#a very interesting topic and a very interesting period in the history of this subjects studies

[always-a-slut-4-ghouls]

The building I live in was like “we got rid the spider infestation” last fall I think, and now that it’s warm out I am seeing more other bugs in here than I did last year. Like, I wonder why that is 🤨 they asked “how do we get rid of the spiders?” And not “what are the spiders munching on and are they helping?”

[kalliyen]

Seatmate Sweetness

Pairing: 4nemo Boys x GN!Reader (seperate)

Featuring: Venti, Xiao, Heizou, Kazuha, Wanderer

Genre: Fluff, Crack, teasing?? is that a genre idk, school au, modern au

Summary: Seatmates who have a sweet secret crush on you ;)

Reader’s Pronouns: Not specified

Warning: this is gonna be shit cause i haven’t written i so long bye 😘 🤾‍♀️

Disclaimer: ⚠️ ONLY A WORK OF FICTION!

♯ Venti !

Venti as a seatmate would be….interesting to say the least

he’s that kid who’s always late even if he lives literally just across the school

he also has this tendency to sleep in class, when he finds the topic boring

which is, every topic in every subject

but when your homeroom adviser changed the seating arrangements and you were assigned to sit next to him, he started changing

he noticed that you were a very precise person. always at class on time very smart responsible the whole smart kid shebang yk

and when YOU were assigned to seat beside him, you were dreading it. great, now someone was just going to get in the way of your studies.

a few weeks go bye and venti is still the same as ever, slacking off, sleeping in class, and one day he even drooled a bit on your paper, which finally made you snap

luckily there wasn’t any teacher in class at the moment to witness you snapping

let’s just say his cheek was red for the whole day, and not in a good way.

he told his friends about it, which they said he deserved, which made him seethe even more

at night he thought about it, how you would focus in class, how your hair would cover you face when you double checking your notes

you looked adorable while doing it, he thought. now his face got even more red, now this time out of embarrassment

how could he realize he liked you after you slapped him infront of the class? was it a kink or something?

the next day, you apologize to him, which he didn’t even notice or listen to you for that matter, focused on your lips rather than what was coming out of it.

“venti? hello? are you listening?” you say waving your hand around his face

“i know how you can make it up to me y/n” venti starts, “really? what is it?” you say confused, tilting your head to the side

“we could go on a date together!” now both of your cheeks were a rosy pink

♯ Xiao

now xiao here was the silent smart type as we all know, while you were the giddy type who couldn’t seem to stay in your seat

he didn’t really mind it to be honest, you rarely talked to each other. but there was an understanding that you both respected each other’s space.

when your history teacher, mr. zhongli, assigned you together for an assignment, you didn’t really mind. xiao was smart and hot, from what you could tell he was also somewhat kind in his own peculiar way

you worked on it together for the rest of the period, and xiao couldn’t help but notice his heart beating even faster than it did before. it always beated quickly when you were around, which made him feel confuse inside.

after class, he asked his father figure mr. zhongli (wow who would’ve thought i did this)

“i don’t know sir, whenever im near them my heart beats 10 miles an hour, i don’t know if this is a good or bad feeling sir, perhaps whenever im close to them i might meet my demise? is this a sign that something bad will happen if i go near them? should i stay away from them? but i don’t want to stay away from them, their very kind and sweet, albeit sometimes loud, and sometimes i-“

zhongli cuts off xiao before he can utter another word, zhongli comes to the conclusion that his son was very down bad for you.

“it seems that you have developed romantic feelings for y/n. and might i add xiao, i do approve of this liking towards them, they are a very caring and sweet person indeed. this is merely a suggestion, but why don’t you tell them how they make you feel? the school festival is about to commence soon, that would be a good opportunity wouldn’t it?”

xiao thought about it for a minute, yes it was a good idea. but how will he ask you?

zhongli suggests to ask you by word, or if xiao is too nervous then by letter, xiao decides on the latter part.

he goes home that day, on his desk, pen in hand and staring at the paper.

he has so much to say and at the same time, nothing at all. he wants to tell you everything and nothing at the same time. is this what love feels like?

finally after what felt like hours, he’s finished his letter to you, making sure it looks presentable, because you only deserve the best.

he makes sure to wake up extra early the next morning, and make it to school before you do

he places the letter on your desk, and waits for you, anxiously replaying all the possibilities in his head

lucky for him, the outcome he was expecting most, came to fruition

♯ Heizou

heizou here is the diligent yet flirty president of your class. while you were quiet and kept mostly to yourself, choosing to draw in your sketchbook rather than converse with anyone.

it’s not like you didn’t have friends, you just didn’t like talking much.

since you sit on the front beside heizou, your often bombarded with the amount of paper he has piled on his desk because of yhe obscene homeworks the teachers assign you.

it kinda bothers you a bit when you barely have any room to put your things on your side of the desk but you don’t say anything, because every morning heizou sits at his side of the desk you can see his baggy eyes and unkempt hair which makes him 10x more attractive in your opinion. but he didn’t need to know that

during another one of his stress sessions you seem him struggling with a particular project in a subject you were quite good at.

but of course heizou didn’t have any balls to ask anyone for help, having the mindset of “because i am the president, i shan’t let anyone see any weakness.” (which was total bullshit btw)

you meekly tapped his shoulder which made his face bolt directly to you, way closer than he was intending

you offer your help, saying he clearly needed it and at this point heizou doesn’t have the energy to decline, so he listens to you explain the assignment in full detail, taking note how your eyes seems to glint in the sunlight and how your soft hands brushed his slightly calloused ones

he may or may not go to you when there’s an assignment on purpose, even if he fully understands the concept.

he thinks it’s a win win, he can spend more time with you and complete his tasks

(even if he’s just staring at you 99% of the time)

♯ Kazuha

let’s be real this boy is rarely in school

but when he is at school, he’s just sleeping most of the time

when the teachers try to corner him with a question when they catch him dozing off, he manages to answer them correctly

they ignore him after that LMAOOOOO

but when you, transfer to his school in the middle of the year and get assigned next to him, he starts to take a liking to you

you’d make notes for him in class while he sleeps, thinking he had a rough night before, which he finds really nice and so adorable

of course in return, he helps you with concepts you don’t understand or if you’re having trouble understanding japanese

he doesn’t know how he ended up in this situation but right now your in his home, speaking to his moms and having dinner with them

it’s not like he didn’t like that you were at his home, quite the opposite frankly but it turns out that his mothers find out about his little crush on you

all evening his mothers have been indirectly teasing him, even going as far as almost revealing his crush on you

after dinner was finally over, he takes you to his room (his moms gave him teasing winks that made his face all red) and showed you all the memorabilia he’s acquired from his adventures with his moms

you found them so amazing, and when you look back at him he’s stepping forward to you which makes you freeze in place, despite feeling a quick warmth on your lips

your at his house even more often after that event ;)

♯ Wanderer

absolutely HATES GOING TO SCHOOL

but is one of the top students 🤷‍♂️

his aunt makes him go saying that learning is an essential part at life

“auntie that’s bs i don’t-“ he gets slapped in the face

goes to school cause he didn’t wanna get spanked in the face again LMAOOAOAOA

as his deskmate he actually really really likes you, even more than a deskmate actually

but boy has no way to tell you

sometimes he sees that you have nothing to eat for lunch so he gives you his “extra” saying that he doesn’t want you to faint in class, making him take you to the nurse’s office

nahida always wonders why her nephew stays up so late to make food for 2 people, but she doesn’t push the subject further

you thought it was really sweet of him, and his cooking was amazing! why would people say that he’s mean and an arrogant bastard? (he is tho just not to you lol)

you wanna repay him with something, so you decide to make some brownies for him, not knowing he despises sweets

you stay up all night, wanting to make them as perfect as the food he gives you

you pack it in a cute lil bento with a lil thank you note sticked to it and get to bad, excited of what his reaction will be to the pastry you’ve made him

the next do you can clearly see the disinterest in his face when he sees your brownies (he thinks he’s hiding it well he’s really not) which makes you feel really bad

“do you not like them? i can make something else for you, i just wanted to return the favor since you always give me your extra lunch, i’m sorry if this isn’t what you like”

his face goes IMMEDIATELY red with embarrassment, mostly at himself because of how a dumbass he is 💀

“i didn’t mean it with i’ll intent y/n, it’s just that i’m not really fond of sweets, but i would like to try one” he responds an idea popping into his head

“really? what is it? i’ll make it for you! to make up for these ones you don’t like, just give me the recipe and-“ you get cut off by him hooking his fingers under your chin

“you”

——————

a/n: bye this is so cringe if my friends see this they will never let me live this down

if your my friend irl PLEASE RESPECTFULLY STFU 😂😂😂

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

I realise you're HE, but any thoughts on how high school level education should be run/changed/etc? I'd love to know your views!

Oh sure, plenty, but they're not particularly informed lol

Well; Wales is actually massively and fundamentally changing secondary education atm, but we won't be getting students from it until the year after next, I think, so no real comment on effectiveness yet - but it's very interesting. They're getting rid of isolated subjects in favour of broad umbrella areas, as I understand it? So there's now Science and Technology (Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Computing, and all the various DT subjects like Woodwork, Electronics, Cookery, etc), Maths and Numeracy, Humanities (History, Geography, Ethics, Religion), Languages Literacy and Communication, and Health and Wellbeing (actually maybe Cookery comes under this one now? Dunno.) And there's a sixth to do with arts but I can't remember what it's called. But it includes Art, Drama, Media Studies, etc.

And then the idea is that a class will learn about a given topic at a time (I don't know for how long, so let's say six weeks), and this will be taught in each of those six umbrellas but via their own methods. So like... I dunno, let's say the Tudors:

That's fairly straightforward for Humanities, but in addition to giving you the historical facts you'd also explore historic trade routes and natural resources of the time and how they related to the politics (geography), the religious make up of the country and how THAT related to the politics (religion), etc.

Maths and Numeracy might explore how to use statistics to analyse Tudor era population or trade data.

Science and Tech could look at disease outbreaks and virology, or technological advancements and how they worked and get students to build one, or get students to construct a Tudor-era town using computer software

Languages can study plays from the era (Shakespeare), look at linguistic development, or use historical events as talking points to practice using vocab in conversations

Health and Wellbeing can explore stressors and challenges of the average Medieval peasant and how they overcame them, or play some popular Tudor sport or game, or make food to Tudor recipes, etc

The Arts one (god I cannot remember the name) can look at art history of the period, fashions, perform plays, etc

So everyone is still teaching the skills and knowledge of their subject areas, they're just united by one big case study. It apparently allows for far more integrated teaching, too, where two previously discrete subjects can join forces on a project.

All of which seems pretty good, on the whole, but also rife with issues if everyone isn't careful, so we'll see how it shakes out over the next few years.

From my own experiences of school though. Jesus. Something definitely needed to happen, fuck me.

What I should have learned in Textiles:

How to use a sewing machine

How to sew by hand to mend a tear

How to darn a hole

How to hem, dart, take in, and let out clothes

How to sew from a pattern

What I actually learned in Textiles:

How to use a sewing machine on its most basic setting

How to phone in creating a hand puppet out of felt because gluing was easier than sewing

How to badly sew an extremely makeshift and shit bag out of scrap fabric that you in no way want to then use

How to lose all interest in Textiles because it was useless and uninteresting

Like that is a VITAL skillset-imparting subject, and they fucked it, lads, they completely fucked it. Why did they never set us the task of buying a cheap shirt from a charity shop that we then amended in class? That would have been so useful.

Games and PE! Fucking hell! Here's what I should have learned:

How to stretch my body safely to target specific muscle groups, and in particular, how to cultivate a daily stretching routine I enjoyed and wanted to do

How to find a physical activity active enough to get me out of breath that I genuinely enjoyed, so that I wanted to continue it, e.g. salsa dancing or rope climbing or ice skating or hill climbing or assault courses or fucking anything at all

How to build my body up to doing particular activities safely and sustainably

How to find a physical activity to do on wet, cold, rainy days that would still be fun and I would still enjoy

Here's what I actually learned:

Physical activity is always uncomfortable and miserable and sometimes even painful

If you aren't enjoying running around in the wind and rain instead of the indoor gym The Problem Is You. Start Enjoying It.

Wanting to stay warm and dry and comfortable is a punishable choice.

You are only permitted to do physical activity in clothes that make you feel profoundly exposed and uncomfortable (a gym skirt and gym knickers in my school. Cycling shorts got you detention. Don't get me started on jogging bottoms.) Again, if you do not enjoy this, The Problem Is You. Start Enjoying It.

There are only three activity options. If you don't enjoy any of them, physical activity is not for you.

You should be able to Just Do physical exercise, without any training to build you up to it. If you can't and it hurts, this is because you're Bad At PE.

You will only be shown Once

Physical activity is only ever a team sport that you aren't good enough to be willingly picked for

LIKE WHAT THE FUCK

And you know what, LET'S round off with Food Technology/Cookery. Because I remember the things I was asked to make in FT. As a little baby Year 7, I still vividly remember two of the things we made.

Angel Delight. Easy, you might say! A simple treat, you might think! Easing the children into food prep, I hear you cry! But no, because the theme of the year was healthy eating, and so we were to add fruit to our Angel Delight. Any flavour Angel Delight, any fruit. Off you go. I don't know if any of you have encountered fruit, Tumblrs, but it famously has faintly acidic juice. This will prevent the Angel Delight from setting within the one hour lesson, no matter how well you mixed the pudding, or how quickly you got it into the fridge. It will result in soggy gross lumps of oxidising fruit in sloppy liquid pudding. Lesson learned: fruit makes food worse.

Cake. Easyish, you might say! A little harder than the Angel Delight but good training, you might think! A fairly straightforward process with a child-friendly food at the end, I hear you cry! But no, because the theme of the year was still healthy eating, so the teachers made it into an experiment; make four small cakes. One with sugar, one with sweetener, one with apple, and one with carrot. Then taste them and rank them in order. Off you go. I don't know if any of you have ever tried eating sugarless carrot cake, Tumblrs, but I have, and I can tell you categorically that it really puts the "Did you know" into the phrase "Did you know that fructose and sucrose are not actually equivalents of each other in a culinary setting?" It was rancid. It was disgusting. It was vile. It made me hate carrot cake for the next 12 years, in case my mouth had to go through that ordeal again. I'm still highly suspicious of the stuff even now. To (I assume) the surprise of fuck-damned no one, we unanimously put them in the order of sugar, sweetener, apple, carrot. Lesson learned: FRUIT MAKES FOOD WORSE AND CARROTS ARE ACTIVELY DISGUSTING

What possessed them?! No idea. Fucking hell.

Anyway this is getting long and I am still ill-informed. Peace out.

[walliedarling]

Warning! Talk of Human Biology and how it functions!

I personally love the idea of Human!Reader. I keep finding myself daydreaming about being in that position, stuck surronded by puppets who so with nothing better to do info dumping and explaining how the body functions.

"Blood isn't paint, it-"

"--Is the stuff in your mouth, right?!"

"Well, you are partially right. The clear stuff in my mouth, is diluted blood but it's called saliva. Saliva breaks down food, repairs the teeth, keeps the mouth and throat moist. Blood's main purpose is to carry oxygen and nutrients all over the body. "

"...huh?"

"The nutrients are gathered from the digestion track, the start of which is the mouth, the, throat, the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum and end is the anus. It's why us humans have to be aware of what we eat, because if we eat too much of one thing it can make us very sick. Oh yeah, an example would be humans have the possibility to combust into fire randomly if too much alcohol is consumed, althought not a lot of research has been done on how the process functions as it is a rare event, but multiple occurrences have been recorded so it can happen."

"What's Alcoh--"

"--YOU CAN RANDOMLY CATCH ON FIRE?!"

Also, I personally think the puppets wouldn't really have an understanding of biological sex. Cause ya know. They are puppets. Not much up for debate there! They understand gender, but I don't think they would be able to wrap their heads around biological sex, maybe except for Frank since he is an avid butterfly enjoyer. Maybe butterflies work differently in that world, who knows?

So i would feel awful for a biologically female human!Reader, oh lord. Dealing with periods, not only withour any tampons, Pads, or pain relievers, (Maybe a heating pack though! I could see that existing.) But also being surronded by a bunch of cartoon characters who have no idea what exactly the problem is, or how to help? Sounds like hell.

And THEN there is the reasonable question of HOW does the Reader know all this?

I wouldn't wanna be the one explaining humanity's curiosity and it's history of fuck ups to these guys, I would feel so bad.😭

I just find how the body functions to be really interesting and would love absolutely talking the ears off the gang, going in detail about how different our bodies are. It's just a very fascinating topic in such a fun scenario.

Sorry about the rant!!!

You don't have to respond or anything if it's too uncomfortable subject matter, I just had to get this out before it rotted my brain. Just really like your idea/concept! :)

Noooo don't worry! I love receiving long asks and talking about stuff like this!

The vast majority of 'human body knowledge' flies right over their head, because they're just subjects they're unfamiliar with! As you said, Frank might have the best understanding of certain things, like plants need nutrients as well to survive, and he might use that as a comparison to explain to the others how your body works. He totally has a mini theory that you are somehow related to plant life. (Especially if you mention sometime how humans get certain vitamins from sunlight, and might get depressed during times with less sunlight... It's just like photosynthesis!)

Periods would truly be hell in this kind of setting, you're right, let's be honest HAHAHAHA

[chase-prairie]

I'm guessing that as a graduate student you have read a zillion and one documents and books and papers and things in your field. Would it be outrageous to ask for recommendations/your favorites? I'm really interested in learning more about the history of Native land use and food systems in the midwest (which I suppose is a very long history, I'd be happy learning about any time period), prairie ecology, and the current outlook for native plants and pollinators (and conservation recommendations). Even one recc for each would be amazing. Feel free to postpone this ask if you're too busy! P.S. can't wait to read your dissertation.

This is a big ask, and I get a lot of these types of asks! In the future it'd be nice if people were more specific about their interests and not asking about general, huge topics. There's a level that you can and should be googling yourself! Many academic papers are online for free through sites like academia.edu and I'm not a search engine!

General answer if you're interested in this range of topics is Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass. She comes from the midwest and writes some on prairie and the book is all about Indigenous science stewardship.

Otherwise, the topics you're asking for don't have one single source that will tell you everything you're looking for. People make small studies of one community, one ecosystem, one plant. Whether it's ecology or ethnobotany, there's no one making compendiums of info, especially not in the midwest. That's why I do the work I do, but even what I do is imperfect. Be suspicious of anyone who/any text that claims to be comprehensive on a huge, complex subjects; they probably are bsing you.

Indigenous Land Mgmt:

Two good recent papers:

The subject of indigenous wild management is more intensely covered in California (M. Kat Anderson) and Vancouver (Nancy J. Turner). Those two authors are great for both nuts and bolts chat and philosophical perspectives about how people have lived in and altered and restored their ecosystems.

A compelling academic book on the subject is Roots of Our Renewal: Ethnobotany and Cherokee Environmental Governance by Clint Carroll, which is just as much about philosophy, knowledge production and protection and community building, as plants.

Prairie Conservation Practices:

Like I said above, currently published stuff is about very specific interactions and focuses, like a particular pollinator group in a particular plant. What you're looking for, a generalist summary of the field, doesn't really exist.

If you're looking for plant lists and how-tos Tallgrass Restoration Handbook or the Tallgrass Prairie Center Guide. Do not go for Ben Voigt. If you're looking for a general conceptual entry to Midwest conservation/restoration, there's Ecological Restoration in the Midwest

If you're looking for general recommendations for free, Xerces.org is the resource for bee-friendly landscaping and planting.

If you live near a University or Arboretum or Botanic Garden, this is the kind of thing where you should just browse the shelves near the books I've recommended! Chances are you have free access to the libraries, if not the ability to check the books out yourself!

[mercurygray]

Women in World War Two Aviation Reading List

As we gear up for Masters of the Air coming out in January, if I know fandom (and I like to think I do) someone is going to want to write some original female character fanfic after seeing this show. Friends, have I got you.

Please find here linked my Women in World War Two Aviation Reading List.

A few notes about this list:

It’s not exhaustive. There are many, many more books on any of these topics than the ones listed here, but this can serve as a starting point for your reading. Often, if you can find one of these at your local library or bookseller, you can also find some keywords or subject headings to find similar books.

This is a very (white) American-centric list. Experiences vary greatly from country to country, and on whether or not you’re a person of color.

I haven’t included any general World War Two histories, or any specific battle or theater histories. It’s easy enough to find those somewhere else.

You will notice I haven’t included any unit histories or Donald Miller's book, either. I'm assuming you know about that already. See #3.

I have read most, but not all, of the books on this list. Those I haven’t read were recommended to me by people whose taste and opinion I trust.

There are several great online resources linked on this list as well as books.

This is a fun period in history to be a woman in flight, and a lot of work has been done over the last ten or twenty years about the WASPs and the ATA. If you'd like your OFC to be a little more ground-bound and are looking for some additional inspiration, I also have a more general Women In World War Two reading list here.

Feel like I’m missing something? I take (kindly worded) suggestions.

Well, who died and made you a subject matter expert here? Absolutely no one. I've been in history fandoms for a long time, and it always really confused me when people got angry at other fans for not knowing the history, but also not sharing resources for where to find out more! Women's history is sometimes a hard topic to find books on, and I want to share what I have so people who are interested and excited can learn more!

[mer-een]

Final Fantasy XV - art history meta

a symbol of romanticism: sylleblossom - the blue flower:

final fantasy xv's sylleblossom has a very special design and meaning. Let's talk about what it stands for and how it can be connected to art history.

More below the cut.

Luna and sylleblossoms

In general, blue sylleblossoms can be seen as a symbol for Luna in ffxv. They grow in Tenebrae and are its national flower, she has a garden full of them. Blue sylleblossoms are her favorite flowers. She gifts Noctis a pressed flower in their notebook and it is a strong visual symbol in her death scene. According to the final fantasy wiki: "Different color variants symbolize different things, but the blue version represents "a heart that does not give up" and "sincerity"." But there might be even more to it.

The blue flower and romanticism

The blue flower is considered an important symbol in art history, and especially of romanticism, an art movement of the 19th Century. It represents the romantic longing for the unattainable and unreachable, the infinite and the unconditional, it is also often interpreted as a connection between man and nature. In addition, the Blue Flower developed into a symbol of wandering, which is also characteristic of the Romantic era (and a main theme in ffxv too :) - the word wanderlust got its meaning in the Romantic Period btw). This motif can be traced back to an old German legend that says that one could find the blue miracle flower at night and would be richly rewarded. Consequently, this miracle flower represents a cause that is difficult to achieve, but longed for by many.

Here's a cornflower as an example. I painted a sylleblossom recently and noticed the similar petal shape and color.

The legend

The symbol goes back to a legend and the poet Novalis. The blue flower embodies the longing for an unattainable thing. In the story, a young man dreams about a blue flower that calls to him and he longs to find it. When he finally sees it, he sees a tender face in the flower. This - as is shown in the course of the story - is that of his later fiancé. In addition, the text teems with symbols typical of romanticism. In romantic works, threshold motifs are often used, i.e. motifs that mark a boundary between reality and the dreamlike, such as twilight, moonlight, or the view into the distance, which is usually carried by an enormous longing of the protagonist.

Noctis and Luna

When we look at Noctis and Luna's relationship, we can find a lot of these motifs. The longing, the wandering and looking into the distance. Luna seems always out of reach but they long to be together. We see Noctis looking at the moon in old previews and when Luna says farewell she tells him to "look to the distance, know that I am there". Even their names represent typical romantic symbols (night and moon).

Night and moon are also typical subjects in romanticism. I really like the similarities here between the official artwork of the ffxv piano collection and the painting by C.D. Friedrich.

Luna's death

Here's a screenshot of the dreamlike death sequence and another painting by C.D. Friedrich, who is one of the most recognizable Romantic painters.

One more interesting thing I'd like to point out is the topic of death in romantic paintings and Luna's death scene. I think it's interesting that you can see ruins and a gate behind Luna. It looks like Tenebrae or maybe Altissia but the gate behind her stands out. In romantic artworks, ruins can stand for the past and especially gates represent the transition into the afterlife. We can find several threshold motifs in this scene. In ffxv, it might show that Luna and Noct are inbetween the world of the living and the dead in that moment. Luna then goes into the afterlife (in the direction of the gate) while Noctis is pulled back into life.

The flower turns into the ring, which shows us that her calling has been fulfilled.

I'm not sure if the references about the romantic movement in ffxv were intentional or not, but in any case it was fun to think about it :). I hope you enjoyed this short meta analysis and look into some art history :)

[david-goldrock]

So, last night, me and my mom were talking about the I/P conflict and we started getting on the topic of antisemitism and she had some very interesting thoughts!

But I had said “Why do people say things like Jews are behind everything in the media? Why them specifically? Where did that come from?”

And she said her theory was “Well, since they experienced so much hatred and violence and persecution their entire lives, they became more secretive and reserved. Due to that, people started finding them weird and almost creepy, like they were conspiring, leading to them believing they are doing crazy shit, like being behind the media.”

And it really got me thinking. Why has it always been Jews? Why have Jews always, since the dawn of humanity, been the ones who have experienced so much hate and persecution?

Why then specifically. Like, why anyone, really. But the Jews just feel like such a specific group to target and hate. I know there’s a biblical explanation behind it, but I mean within history. Why has everyone hated them?

Why?

I can’t understand this. 

The more I think about how horrible it is, the sadder I get. Hell, I’m kind of tearing up as of writing this because the thought is just horrible. 

Like, you and Morgana and Shine and every other lovely Jew I have met on this site are so kind and wonderful people. I can’t understand why people, amazing and wonderful people like you guys, could be hated and abused for centuries for simply existing. 

It’s horrible…

DISCLAIMER: I do not know enough about the subject, only a couple of articles, and a few classes in high school. this is not a replacement for studying, this is only what I know

tbh the answer is, sadly, Christianity, Islam, Nazism and the protocols.

let's start with Islam as it is simpler there: the Quran tells Muslims to kill all jews, to make everyone Muslim, and that judgement day will not come until the jews are dead. we were dhimmi (second class citizens) for the better part of the last millennia and a half, and jews lived in extreme conditions there.

Now the christian world. your mother is partially right, it has some to do with the separatist nature of jews: after the diaspora began (and even a bit before, when the unrest in Israel grew in the second temple period), judaism got even more separatist than it already was: no marrying outside the faith, stay in the community, you need so-and-so jews to do this and that and so forward. this led to jews living separately from the other people around them, which made them suspicious, this is probably the main reason that even after the fall of fundamental christianity, jews are still hunted in the modern world. that said, the tools and traditions of antisemitism are older, and are still in use

First, in the early days of christianity, it was common in catholic thinking that jews are collectively responsible for the death of Jesus of Nazareth, and that they should be punished for that sin.

Moreover, the Catholic Church has forbidden christians from handling money, and forbade jews from owning land (which is pretty difficult for being a farmer), while the jews had an extremely high literacy average compared to the rest of Europe (because unlike the christians who listened to sermons, jews had to learn the bible and debate it and understand it, while learning in the "Cheyder" (room, also the nickname for a rabbinic school)). this meant that jews were disproportionally attracted to jobs like banking, loaning, lawyering, entertainment, and any job that required literacy, but not land. This was good for the economic worries of the jews, but terrible for their position in society. jews were associated with the people who took your money wrongly, or helped to get you in jail, and made the animosity between jews and christians high. this is the origin of 2 famous conspiracy theories: jews control the world's economy, and jews control the world's media.

This is not mentioning the old libels, such as the blood libel (that jews use christian children's blood to bake matzah [I am certain that none of the people who say that know what a matzah is, it is a pale beige color, how could you hide blood in that?!]) or the well poisoning tale (that claimed that the reason for the Black Death was jews poisoning the water wells). these libels could have been applied to any minority, but jews were the scapegoat, starting a long tradition of similar libels (read the American leftist news, and you'd see the same stories everywhere, each time in a different costume).

Then the nazis came to power, and while drawing a lot from ancient antisemitism, they invented a lot of new stuff (IDK why Hitler chose the jews, but he did, and it was massive): jews were now irredeemable from birth, possessing inherent negative qualities that could be passed down through generations, stealing everything they claim to have invented, being inherently inferior to other germans, being communists (and capitalist) that plan to destroy the economy and get rich, betrayers who made Germany lose WW1, and many more stereotypes that keep on in the cultural memory

A bit later, in Russia, a document called "The protocols of the elders of Zion" was released (I don't know its history, I am sorry), and it is the backbone of every modern conspiracy, you know, the kind that goes "so-and-so" are a secret group of deep state actors trying to take over the world. this is the protocols. its ideas are embedded deep in the cultural understanding of all of us. if you believe in any conspiracy theory, the protocols will be a no-brainer.

[soloorganaas]

I know you are anti Remadora so ignore this question if you don't feel like addressing this topic but I saw you talking about them before so I figured it might be OK to ask. How would you feel about an AU version where they get together under very different circumstances, when they are both ready, and there is no pressure, no emotional manipulation, no rushing into things, etc.? So I guess my question is: do you hate Remadora period or do you hate the way their relationship was written in canon? Because for me it's the latter, and I can't ship it if it's canon compliant but I love Remus and Tonks as individuals, and although I ship Wolfstar too, I think there is great potential in their dynamic. It's a straight presenting relationship but in my head they're both queer and I think that's important to note, too.

this is a great question i got back in december, wrote half an essay for, then left in my drafts. i was reminded by the chaos discord of it so dug it out, finished the essay and voila. so i hope you follow me anon and get to enjoy my response to your question

tl;dr - i would never want to read remus and tonks together because remus is gay. gay identity and history is central to his characterisation, as is his relationship with sirius. remus's meaning and impact comes from that, and it's both a beautiful and sad story that resonates with so many gay people

jkr forced his relationship with tonks into being deliberately to try and erase remus's gay identity. she didn't write a meaningful loving relationship with a woman that would have characterised him as bisexual. if she had, then that relationship wouldn't have made remus 'less gay'. it would have been another facet woven in with a broader queer identity. but she didn't. remus did not want to be with tonks, and he was miserable the entire time. he was manipulated into being with her by the bastion of the cishet nuclear family molly weasley, and was only finally happy when he had a son and finally fitted the traditional family friendly cishet mold and said goodbye to his gayness forever

so a story with remus and tonks erases remus's gay identity because it's portraying him as something that he isn't and it plays into the homophobia of jkr in writing it to start with

i have ✨ expanded ✨ on this below with three main points:

1. remus is gay

2. gay history and identity is central to remus's characterisation

3. remus’s story is defined by his relationship with sirius

remus’s sexuality

the biggest question of all is whether remus is into women or not. I don’t think there’s an argument that he is based on his relationship with tonks. this is obviously a subject that can be talked about in great depth, but the key point is that he doesn’t show any interest in her, rejects her again and again, and is miserable when they're married. there’s nothing to indicate any romantic feelings or sexual attraction on his part, any desire to be emotionally or physically intimate, any sense that she understands him in a deep and unique way, or really that she brings him any joy

beyond tonks, I think he’s characterised as not into women generally. he never performs/acts/presents himself in any way for the female gaze - it’s not just about not actively trying to attract women, there is literally no way in which he ever acts like he seems concerned with what women think or passively adopts traits to please them. he also doesn’t have any intense relationships with women that we know of, or any moments of chemistry or tension with women. all of his intense feelings and interactions are with men. all of this is characteristic of the experience of being a gay person

the centrality of gay identity and history to remus's story

remus’s life encapsulates the loneliness and hardship of being gay in the 70s/80s/90s. the marginalisation, the secrecy, the danger of being found out, the suspicion. he is a character constantly carrying a Big Secret, and he’s shaped himself to develop layers of self-control, discretion and manipulation that keep any potentially revealing emotions or personal details safely hidden. he goes out of his way to avoid visibly making trouble or raising his head above the parapet, to present himself as perfectly respectable, which was (and often still is) a fundamental part of existing as gay in a homophobic society, to counter any perceptions of being a predator or untrustworthy or abnormal

and it is a deliberate performance, bc we know quite clearly how much trouble he’s making under the surface - he hides the knowledge of padfoot and the map from dumbledore, he revels in gaslighting snape when he finds the map on harry, his first action when he sees peter and sirius on the map is not to inform the authorities, but to run to them himself and keep it a secret. he’s a mischievous, deviant, sarcastic, often morally grey troublemaker, but no one for a second (except sirius) would ever see that in him

but despite all remus's attempts at respectability, he still is marginalised. he’s fundamentally seen as a dangerous freak, someone who shouldn’t be allowed near children or polite society lest he corrupt them, which is such a metaphor for homophobia (and esp against gay men) it punches you in the face. he’s trapped in poverty despite his education and assumed family wealth and is forced to rely on others for financial security. like so many other gay people throughout history his safety entirely comes from his community, bc he can’t rely on any institutional support - and when it disappears, as it does in 1981, he’s left poor, unsafe and adrift

and then there’s sirius

sirius and remus

remus's entire life from when he joins hogwarts to when he dies is shaped by sirius

he goes from a lonely, marginalised boy to someone loved and valued by his friends, to the point they perform incredibly dangerous and illegal magic just to try and reach him in the aspect of his life that's most painful and isolating. this is largely due to sirius and james. there's not much we know about remus's relationship then with sirius specifically, other than that sirius was both affectionately teasing and affectionately rude towards him (from swm). the rest is extrapolation from how close they are as adults. but the story that we do get is one that wouldn’t exist without sirius

remus then spends thirteen years tortured by the knowledge of what sirius has done that he still can't quite accept, as well as the knowledge of what sirius is going through as the a prisoner in azkaban. he doesn't ever come close to moving on - he loses his shit every time harry brings up sirius; he questions whether sirius, despite being an alleged mass murderer, really deserves azkaban; he is incredibly stressed and anxious to the point of noticeably losing weight the entirety of PoA, which is not just down to lycanthrophy. his entire mental state (and to an extent his physical one) is dictated by sirius

then the moment there's even a hint that sirius might not have committed the crimes alleged remus drops everything and runs. he faces sirius for the first time in thirteen years and believes him instantly. he's at sirius's side defending him and working with him with an astonishing amount of trust for someone he thought (at least partially) was guilty not an hour before. that's a mark of how deep his love and devotion goes, and how much he was simply waiting around for sirius all those years

we have no idea what remus does in GoF, but we do know by OotP he once again drops everything for sirius and moves into an absolutely miserable house to live alongside him. there's no reason for him to be there other than sirius (no one else in the order needs to live there, after all). every scene he's in, every bit of dialogue in that book is related to sirius. when he's saying goodbye to harry after christmas his advice is a subtle reference to sirius. they give harry a joint christmas present, they take care of him together. they exist entirely as partners

after sirius dies, remus completely falls apart. every time we see him through harry's eyes he's worse and worse. by the christmas of harry's sixth year remus is referring to werewolf tribes murdering humans for fun as his 'equals' and has clearly lost all sense of self-worth or reason for being. he's such a wreck he's emotionally manipulated into marrying a woman he doesn't want to and then is an absolutely terrible husband the entire time. even when his son is born, he's still acting thinking of sirius - he asks harry to be teddy's godfather, emulating the example sirius set

remus is who he is because of his relationship with sirius, one that is far, far too intense to be just platonic

conclusion

there is no way i, personally, would ever be comfortable with a remadora relationship. even if they were similar ages or got to know each other in a different context, it still wouldn't be realistic. remus is gay, that entire relationship came about with the intention to straight wash him. putting him together with any woman bothers me, but putting him together with tonks specifically upsets me because of the homophobic background for why that relationship even exists in canon

there are a lot of relationships we can quibble about as to whether they work or not, and that's fair. remadora is one of them. but the extra layer of jkr's homophobia in forcing them together can't be separated from that discussion. some people may view their relationship as meaningful in spite of that. that's fine, we're all entitled to our own headcanons. it's not mine, and there is no story i want to read where remus is with tonks. there's no story i want to read where he isn't gay, full stop

[elwenyere]

Hello! The conversation about careening had me wondering--how do you like to do research for your stories? Are there any topics or sources you particularly enjoy delving into or including in your work?

Hello, my friend!!! What a wonderful ask: thank you for these great questions.

After reflecting, I think I could describe my process as having two general categories: as-needed research and broader worldbuilding research.

The first category is a part of almost every fic I write, and it involves things like sourcing locations, verifying timelines, tracking down character names, and (very often) looking up what it feels like to receive various injuries. If it's a Star Wars fic, at least one Wookiepedia visit is a given (the raw materials page is a frequent hit). And there are likely to be a few other general internet searches I repeat several times ("aviation terms," for example, or "New Orleans plant life," depending on the fic and fandom).

The second category covers the exploratory reading and viewing I do for fics that involve more worldbuilding because they extend further outside (or completely outside) canon. The Codywan Pirate AU has me doing all kinds of targeted searches for naval ranks and sailing ship terminology, for example, but I've also been browsing maritime museums for descriptions of what life on ships was like from day to day (look at this cool page about sailor libraries and sailing literature!) and for images that give me a visual sense of the environment. I also love looking at digitized resources through academic libraries. When @festiveferret and I were collaborating on Citation Needed, an MCU professor AU in which history prof Tony is writing a monograph about weapons development during WWII, I used the online special collections at University of Massachusetts - Amherst to learn what the primary documents (enlistment records, ration cards, etc.) featured in the fic would look like. (Ferret then did incredible edits for the epistolary portion of the fic: this post has the collected documents.)

In a couple cases it's actually been the research that has come first and inspired the fic. The initial ideas for Separation, for example, which is a Top Gun fic that leans into the context of the AIDS crisis in the 80s and 90s, came from prep that I'd been doing for a queer literature class, so I was listening to music by queer bands in the period, reading poetry and essays about queer life in NYC and San Francisco (including this piece that discusses Nan Goldin, Thom Gunn's The Man with Night Sweats, "The Fall of 1992" by Randall Mann, and Alexander Chee's essay "After Peter"), and watching the documentary How to Survive a Plague, about the ACT UP movement. Much of that research informed the choices I made in writing the fic, even if it doesn't all appear directly.

Finally, I should confess that I am pretty self-indulgent with my fic research: I spend a lot of time studying and tracking things down when it's a subject I find interesting and/or when having more information will allow me to texture the choices I'm making in ways I personally find compelling; but I am also very unfussed about leaving other things vague or about fudging some details in service of the story. It's not at all out of the ordinary for me to spend 30 minutes looking up the names of camera models that hit shelves in 1991 and then write a sentence that says "when he gets off the carrier in mid-July, he goes to the mall" without specifying which carrier or which mall, because I couldn't be bothered to figure out the military logistics involved. This is one of the joys of writing fic for me: freedom to pour energy into those areas where research helps get me closer to things I want to discover and describe.

Thank you again for the terrific asks, my friend!!! This was very fun to write. <3<3<3

[flowerandblood]

My Best Friend (23)

[modern! club owner • Aemond x fem!reader]    

[warnings: kissing, fluff, none?]

[description: Aemond has his own club and often does business at the home of one of his business associates. There he often meets his younger sister, with whom he develops a deeper relationship through shared secrets. This is slow burn love story.]

* English is not my first language. Please, do not repost. Enjoy! *

Previous and next chapters: Masterlist

_____

Aemond and Y/N ate sandwiches in silence, watching the history program that was on TV. It concerned new discoveries in ancient Egypt, specialists commented on burial chambers in pyramids previously unknown. It turned out that both he and she were interested in such things. 

Aemond admitted to her that most of the books he had in his apartment were about historical and philosophical topics from different periods. As it turned out, reading these types of books was his hobby, often consuming them on lonely evenings.

Aemond was pleased to see that Y/N was as engrossed in the subject as he was. She listened to the lectures of the Cairo professors with such interest as she devoured her sandwich that he felt as if she had forgotten him. He smiled to himself at that thought.

He liked her for not cornering him. When he needed it, she showed him her unlimited interest, tenderness and attention. But when they just sat together, she was able to find other things to do, allowing him some time to himself as well.

They spent the morning pleasantly and peacefully. They didn't rush anything. The thought of spending a few days together made them both feel calmer - they felt that they would have enough time to themselves. Y/N was secretly surprised at how suddenly he opened up to her. 

Even though she knew how he had distanced himself from women so far, she was happy that he really got involved in their relationship. It's as if he's come to terms with the fact that he can be with someone and not feel like a prisoner at the same time.

As promised, Aemond drove her to class. They talked about antiquity on the way. Y/N told him about the uniqueness of Greek sculptures, their perfection, and how, over the centuries, artists returned to their achievements and drew from them during the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Although he knew this theoretically, he was pleased to find that her knowledge impressed him and extended his own in some areas.

Y/N looked at him as she unbuckled her seatbelts.

"Do you want to come in with me?" She asked suddenly. He looked at her in surprise, wondering if he had misheard.

"Where?" He asked, not really understanding what she was proposing.

“Now I have practical classes in the workshop. I'm going to print my linocuts. The workshop is open practically all day, even though we have assigned hours, everyone comes there as they want. Often students bring friends from other faculties who just sit with us and watch us work. It doesn't look like a normal lecture hall." She said calmly, smiling smugly at her own idea. She wanted him to see her at work.

Aemond blinked at her proposal. He was silent for a moment, thinking deeply. It was still early, he wasn't due to arrive at the club for several hours, and there was no one there anyway. He was supposed to pick her up too, so he'd have to come back here anyway. Her proposal was very tempting for him, on the other hand, he was afraid of other people's reaction to him.

"I don't want other students to gossip about you." He said uncertainly. He knew what he looked like, he always drew attention to himself - although he hated it. Y/N blinked and laughed.

“What is there to gossip about if everything is clear?” She asked, shrugging. “Believe me, in these classes you will see people who look much more interesting than you. From rainbow hair to tattooed faces to exquisite outfits. To be honest, I and some of the other students look like sad hens among beautiful roosters.” She laughed happily.

Aemond felt defeated. Her words somehow convinced him.

"Fine."

 ***

The workshop that Y/N was talking about consisted of several rooms, from one to the other. The first, the most crowded, consisted of many tables around which students walked and sat. The walls were lined with large, pull-out cabinets for large-format sheets of paper. Students sat at tables, poking their chisels in their wooden and linocut stencils.

He was pleased to say that after saying hello, practically no one paid attention to him anymore. He relaxed and let her show him around, intrigued. Y/N explained to Aemond that they were cutting out what was supposed to be white on the print, and what they left would be black.

Y/N opened a locker with her name on it. She took out a black apron that hung around her neck and tied at the back above her hips, so that it covered the entire front of her clothes. She tied her hair with a rubber band in a tight bun, so that her hair wouldn't get in the way. She took out her stencil from another cupboard. It was definitely smaller than the big ones other students were working on.

"I make miniatures." She explained, walking over to him and showing him what she was going to deflect. The stencil showed a scene called the "Dance Macabre", or in other words, dance of death. Devils, witches, kings, simpletons and skeletons danced together in a circle. "It's a mirror image. In the print, everything will look the other way around. I deal with projects referring to old woodcuts, I create a whole series of such works. Come."

She said, and Aemond dutifully followed her into the next room. There were several printing presses, smaller and larger, some of which were already being worked by other students. In the center was a large table where students were rolling paint onto their stencils. Most smiled at her and greeted her. 

Aemond was surprised that it seemed like most people here liked, knew, and respected her. Y/N moved around the room with complete confidence, as if she were at home. Once in a while she exchanged a few words with someone else or helped someone who was clearly a year below.

It was nice to see her in her natural habitat. Aemond felt as if he had stepped into Leonardo da Vinci's painting workshop. Everything he saw fascinated him. Y/N usually showed him her poster designs and illustrations, but he didn't know that as part of her studies, she was working on more classic techniques that he had read about in his books.

After Y/N applied paint to her stencil and pressed it on the press, she brought it to him.

"Peel off the paper and see how it turned out. You have clean hands." She said encouragingly. He nodded his head and hesitantly, gently began to peel the sheet from the stencil. He turned it over and was surprised to see that, indeed, the image was a mirror image of the matrix. It really looked like old woodcuts. Aemond watched the work curiously, but Y/N sighed.

“I put too much paint on the stencil and it spilled too much. Nevermind.” She muttered, she wipe her hands on the apron, taking the stencil, and repeated the whole process. Aemond didn't quite understand what that meant, but as she made more prints, he saw that indeed, the next ones were clearer and more detailed.

"Do you want some coffee?" She asked him suddenly. "We have an express here. You can sit at the table, you don't have to stand." She said calmly, smiling. An hour ago he would have refused, but he was surprised to find that he liked it there. He watched with interest as the other students worked as well. 

A few even approached them with their work, asking everyone in the room what they thought. He was surprised at how relaxed the atmosphere was, even though everyone was working all the time. So he sat on one of the stools, and after a while Y/N brought tea for herself and coffee for him.

From time to time professors appeared in the room. They proofread and voiced their thoughts on their work, had a little laugh, and then went back to their tiny rooms, where they sat in seclusion. It ended up with Y/N taking off her apron, washing her hands, and looking at him with a smile.

"Its enough for today. We can go now." He looked at her surprised. He didn't even feel how fast time flew by. He finished his coffee and they washed their cups. He helped her clean up her work station. Y/N said goodbye to everyone and they left the room.

"Did you like it? I'm sorry, you didn't have to stay until the end." She said in a slightly apologetic tone, looking at him uncertainly. He looked at her calmly.

"It was fun there. You do very interesting things." He admitted. Y/N smiled happily at his words, delighted that he got to know a significant part of her life.

***

Aemond and Y/N went to her house to get some of her things. Klaus wasn't happy to hear that he was staying with Aemond for a few days, but he waved them off, stating that he had plenty of work to do in the coming days anyway. 

On the way back, Aemond said he needed to stop by the club for a while, sign some papers and run some errands with the manager. He suggested that she wait for him inside and have a drink, then they go out to eat together. She smiled gratefully at the offer.

Aemond followed his manager to his office while Y/N sat at the bar. Aemond said she could take whatever she wanted to drink at his expense. She looked through the menu curiously, wondering what to choose. She felt someone sit down next to her, but she didn't pay any attention to it, lost in thought.

"Take vodka with lemon juice and sprite. Very refreshing.” She heard a female voice, she glanced to the side. The woman she was looking at was about 10 years older than she was, but she looked very good. Her make-up and tight dress well emphasized her qualities and great figure. Y/N smiled warmly at her.

"You say? Indeed, I haven't tried this drink yet." She said calmly, resting her chin on her hand on the bar counter.

"Twice vodka with lemon juice and sprite." The woman said to the bartender, and the bartender nodded, looking at her with a frown. Y/N noticed the look and swung around in her seat. 

"Nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot of good things about you." She said with a warm looking smile. Y/N felt hot. She looked at her surprised. "Alys." The woman held out her hand in greeting. Y/N felt her throat go dry. 

She hesitated for a moment, but reached out her hand to her and took her hand with a firm grip, not allowing herself to show any weakness or fear.

"Y/N."

She fell silent, looking at her, trying to keep her face calm even though her heart was pounding like crazy. She decided not to say anything more. She wasn't going to admit that Aemond had told her about her. Alys took a sip of her drink, not bothered by the silence.

“That Albert is quite a bastard. It was fun with him at first, but when I heard he pressed you against that restroom, I didn't like it anymore." She said as she took a sip of her drink, looking her up and down. "He's crazy about you, huh?" She asked, smiling from the corner of her mouth.

"Albert?" Y/N asked uncertainly and raised her eyebrows.

"Aemond."

Y/N pursed her lips as she looked into her eyes. What was she supposed to say? If she answered yes, it would only show that she hoped Aemond was crazy about her, that he was desperate - which he wasn't - even though she wanted him to love her and want her. If she answered no, it would appear that she was trying to diminish his feelings for herself by equating them with those he felt for other women—and she didn't believe that either.

"I don't know if crazy is the right word." She finally said, looking away. She could end the conversation at any time, get up and just go to Aemond, let him do the job. She had seen him talk to Kate and believed he would do the same this time, setting clear boundaries. But she felt that she didn’t want to show her any weakness. Her last days with him had given her courage and confidence.

"What else do you call sex on a park bench?" She asked amused, and Y/N turned to her quickly, her eyes filled with terror, her cheeks turning scarlet. Alys laughed.

"Don't worry. You have a good friend. Marcus, right? His men gave the photographer a good whack before he could get in the car. They destroyed his equipment. Albert was furious. The opportunity passed him by." She murmured, taking a sip of her drink, looking at her with satisfaction that she had managed to get any reaction out of her.

Y/N swallowed silently, despite her relief, still feeling the enormous tension caused by the whole situation, the fact that Albert had them followed, and that she knew about it. She thought they both owed Marcus a debt of gratitude. She lowered her hands to her knees, trying to control their tremors and pulled herself together.

"Why are you interested in me?" She finally asked, her voice more confident than before. Alys was silent for a moment, looking at her intently.

"Actually, you don't interest me. I'm just trying to figure out the situation." She smiled slightly. Y/N laughed. She was surprised by her own confidence. She decided that no one could be blackmailed or intimidated her.

"Better find out quickly, because if Aemond sees you talking to me, he won't be pleased." She said, raising her eyebrows. Alys looked at her, her words surprised her. "You know very well that he doesn't like to share what's his."

_____

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[fruit-salad-ship]

I don’t understand why anyone had a problem with the Rome AU? It’s. It’s fiction. It’s not meant to be historically accurate, that was never the point. What, y’all gonna start coming after every period romance written ever?

I adored Rome AU. It was one of my favorites. It doesn’t have to be anywhere close to accurate, it just has to be fun for you to create. So create more of it if it makes you happy. You deserve that 💖

I would love to, it had a very specific energy, but I got a lot of people correcting me about little details. It puts me off creating anything to do with it despite loving it so much, because I’m just here having fun but people are mad about idk, a dye colour, or some tiny detail about how a social norm was written about or something. Now I hate history, I failed it, every test I ever took I failed horribly, it was my one true subject I just didn’t click with, so having to essentially research a bunch of history stuff before enjoying a mindless hobby topic that’s more about OCs than the setting kind of just sucks! Like a lot!! my adhd hates it haha, I can’t read a sentence without reading it 3-4 times. I just don’t read well, and when I say this people suggest audio books or YouTube videos; no one seems to understand that I truly, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, I truly cannot focus on historical content. It’s all very important and interesting but just not something I can consume and enjoy? I’m too stupid for it haha!

BUT. I really do miss it, I made the Star Wars AU a reflection of it to escape the history buffs that heckle in the tags, but somehow it doesn’t have the same energy, close but somethings missing.

Either way it IS fiction, I was going to throw some of the old gods and monsters in to try to pull it away from the history aspect, but it was too late by that point, and no doubt someone would have had issues with that too.

Defo one of the greats, I love big wet dog peach who just needs love and patience and gentleness. There was real charm to plum and her calm power, and grey the biggest sweetheart of them all. Idk. Guess it’s done for sadly, but GOD, miss it so much. Just finished with being expected to research something I just want to enjoy for he fun of it yknow? My brain can’t do it hah

I love that it was one of your favs, I hear it a lot, and love that briefly it brought some joy to others!

[beautifulpersonpeach]

BPP,

First of all, I love your blog. I am so happy to see you active.

Second of all, I agree with that anon about finding Jimin fascinating. I have never been this intrigued by any other celebrity. I find him different but I don't know why. He is good looking but so are other idols. I mean it's Kpop. Most have to be good looking to make it. It's just such a weird thing. Like you can't help but notice him. Everytime I watch a BTS related content, he is the first person I notice. He isn't even my favourite but my eyes will instantly see him before anyone else. He also somehow leaves the strongest mark in any mvs or performances or even simple content. It's weird. I don't get it.

***

Hi Anon, 💜

I saw your ask come in days ago, just as I was logging out of the app and felt a bit bad because I knew I wouldn't have any time for Tumblr for the next few days. Lately, I've actually wanted to remain active here, but life keeps getting in the way. I know it's not a big deal but I really am thankful that so many of you understand that I'm active here only when I can afford to be. 💜

On to more interesting topics, yes to everything you said about Jimin. There's no other member I write about here more than Jimin and it's something I don't ever feel like apologizing for because that man is infinitely captivating.

It's rare to see someone who recognizes exactly what he is, as young as Jimin did. There are many points over the years that Jimin has done something, and it registered in my head that this man is different. It's human to be a bit self-indulgent, to be a little self-absorbed, a little self-deception is a very natural mechanism that sometimes shields us from other people's projections and malicious intent. And so it struck me as almost inhuman in how acutely aware Jimin was to recognize his need to be seen, heard, in the most audacious format available to him as a 13 year old boy in Busan, South Korea.

His depth of self-knowledge, indicative of his unusually high intelligence, is at the source of his magnetism and charisma. In my opinion. You can see it in his eyes and it amplifies his already unnatural beauty.

I recently started speaking with a Jimin-bias on Twitter and we've become good friends. She described Jimin like this (and I've linked in sources):

"Jimin of BTS is the man who wrote a detailed essay that convinced his parents to let him study dance over science or law, who landed an esteemed dance and martial arts scholarship, who went against his teacher (Lee Hwa Sung’s) wishes of going the more secure route excelling as a professional modern dancer given his talents, to instead pursue his dream to become an idol, who called his dad once a month as a trainee of a nearly bankrupt agency saying “don’t worry dad. Even if I don’t make it this way I’ll make it another way”, who debuted as main dancer and lead vocalist with what is now the biggest group in the world despite having the shortest training period in Big Hit’s history and one of the shortest training periods in all of kpop to date."

*

That is one reason I am ecstatic about FACE. The music itself is one thing and we'll deal with that when we get there - I may or may not like the music (though given what he's released so far, the fact he's in BTS, and him working with RM and PDogg, I doubt it). But the subject matter of FACE: Park Jimin, would interest me even if I was on my death bed with only 10 KB of data available for me to use one last time.

*

I'm not very good at explaining what I mean, but I hope those who love him don't take offense when I call Jimin a freak. Because that is what I'm absolutely convinced he is. I don't know how else to express just how beastly I think he really is. Looking at him for me is like looking at one of those lenticular prints that shift into different things depending on lighting - like you turn your head one way looking at Jimin and you see a panther, turn your head another way and you see a dove, turn yet another way and you see a snake. And each animal is the most perfect expression of its form. He hones every quality he expresses with a meticulousness that scares me sometimes, because every example of that sort of personality I've seen in music has burnt out or passed before 40 (Prince being the only exception). The rapline have an identical quality but they seem less volatile than Jimin to me for some reason.

Anyway, I'm rambling. I'm excited about FACE and Anon when I saw your ask come in days ago, I suspected you were fishing (lol), but also I love Jimin and will take every excuse to talk about him. It's also way easier to talk about him than it is to talk about Yoongi, Namjoon, and Hoseok for me lol.

Speaking of which, it goes without saying that Jimin's evolution in self-awareness is also a result of his relationship with the rapline in BTS, as well as some other members. Jimin's comments about how he relies on those three, of what he thinks of their characters, and about how those three have assisted and influenced him, are consistent with how I see them too.

Back to Jimin, he's a once in a lifetime personality and there's nothing wrong with admitting it.

(Me too, Jungkook. Me too.)

Make sure you've pre-saved FACE, stream On The Street, and stay hydrated. 💜

[nefariousrat]

for once, i may be able to contribute to the dialogue about ons despite losing track of the plot at least 4 years ago.

anyway here are just some thoughts on today's chapter.

firstly, the elevator panel in the tower of babel is the kabbalistic tree of life. weirdly though, its extended past the regular amount of spheres which you can see in the comparison photo below.

actual tree of life with translations:

notably, shikama doji was at the top, presumably at keter, but im not sure if this was just added for the mystical vibe or if the tree of life actually serves a purpose in the plot.

the tree of life has 7 levels with different traits/virtues called "nodes" on each. for example, the 6th is binah (understanding) and chochmah (wisdom). it describes how god interacts with creation.

the tower mika and yuu enter is explicitly revealed to be the tower of babel, which according to the book of genesis is located in babylonia. the purpose of tower was to reach the heavens where god resides, but god stepped in and made it so that the workers could no longer communicate with each other and build further (britannica.com).

this story is said to be the origin of multiple languages on earth, rather than the sole language that all people spoke previously.

in terms of relevance to the plot of ons, this matches up with shikama doji's desire to ascend back to heaven.

knowing that, im confused with why there are so many other angels down there with shikama. were all angels expelled from heaven? why else would the city be so massive?

up until now i thought it was a lucifer/satan fallen angel type of deal.

on another subject, and i had to confirm this with a google search, there is no historically accurate reason for the presence of the star we see carved into the planet here since if we're going by historical accuracy. the star had no real relevance as far as i know until much later in history. like, modern ages. millions and millions of years later.

in terms of storytelling though, pentagrams are a motif commonly used to express meanings varying from godly protection and the warding off of spirits to satanic or occult rituals. obviously the occult part matches up with the magic we've seen in ons. unfortunately, we've been told very little about the magic system as a whole.

i wonder if the reason for the meteor that destroyed the dinosaurs was to get rid of this city? i cant imagine another reason why takaya kagami would choose this time period, millions of years before the first homo sapien. if anyone's curious, the meteor landed in what's known today as the Chicxulub crater.

on that subject lmao

mika, who i thought was supposed to be the smart one 💀:

the high-tech infrastructure of the angel city is deeply confusing to me. i wonder if we're going to be introduced to time travel? maybe that's where the ice cream comes from.

considering the introduction of dinosaurs few things would surprise me at this point.

i really wish things would speed up a bit. the complexity of the dialogue between yuu and mika is mind numbing at this point. it doesn't move the plot forward in the slightest, gives no information about the characters aside from what we already know; they're stupid.

how many times are we supposed to laugh at the same joke?

despite these flaws i feel for the first time in years the tiniest spark of interest in the plot solely because of how out of pocket this all is.

now that i think about it, if all the seraphim were expelled from heaven, what about the other types of angels? do they even exist in this universe?

References

https://www.britannica.com/topic/tower-of-babel

[eretzyisrael]

JORDANIAN DISINFORMATION GOES UNCHALLENGED ON BBC RADIO 4

Former Jordanian minister Jawad al Anani told listeners to that programme (which is no longer available online) that: [emphasis in italics in the original, emphasis in bold added]

“Actually, even before 1967 Jordan respected the rights of Jews to go and come to their holy places.”

CAMERA UK submitted a complaint on that topic, pointing out that not only did Jordan not ‘respect’ the religious rights of Jews during its illegal occupation of parts of Jerusalem between 1948 and 1967, it destroyed dozens of synagogues and desecrated the ancient Mount of Olives cemetery. In direct contravention of the 1949 armistice agreements, Jordan did not permit Jews access to their holy sites or to the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives during that period and, notably, Israeli Arabs, were also denied access to the Al Aqsa mosque on Temple Mount.

On April 26th we received an email informing us that it would take more time to address that very straightforward complaint. On May 17th we were told that the time limit for addressing our complaint had expired.

On June 8th we received the following communication from BBC Complaints:

“Thanks for contacting us about The World this Weekend, broadcast on 9 April. We apologise for our delayed response. We have shared your concerns with the senior editorial team at the programme. The focus of this interview was the flashpoints which had occurred in the preceding days in the area around Al Aqsa mosque, and generally across Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territories, and the response of Jordan and other countries in the region. While we accept the point made may well be contentious, presenters don’t always have the time to try to challenge every point made, or give a wider or opposing viewpoint. This is a complex area about which interviewees often seek to make a variety of historical references to back up their positions and we can’t always examine every point in the time available where it is not central to the subject at hand.” [emphasis added]

On June 10th CAMERA UK submitted a Stage 1b complaint, pointing out that BBC editorial guidelines on accuracy state that in live content, “Significant inaccuracies that may arise should be corrected quickly”. We asserted that the topic of our complaint was indeed a significant inaccuracy which materially misled listeners, concerning a matter of historical fact which has been known for decades.

On June 18th we were once again informed that it would take more time to address our complaint. On July 18th we received the following communication from BBC Complaints:

“Thanks for contacting us again about The World this Weekend, broadcast on 8 [sic] April.  We apologise for our delayed response. We’re sorry your [sic] weren’t satisfied with our previous reply.  We have discussed your further concerns with the senior editorial team at the programme. Our decision not to press Jawad Al Anani on how Jordan maintained access to the holy sites of Jerusalem pre-1967 was a finely balanced one.  Mr Al Awani had been invited on to the programme to discuss the challenges and opportunities for a regional role in conflict resolution – his interview followed a meeting earlier in the day of regional representatives and the US in Jordan.  Although interesting, Mr Al Awani’s comment about access to the Holy sites wasn’t relevant to the developments of the preceding few weeks, which was the focus of the discussion and why we didn’t scrutinise this point during the interview. As we previously said, while we appreciate this area of history may be contentious, our presenters can’t explore every point made.” [emphasis added]

In other words, the BBC claims that Al Awani’s false claims concerning access to holy sites during the 18 years of illegal Jordanian occupation of parts of Jerusalem “wasn’t relevant” to an item about deliberate Palestinian provocations at one of those sites and related attacks on Israeli civilians.

Also worthy of note is that in both those responses, BBC Complaints chose to present historical fact as “contentious”.

As we noted in our second complaint:

“The failure to correct this item makes a mockery both of supposed editorial standards as laid out in the editorial guidelines on accuracy and impartiality and the BBC’s branding of itself as a body which tackles disinformation, including by means of the recently launched ‘BBC Verify’ project. Fighting disinformation should begin at home. When a Jordanian politician is allowed to promote serious disinformation unchallenged on a BBC radio station, audiences will rightly not trust the BBC’s claim to be an ‘antidote’ to disinformation elsewhere.”

[alliluyevas]

hiii do u have any recs for books on mormon history? i'm mostly interested in how joseph smith's doctrine was shaped by american society around him and how mormon pioneers adopted settler colonialism/how they thought about race, also how they clashed with the american government and where mormons' anti-federal views began. but i'll really take recs on anything!!! google is not very helpful for finding mormon history books that are written from ppl outside the church lol

oh I am SO happy to help you, I love giving book recs.

I think all of the topics you've mentioned are fascinating and they're actually things I really want to dig deeper into myself. Most of what I've read so far has been either more overview/biography or focused on women's issues or polygamy. Obviously, both Mormon settler-colonialism and conflict with the federal government comes up while researching other topics, but I feel like I both want and need to read more specifically focusing on those subjects because they are definitely very important. I can still point you in the direction of a few books with either direct or tangential connection to your interests that I've read and liked, and some others I haven't read but have heard good things about.

Joseph Smith

For your question about Smith's doctrine and how he was shaped by his society, I would strongly recommend Dan Vogel's Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet. This is sort of an origin-story biography, focusing on JS's life up until 1831, the year after he published the Book of Mormon and formally founded the LDS church. But it's also a close reading of the text of the BOM examining how JS's life experiences and the context of the world around him affected the book he produced. There's also a follow up book, Charisma under Pressure: Joseph Smith, American Prophet, 1831–1839, focusing on the Ohio and Missouri periods of the early church, which came out this year and I haven't read it yet. The first volume is fantastic, though, and it's very close to what you're looking for.

I also have some recs that less directly address your question but still are relevant, and I think they're just good overall. Benjamin Park's Kingdom of Nauvoo focuses on Nauvoo-era Mormonism and does a really good job of putting their doctrine and society in its cultural context and comparing them to broader American society. Spencer McBride's Joseph Smith for President focuses on JS's 1844 third-party presidential campaign and his assassination mid-campaign.

Mormon Settler-Colonialism and Attitudes About Race

You absolutely need to read Virginia Kerns' Sally in Three Worlds: An Indian Captive in the House of Brigham Young. This is an absolutely fantastic and deeply moving book, I think it's one of the best works of Mormon-related history I've read. Kerns does a wonderful job of outlining the painful intimacy of how Sally's life intersected with the Young family, and there's a lot in this book both about how the Mormon settlement of Utah affected native people and about how Mormons settlers saw natives.

I would also recommend Pioneer Prophet, John Turner's biography of Brigham Young. It's a very engaging read and a really good biography of Young, and I think given his role as primary architect of Utah's colonization and the creator of the priesthood ban against black men, it's relevant to the topic.

I had mixed feelings about Joanna Brooks' Mormonism and White Supremacy, I think there are a lot of things she could have gone into more detail about and sometimes her arguments are a bit clumsy. I still think it's worth reading, especially for information about the church during the civil rights movement and the arguments over ending the priesthood ban. (Despite its broad title, the book is mostly focused on Mormon attitudes towards people of African descent, and chronologically on the 20th century rather than earlier. It is a good introduction to that subject, though, and it has a lot of really rich primary sources that are very informative).

I have not read Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness, but I have heard very good things.

Conflict with the Federal Government

Unfortunately, this is the area where I think I can help you least. I've read a lot touching on conflicts with the federal government, which is in many ways the defining theme of Mormonism in the latter half of the 19th century, but not a lot focusing specifically on it.

I have not read any of these books, and cannot vouch for their quality, but they do seem relevant to the topic and certainly may be worth checking out.

Unpopular Sovereignty: Mormons and the Federal Management of Early Utah Territory

The Mormon Rebellion: America's First Civil War 1857-1858

The Mormon Question: Polygamy and Constitutional Conflict in Nineteenth-Century America

Pioneer Prophet will definitely also address this topic!

Please let me know if you have any other questions or you end up reading and enjoying any of these books! I love talking about this kind of thing!