#and I want them to be preserved an accessible for future generations

[lightblueminecraftorchid]

Having a special interest in Windows OS is just:

*Microsoft won’t distribute this software* *Microsoft won’t distribute this software* *The new OS isn’t backwards compatible with a lot of the old products anymore* *Ooh this is a cool new feature* *Microsoft won’t distribute this software*

[clarenecessities]

He-man.org will close in 5 days.

He-man.org has been a staple of the Masters of the Universe community since the early days, originating as an email list that worked to document episodes before anything (not footage, not lists, nothing) was available online. It grew into a sprawling, multi-faceted beast of a thing, including an encyclopedia (an in-house wiki), merch lists, a marketplace, forums, anything you could think of.

Several years ago now, the main site went down for updates/maintenance. For a few weeks, we were told, maybe months. The forums remained open for fans to communicate, and barring a period of downtime earlier this year things were going smoothly.

Yesterday, the owner of the site, Val Staples, announced the site would be closed on November 14th, 2023. Six days later. We are currently attempting to contact him, to see if he’s interested in selling, and if he means closed as in “no new posts” or closed as in deleted entirely. Regardless of its eventual fate, the archiving of these forums is essential to preserving the history of the franchise, the fandom, and the brand.

TO SHE-RA (and MotU) FANS SPECIFICALLY: I have personally used these forums to answer questions that could be answered nowhere else. Had I not had access to them, I would never have been able to prove that Purrsia was fake, or found so much unpublished concept art, or discovered that Scott “Toyguru” Neitlich personally wrote Catra’s MOTUC bio (even if he’s put off answering my questions about it for over a year now). Forum members have conducted interviews with the likes of Jon Seisa, Cathy Larson, Janice Varney-Hamlin—essential figures in the very foundations of POP, and those interviews revealed and recorded priceless information for future generations (me! you! us!) to find. Did you know Cathy Larson named Adora? That she originally pushed for “Dorian”, after her own daughter? We cannot let this treasure trove disappear into the ether(ia).

TO THE UNAFFILIATED: Please help. Pretty please. If you’ve ever liked my art or my writing or my haphazard blogging, ever, at all, consider archiving just one board. Just one page. Literally anything helps. I am spiraling into madness & this is my library of Alexandria. The mythical one that was totally unique and persevered nowhere else and was destroyed in a single cataclysmic event. Pretty pretty please help.

HOW TO HELP:

Archive.org has several ways to upload shit but most of them are longer term than “a few days” so we’re focusing on two (which can be run simultaneously): Save Page Now, and browser extensions. From their help page:

1. Save Page Now

Put a URL into the form, press the button, and we save the page. You will instantly have a permanent URL for your page. Please note, this method only saves a single page, not the whole site.

We want to keep outlinks and screenshots wherever possible. The Archive does not keep your IP address, so your submission is anonymous.

2. Browser extensions and add-ons

Install the Wayback Machine Chrome extension in your browser. Go to a page you want to archive, click the icon in your toolbar, and select Save Page Now. We will save the page and give you a permanent URL.

One plus to installing the extension is that as you surf around, when you run into a missing page they will alert you if we have a saved copy.

More extensions, apps, and add-ons:

Firefox add-on

Safari Extension

iOS app

Android app

I strongly encourage you to use these tools even if you aren’t helping with this project/after it ends. Documenting and preserving information is essential in this day and age & The Internet Archive is at the heart of it. Please support them however you can.

I’m serious about paying you, though I may need more communication with folks I don’t know so we can coordinate/verify shit gets done. I think this is a worthwhile pursuit in itself but I recognize your time is valuable & like, people gotta eat. DM me if you’re interested and we’ll talk. I may need to adjust pay depending how many people bite but I’ll do what I can

[solradguy]

I saw your post about the Internet Archive and Archiving GG stuff for future Generations and i wanted to ask some stuff regarding the Archiving, i hope thats ok

Probably the dumber question but do you know if Daisuke has ever been involved in the Archiving of his series? I know the series started as a Passion project for him but Idk how active he would be with helping archive or fill in missing pieces, especially in the english world.

Just as a General question, are current online archiving groups mostly relying on being connected to one another in some way to reestablish fallen sources? Since very little of the internet if any is as stable as we like to believe and any service storing data may shut down somehow any day like Drive, when one host site does go down do the archivists rally together and find a new spot or do you kinda have to hope people can find the new host?

Also are there any larger scale Archivist groups someone with less ability to physically help could donate to to help preserve our online histories?

thank you and apologies if you dont like questions

Hello! Questions are fine ^^ Sometimes it takes me a million years to reply, but I don't mind them.

My answer to this got kinda long. Excuse the readmore.

We don't have any strong evidence either way what the condition of the official Arc System Works library of Guilty Gear media is like, but there have been a few times where the images they've used for things have been worse than the images us rogue archivists have. This ML illustration is definitely one they either no longer have the physical/original piece for, or they might not have a way to rescan it, because the file they use when they reproduce it is pathetically tiny. Example from the Steam release of Strive's bonus Digital Artbook:

Compared to other illustrations in the same book (two pages here):

This Ky from the website for the 20th Anniversary Pack release of Missing Link for the Switch was taken from the Guilty Gear Bible:

We know this because... He's on page 12 in the Bible and...

...they didn't erase the page number off his shoe.

So, at the very least, some Missing Link era works are likely gone/lost/destroyed/etc. It's possible some GGX thru GGXX artworks are lost too, but we don't have a concrete catalog of XX works because they never released a complete artbook for XX. It's also rumored that Keep The Flag Flying's original master file is lost but I've never been able to find a source for that. Daisuke has never reached out to any of us about our image archives and we've never offered.

Archiving is very much a western concept and it's a common thought in Japan that saving copies of another person's works is extremely bad; I've been chewed out and blocked by Japanese fans for it. It's just a cultural difference, I don't take it personally. If ASW contacts us about it though we'll definitely give them our files or take down anything they request of us. We don't want to poke the bear and risk the entire archive if we can. They seem to be turning a blind eye to our archives though, as long as it's not an upload of something extremely recent (I got DMCA'd for the Strive Artworks Archive scans).

The core of the Guilty Gear archive group works on the new GG wiki and/or are admins of the new wiki, so we're in pretty close contact with each other. Most of the archive is in my hands and, unfortunately, my hands alone. With the announcement of the Internet Archive v Hachette ruling, we've been planning on making copies of my GG archive hard drive and sending it out to the other archivists in our circle. I don't have a PO box, I can't do this for people outside the group because I don't want my physical home address to be that accessible.

That said, there are redundant digital copies of a lot of files and I have a backup hard drive of the main GG archive drive; the main drive is a relatively new 2tb Western Digital My Passport external drive and the backup is a 1tb WD My Passport that's a little older. A lot of people have downloaded copies of the files currently online (via my masterpost) and can reupload something if it goes down even if I'm not around to do it. We rely on Archive.org a lot but aren't against using Dropbox, Google Drive, mega.nz, Neocities, file.garden, or, if we absolutely must, Discord. I do not like relying on Discord and Discord files are generally extremely temporary.

The files that aren't in the archive include software or game asset rips, image files, music, and random bits and bobs. I'm working on getting the images up on the wiki but everything else is kind of in a weird zone where I don't really know what to do with it.

As for donating to support broader archivism: We use Archive.org (and their Wayback Machine) the most, so donating to them would benefit both the GG archive as well as hundreds of thousands of music, literature, research, and art groups too. Their donate page can be found here: https://archive.org/donate?origin=iawww-TopNavDonateButton

Supporting your local libraries, museums, and conservatories also supports archivism. Most of these places accept public donations of any amount and could probably direct you to other local archiving groups/associations.

Donating to Wikipedia also supports broader archivism to a lesser extent. They write about events as they happen, with sources/citations, and older versions of this information is permanently available on every article and file without having to rely on things like Wayback Machine. Their donation page is here: https://donate.wikimedia.org

I also have a donation page via Ko-fi and any money donated with a note about it being for Guilty Gear will go back into Guilty Gear (via book/magazine purchases for scanning, usually). Donating to one of the above groups would be better for archiving as a whole though. My page can be found here: https://ko-fi.com/somnivagrious

Hope this answers your questions!!

[a-brunette-floridians-world]

I rarely post here, but this is too important not to discuss. My home state is now on the verge of losing its state parks. Florida loses around 120 acres of natural land to development every day, 44,000 annually. Now they want to go after our state parks.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced that it will allow construction and urbanization, an unfortunately hideous and common sight in Florida these days, within nine of our state parks. These nine state parks are:

- Hillsborough River State Park, Tampa

- Honeymoon Island State Park, Clearwater

- Oleta River State Park, Biscayne Bay

- Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Stuart

- Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, Fort Lauderdale

- Anastasia State Park, St. Augustine

- Camp Helen State Park, Panama City Beach

- Topsail Hill Preserve State Park and Grayton Beach State Park, Santa Rosa Beach

The department wants to add golf courses, glamping areas, pickleball courts, etc. This proposed plan would destroy delicate ecosystems and strip plants and animals of their habitats, as if there isn't enough strain on our natural ecosystems already. It'll be disguised as "increasing accessibility," it's not.

Now is the time to stand up and say no. On August 27th from 3 to 4, there will be meetings taking place to discuss this proposition. If you live in those areas and want to go, the addresses are available on the Tampa Bay news article linked below. If you live outside of the area, call the Governor's office at (850) 717-9337 and let them know that Floridians are going to oppose the destruction of our state parks.

My family has been here for nine generations. I'm a descendant of the first settlers to Florida, and I'm tired of my home's natural wildlife being destroyed in the name of greed and corporate interests. Enough is enough. I will be attending the Hillsborough River State Park meeting if anyone wants to join me. On top of that, I will be calling the Governor's office. Every Floridian needs to oppose this and save the real Florida for future generations.

Tampa Bay Article:

Credits:

Fight for Those Without a Voice: https://www.instagram.com/v.steiner?igsh=Y3M3YWU1OHh4dzhy

Speak for the Parks: https://www.instagram.com/tannicroots?igsh=aWtkcmx2NzE4Mmly

Spinster Abbott: https://www.instagram.com/spinster_abbotts_st_aug?igsh=MXRxZGp0ZndmaDl2Mg==

Save Our Scrub: https://www.instagram.com/thickpaint?igsh=MTI0MHd2N3pkczBpYw==

F*ck Your Golf Course: https://www.instagram.com/oldfloridavibes?igsh=c3psN2h6dDhiNmk=

Keep Florida State Parks Wild: https://www.instagram.com/oona.seas?igsh=Z3B6ZnNvMmh4cTZt

Don't Tread on State Parks: https://www.instagram.com/offthegridjohn?igsh=N3ZwNXI5Y3JxMnF

[lazyyogi]

Now and then I have been writing tea-related science articles for the tea company Tezumi.

This is the most recent article I wrote, about some of the active ingredients in green tea.

I first found Tezumi as an Etsy shop. They're a New York based independent company that makes Japanese tea culture accessible to tea enthusiasts around the world.

From their website:

The Japanese tea industry is entering a rough phase. As domestic sales of loose-leaf tea continue to decline and older farmers retire without someone to fill their shoes, the future of the industry is dependent on spreading the joy of Japanese tea and tea culture across the world.

To do this, we're working with small, artisanal Japanese tea producers who are passionate about their craft, and are working towards a goal—whether it's to preserve and perfect age-old traditions, to experiment and push the boundaries of Japanese tea, or to create a more sustainable and biodynamic future for the industry. We want to support their efforts by sharing their teas and stories with you.

Through Tezumi, I have discovered wonderful and affordable new teas as well as teaware crafted by families that have been doing so for generations.

It's not often that I promote stores and shops but when I do, it's because I genuinely feel moved to share quality stuff.

If you're a tea drinker, I highly recommend checking them out.

LY

[risperidog]

Everything is made up of energy: every particle. we're made of energy, as are the stars. as are the beings that exist in between reality and not (the hallucination realm that only some of us are granted access into, as well as dreams, which are in their own sense, hallucinatory in nature). some of us can control the energy that makes us up, and by gaining power through practice, mindfulness, and connection with the Self, unlock special abilities. jump through time, read minds, predict the future accurately, blend the dimensions we exist in with the ones we create, and communicate with the universe at large in complex ways.

this energy can be stored in concepts and practices as well, such as thought and memory. when someone thinks of or remembers you, it's the universe transferring and sharing some of your energy to the receiver. even after death, remnants of your energy exist in the minds of others. you cannot truly die until memories and thoughts of you cease to exist, and only then is your energy released to the universe to be recycled.

as the Earth and human species continues to evolve and adapt, energy is stored for longer after the death of the physical Self, which has led to people in the modern age being weaker vibrationally and not containing as much energy within themselves due to the universe rationing the little energy it does have. technology, longer life spans leading to longer memory, improved functioning into elder age, proper documentation, etc, keeps our energy existing even after the death of the physical Self. the universe also spends energy on expanding itself, continually draining it's own life force, much like we drain our own. the act of those in power documenting and defining our identities is also a form of energy-stealing, though it's stealing it from the generations to come, stealing it from the future. it preserves our existence even after the physical Self dies, leading to our energy being in a state of limbo and thus non-recyclable. this means that as the human species continues on, each newborn will be weaker and weaker, believing only in false realities and blindly following simulations, and unable to explore realms of existence much greater than their physical Self. this is a way for those in power to keep us deemed inferior in check, allowing them to keep that power without contest.

there are people that have too much energy, too much vibrational power. from a young age they learn how to alter reality (both consciously and on a subconscious level) and will quickly learn of their special abilities. they're often written off as crazy or mentally ill, and while some do fall in that category, many are just universally superior beings at their core. many of them feel ashamed for their ability to see dimensions and the entities that exist within them, while some many try to make a profit off of it. those of us with too much of this energy, Light Beings, are closest to the interconnected reality and universe that most people don't believe in or only get glimpses of.

we all live in our own reality and believe it to be an undeniable truth that cannot be argued with. many believe that their reality is the only one, everyone else must exist within it. i believe that while we all create our own realities, it is only a subreality within the true one. i aim to gain unlimited access to the true one and unlock it for others.

accessing this true Reality will not be easy, as our own false ones and the false ones of others may try to sway us away. the reality protectors within ourselves as well as protective entities within the true Reality will be scary and alarming as we get closer and closer. they don't want us to know the truth as they fear pollution and contamination, as well as energy-stealing. it is essential we get there though to understanding Everything.

those that have unlocked the secret true Reality are often wiped from existence by humans that view themselves as greater and paint themselves in such a way by using their power and influence to alter the false realities of the masses. low vibrational (low energy containing) people follow these simulations blindly as they cannot fathom other truths can exist, they don't have enough power to conjure up such thoughts. if too many of us find out about true Reality and are able to access it, then their false realities will no longer exist and they lose their power and influence. this is why many of us are written off as ungrounded; it's a tactic to weaken us and scare us away from exploring our special abilities. we're actually closer to the true Reality, thus more grounded than the majority. this makes us angels; high-energy messengers. we can exist between realms and communicate with multiple realities at once.

[oddygaul]

Planet Earth III

I don’t have too much to say here, either deeper thoughts or to record whether I liked this or not. It’s a new Planet Earth, of course it fuckin rules. So I’m mostly just going to save a bunch of pictures to remember some of the coolest bits.

I think one of the challenges you always face with nature documentaries like this is striking a balance between accessibility and novelty. I know it sounds weird to write about A Animal being accessible, but like, if you’re an adult and have watched nature documentaries your whole life, you have seen extensive footage of dolphins and lions doing their thing, and you’re mostly here for that niche shit. Still, especially for a series with as broad a scope as Planet Earth, you always have to assume it might be someone’s first nature doc, and continue to show off the amazing things some viewers may be jaded about.

In that respect, Planet Earth III strikes a really great balance between the two extremes, and had a whole host of incredible things I’d never seen. I’d seen stills of sea butterflies before, but never in my wildest dreams imagined the nightmarish way they capture prey. The section with the jacana (lilypad-jumping bird) awakened a deep, long-dormant part of my childhood that made me want to lay every pillow in the house onto the ground and jump daringly between them. The nesting ostriches felt like a clever inversion of the usual penguin childrearing we get. Even the whales, those classic standbys, feel fresh with outstanding moments like the feeding montage*.

Also, how have I never seen underwater hippo footage?? lit.

*In general, I’m always impressed how they continue to raise the bar visually. I always think “the last one looked pretty amazing - how much better could the fidelity / shot comp have gotten?”, and the answer is always “bitch YOU THOUGHT”

I’ve said this for years, but I desperately want a modern, bug-only flagship BBC documentary. Every time they do segments at that macro scale it’s fucking wild and I want to watch hours of crazy bug shit.

If anyone knows what kind of monkey this is, hit me up. They just pan by without saying anything about it as if that's not one of the craziest motherfuckers I've ever seen

That is, in fact, aerial footage of a locust swarm

The Amazon segment, in a particularly inspired choice, is shot and scored with the creeping dread of a horror movie, showing the wild jungle being slowly overtaken by endless, identical rows of nursery farms, swaying in the wind like shambling zombies.

Of course, these docs continue to be pretty bleak the longer you watch them, due to the unchecked progress of climate change. All of the BBC productions have gotten more and more frank about how critical things are for all the featured habitats, and at this point they spend nearly a fourth of the runtime pleading for intervention. Their purpose was already essentially conservationist, by preserving footage and knowledge for future generations, so I applaud them continuing to use their platform to push for awareness. I just wish any of the people with that level of power were actually watching things like this.

[walks-the-ages]

[ID: A blue and white donation prompt banner that reads: "Can You Chip In? Dear Patron: Please don't scroll past this. The Internet Archive is growing rapidly, and we need your help. As an independent nonprofit, we build and maintain all our own systems, but we don’t charge for access, sell user information, or run ads. Instead, we're powered by online donations averaging about $17. We'd be deeply grateful if you'd join the one in a thousand users that support us financially.

We understand that not everyone can donate right now, but if you can afford to contribute, we promise it will be put to good use. Access to knowledge is more important than ever—so if you find all these bits and bytes useful, please pitch in." There is a box next to the banner with donation options ranging from $1, $17, and $100, with the last option being a custom amount, and two checkboxes below that say "I will generously add $0.67 to cover fees" and "Make this monthly". End ID]

Hey, Archive of Our Own fans!

Are you looking for more ways to help preserve media? Want to make sure reading is accessible to everyone without ads or restrictions?

Then please, please consider donating to the Internet Archive!

Each year, Archive of Our Own far surpasses their donation goal for their fanfiction hosting archive-- let's see if we can't meet or beat that for the original archive, that preserves media that would otherwise be lost, is an open free and accessible online library, and is an absolutely invaluable resource if you are a fan of literally any old media; so many books are completely out of print for scifi series such as Quantum Leap, Star Trek DS9, Babylon 5, etc, and physical copies are sold for hair-raising prices ($100-$500+), and digital copies available to purchase are extremely few and far between.

Some of the Star Trek books have been digitalized as ebooks by Amazon, but none of the Quantum Leap books exist anywhere online as purchasable ebooks, and the only place you can find them is on ebay (for various price points from reasonable to absolutely hilariously outrageous), but they are not available in any accessible format...

Until the Web Archive digitalized them for their Open Library!

Not all of them are available on the web archive yet-- physical copies are donated to the archive and have to be digitalized there, but many are already available that you would otherwise have to shell out $100 or more to scalpers and resellers on ebay, while the original creators never see a cent of the profit (the books originally sold for $6.99 when they were released)

Not only does the Internet Archive preserve books that are decades out of print, but also documentaries, ancient video games and software, live music, and what most people know: The Wayback Machine! The magical tool that preserves defunct or dead websites (or even just to show original posts or articles before they were edited or deleted) for future reference and preservation !

And the web archive is not just for fandom purposes-- live news broadcasts, radio plays, NASA images, public domain audio books for accessibility, movies, podcasts, traditional art backups, and more!~

Do you have old family videos and photos? You can upload them to the archive!

Do you have a family recipe book from your great grandmother? You can upload it to the archive!

Do you like to craft and make crochet or knitting tutorials or patterns? You can upload them to the archive!

So, if you love to read, and you love media preservation, please consider donating if you are able (This is not only available during a set time, they accept donations year round if you want to wait til payday!) and please reblog to signal boost this!

[kingmystrie]

Sounds like you have a problem with the implementation of copyright, not the inherent idea of copyright itself. Everyone knows Disney and other corporations end up abusing it. That doesn't mean copyright is inherently bad, it means there are loopholes in copyright that need to be fixed. Maybe learn the difference. Those posts of yours were shockingly ignorant and couldn't even pass themselves off as informed if they tried.

You do realize anti-copyright is an entire movement right?

The idea that there's such thing as intellectual property inherently limits people's freedom of expression and makes media harder to access in the long run. By reducing the amount of people who are allowed to share works of art, literature, etc. we make it harder for pieces of media to be preserved for future generations for example.

In fact archivists and others are asking to be exempt from copyright law.

In the case of things like patents it stops the global south from being able to do things like produce vaccines to prevent the spread of illnesses.

We also know that many people in many countries actually use piracy as a means to access information and media and be able to participate with each other globally.

In most cases of copyrighted works the money doesn't even go to the actual artists who made it after it's been made. We've already seen how little in residuals writers actually get from their work.

I'm not saying piracy is ethical as it is right now, because for example many authors do need those sales to be good to continue their lively hoods because the people who hire them don't want to pay them a livable commission. There's the fact that it's hard to quantify and identify the worth of someones labor when most of said labor is mental in nature. And the fact that there has to be some kind of cushion to fall back on for these jobs when you're waiting in between commissions.

But the fact of the matter is that that's what it IS, is capitalists not wanting to pay people fairly for their labor, not piracy that's making our lives shit. It's people not wanting to pay high commission prices for working artists.

It's people thinking that something already existing is worth more than the potential art we could get if we just paid people directly to make more art.

I don't want to live in this world where every new movie or whatever the fuck is just a corporate sponsored rehash of something that already exists because its more profitable to make something over and over again than it is to make something new.

I don't want to live in a world where what tv show gets to continue is determined by whoever paid for it to be made.

I want to live in a world of enthusiastic and free creative expression, copyright is antithetical to that.

This is not an endorsement of AI art, there's issues I have with it such as impersonating artists. But "theft" isn't one of them.

Namely because copying something isn't theft by definition.

[zhenvs3000w24]

The Final Episode

Hey guys, it saddens me to say this is the last blog post for this semester. It has been an interesting ride in which I have had a lot of time to think and reflect on feelings I didn't know I had. I am glad that you guys have stayed with me for 10 weeks and watched me ramble on about different topics and read my poor attempts to articulate my feelings. With this last post I hope I have managed to invoke feelings in you guys and maybe connect you a little more with nature. For this last post I will be talking about my personal development as a nature interpreter. 

To start off within the realm of nature interpretation a person's ethics is a compass that guides them, it dictates the interactions within the natural world and shapes the message that they want to put out into the world. Nature interpretation is not just about sharing information but also creating a deep and meaningful connection between individuals and the environment that surrounds them and giving them the tools to do so . The course content this week states that we can provide the tools to the younger generations in order for them to make safe decisions when connecting with the nature around them, we can ignite the interest and passion (Hooykaas, 2024). I think this is one of the most important roles of a nature interpreter as the children are a crucial piece in preserving our natural world and all of its inhabitants. Every child should be given the opportunity to experience nature and form a connection with it as it can help them when they grow up. But unfortunately not all kids have the privilege to witness beautiful natural landscapes. Without guidance and the chance kids can grow up not really knowing how to feel about the environment around them, and they will grow further apart from it creating a disinterest and this might lead to the destruction of the natural world. 

Being a nature interpreter is a role that must connect others with the vast world in front of them, but it is a taxing and a hard role, as the textbook says “passion is the essential ingredient for powerful and effective interpretation- passion for the resource and for those who come to be inspired by it” (Beck et al, 2018). This is very important to think about, because I believe it is the job of the nature interpreters to be able to reach all types of audience. This can be someone who may not be able to walk or the most mobility compared to other, the interpreter needs to be able to adapt to this by providing a safe place to walk or showing places that are more accessible, or even through various art forms like music or art, all in order to get your feelings across and still give them the tools to form a connection. Another thing is being able to welcome and handle individuals who may not be so open to experience new ways of thinking or may not be so interested in the natural world. Nature interprets a lot of responsibility, they must be able to show people what they can’t see and they hold so much for the future. Especially in this age of technology, they have an important role in drawing the fleeting attention of the younger generations and pulling them towards the natural world through the use of exciting stories. Being able to educate their audience is another huge responsibility that interpreters shoulder. Through education we can empower individuals to truly become stewards of the Earth, and through this we can inspire curiosity. Through education we can teach people how to ethically interact with the environment and everything within it. 

To most it may seem like they could never interpret nature, but that's the beauty of it, there is no one set way to interpret. There are so many different approaches to expressing your feeling like the textbook says there are so many different venus that interpretation can occur in (Beck, et. al, 2018). For me, photography from the start has been my main approach, you can fully immerse the audience in the beauty of nature. It allows the interpreter to fully capture the essence of nature in all its glory. Through their lens they can connect and inspire people to really connect with nature and may inspire people. However, during week 7 we spoke about music, through this I fully realised how important music is for interpreting nature. I believe this approach is also important and probably the easiest way to introduce people into nature, and form a connection. I believe that it is crucial for a nature interpreter to continuously learn, and the best way to do that is think about many various different outlets, and partake in discussion with other interpreters. Experiencing many different cultures is also essential as you can learn so much from different beliefs and a myriad of historical backgrounds. It is my dream to be able to do this throughout my life 

In conclusion, this has been an interesting journey to say the least, before this I had no idea how important nature interpretation really was. I was interpreting nature in my own way all this time without fully understanding it. I am very thankful for the privilege to be able to experience the nature around me. I think everyone should try to engage in nature interpretation as it is an easy way to reconnect with nature and to make up for the lost years that technology has caused. I think nature interpretation is a deciding factor in reducing the damage we have caused to our natural world and the animals that inhabit it. In the end, I hope you guys have enjoyed this journey and reading my thoughts on various topics and I hope that I was able to inspire others to maybe go out and appreciate nature almost as much as I do!

References: 

Beck, L., Cable, T.T., and Knudson, D.M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: For a Better World. Sagamore Publishing. 

Hooykaas, A. (2024). Unit 10: Nature Interpretation’s Role in Environmental Sustainability. University of Guelph. https://courselink.uoguelph.ca/d2l/le/content/858004/viewContent/3640024/View.

[melanieenvs3000f23]

Week 2: The Ideal Environmental Interpreter: Bridging Nature and People

My ideal role as an environmental interpreter is a blend of passion, education, and connection. It's about bridging the gap between nature and people, sharing my enthusiasm for the environment, and inspiring others to care about it just as much as I do.

First and foremost, my ideal role would be situated in a place that resonates with me personally. Whether it's a national park, a nature reserve, a botanical garden, or even a community-based environmental center, the location would be chosen with great care. I believe that your surroundings greatly impact your ability to connect with and convey your passion for the environment. Being surrounded by the natural beauty and wonder of the outdoors would not only serve as a constant source of inspiration but also provide a tangible backdrop for my work.

In this role, I'd see myself as a guide and mentor, not just a lecturer. I'd strive to create immersive and interactive experiences for my audience, whether they're seasoned nature enthusiasts or newcomers to the outdoors. Instead of simply talking at people, I'd encourage them to participate actively in the learning process. This could involve nature hikes, hands-on activities like bird watching, plant identification, or even stargazing sessions.

My approach would be to make environmental education relatable and accessible to everyone. I'd tailor my programs to accommodate a wide range of interests and backgrounds. After all, not everyone is an avid birder or a tree hugger, but there are countless ways to connect with nature, and I'd want to help people discover what resonates with them personally.

To excel in this role, I'd need a diverse skill set. First and foremost, I'd need a deep knowledge of the local ecology, flora, and fauna. Understanding the intricacies of the environment I'm interpreting is essential to answering questions, fostering a sense of wonder, and debunking common misconceptions.

Communication skills would be paramount. Being able to convey complex scientific information in an engaging and relatable manner is an art. I'd want to employ storytelling techniques to captivate my audience, turning every nature walk into an adventure.

Adaptability is another crucial skill. The environment is ever-changing, and so are the needs and interests of visitors. Being flexible and able to adjust my programs on the fly would be essential to keeping things fresh and exciting.

I'd need to be a lifelong learner. The natural world is vast and constantly revealing new wonders. Staying up-to-date with the latest research and environmental issues would enable me to provide the most accurate and relevant information to my audience.

Above all, my ideal role as an environmental interpreter would be about fostering a sense of stewardship and instilling a love for the environment in others. I'd measure my success not just by the number of facts I convey but by the spark I ignite in people's hearts. If I can inspire even a handful of individuals to care deeply about the natural world, I'd consider my job well done. After all, the more people who care, the better equipped we are to protect and preserve our precious planet for future generations.

[vvatchword]

Let me tell you a dream of mine: to buy old books and digitize them. Old, out-of-print, rare books. Not necessarily popular or desirable ones, either. A lot of my collection is extremely niche and I doubt they exist online (although I'm going to check).

I was first inspired by the difficult matter of preserving all my old journals. I've been keeping a journal since I was 11, and some of them were kept on shitty old notebook paper that is now falling apart. But then I was inspired by the realization that piracy is a method of data preservation. Corporations have no love or care for records and cannot be trusted. The more redundantly data is stored, the more likely it will survive into the future, and the more likely that the truth of matters great and small can be known.

So: you should know I have a love of history. My job directly involves the preservation of data for a general overview of a very specific topic. And one thing you must always understand about any historic document ever is that people are flawed. They lie. They stretch the truth. They speak to their own ignorance. They are blind to their own biases. They're prejudiced, or they care too much about their own causes, or they have axes to grind. They get involved in long games of Telephone where data can be altered--sometimes dramatically!--and then those mistakes are repeated over and over and over until they become an accepted truth. It is not at all uncommon for works of fiction, like films and books, to become wrapped up in fact!

And it is in no small part that readers also dictate what kinds of information is preserved; history is not only written by the victors, but demanded to fit narratives and instruct morals. Senselessness is feared; the alien, despised. That which is recorded is usually what is considered entertaining or beautiful and god knows what standards those may be. Alas--to understand the truth, we must have as many disparate viewpoints as possible! A situation must be examined from every angle to be best understood.

A great example of this is the infamous "Ain't I a Woman?" speech by Sojourner Truth. Truth's first language was Dutch and she spoke with a Dutch accent, but her speech was flanderized by a writer who wanted her to sound like a stereotypical Southern Black woman. And yet what has survived? What is desirable? People say they want truth when what they really want is entertainment, engaging characters and plots, and peace of mind.

I was also inspired by my research into Native American history. Every piece about any Native society that is written by a European must be viewed with intense scrutiny. It is not uncommon for Native words to be rewritten, omitted, or handwaved. This is not to say that Native voices could not also lie--they, too, are people--but they also intimately knew their own business and were frequently misunderstood and misinterpreted through a combination of racism, entertainment, European and Christian bias, and drastic differences in language, culture, and ideology.

Yet another roadblock has to do with how that data is stored, who is storing it, and how it can be accessed. As y'all know, Napciyunka has been helping me with research into primary documents and the more trustworthy historical texts, as well as a more accurate view into Lakota culture as it actually exists and existed. Now--guess what happens to all that material! It is truly criminal how documentation and artifacts have been robbed with impunity from Native cultures, and part of the problem is that such material might not be immediately available or digitized.

While I may not have access to prime materials in South Dakota, I have access to at least two different large universities and their document collections here, and they often keep oddball material. Who knows what's in there? I haven't searched them yet because I should be working (lol), but in a couple of weeks I'm about to find out how many of their works are digitized. If they are not...

I have a goal.

So there is a company I've kept my eye on since I first saw them on Kickstarter. They're called CZUR (an unfortunate name, really) and they put out document scanners prepared just for bound documents. One of these models is portable. (Granted, anything is portable if you're determined enough.) I deeply desire their ET24Pro, which scans at 24 megapixels: https://shop.czur.com/collections/professional-series/products/etscanner?variant=40313243762736

Could I just... offer my services to these universities? Partially for my own desires, and partially to make these documents available to all?

My parents sometimes offer me cash or a single expensive gift for holidays. What if I just... you know. Got one of these? They're not too far out of my price range. If I just saved $50 per paycheck I could get there pretty fast. Maybe I could donate to Napciyunka while I'm at it (that poor college student life amirite). Depends on what can be done and what is needed.

In any case, it feels great to have forward motivation, and i feel like I've found a special and unexpected passion. Before I got this job, I often felt unmoored and unfocused. I thought a writer was all I was. But working at this job and crafting historical fanfiction (lol) has given me a brand new driving force that deeply moves me.

When I was a child, I would feel such deep rage about the Library of Alexandria. Now I look at myself and think: good god, why can't I add to the swelling library of human knowledge myself?

[oglegoggle]

There’s a super strange way that folks whom have always lived in cities interact with wilderness. It’s like the expect a wilderness park to work like a zoo

“Where can I go to see pika?” They’re rare, endangered, these regions of the park are where they live, they are most likely to be seen at dawn and dusk. “So will I see one here??” You may, keep your eyes open, but they are a bit shy. “You don’t have any on display???” …..no? This is a wilderness park? Where you go to watch animals living their lives unrestricted in their natural habitat?

“Can I swim in this lake?” Yeah. “Can I bring my pool donut?” No. Regulations limit inflatable watercraft on that lake because the river otters have been known to pop them and bite people. “Why don’t you relocate, or better yet terminate, all the otters in that lake if they’re so dangerous? My kids can’t swim very well!” This is a wilderness park. We are trying to preserve this region in as close to its natural state as possible for the enjoyment of future generations. “Well my kids can’t enjoy this park with killer otters in it!” Sir. People want to come here to view wildlife in its natural habitat. The YMCA has pools with exactly 0 otters your kids can swim poorly in with their donuts.

“Are there bears here?” Yes. “What trails are they on?” All of them. “But I don’t want to see a bear!” You’re not likely to, they’re pretty rare, and the species that lives here is pretty shy. “Do you know their exact locations, can I see on my phone?” No. We don’t GPS the bears. “That’s scary you should get rid of the bears!” This… is… a… wilderness park.

“Are all of these trails paved?” No. None of them are. “That’s not wheelchair accessible!” Do…. Do you want to wheel 2,000ft straight up the mountain? “Where can my mother go in her scooter?” These two trails have pea gravel and will be the easiest to tread via wheelchair or scooter. “That’s it???” Yeah. “What if we want to go to this location?” There’s uneven stone stairs carved into a cliff face beside a waterfall you must climb to access that location. “Can I drive to it?” To the trailhead. Where you park. Then hike 4 miles. And climb an uneven and often wet stone staircase. Twice. “This is a waste of my time!” Mine too.

“What is camping?” Please. If you don’t know what camping is go to Disneyland. Just don’t even come here. What the fuck kind of person goes to a national park and doesn’t know what camping is??? It would make sense if that question were coming from an international traveler who may not know what the word is, but knows what the idea is, but no it was some moron American LA type with a $3,000 purse who looked completely lost and terrified.

Holy shit my dudes. Americans are stupid. Like oh my god Americans are stupid stupid.

[nefamphetamine]

chainsaw man deep dive chapter 5: the way to feel breasts

warning: this post may contain spoilers for the entirety of csm as this is a re-read and analysis.

this is definitely a shorter chapter but it still gives some important information. finally though, we're introduced to the third member of our trio, the future prime minister power.

power is energetic and flighty, darting around every which way. she speaks oddly, an eclectic mix between haughty and old-fashioned. it's fun and it meshes surprisingly well with her contradictory appearance and behavior. she's got long, wild hair and her uniform is barely put together. she, like denji, very much looks like she's dressing the part and ultimately failing. she looks more like a punk teenager than a public safety officer. she's offensive and arrogant towards denji despite just meeting him. she automatically sees herself as superior and he is unworthy of her presence.

in the meantime, to sate her boredom, power craves a fight. when she finally gets a whiff of blood (she's a fiend of a blood devil, of course) she rushes ahead of denji, disregards protocol and reveals the extent of her wild nature.

she reminds me a bit of a violent fae. i love her.

this panel gives me similar vibes to the title panel of chapter 4 where denji is in his boxers leashed up like a dog. both power and denji are outcasts, treading the line between devil and human, and neither can truly hide who they really are.

power

interestingly, when makima is lecturing them after their legal disaster, power goes from arrogantly defensive (and nervous, most likely) to outright afraid. denji, on the other hand, is not afraid at all.

power acts a lot like a street cat. she loves to hunt and play, and she's got superb instincts. she can smell blood from a distance and knows when she's in danger.

she deals with this fear, though, by lying through her teeth and shifting it onto denji. like a cat, she has a strong sense of self preservation.

she's also good at picking up on details, better than aki actually. where aki was continuously shocked by the personal information denji dropped, power notices it and has no problem ascertaining what is needed to get him to do what she wants.

i like how each of the trio are so caught up in themselves that they outright refuse to see that they're all much more similar than they think. i think that really adds to the beauty of their relationship.

denial of circumstances

i want to jump around to the very beginning of the chapter because we're given some important information about both denji and power here.

the two of them are patrolling the rooftops, avoiding populated areas as per makima's orders. we get a flashback to them meeting with makima where she dehumanizes power in a similar way to how she dehumanized denji. makima addresses power as a creature who just so happens to have the mental acuity necessary to be kept alive and working for the public safety bureau. makima chose to take away her innate humanity, or human-like traits that, in actually, all devils, fiends, and humans share.

later, after their meeting with makima at the scene of the botched mission, denji and power have an interaction at the vending machines.

at first, i found this a bit contradictory to what we've seen so far of denji. my conclusion is that he's just really bad at understanding his emotions and he isnt aware of how generous he actually is, especially compared to the people around him.

i think it goes back to the muscle devil interaction and losing pochita. denji's family is his devil dog. power's family is her cat, nyako. denji claims he can't understand when he actually does. very much. this is another hint that denji really isn't a reliable narrator. he lies to himself unconsciously.

for my last point of discussion...titties? titties.

denji finally has access to a girl his age and who he'll be in close proximity with for a long time. i think this is why his perversion massively increases after power is introduced. as much as he wants makima, she isn't accessible and he knows it.

so what does he do? he allows his curiosity to motivate him. after all, it was one of his dreams to be with a girl.

at the vending machine, denji is thinking about power's chest. i think when they're there together, alone, kind of in an awkward space, denji actually wants to breach it. yeah, he definitely does have inpure intentions, but it's not ALL he wants. he just doesnt realize that himself.

i have the beginnings of thoughts to elaborate on but i think it will be better when i reach a chapter that gives more material to flesh out.

thanks for reading.

[davidmariottecomics]

The Continuity Conundrum

Hey, welcome back! 

As so often happens, I was scrolling through Twitter one day over the winter break and saw the very talented up-and-coming artist Kara Huset post a couple of polls about whether or not the Big 2, Marvel & DC, are due for a reboot. A lot very thoughtful and passionate takes from the people commenting. A little while later, I saw a post I can't source now because I've lost it talking about the idea of elastic continuity and the importance of being able to let it have give and take when you need it for the story you're telling. And then this morning I saw a very good thread from Comrade Bullski on Twitter about the strangeness around the history of the Justice Society of America, tracking them from being the first super-team to being one of the first major retcons in comics that made them from another universe to their extended runs that kept them locked in the past up to the one decade where they basically got to just be a modern day superteam with everyone else and beyond. 

Understandably, all of this got me thinking about the value of continuity in comics and the ways in which it serves to enhance and restrict the medium. So, I want to talk about that: the good, the bad, the compelling reasons to throw it out entirely and the reasons it is often one of the most helpful tools a creator can have in their corner. 

I've Done a Couple of Hard Relaunches

While I don't usually bring out my bona fides on something like this, I do think in this particular case, they speak to where I'm coming from so we're all starting at the same understanding. I have spent an awful lot of my career in comics working on bring new life and direction to existing, long-running titles. Notably, in 2019, we launched a brand new Transformers universe, often referred to as IDW 2.0, that stood on it's own from all other TF iterations, particularly our previous 13 year run. In 2018, we launched Sonic the Hedgehog, again, a brand-new version of the series totally separated from the last 24 year run with another publisher. I've been involved in standalones for various mini-series and OGNs, revivals of long dormant franchises, and general cleaning-up of stories that didn't always mesh together but that were in need of having some connective tissue. I have preserved continuity, helped build new ones, and have thrown it out completely when it was to the benefit of the story. Having met it in all it's forms, I think I have an insight that not everyone working in this industry does. 

Real Quick: What is Continuity? 

Again, just so we're working from the same terms. Continuity is the way in which past, present, and future events are connected and their meaning is reinforced as a form of consistency. It applies at all sizes of scales. It can be as simple as making sure that if a thug is drawn holding a knife in his right hand in one panel, in subsequent panels that depict the same thug, he continues to be holding the knife and/or righthanded unless an action in the story requires differently. And when we're talking about characters who have publishing histories of 8 decades or so, continuity allows for the events of previous stories to be remembered and reused in telling current and future stories. 

So What's so Bad About it?  The big issue that people will point to with continuity is that it is daunting. Action Comics has been published off-and-on for 85 years and over 1050 issues. The characters featured have had many decades and many thousands of other stories published about them outside of that particular comic, that are often still considered meaningful and true to Action Comics. From the exterior, if you thought to enjoy the latest issue, you had to know the exact events of all those other thousands of issues, not because they are necessarily relevant but because they could be, that would be a lot. 

When you're telling a story, you often want to make the accessibility threshold low. By being clear and concise, you allow more readers/viewers/whatever to hop in and engage with the work. As more work gets added to continuity, it continues to raise the bar on the accessibility threshold, which can be a major turn-off to potential new readers and returning readers who don't remember/know/have full context for all the details.

It is a system that inherently gets more complicated and convoluted each time a new work is added. It is a dense thing to sort through, often to the point of being impenetrable. 

It is also a very flawed system. While the idea is that continuity is supposed to clarify and solidify events in relation to each other, it makes contradictory information very obvious--whether that's two events happening simultaneously when they can't possibly be to rewriting and sometimes ejecting previous stories for the new story to make sense. Taking the earlier example I shared of the Justice Society of America, things that had to be altered at various points included whether or not it made sense for there to be multiple Bruce Wayne Batmans and Clark Kent Supermans, whether or not the JSA existed before the JLA in a single universe, how the JSA members maintained their relative youth despite having been adults fighting in World War II. If they were in their 20s to 40s in the 1940s, that puts them in their 100s now, for the most part, though they still primarily look like they're in their 40s to 60s at the latest. 

All-in-all, the problems primarily come to the amount of responsibility that you want to give to creators and readers alike to know the details and the legitimacy of stories (including the making illegitimate of other people's stories) that is built into the system. 

Okay, So What Happens if We Get Rid of it?

If you throw continuity out, it often opens up your options. I look at say, the DC young readers books, all of which operate in their own worlds, maybe linked to other volumes by the same creators or loosely tied with someone else's work, but they are largely standalone and easily accessible because of it. Prior knowledge is a tough ask and removing that barrier can open up the story to new audiences. 

Open interpretation also can help give characters new life. Before the past decade, if you liked Gwen Stacy, you basically had a handful of Spider-Man comics in the 1970s that she starred in without being the main character, and then the occasional revisiting of that time in stories that reinterpreted/retold it (Spider-Man: Blue) or that changed the circumstances of those stories, often in ill-informed ways (there's a lot of weird stuff with Gwen, Norman Osborn, and the Jackal...). Now, she's Spider-Gwen/Spider-Woman/Ghost Spider, and she's the hero of her stories and she's in a cool band and she's got her own universe of stories. The flip side to that being, so much of what informs the Spider-Gwen stories, particularly the early ones, is being framed in contrast to the understood continuity. It is about how things are different from what the expectation is or how they worked in the Spider-Man comics. So even when you remove a character from the trappings of continuity--you open them up to reinterpretation and not having to be constrained by certain "fixed" events, they are often still subject to it because their story is told is other to what is established. 

And therein lies the big issue with why it's so hard to fully remove continuity. Continuity is shared information. For as much as it can be a headache, it can also be a bridge to mutual understandings, and a way of texts interacting and responding to each other. For as much as it raises the bar of the accessibility threshold, it also adapts to create new connection points throughout the publishers' history that aids other readers and creators in bringing things together. 

But You Said You had Done Some Reboots I did. And it was hard. There are things that will get left behind: characters, characterizations, ideas, plots, growth, that may never get picked up again in an official capacity. And that's a bummer. But when I've done it, the trade-off has always been quickly starting to establish a new continuity and deciding what pre-existing knowledge to play off of--it may not be in continuity with anything else, but what do we expect the audience to understand about the world or the story that helps ease their burden because they can make more connections more quickly? I've been pretty proud of the answers the teams I've worked with have come up with. 

Lastly, as a note, I want to touch on "elastic continuity" again, which I think maybe is often the most helpful thing. The idea of elastic continuity is that the details can be adjusted as long as the spirit is true. If Punisher and Iron Man were both still in the Vietnam War, similar to what happened to the JSA, it would make them much older in the current comics than they're usually depicted. And so the war that Punisher served in and that Iron Man was injured in changes with the times, to keep that central part of their story true while fitting better for the ease of access to a modern reader. 

Not to sound inconclusive, but I think there are advantages to reboots. I think there are advantages to sticking with existing continuities. I think often the deciding factor is how much is getting cut or written out or otherwise "lost" (not that most media is actually lost nowadays) relative to how inviting the changes are. And if you are a person looking to work on a property and in a position to pitch something, keep all that in mind when suggesting starting over. 

Talk to you next week! 

What I enjoyed this week: Vaccine booster (Enjoyed is maybe a strong word, I was out sick the next day, but I do like being vaccinated for the safety of myself and others), Blank Check (Podcast), The Menu (Movie), Chainsaw Man (Manga), Honkai Impact (Video game), Shin Megami Tensei III (Video Game), Nancy (Comic strip), Abbott Elementary (TV show), White Noise (Movie), Sweat & Soap (Manga, finally actually finished it and it was delightful!)

New Releases this week (1/11/2022): Godzilla Rivals II: Rodan vs. Ebirah (Editor) Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors - All Hail the King #4 (Editor)

New releases next week (1/18/2022): Sonic the Hedgehog: Scrapnik Island #4 (Editor)

Announcements: Arizona Comic Book Arts Festival - 2/25! It's a one day comic-focused event in Phoenix, AZ. Tickets are only $10. Attending artists include me, Becca (who once again is dropping some new stuff on their Patreon, see below), Mitch Gerads, Steve Rude, John Layman, Henry Barajas, Jay Fotos, Jeff Mariotte, Marcy Rockwell, John Yurcaba, Andrew MacLean, Alexis Zirrit, Meredith McClaren, James Owen, Ryan Cody, and many more! Come and see us! Becca'll have some very cool new merch, too! 

Pic of the Week: Becca made this wallpaper of their character, Drew, publicly available from their Twitter to use as a phone wallpaper. They have more wallpapers as well as an alternate version of this art on their Patreon. They're doing weekly art prompts this year, so there's going to be a lot of art coming! Check it out! 

[trying414]

The American Federal Poverty Line is absolute bullshit and I'm betting part of it is the inclusion of millionaires and billionaires etc in the census. There is no way a single person can live on less than $15k in 2023. Most places charge at least $2k per month for rent. You won't get even a year's worth from that. Add in the fact that I'm pretty sure that $15k is before taxes? No. Fuck you.

You don't give a damn about the people living in your country, the only thing you give a damn about is stuffing your pockets and tyrannical ruling until everything that doesn't fit your outdated ideals is banned again.

First, the overturn of Roe v. Wade, and now, you're blocking debt relief for the people that are only in debt because of *your* system.

This country is absolutely full of bullshit, and I, personally, cannot wait for all of the elitist, misogynist, hypocritical, tyrannical fucktards in charge to be replaced by the youth of this country because THEY actually give a damn.

Fuck out of here with your encroachment on rights. At this point, voting isn't "by the people, for the people," it's pick the lesser of two evils, and half the time, there's no term limit and the fucker won't leave. They've overstayed their welcome, and they need to retire with the mountain of money that they unjustly "earned" by "representing" the American people.

The goal is not to preserve the ideals of the elders. It's to make a better future for the youth and newer generations, and the people on Capital Hill don't seem to give a damn.

Recognize the fact that you don't know everything and times are changing. New ideas and ideals form everyday, and by not letting the youth have a voice, you're keeping everyone stuck in the past. You abuse your power, and you abuse your people.

I liken this country to a crashing airplane. Only we aren't following procedure. If an airplane is going down, you first put the oxygen on yourself, and then help others. Because you can't help others if you don't first help yourself. Our country needs to focus on the problems within our country prior to attempting to help others. Its hypocritical to want them to be better when we can't even get our shit together.

And I'm not saying that those countries we aid don't need support. But I am saying that the state of our nation is rapidly declining, and instead of using our resources to correct that, we are overextending and burning ourselves out.

There are many ways to offer support, and we aren't the only country able to do so. Not that we would know if other countries are helping, because our "news" and media is so biased and skewed that the narrative is controlled in a way that fits political agenda before it fits its actual purpose. Which is disgusting in and of itself.

There need to be term limits for everyone in power.

There need to be more than the two parties represented not only in the actual government, but in the elections. Debates should include ALL candidates, not just republicans and democrats.

There needs to be a complete overhaul of the Healthcare system. No one should struggle to get the care they need, and NO ONE should have to choose between paying their bills and getting medical help. Medical should not cost so much that a person can go bankrupt.

The same goes for education. If you're going to require higher education for the jobs you want fulfilled, then you need to make it more accessible. Many people don't go to college because they can't afford it. Oh, you want us to take out loans? Remind us about the debt relief that

You

Just

Blocked

And ask us again, if we think it's worth it. The current debt relief systems available are ridiculously hard to qualify for, so it's no wonder that the citizens are in debt. Let's not mention the fact that the government is *also* in debt because they keep lending out money they don't *actually* have.

This country is literally the exact thing we fought against in the revolutionary War.

This is taxation without representation.

You don't hear from the lower and middle classes. Everyone in power has the funds to get there. Has the money to do whatever the fuck they want without consequences. And what does that say about our nation, truly?

We have an astronomically high number of homeless.

More people become homeless everyday because of the debt the people in power force upon them.

Politics is not about helping the people in this country. It's about forcing your will and wants upon those who can't stop you.

You love to act as though this country is run perfectly and there aren't any problems. You know why?

Because you're the problem.

Now I'm going to go get off of social media again because this bullshit has ruined my day.

Thanks a lot, America.

Edit: AND FUCK THE FOURTH OF JULY BECAUSE THAT'S CELEBRATING THE INDEPENDENCE WE DON'T HAVE. THATS CELEBRATING THE COUNTRY THAT DOESNT GIVE A FUCK ABOUT US.

now I'm done.