts the whole time.

Trump is unique in that he is not owned or funded by the military-industrial complex, the biggest business in the world, that owns all the other little businesses, the news sites and TV stations. He disrupts the status quo, and that is why they are so scared of him, and have been doing everything they can to destroy him the past 5 years.

[artemlegere-art]

Death of Chopin

Date: Félix-Joseph Barrias (French, 1822–1907)

Date: 1885

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Collection: The National Museum in Krakow

Description

The French artist Felix-Joseph Barrias, since he painted this work 46 years after the composer's death, may have used an account of Chopin's dying moments that was conveyed to posterity by Solange, George Sand's daughter and the sculptor Clésinger's wife: "One October afternoon in 1849, on the 16th, around twenty people were apprehensively waiting in the drawing room […]. Chopin wanted to know whether Countess Potocka was also in the drawing room and if she would like to sing closer, the door was wide open, and the beautiful countess started to sing. She was singing with her heart broken, with a voice full of tears! The people in the room dropped to their knees, choking back their sobs.”

The refined lady in white, standing by the piano, is probably Countess Delfina Potocka, who, according to tradition, sang the song "Pieta Signore" (Have Mercy Upon Me), which at the time was attributed to Alessandro Stradelli and is now attributed to the 19th-century composer Niedermayer. At one side of the bed, on the left next to a nun, Solange herself is kneeling; at the other side of the bed, Chopin's sister Ludwika is holding the dying composer's hand; in the foreground to the right, Marcelina Czartoryska, Chopin's pupil, and further at the window, Father Aleksander Jełowiecki, the painter Teofil Kwiatkowski (he left a series of beautiful pencil and watercolor sketches representing Chopin both at the piano and on his death bed) and Wojciech Grzymała.

Two Swedish researchers, Cecilia and Jens Jorgensen, argue that Barrias created the painting in collaboration with his pupil, Countess Winnaretta de Polignac (1865–1943), Edmond de Polignac's widow and a philanthropist and patron of artists and scientists. She was the daughter of Isaac Singer, the inventor of the sewing machine. Reportedly, he wanted to name the first model of the sewing machine he constructed after Jenny Lind (1820–1887), an eminent Swedish soprano singer and, since Hans Christian Andersen dedicated one of his fairy-tales to her, also known as the Swedish nightingale. She met Chopin in 1848 in London during one of his last tours in the city and was intending to marry the composer.

Two weeks after the artist's death, she arranged and paid for an extremely ceremonious funeral, which started with a mass held at l'Église Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, during which she sang arias from Bellini's opera. In 1851, she met Countess Winnaretta de Polignac, and it is possible that they made a decision together to commission a painting that represents Chopin in his dying moments. We know a little about how the work was created, but we know that it was the property of Countess Winnaretta, and later Count Campofelice. According to the Jorgensens, the woman that the painting represents in white while standing at the piano is not Delfina Potocka, but Jenny Lind.

[manicparadox]

I debated posting about this. It’s a hard topic, and a hard week. I’ve decided that I’m going to post this, but I have one ask. If you know me in “real life”, please don’t speak of this to anyone. You can reach out to me, but please do not reach out to any of the parties involved or share it outside of Tumblr. I just need to get it off my chest.

Trigger warnings for death, drug overdose, and grief. Don’t say I didn’t warn you; this is a grim entry.

Monday. I had just gotten home and sat down to eat some dinner. My husband was laid off last month, and the energy around the house is a little low. A lot to process there. The phone rings just as we’re starting to eat. It’s my stepson’s mother. She’s in tears. She says we need to get to stepson’s house, that he needs his father. That her youngest son is dead.

Her youngest son lives with my stepson. We really don’t know what to do with this, but there’s only so many questions you can ask. We tell her we’ll go immediately. We don’t know what has happened. It’s going to take an hour to get there so we drop everything. We text my stepson and his wife. My daughter in law calls moments later, also in tears. She explains that stepson’s brother overdosed.

He lives with my stepson. Which means, my stepson just found his brother dead.

We’re convinced we’re going to sit with them while they wait to take a body away. But we’re an hour out. We call a friend of stepson’s, who can be there in 20 minutes. He drops everything and goes.

We’re halfway there and we’re in shock. Everyone is in shock. That’s when we get a text that the paramedics got a pulse, and they’re transporting to the hospital. We call the friend, and he’s 2 minutes away. We call stepson and tell him to wait, that we’ve sent help. He’s too upset to drive. We tell him to wait, help is almost there.

We reroute to the hospital. In a surreal turn, it’s the hospital a block from the clinic I worked at back in the 90s. As we’re about to turn into the hospital, my husband says, “I think they’re behind us.” I look in the side view mirror and there’s the ambulance, still a ways off. We hurry into the hospital lot, but while we’re looking for parking, the ambulance arrives. It drives right past us.

I can see in the window. I already know. This is bad. This is a worst case scenario. This is about to be the worst night of many people’s lives.

We’re the first ones there. At the front desk, they haven’t checked him in yet. Even when they do, they’re giving very little. We’re not family (although after a point, everyone started writing my husband off as an uncle just to reduce the hassle). My husband sits, but I pace like a caged tiger, checking at the front desk. Is he checked in yet? They finally tell me that we can see him in 8 minutes. I don’t need to see him. I need to be there to make sure that his family can see him. I am pacing.

Finally his grandmother and his other brother arrive, and I’ll never forget their faces. I hug them. And that’s my vigil, now, I wait for people to walk in the door, I take in their grief. I let them know that they have help. I try to take a fraction of their grief. It’s like taking a cup of water out of the ocean. It’s useless. I know it is.

They start letting people back to see E (as I’ll call him). E isn’t in the room; they’ve taken him for a CT scan. My husband stays with E’s grandmother and other brother. I know where the room is now and how to direct people there if needed. I go back to my lobby vigil. My husband and I exchange updates, me from the lobby and him from the room, to take the communication burden off of the family.

E’s parents arrive. His mother wants answers and she’s upset but crisp. She knows her shit.

More arrive. Sister. My stepson and his wife. The other grandparents. Stepsister. Cousins. Only 2 can go back at a time. They let us break some rules because of how grim it is.

I try to get a double drop of Swedish Fish from the vending machine. The trick hasn’t worked in years, modern vending machines are too smart, but I don’t know what else to do with myself.

I move everyone into a corner of the waiting area, to try to coral the grief into a space that’s not spilling into everyone else. I try to be comforting, but the other grandmother hates me and I know it. She lets me hug her anyway. We have news it’s brain damage, but she doesn’t want to know. I’m surrounded by people whose world is shattering. They’re processing at different rates. Some want the specifics. Others need to be alone with their pain. E’s grandfather sits alone.

My daughter in law lets me hug her. My stepson barely lets me, he’s stiff as a board. I already know he thinks it’s his fault. Details slowly start to leak out, a picture that takes hours for me to get my head around. After finding his brother, my stepson administered two doses of Narcan and started CPR. His wife, a nurse, then took over. They’re tired. They’re traumatized. They wish they’d realized sooner, they wish they’d checked on him, they wish they hadn’t just let him sit in his room while they cooked dinner. Wish. Wish. Wish.

My daughter in law looks like she’s curling up on herself, while my stepson sits with his spine too straight. They still haven’t gotten to go back and see him, and that’s unfair, too. They did everything to try to save him, they did everything *right*… just not in time. And that’s not their fault. They’ve seen the worst of everyone, but they haven’t got to see E yet. Finally they send them back and I don’t know if I’m relieved or horrified.

My stepson’s friend is sitting there. I go over and tell him if he needs to get back to his wife and kid, we can take stepson and his wife home. He says, “I’m not going anywhere.” He is resolute. This is why my husband called him; he’s that kind of friend. He stays at stepson’s side. He’s probably more comfort than we are, but also, he’s a lot closer to E. His heart is breaking, too.

There is a man named Alex with a broken arm. He’s been here 5 hours and he’s hungry, and doesn’t have money to get anything out of the vending machine. I’m on my way over to the vending machines and this is a problem I can solve. I take Alex to the vending machine and buy him a sandwich, chips, cookies, and a soda. I try to get some water for the family but the vending machine is shit. I think about just kicking the shit out of it but there’s two cameras. I don’t want to be removed from the hospital for beating up a vending machine for an overpriced bottle of water.

They let everyone go back before they transfer him. We fill the room. E’s grandfather walks up and just turns and leaves, letting out a choked “I can’t.” I stay in the room for a bit, my hand on E’s mother’s shoulder. There’s nothing I can do.

To contextualize, this is my husband’s ex. We haven’t always gotten along. But over the years we all formed respect and eventually friendship. I can’t imagine her hurt, and I don’t think I want to. My hand on her shoulder is the lamest gesture in the world, but it’s all I have. We’re standing around her son on a ventilator. It’s grim, and it’s terrible. It’s heartbreaking but there’s no way to process this, to deal with the sight. I saw E on New Year’s Eve. We played the Trolley Problem game. It was a brutal round and we laughed so hard.

It’s not fair. It’s not right. He’s 26. This isn’t supposed to happen. The wrongness and shock of it fills every corner of the room. His pulse is 205. His blood pressure is something high but I don’t remember. It was a lot of flashing numbers to me, even though I know how to read all of those displays. It’s just a lot.

I leave, not because I can’t stand it, but because some of the family is struggling and I want to go check on them. His other brother just can’t keep looking. He’s stoic but it’s in that contained way. He’s going to explode, at some point. The sister and stepsister are with him outside.

E’s uncle shows up. It’s all over his face. I know that E’s uncle lost a brother a long time ago, too. And I recognize that maybe everyone hoped they’d never have to feel that kind of pain again. I offer to take him aside to update him, because E’s grandmother is not ready to hear what’s happening. I’m trying to spare her. But E’s dad steps in and he’s blunt. He explains there’s no brain activity due to lack of oxygen.

E’s dad’s health is not great, he’s had 2 TIAs. His walking is unsteady. We get him to sit. I’m not certain his health can take the strain of this. Now we’re in double jeopardy.

Finally he’s transferred to neurology. We’re moved to a new area, where we cram in, taking up every chair possible. I leave the seats for the family and I sit on the floor. The doctor explains there’s no brain activity, and answers questions. She pulls aside E’s parents. I know what this is, and I think we should probably go soon. We’ve done what we can. They’re going to let everyone go see him in pairs. We don’t need to go. That space should be for his family. But we do check to see if anyone needs food, if they need us to help. To drive anyone home. We offer to go check on stepson’s dog, and in my mind I’m thinking maybe we can make sure there’s just not anything left of what happened. My stepson says it’s fine, and we can’t make him give us a house key. His friend will drive him home.

There’s nothing left to do. We drive home in shock. E’s mother texts us that it means a lot that we were there.

There’s a thread of hope, but I can’t tell if it’s real or if everyone is pretending for each other’s sake.

For the night, he is stable, but no brain activity. Updates become more sporadic into Tuesday as everyone enters the holding pattern. I take the day off of work, I barely slept. I can’t focus. Anyone who asks me how I’m doing, I know we’re just kind of cracking a little. We want to be there if stepson needs us, but we don’t want to hover at the hospital. We wait at home.

Wednesday they plan for the brain death test, but his temperature drops low. They wait another day. We tell them to not worry about updating us. If it happens, it happens, but the last thing E’s mother needs is to remember to text her ex/father of her oldest child. I ask my stepson how he’s doing. He says “I don’t know how to answer that.” It’s fair. I just want to know that he’s safe, too.

E’s mother gets in a fight with the charge nurse, whereupon she states “I just want to be with my dying son.” The charge nurse shoots back with, “ALL of my patients are dying!” As if it’s about her. As if it’s personal. As if it’s not her job. E’s mother is filing a complaint. Good for her. I hope that nurse had a terrible day. All E’s mother says is “Her whooping started tonight.”

Even this upset, she’s still sharp, and she’s not taking shit. She’s always fought for her family, and here she’s at her most fierce.

Today he stabilized enough that they did the brain death test. 1pm. Everything went silent. I was at work. My manager quietly asks if I’ve heard anything. I say no, they did the brain death test at 1pm. We both know what that means.

If the news was good, my husband and I would have heard.

A couple of hours later, we get the news from E’s mom and from my stepson. They declared death at 1:27pm. It’s a formality at this point, a confirmation that must be done before what’s next.

My stepson asks if we’d like to see him, since there wasn’t much time left before they turned off life support. We decline. Not because we don’t care; we care a lot. More than I can even convey in this format. My husband isn’t sure if he can do it, or if it’s necessary. I want to be there for the family, but E is already gone. My attention is on the living, but at this point, there is nothing, at all, we can do. All I can think is how much trauma this family is going to be in. This is all I’ve thought about for days. I’ve known E his whole life, but this is his *family*.

I go to a friend’s house to eat pizza and crochet. I need a moment.

We get a text from E’s mom, a few hours ago. She says that they removed life support 30 minutes previous. She apologized for the lack of updates, there wasn’t much to say.

She’s right. There’s not. She’s lost her baby, and nothing, ever, will fix the hole in her heart. In all of their hearts.

I’m so sorry, E. And I’m so sorry for your family, who loved you fiercely.

Hug the people that you love.

[sealingfan]

A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence

There are three things with which this film hits you over the head in its opening sequence: it is about death, the tone is lighthearted if miserable, and the use of sound, color, and still shots foreshadow a meticulous and deliberate symbolism. I have loved film, art, and media for some time now and recently have begun regulating my consumption at a new film a day. This film has inspired me to document my thoughts.

We are introduced not to our protagonists, but to the film as a character with simple and otherwise mundane vignettes of people living in a world whose color seems to vary widely between shades of beige. The color (or lack thereof) and apparently deliberate set dressing immediately prepares us for contrast: children blowing bubbles and playing in colorful clothes, a mother's red leggings with her stroller in the park, a red-haired woman stealing a puff off her lover's cigarette, a young couple making love on the beach, dressed in red, soldiers going off to war, men dying in literal representations of corperate machines. It seems color exists only in the lives of people with drama, with emotion. The gray-and-beige world of bar scenes, of our protagonists' flophouse, of shops and even streets are devoid of intensity and are bathed in an omnipresent fluorescent office lighting.

Our protagonists are door-to-door novelty salesmen, whos self-described purpose is to help people laugh. The obvious irony being that they lack energy and their wares are not funny. They move like mobsters, threatening their clients who are behind on payments for rubber masks. In essence, they are sad, poor, and unexceptional.

As we watch Johnathan and Sam fail their way through town, their pitiable sales pitch in yet another bar is interrupted by the army of King Charles XII of Sweden evidently marching to fight the Russians in the Great Northern War. If we payed attention in AP Euro, we'd know the young and inexperienced King Charles would force each member of the anti-Swedish coalition into submission save Russia, and upon invading Moscow would suffer wounds resulting in his army's defeat. As the young king is escorted into the bland, beige-and-pea-green bar, we see intense and bright color in the navies and golds of the Swedish military uniforms. This, to me, cements the presence of color as a physical representation to contrast the pervasive ennui and boredom of the protagonists with their lot in life. We know these soldiers will return from war wounded and defeated, if they return at all, and yet they follow a cause, they are inspired, and they have decided upon a meaning in life, disagreeable and tragic though it may be. They march to war singing a song introduced in a particularly characterful bar scene about "Limping Lotta" and her tavern in Gothenburg, with the lyrics changed to fit Charles XII's ten thousand men. We see here that persistence remains the same even when the nature of the struggle changes.

We continue to loosely follow Jonathan and Sam as Jonathan begins to feel a sense of existential aimlessness. He is listening to a song on repeat late at night when Sam comes to talk to him, concerned for his wellbeing. The source of Jonathan's misery is a fear of meeting his parents again in heaven; he is afraid of dying, and maybe even having died so plainly, in a place so dingy, without having been colorful, as those three mundane deaths we see in the beginning, set to insistent, even petulant music. He wears one of the play masks they had been trying to sell perhaps in an attempt at coloring himself so to speak.

Sam, however sympathetic to his friend, is uninterested in this childishness. They have work to do and the people they report to are on their asses about their low sales records. They end up fighting and we see them part ways and make up. The friends are frustrated with their lot in life. They are uncertain of what to do. They are lost but they are friends. They have to keep living and they will do it side by side. Sam's apology to Jonathan is really touching. It is clear he isn't sure exactly what he's done wrong but he won't do it again. It is genuine and confused.

The next time we see Johnathan, he is recovering from a vision of black men and women and children being forced into a huge brass contraption which is then set alight. It begins spinning after a while and we see the name of Swedish multinational metals corporation Boliden. This long, agonizing shot ends when we flip to a window, out of which appear the cast of background characters, dressed up in black and ivory. This shot begins to bring together the themes of the film. The senses of meaninglessness and alienation begin to become attributable to bureaucracy and the complexity inherent in global forces - forces too large to observe with ripple effects too broad-ranging and complicated to wrap one's head around. Why do we march to war? For our king! Why do we drink? Because it makes me feel better. Why do we sell our novelties? Because we are told to. Why must we continue? Because we must. This scene has music that is somber and contemplative and new. It is not a callback or a reprise. Sam wants to get to work but Johnathan is full of turmoil. He asks thrice whether it is ok to use others for your own benefit to no answer.

The film ends at a bus stop as a man waiting for the bus is confused as to what day it is. His intuition failed him. It's an understated but fitting end. One can't expect satisfaction out of a film such as this.

Ultimately, the film is a depiction of the confusion innate in life as an individual in a society too vast to understand. Systems and machines overwhelm. One scene begins with the words homo-sapiens only to show us a monkey, wires sticking out of its brain, screaming, as a scientist ignores it entirely in the background, on a phone call. This is an obvious depiction of the film's perspective on the state of the individual human in a global world: buffeted by forces beyond understanding, suffering and unable to escape. A mind-numbing, boring, purposeless suffering envelopes contemporary society and salvation lies in ignorance and the simple joys of company. One may find it comforting that those with means still wear black even if they have slightly warmer lighting.

I am still contemplating the scene from which the film draws its title. As I understand it, children play a rather significant role in the symbol language of the film which I've yet to parse through entirely but I'm certain the three bots that read this will figure that out and tell me.

Anyhow,

I give Roy Andersson's "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence" flaming Kafkaesque brazen bull turbine out of 5

[doaaomar123]

🙏🛑Please wait a minute‼️

Hello my friends, I am Doaa from Gaza. I studied fashion design and clothing manufacturing. I had my own project, which was hand embroidery, which is part of the Palestinian heritage. I used to embroider on clothes and bags and completely detail the bags. It was my source of income. I was helping myself and my family, but unfortunately with the war I lost my home. And the sewing machine and all the tools that I used, and I was able to leave Gaza to Egypt three months ago to survive with my autistic son after his condition deteriorated. Before I left Gaza, I borrowed the travel costs from one of my friends, which amounted to $10,000, and now the situation is very bad. Please help me buy a sewing machine and the tools needed to return. To work again so that I can meet my son’s needs and treat him, and I contribute to helping my family in Gaza, and I will show you some of the bags that I made By embroidering and sewing it, and I will put a link to the Facebook page for my work. I hope you will support me, because I am in dire need of this.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085778695635&mibextid=ZbWKwL

I am writing to you that our morale is still high and that determination is present. After all the harsh circumstances we have been through, horrific events, but they will not destroy us, but rather they will make us stronger. 😫

@nabulsi @sar-soor @appsa @akajustmerry

@annoyingloudmicrowavecultist @feluka

@tortiefrancis @flower-tea-fairies @tsaricides

@riding-with-the-wild-hunt @vivisection-gf

@belleandsaintsebastian @ear-motif @ibtisams

@animentality @kordeliiius

@communistchilchuck @brutaliakhoa @raelyn-dreams

@troythecatfish @the-bastard-king @tamarrud

@4ft10tvlandfangirl @queerstudiesnatural

@northgazaupdates @90-ghost @skatehani

@awetistic-things @gentl3manly @baby-girl-aaron-dessner

@morallyrainyday

@troythecatfish @loonarmuunar @dendrosys

@90-ghost

Donate and share widely 🆘🆘 1100 Swedish krona = 100 dollars Every $5 will make a difference 🙏

[butternuggets-blog]

FOR WANT OF A NAIL

@baldwin-montclair @adowobsessed @sylverdeclermont @nicki-mac-me @thereadersmuse @kynthiamoon @wheresthesunshinesblog @adowbaldwin @beautifulsoulsublime @lady-lazarus-declermont @adarafaelbarba @dogblessyoutascha

Part Thirty-Nine

Summary:  Baldwin Montclair had a string of ex girlfriends, a single child, and a  lifetime longer than most people could dream of to make all kinds of  mistakes. His family knew one which kept coming out of the woodwork to  irritate him every other century.

Also on AO3

'We should build in contingencies for when this madness ends,' said Martin.

The other delegates had broken off, each claiming an administration room within the palace for themselves. Philippe had, of course, picked the most spacious one for himself; a broad fireplace, sturdy wooden chairs and large windows with a clear view of the city.

'You think it ever will?' Gerbert sneered.

'The humans can hardly hate us forever.'

'Wait and see.'

'In the meantime, how long should we lead for?' Philippe interrupted, brandishing a quill.

'One hundred years' said Gerbert.

'Witches may live that long, but not daemons' Martin pointed out.

'Seventy years' said Philippe.

Martin raised an eyebrow. 'Do you want an infirm daemon making decisions? Fifty years. The better part of a life, with room for a second term if they prove particularly long-lived.'

'They should be allowed to serve terms back to back,' Gerbert said through a smile.

'But only after being sworn in officially a second time.' Martin added.

Philippe took notes through argument and counter-argument.

'-all creatures are to abstain from achieving positions of authority within religious orders whereby they can shape religious doctrine or practise?'

'What?' Gerbert demanded.

Martin glared at him. 'I refuse to stage another false funeral for you because you want to be Pope. I have not the strength.'

'Which leads us into-' Philippe checked his list of suggestions. '-"All creatures will refuse any honour above the lowest rank accorded a man of state".'

'A baron' Gerbert sat back hard in his chair.

'Do you mean to tell me this will limit your political machinations?' Martin scoffed with a grin.

________________________________________________________________

The witches were surprisingly accommodating. They had been open to the idea of a one hundred year seat, with back to back terms, and made no fuss about religious isolationism.

'We will, of course, concede to the majority,' Jean de Villiers inclined his head towards the rest of the room. He was sitting beside Irakli, a witch from Sakartvelo, and Quincey Toussaint, another Frenchman. 'A fifty year term. Now, we do have some suggestions of our own.'

He paused and cleared his throat.

'No member of the Congregation may hold a seat of power within it concurrent to governance within any other organisation.'

Martin raised his hand. 'This is for human organisations as well as creature? Or only the former?'

'The former, I think. To simplify matters.' Polissena, the daemon nun who had spoken up during the initial meeting, was from Milan. She was sitting across from Martin on the right, flanked by a Swedish hän called Uoti, and a male daemon from Scotland called Ingeramium.

'And will you be relinquishing control of the Knights Hospitaller?' Philippe asked. Martin looked at him with the corner of his eye; he was projecting an outward sense of calm, but Martin knew him well enough to see the anger sizzling beneath.

No other De Clermonts in the Congregation. Not as long as they are the head of the Knights of Lazarus. Pity.

'I have already made arrangements to pass on my appointment' Jean reassured.

________________________________________________________________

Martin clutched the leatherbound book in his hands as the carriage lurched through Arles. He had painstakingly written down the agreed-upon tenets of the Congregation's laws, binding his notes so that he would not lose them. He had even had them signed; Philippe volunteered a signature, then Gerbert. Polissena's spider-like lettering prickled across the page above her seal, next to Uoti's blocky handwriting and Ingeramium's neat scrawl.

The carriage lurched over something and there was a clank as the seals hit his leg. Jean had said that they would authenticate the copy and make it more official. Irakli had laughed and said that the seals made the book look like a patent of nobility.

The carriage swung sharply to the left, up a secret track leading up into the forest at the edge of the city. The track smoothed into a cobblestone laneway as they climbed higher into the mountains, a tree tunnel of silver birch obscuring Martin's view.

The road ended in a solid wall of interlocking branches choking the way. As the carriage rolled closer the branches parted to reveal a wide forecourt and a towering golden-brown fortress.

Martin had many mansions and castle throughout Burgundy, but Kamb-atsu was his true home. It had started life as a wooden fortress he had built atop a series of rockpools and caves, and when the mineral deposits in the ground had turned the foundations to stone he had used magic to rapidly petrify the rest.

Kamb-atsu's outer shell was an inverted copy of his castle at Beaune; a rectangular pentagon pointing out over a cliff with a river flowing gently below.

There were four towers, two to each side. A door set in the front tower on the left led into the library and the entrance hall. The tower to the right, and the section of the building behind it, contained the kitchen and laundry, the stores, and the servant's quarters.

Martin's guests were waiting for him in entrance hall. 'Ladies, welcome.'

'You summoned us, m'lord?' Rochelle Laisnié bowed stiffly, and smiled to let Martin know she was joking. Bertille Garnier and Joachine Moreau hadn't bothered standing; they raised their hands and Martin kissed the back of them, and pulled out Rochelle's chair for her so she could sit down.

'I am sure you are all aware that this meeting is..no longer legal.'

'We are, m'lord' Joachine grimaced like she had tasted something foul. She and Bertille had known Martin their entire lives; Rochelle's family had moved into the area when she was sixteen.

'I do not wish to sacrifice the relationship your families have with me,' Martin said evenly. 'But that is not for myself alone to decide.'

The witches stirred, glancing at each other.

'You know me. There will be no repercussions if you wish to leave.'

Bertille hesitated, then reached out and gently to Rochelle and Joachine by the hand. She straightened in her chair.

'What is a little high treason among friends?'

Author's Notes

Excerpt from The World of All Souls, page 37 (I believe this may be a picture of Hamish's notes on Congregation law):

Notes on Creatures from the Jerusalem Codex (trans. from Latin)

"We therefore agree, because of the dangerous temper of the times, to undertake these solemn oaths and promises to ensure the safety and well-being (solus?) of our selves, our progeny and our future. We undertake to bind daemon to witch, witch to lamia, and lamia to daemon within the solemn vow of the covenant."

"With respect to the great controversies and inconveniances that have accompanied the holding of titles and offices by the lamia, the covenant forbides them from accepting any honour above the lowest rank accorded a man of state. The daemons and witches are likewise barred from accepting such honours, for to do otherwise would sow discord among the covenanted."

"Similarly, daemons, lamia, and witches must, from this moment forth, abstain from debates over matters of faith. Covenanted creatures may choose to enter religious orders, but shall not aspire to positions within them that shapes religious doctrine or practise."

The Congregation was originally founded in Jerusalem, but moved to Constantinople after the fall of Outremer. I decided to speed up the process.

Jean de Villiers and Jaques de Taxi were real people! According to Wikipedia, "[he] was the twenty-second Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, serving from 1285 until 1293 after the death of Nicolas Lorgne. Jacques de Taxi became Grand Master ad interim, perhaps through 27 June 1286, while awaiting the arrival of the newly elected Grand Master from the Holy Land. De Villiers was present at the Siege of Acre in 1291, but escaped just before the city fell to the Mamluks. He was succeeded by Odon de Pins."

I feel that daemons have a long history of electing female spokespeople for the Congregation.

The Finnish language doesn't have gendered nouns or personal pronouns like she/her, he/him, they/them. Instead, they use hän as a gender-neutral, all-encompassing term. It was first recorded in the Abckiria, or the ABC book, which was the first book published in the Finnish language in 1543, but the term pre-dates the this.

In this instance, I have used hän as a descriptive for Uoti both because it is correct grammar for a Finnish person, and because they are a gender-neutral individual. Non-binary people have existed in the past, even as far back as the Iron Age:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/09/1000-year-old-remains-in-finland-may-be-non-binary-viking-researchers-say

This is what a patent of nobility looks like:

Kamb-atsu - bend in a river