#and like its for public outreach but idk

[opens-up-4-nobody]

I'm walking. Fast. The world is tilted. There's green peaking up from flat gray. Short, stubby moss. Like an ooze. Like the sidewalk is compressing it sideways. Persistent even in a concrete jungle. This little thing. This tiny thing. Reaching up toward the sun from under trampling feet. Toward a distant star. And I'm walking, but I'm light through a prism. Splitting seven different directions. A billion and a billion and a billion years brought this tiny crumpled organism to the crushing weight of my foot. And I want to scream and I want to run and I want to cry. Because it's beautiful and I'm worried I'm the only one who sees it. I'm worried it'll burn through me. I'm worried that when I walk this path for my hundred thousandth time, I won't see it like I did this first time. That my world will fall to ash again and I won't see the moss growing up between the seams in the sidewalk.

[amtrak-official]

What's your 'murica gets its head out of its ass wishlist' for urban planning and other major policy shifts?

Mine is:

Left side driving

Changing to metric already

Universal income, extra for disabled people

Universal healthcare for everyone in any part of the US

Defund the world spanning military, grant statehood or subsidized independence to our colonies. Maybe just like idk patrol our own waters and skies perhaps?

Defund the police, and create community outreach orgs to help all suffering ppl, including jerks who struggle so much they think killing ppl is ever okay.

Establish limits on copyright law being 20 years like patents. (With none of the bullshit loopholes)

Establish that all intellectual property deemed a public good by someone kind is forced into the public domain irrevocably. (Careful I will rant about the patent on heated boxes or life saving meds)

Requiring any company that operates in the US to pay taxes to the US, and hold their executives responsible for damages to anything or one they cause.

Public trains to/from anywhere with more than double digit population. Some other form of public transit that gets its own lane at least for anywhere that is infeasible.

Make safe, secure, private, and well made housing, a right and not a commodity.

Make food a right.

Make clothes a right.

Make good internet a right.

Make electricity a right.

Make privacy a right.

Make education an unlimited right.

All people in the US are eligible for all rights and protections etc. (Citizenship is not a requirement to be treated well)

Ban plastics in anything where natural materials are better.

Subsidize growing actual food people want to eat, not industrial resources.

Ban golf courses anywhere they cannot naturally survive.

Exclude all organizations from exerting powers like the law except for the government.

Anyone making disproportionate use of a public good like water, transportation, etc, gets taxed proportionately. (Semi trucks bad, trains good)

Provide water reclamation resources to areas without renewable clean water, no matter the cost.

Require that people in any position of power be good kind people.

Make rule of law actually mean something, if the law applies to everyone equally than enforce it equally. (Including the government and military)

Make corporations not legally people (they aren't)

No nukes or WMDs

Give NASA 10% the national budget or smth, they deserve it.

Require that companies pay the union dues of their employees.

Encourage unions.

Make the NSA about aquatic biology instead. Say the National Aquatic Association or smth.

No guns in civilization, wilderness or rural only for civilians.

Disband the CIA.

Full audits of the government all the time, no classified or secret bullshit. With great power comes great scrutiny and actual responsibility.

Establish an actual nationwide recycling system to turn trash into compost or useful materials.

Establish restorative justice practices nationwide.

I uh went off a bit sorry, I miss anything?

I agree with most of this except left side driving, that is an evil British scheme.

Also how the fuck do you require people in power to be "good kind people" do you not see how that could be abused, it's completely subjective

[mbakuetshurisprincess]

The Only Logical Thing to Do

AN: Hey y’all! This is the scandal based fic I teased in this post. This ended up actually being wayyyyy longer than I expected like offically takes the crown as the longest fic I’ve ever written so go me lol. This part I just wanted to establish a few things yk start us out slow before we get into the real scandlous events of this story. Next part will be the developing countries ball, so stay tuned. Hope you all enjoy!

Summary: Sometimes the US Constitution applies to your love life. Separation of Church and State was a good thing, right?

Pairing: Shuri x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Cursing, political talk, idk

Word count: 4,707

Suggested listening: Love and Happiness - Al Green

“Love and happiness, yeah  Something that can make you do wrong  Make you do right  Yeah, hmm  Love...  Love and happiness”

You poured over your notes for the fifth time after your press conference, looking for something that indicated the mistake had been on your part. This was your third year working for the Kane Presidency. You were originally on the President's campaign staff as a Public Opinion Specialist and upon his election, you were employed as a Data and Intel Specialist.

 Your job title was vague on purpose, it was hard to explain to the American people what exactly you did. In simplest terms, you were a girl who knew things. You read situations well and were able to predict how events were going to play out with killer accuracy. It also helped that you happened to know more ways than one to dig up dirt. This gave you access to the inner circle of the White House, becoming an integral part of everyday function with an opinion valued by the president only second to his chief of staff. 

For the past week however you had been filling a different role, one of the press secretaries. When the previous one came down with pneumonia last minute the president turned to you to fill the role. And reluctantly you did. You put on your most respectable suit, straightened your hair, and wore your highest heels; ensuring you were digestible enough for the American people. Despite not enjoying being in the public eye, you did the work well and maintained order. 

This is why when you were caught off guard by a question today, even one as nonmemorable as this; you were concerned. You replayed the moment in your head as you continued digging in your notes. 

“I’ll take one more question before I go.” You spoke from behind the podium, you had been up there for the past forty-five minutes and the questions you started getting were beginning to dwindle in relevancy. 

Hands shot up from reporters everywhere and your name was being called from all directions. You looked out into the crowd and nodded at one, Ashley Richardson. She cleared her throat before standing and speaking. 

“France’s president has reaffirmed their statement that the attacks on Wakanda’s outreach centers, where vibranium is held, were not perpetrated by them. However, he has commented and said that the country will continue its legal efforts to gain vibranium. Doubling down and saying that the US has pledged its support of France in these efforts. Are these comments true, does President Kane support France in these endeavors?” 

As her words registered in your head, you racked your brain to remember if in any of your briefings you had heard any news of this. Nope. Not a word about France or vibranium as far as you knew. This left you with two options, be on the offensive or be on the defensive. Her words caught you off guard but this is what you’d been trained for, you allowed yourself just enough time to blink to be internally baffled before turning back on your personality. 

“France is an ally of the United States, as is Wakanda. The President is committed to maintaining a peaceful relationship between the two countries.” You spoke as if your words were fact despite not knowing a thing about what she was talking about. “That’s all for today, thank you.” 

The sound of your work phone buzzing pulled you out of your trance, you flipped it over and read the caller ID. 

Unknown Caller 

The anonymity of the call didn’t surprise you, this was DC, after all, people weren’t too keen on sharing information. 

“You have two minutes before I hang up the phone, go.” You spoke coolly, you didn’t have time to waste time on your phone, especially not today. 

“You haven’t been answering my calls.” 

You threw your head back and let out a sigh, who else would be calling you? 

“I have told you a thousand times. You cannot call my work phone.” That was all you said before hanging up on the person. You reached into the back of your desk drawer and pulled out your kimoyo beads. As you got them on your wrist you scrolled through your contacts and pressed Shuri’s name. The call rang for a few seconds before Shuri picked up, her holographic body appearing in front of you. 

“Hanging up on the Queen of a nation is an interesting move on the part of the White House I must admit,” Shuri spoke with a smirk. 

You didn’t even give her the satisfaction of looking up from your notes that were spread in front of you. “Shuri, I do not have time for your games today.” 

She rolled her eyes at your words, unsatisfied with the amount of attention you were giving her. She watched you flip through your notes a few times before curiosity got the best of her and she spoke. “What are you doing?” 

Strands of your hair fell in front of your face and you tucked them behind your ear as you shook your head and laughed slightly. “My job, I’m doing my job right now. As one tends to do when they’re at their place of work. Shouldn’t you be doing the same?” 

Shuri took that as a cue to continue with what she had called you about. “Ahh yes your job right, I forgot. The same job that made you lie to me?” 

That caught your attention, momentarily bringing your focus away from your notes. “Shuri, what are you talking about?” You looked up, meeting her eyes.  

“When I called you last week and asked you if your country,” She emphasized the ‘your’ “was going to continue their support of France, knowing they’re the ones carrying out attacks on our outreach centers. You told me no.” 

You pushed your eyes back down to the papers in front of you, of course, this is what Shuri wanted to discuss. It seemed you couldn’t escape the conversation surrounding Wakanda and France. 

“That is not what I said.” 

“Really? Because that’s what I took from our conversation. And then imagine my surprise when I’m made aware that my Y/N is on American television saying the opposite!” She spoke the last part almost comically but you could hear the twinge of irritation in her voice. 

You rolled your eyes and placed your palms flat on your desk, attempting to calm yourself down. You were already stressed about this topic and her berating isn’t what you needed right now. 

“The relationship between France and the United States is one with a long history of mutual support dating back to the formation of the United States-” 

“Oh don’t give me that Y/N!” Shuri threw her hands up in protest. “Don’t give me your politically correct answer!” 

“Then don’t twist my words!” You raised your voice and mimicked her by throwing your hands up. You quickly remembered you were at work, and while yelling was commonplace in the White House, you didn't want to draw any attention to yourself while you were communicating with Shuri. Something you weren't supposed to be doing.

 “I told you last week I didn't know and that’s the truth, nothing about it has come up in my notes.” 

“But today you said-” 

You put your hand up to stop Shuri from finishing. “Church and state.” That was all you had to say and Shuri knew to stop speaking. 

A year and a half ago when you two first started the entanglement you find yourself in, the number one problem between you two was work. One of you would pry information from the other one and you two would stay up all night bickering over policy. It got to the point where you spent the very little time you two had together due to busy schedules arguing over work. Thus the Church and State policy was created. 

You two joked that it was weird that you were applying the constitution to your relationship, but it was clear it was needed. The words were intended to be a reminder to keep your personal life and work life separate. Whenever someone said it the current conversation had to be dropped, no questions asked. 

Shuri took a deep breath and nodded knowing the rule had been created for the betterment of your relationship. You returned your eyes to the notes in front of you, desperate to find your mistake. Shuri watched you, sensing something was off but not being able to put her finger on it. It only took a few moments before it dawned on her. 

“You didn’t know, did you?” 

“Gonna need a little bit more clarification than that.” You said flipping over the page that currently had your attention. 

“About Wakanda and France, you didn’t know.” Shuri continued to speak confidently, sitting up further in her chair. “When I was shown the video of your press conference today I thought when the reporter asked the question you paused. I swore to Bast that you did but Okoye said I was crazy. I told her that I saw your tell but she couldn’t see it. You really had no idea about any of this.” 

You put your head in your hands and let out a groan. You hated how Shuri was able to read you so well. “I don’t wanna talk about it.” 

Shuri once again nodded, sure in her realization that you didn’t know anything by your response. She debated hanging up and letting you continue looking at whatever had your attention but she didn’t want to end the conversation like that. The time you two had to speak was often brief, ruling a country didn’t yield much free time and your White House work always kept you busy. She wanted to at least leave you with something positive. 

Shuri watched you for a little bit longer, as you sat with your head in your hands. Deciding now was the perfect time to reveal her surprise. “I will be in your country tomorrow.”

You picked your head up out of your hands swiftly. “What did you just say?” 

“I will be in your country tomorrow,” Shuri repeated cooly as if you and her being on the same side of the world let alone in the same country was normal. 

You moved the papers that were in front of you away revealing your desk calendar, hoping you weren't too busy. You found today's date and then moved over to tomorrow where a big red X lay. That was an indicator that told you your whole day was blocked out, not free until the early hours of the next morning. You sighed knowing your chances of seeing her were slim anyway, even if you weren't busy, you had no idea what she was doing in the States.“What are you doing over here tomorrow?” 

“Good question, I should clarify when I say your country I do mean DC. I’ll be in town for the Developing Countries Ball that your boy is hosting.”

You grimaced at her nickname for the President but quickly snapped out of it. Your hands went to open your laptop and you found the file named DCB, containing all of the information about tomorrow's event.

 “I knew something was off.” You muttered to yourself checking the guest list once again. “Wakanda didn’t RSVP Shuri. We don’t have you listed as coming.” Maybe it had slipped her mind but you remembered having to break it to the President that Wakanda wouldn’t be coming. And the guest list in front of you supported it. 

Shuri just smiled her million-dollar smile at you. “Oh, I know we didn’t.” 

You blinked twice at her, willing yourself to believe what she was implying wasn’t true.

 “So you plan to just show up and what? There'll be no table, no planned greeting, it’ll be a mess!” You rambled on and Shuri sat quietly listening to you. Her silence was unnerving, so you thought about what you were saying. 

“There’ll be no table.” 

“There’ll be no table. Shuri repeated with a chuckle. 

Your eyes bore holes into Shuri’s holographic body as realization further sank in. “It’ll be a mess.” 

“Yeah won’t look too good, will it? Not being prepared in his own backyard, I don't think voters will like that so much.” 

You let out yet another groan and threw your head back against the plush office chair behind you. “You know when you do this you only make my job harder right? It only makes me have to work double time to cover his ass.” 

Shuri sat back in her chair, interlacing her fingers behind her head. “So don’t.” 

You rolled your eyes and spoke. “You forget I have a job, Shuri? The thing that pays my bills, makes sure I can eat and sleep comfortably at night. The job that practically says “cover the president's ass'' in its description.” 

“You don’t have to work for him and you know that. There's a job here for you whenever you want it.” The words flowed out of her mouth with immeasurable self-assuredness. This was a point she was familiar with making, insisting that the Kane Presidency, rather the United States, wasn't good enough for you. 

Asserting that your skills could be used for more than covering up the sins of politicians.  “And even if you didn’t want to work, I could always use a Queen to rule with.” 

“Making me a Queen before even making me your girlfriend, bold I must admit.” You retorted back quickly, immediately regretting it. You knew Shuri hated when you brought up the conversation surrounding your relationship, especially because there had always been an unspoken rule between the two of you. Titles weren’t needed, what was just what was. Simple as that.

“Y/N-” Shuri sat up out of her relaxed position as she tried to defend herself but the sound of the alarm on your phone stopped her. 

“Fuck.” You muttered under your breath, stopping the alarm. “I have my roundtable in five and I haven’t prepped my report yet.” You pulled another file up on your computer and began typing quickly. 

Shuri knew that meant her time with you was over for now. As much as she wanted to continue the conversation she respected your dedication to the job. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, okay sthandwa? Maybe I can come over since I’ll only be in town for a day and a half?.” 

You nodded, if you had been paying attention to what Shuri was saying you would have stopped her idea right then and there but your laptop had too much of your attention. But, “Mhm we can talk about it later.” was all you could say. 

Shuri took one last look at you before hanging up the phone, knowing you didn’t mean to be short, you were just clearly a little stressed. 

Your roundtable went well despite your lack of preparedness. Nobody spoke about the press conference from earlier and Wakanda nor France was even mentioned. Most of the evening was dedicated to talks of trade negotiations with Qatar and the developing countries ball. 

“One last thing while we’re still on the topic of the ball Mr.President?” You spoke up as the meeting was coming to a close. 

Despite the president's insistence that you call him by his first name, Jackson, you never could bring yourself to it. You liked to maintain a certain distance in your closeness with him, he was your boss after all. 

 You looked at him as he sat at The Resolute Desk, the same place every president had sat dating back to 1879, him only the second black man to sit there. He wore a black suit with a navy tie that complimented his skin tone well, with his American flag pin on his left side. He looked presidential, just as you had helped design him to be.

“You know it’s never just one last thing with Y/N.” The President said with a smile earning a laugh from the others in the Oval Office.   

“Just doing what you pay me for.” You said back with a smile and a nod.

“Always appreciated Y/N. Please let’s hear what you have to say.”

You looked around the room, generally, your opinion was trusted without question but this one was going to be a bit of a hard sell and you knew it. “We’re going to need one more table for tomorrow.” 

“And why would that be?” The president had a confused look on his face. “I thought we already finalized the guest list, who did we forget?” 

“I have reason to believe Wakanda will be in attendance tomorrow.” You said confidently. 

The president's chief of staff, Michael was the first to speak “Wakanda…Wakanda…Wakanda.” He said as he flipped through his notes. “No Wakanda is not coming, not only is Wakanda not coming they’re giving us a middle finger by not responding.” 

The president turned his attention back to you, awaiting your response. You could feel the pressure in the room as everyone else wondered where your claim was coming from. 

“Based on the intel I’ve gathered I have reason to believe that Wakanda plans to attend tomorrow. Queen Shuri and a few Dora Milaje members if I had to guess.” 

The president took a deep breath in. “Well your intel hasn’t failed us yet Y/N, no reason to believe it will now. Michael, talk to the events coordinator, and let’s set up a table with, what do you say, 8 chairs Y/N?” 

You nodded in response as you started packing your things up, not as bad as you thought it was going to be. 

“Yeah, let’s get a table with eight chairs set up for Wakanda.” He looked around the room. “Well everyone I see no need to hold you all here too late given what we’ve got in store for tomorrow. Everyone go home, I don’t want to see any of you in your office after an hour!” 

The people in the room all laughed at the president's comment, you were happy knowing you could take your work and finish it at home. Everyone slowly filed out of the room and you were one of the last, bidding your farewell to those still there as you left. You made it out of the oval and down the hallway that led to your office before you felt someone walking beside you. 

“You ever gonna tell me how you do it 007?” The voice asked, you looked up and were met with Michael’s face. He was older than you and had been in the political sphere for longer but there was mutual respect shared between the two of you. It had even developed into a friendly rivalry. 

“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me 007?” You laughed before turning your face serious. “At least not in public.” 

You both paused walking and stared at each other sternly for a few seconds before cracking up in a fit of laughter. 

“I’m serious Y/N how do you do it!” Michael exclaimed when you reached the door to your office. He stood there as you unlocked it and walked in behind you once it was open. 

“If I gave you all my secrets Michael, I wouldn’t have a job would I?” You walked around to your desk and kicked off your heels, happy to be done with them for the day. 

Michael plopped down in one of the chairs opposite your desk. “Just tell me this once how you do it 007, tell me one thing and I won’t ask again!” 

Sliding the comfortable slippers on your feet you spoke. “Nobody really wants to know how the sausage is made. Just be happy I saved your ass hmm?” 

The older man rolled his eyes at your words, watching as you packed your bag up with the things you would need to work from home. “Oh, you’re actually listening to him and going home? Didn’t expect that from you, I must admit.” 

You look up from your bag. “You’re not?” 

Michael shook his head as he rose from the chair. “I live here Y/N, you know this. Someone has to be here to ensure liberty is protected and our nation is secure, blah blah blah.” By the time he had finished, he had made it to the door of your office. 

“Have a good night Michael.” You said with a chuckle, he always did have a certain determination about work that you appreciated. While you let your work dictate your life, work was his entire life. 

He put his hand up to wave goodbye and walked out of your office before turning around and poking just his head back in. “I’m gonna figure you out, I will figure out how you know these things.” 

You cocked your eyebrows at him and smiled. “Figure me out or die trying, that’s the saying right?” 

 He returned your smile and turned back around. “Night night 007.” 

You finished packing your bags and made your way out of the White House, making sure to say goodbye to Morris as you walked out of the front gates. You made your way to your car and drove the 15 minutes it took to get back to your place. 

Pulling into your garage you made a mental note to call your gardener and have them do a refresh of your small front yard, your flowers were starting to wilt. You entered your house through the garage door and kicked off your work slippers and put on your house shoes. Setting your bag down on the couch you made your way into the kitchen, stomach hungry for something to eat. 

You browsed through your fridge, there was food you could cook but that was going to require something you were running low on at the moment, energy. Moving over to your cabinet the bag of popcorn caught your eye, you had promised Shuri you would stop just eating wine and popcorn as meals but desperate times called for desperate measures. You pulled the popcorn and a bottle of red wine along with a cup down from various cabinets and laid them out on the counter, ready for you when you came back. 

You made it into your bedroom where you stripped and took a long hot shower. Allowing the steam to rinse away the stress from today. After getting out you moisturized with the shea butter Shuri had bought you and dressed in a pair of shorts and one of her sweatshirts. The smell had started to fade from this one and it made you sad to know that meant the last time you saw her was further and further away. 

You grabbed your water bottle from your nightstand and made your way back to the kitchen. As you waited for the popcorn to finish in the microwave you popped the cork on the wine bottle and poured a hefty glass for yourself. You savored the full-bodied taste of the red wine, the one you had chosen was one of your favorites, first introduced to you by your mother. 

The popcorn finished and you held the bag in one hand with the bottle of wine tucked into the crook of your arm and your glass in the other hand. You walked into your living room and sat everything in your hands on the coffee table in front of you before reaching into your bag and pulling out your laptop, kimoyo beads, and both your personal and work phone. 

Opening your laptop you threw back a couple of pieces of popcorn and got to work. While the developing countries' ball was at the forefront of most upper cabinet members' minds, you had moved past it. Knowing that Michael and the events coordinators would take care of the table and greeting, your job concerning that was now done. Now you were focused on your next big project, re-election. 

You tapped through a few files that served as decoys and entered the passcode that let you into what you were looking for. The file that held every ounce of dirt you and the US government could find on the presidential rival candidates. You reached for your glass and took a sip of wine, holding the glass in your hand as you picked up where you left off, digging through one candidate's fiscal records. That were obtained 100% legally…maybe.  

“Donated to pro-life fundraiser, not very left wing of you.” You said to yourself adding that new information into the file, sometimes it was too easy. 

Something buzzed next to you and you looked down to see a call from Shuri on your kimoyo beads. You slid them on your wrist and picked up, now that you were more calm seeing her call felt more like a relief than a stressor. 

“Hello, my love.” You said sweetly smiling at her as her holographic body popped up from your wrist. You could tell she was in her lab by the background, more specifically in her corner station. She had a turtleneck underneath her lab coat and you could see her black slacks just peeking into the frame. 

“Oh, now I am my love?” Shuri asked with a chuckle, she knew your attitude earlier wasn’t intentional but she enjoyed messing with you about it anyway. 

“I’m sorry, earlier I was just stressed with work, you know how I get.” You said apologetically. 

“I am just teasing you sthandwa, I know you didn’t mean to be rude.” Shuri smiled at you and you returned one to her before grabbing a handful of popcorn and munching on it. 

“Are you eating popcorn?” She asked as she watched you throw another handful back. 

“Mayh-be.” You responded hesitantly through a mouth of popcorn. 

“And I see that wine glass in the corner, Y/N we talked about this!” Shuri exclaimed. “Real food, you promised you would eat real food.” 

You finished chewing before speaking. “This is real food!” You held up the bag of popcorn. “Popcorn is just corn, that's a vegetable.” You put the popcorn down and picked up the glass of wine. “And wine is just grapes, that's a fruit.” You accentuated your point by taking a sip of wine. 

“HA!” Shuri let out a hearty laugh. “That’s wrong and you know it.” 

“My points would hold up in a court of law.” You said matter of factly letting a smile crack on your face. Moments like these you loved, when the both of you were just being you, making each other smile. 

“Bull shi-” Shuri went to cry out but the sound of ringing from your end stopped her. You recognized the sound of the ringing and knew it meant someone was calling your personal phone. Not many people had your personal number anymore and you didn’t use the phone for much of anything these days. Normally you would have immediately checked who it was but you didn’t move your eyes from Shuri. 

“Aren't you going to get that?” She asked. 

You shook your head no and reached down to silence your phone without looking at who was calling. “Whoever it is can wait, I’m talking to a pretty girl right now.” 

Shuri smiled again and began speaking. “Anyway so I was thinking since I’ll be in town tomorrow, maybe I could come ove-” 

The sound of your phone ringing once again cut her off. 

“Mrs.popular today aren't we,” Shuri said smartly. “You should get that, it must be important if they're calling you twice.” 

“Shuri-” You wanted to stop her but before you could she said “We’ll talk later Y/N.” and ended the call. Your phone next to you had stopped ringing and you let out a groan. Shuri being irritated with you right before she came into town was the last thing you wanted. 

Your phone beside you rang for the third time and it confirmed your suspicions. Aside from Shuri, there was only one person in your life who felt entitled enough over you to blow up your phone. You took a deep breath and flipped it over before picking it up. 

“Hello, mother.” 

Tag List: @starkdemigodninja @trixielwt @verachii @melodykisses @rxcently @iwillbiteabitch @louderfortheback @bananafishok @atssukoo

[navree]

What do you think about Joseph Stalin and communism in general?

*idk if you answer political questions so feel free to ignore this question if u don't want to answer it*

(politics is both my literal field of study and my desired work environment so this ask itself isn't shocking it's just that most of the questions i get tend to be either fandom analysis or people wanting to know more about my personal life so seeing a notification that started with "what do you think about joseph stalin" took me tf out. and i also want to be clear that i am not an expert on either stalin or the soviet union in general, russian history was never my thing and in general the history of the 20th century that I have looked at is france/Western Europe in ww2 for family reasons and america in the 1960s/70s, it's one of the perks of reading Helter Skelter the same year you meet Ethel Kennedy)

Stalin was a monster. I have a general rule of thumb that I think people who orchestrate genocide are assholes, and that extends to Stalin as well. I don't have a very fond view of the Soviet Union in any capacity due to the giant clusterfuck of awful that it was and all the horrors it wrought on its corner of the world, which is always going to color Stalin negatively in my view, but Stalin himself holds a distinction of also being a uniquely bad person. He was functionally a dictator who killed hundreds of thousands of people for the sake of consolidating his own power and nothing else. He was a totalitarian despot who orchestrated several atrocities and is responsible for some truly egregious crimes against humanity in the 20th century and as much as I can hate a personal unknown on merits alone, I hate him. And also, might just be me, the non-aggression pact with the fucking Nazis is a nonstarter (and if someone gets on me with some bullshit "but America!" take then you don't know me at all because I have continuously taken this country to task with my abhorrence of how it handled itself with the Nazis there's a reason why I refuse to acknowledge D-Day as worth any importance).

As for my thoughts on communism, it's complicated. Most importantly, please understand this: economic systems are not my forté in any way. My capabilities lie in public policy, in public outreach/overall campaigning, and speechwriting and all other statement/press release things. My knowledge and my insight into the capitalism vs. communism debate is very mundane and pedestrian, which is why I don't really comment on it; I don't think I have a new perspective to offer. Communism, as a base concept, is a decent theory, but you can't just look at these things as solely concepts. And when I look at how communism has been applied in various governments over the years in various different forms, I see an incredibly flawed system that has continuously failed to achieve any long term good. This isn't to say that I find capitalism is a perfect system either, it is also deeply flawed, and as its applied by most modern countries probably needs some severe overhauls. But communism just overall seems to be something that sounds like a good idea but needs incredibly significant fine tuning in order to be functional and not descend into totalitarianism. The idea of "the government controls the means of production" is good in theory, but it also depends on who is in government. If the government has bad people in it, whatever your definition of that is, then you're handing an extraordinary amount of power to people who might have bad intentions and use it to hurt others. Again, this is a very simple opinion on a very complex topic, but that's what the opinion is, at least for me. There is also the fact that, quite simply, I'm a young American living in America, and my exposure of communism is a bunch of people who call themselves communists and think that means they can act like fucking lunatics and generally have batshit opinions that provide a stunning illumination into horseshoe theory, which isn't going to predispose me to feeling positively about communism either. Overall, communism just personally isn't my jam; I can see why it's something people are drawn to due to the flaws in the capitalist system, I really do, but I tend to look at self-described communists askance and I think the system has some deep rooted issues that have yet to be addressed by either governments that want to use it as a whole or even individuals who promote it as a possible alternative to the current system we have now.

And I do answer political questions! Like I've said, I have worked and plan to continue to work in politics, and I have a lot of political opinions about stuff both past and present, and as long as people are respectful in general there's really not a whole lot I just flat out won't answer if someone wants me to talk about it, so long as they're nice. <3

[frigid666]

re: jubilee's trans conservatives vs trans liberals debate

blaire is doing too much with this jubilee drama... she acted extremely bitchy to all the trans libs on the panel, then got offended they were bitchy right back to her. also, she has spent years saying bitchy comments about other trans ppls' looks on camera; whether u think she is wrong or right about her beliefs, she never kept it above the belt. other trans ppl's looks, lifestyles, etc were always and frequently on the table. she can't take what she dishes out. she kept hogging the conversation, being aggressive, and interrupting the other speakers with slick remarks,,, and was surprised they cut her mic and limited her speaking time??

i remember when i was an annoying high schooler, and during class debates, the teacher would limit how many times i could contribute to the discussion. it was literally for the sake of fairness; so that other students could have their turn to say their opinion. if blaire had it her way, she would have spent the whole allotted time lecturing the other participants on the panel about her opinions... which she already has a platform of her own solely dedicated to doing that. most of the other people on the panel do not; so this was likely their first/only opportunity to reach a large audience of people. imo it was for this reason that i dont think she even belonged on the panel in the first place. it should have been limited to small influencers or people who are not public figures. she is going on a victim campaign bc some people were mean to her, meanwhile she has the biggest social platform out of all the panel.

oh and she had the gall to equate the importance of her shitty social media job to the experiences of the lib trans man who was committed to and participated in community outreach and social work. like girl, whatever, social media is fine and all, it helps build the culture. but its literally nothing compared to the stress and mental toll that comes from directly working with (trans) survivors of domestic/sexual abuse, housing and job discrimination, suicidal youth, etc. she acts as if the part where they were all "questioning her career" came out of the blue, when it was actually a reaction to her stupidly comparing her youtuber job to being a grassroots worker. she is as fake as her entire face.

and she keeps insisting that blossom called her a "racial slur" - idk which one, but it was probably 'cracker' which lmfao is not a racial slur, and shes so unserious for claiming that it is - and that she "physically threatened her" with violence when all blossom did was say that she had SECURITY GUARDS outside. when blaire literally has admitted that she brought her (cheating, messy) boyfriend joey along for protection. so its ok for her to bring someone for security but not any of the trans libs? ok. keep in mind, blaire has shown off multiple times that how many guns she owns. the whole debate was a shitshow, and its honestly on the jubilee team at the end of the day.

[random2908]

@ac-ld [hopefully tumblr’s tagging worked, it was being kind of weird] asked:

   thank you for your insight! i read your other comment about screwy carbon dating. i don’t wanna impinge on your time but im totally intrigued by your comments about scifi physics being rooted in 1920s memes and kip thorne interviews. im not a huge consumer of the scifi genre and would love to know more about some of these tropes! this is absolutely not an assignment if you don’t have much to say--i can also just google shit. idk what "crap science" muir's using as inspiration here, if there's a universal trope or many tropes for her to cherry pick from. regardless, it'll be interesting to see how/if any of this comes into play in atn

Ok, so, I was being kind of flippant. But it often seems to me like science fiction that takes quantum mechanics relatively seriously is pulling from exactly two things: the Schrodinger Cat “thought experiment” and the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. I’m not even going to get into Many Worlds-ism because we’d be here all day, I’ll just say: it’s not science (if anything it’s probably closer to religion). But the Schrodinger Cat thought experiment was, actually, just a joke meme to make fun of how badly people misinterpret the concept of “observation” in physics. The concept is poorly named because for the first decade or so of experiments, physicists, too, misunderstood what was going on; a better term would be non-coherent interaction, or coherence-breaking interaction, or something along those lines. But people outside of physics continue to take the word “observation” literally, and even back in Schrodinger’s day that was good for a laugh.

And then the other vaguely physics-y concept that comes up all the time in sci-fi is FTL travel and communications. There are a number of ways proposed by science fiction to achieve FTL travel, but some of the more common ones--particularly the ones that have any roots in real physics whatsoever--seem to have come out of Kip Thorne’s public outreach attempts. Especially wormholes, and black hole/white hole combinations, but I think (and it’s been like two decades since I saw a documentary about him so I might not be remembering right) he might have also talked about “warp drives.” To be fair, warp drives didn’t really enter the public consciousness through Kip Thorne, but rather through Star Trek. It’s kind of funny: physicists named the concept after Star Trek, not the other way around. Star Trek, meanwhile, originally just used technobabble to handwave away what was happening, and then later came back and described it the way physicists were describing it.

I guess a third thing would be teleportation, which has its roots neither in old memes nor in cosmology ramblings, but rather in sci-fi itself, and probably fairy tales and other magical stories before that. But the existing physics concept of quantum teleportation doesn’t really have much to do with the practical teleportation of sci-fi anyway; it’s more like physicists gave entanglement a fanciful name to drum up public interest in their work.

[yuthoe]

Schedule Changes (PENTAGON: Adachi Yuto)

HELLO, IT’S 12:48AM AND I COULDN’T HELP MYSELF.

I had to churn this out because it won’t leave my head. I’d like to thank my irl friend @shiiiiiiiiinwun for inspiring me to write this collection (yes, I’m gonna be doing one for all of ot9). And for someone who’s been watching anime since she figured out how to use the internet, you’d think I could’ve come up with better names, and faster.

EDIT (06/29/20): Hi! it’s my first time making an edit like this, so i’m kinda insecure abt it lol, i hope it’s okay. this is the 2nd yuto version i did, so it’s slightly better than the first one. tumblr rlly doesn’t want us to go overboard on image size huh

WARNINGS: n/a; some angst, maybe? who’s proofreading idk her. WORD COUNT: 3,314 it’s so fucking long.

---

Minister Sakaguchi,

Unfortunately, Her Majesty will not be available for your meeting today at 3PM; urgent matters have arisen that need her immediate attention. If you would like to reschedule with her, please reply to this email.

Thank you very much for understanding.

Regards,

Y/N L/N

Secretary to the Queen

You sigh, wondering if the email you’ve typed is in the appropriate tone that won’t offend Minister Sakaguchi; in all the years you’ve been working for the royal family it doesn’t get easier writing and replying to the emails of government officials, invitations to interview Her Majesty for magazine features, requests to attend public functions like galas and balls. The ridiculous amount of mail she gets, that are automatically forwarded to you, is mind-boggling, in anyone else’s eyes. It doesn’t surprise you anymore, though.

The queen as a monarch takes the backseat to running the kingdom, to any foreigner that decides to take a look at articles from international news sources. Her name isn’t mentioned as much as the king’s when it comes to referencing big developments in the state. Rather, the local newspapers and online sites have her name and face on some article at least once a week. The queen takes care of the little things, smaller projects that delve more into social welfare than her husband’s institutional programs. She is a strong advocate for women’s and children’s rights, as well as a figure in health outreach programs for the poorer sectors of society. Her compassion and dedication to her job is what made you want to work for her; she was like a role model to you, along with her husband.

It was a stroke of pure luck that got you this job; your first day as the secretary for Minister Yamazaki turned into you being his substitute with only a day’s notice. He had gotten sick with the flu and you were immediately thrust into a role you knew almost nothing about. So you took all the files related to the subject of the meeting and studied up on them the night before, turning up the next day and pulling out opinions as if you yourself spearheaded the project. The queen, upon finding out that you were new, was so impressed and had talked to Minister Yamazaki (who was still in his sickbed) over the phone about enlisting you under her employ.

It’s been five years since then. Five fast-paced, fulfilling, exciting years working closely with the royal family. At this point, your relationship with the queen is more of a friendship than strictly professional, and you’re grateful for it. The people you interact with on a daily basis are mostly considerably older than you--ministers, program leaders, the palace staff--and the talk is all business. So you’re grateful for your weekend teatime with the queen, sometimes with her children joining you, who are some of the only people your age you talk to on a regular basis, apart from the younger maids and kitchen staff. The afternoons out in the garden are the queen’s time to unwind and review everything that happened the previous week, as well as scheduling the succeeding weeks. The stress of planning therefore comes to a head on Saturdays so the week can sail by calmly.

Today is one of those Saturdays. Minister Sakaguchi had scheduled a dinner meeting with the queen yesterday--something about the upcoming fair for disenfranchised women, although you suspect Minister Sakiguchi will try to sneak in pitches for other programs she has in mind. The queen had agreed, so you penciled in the meeting into your schedule. However, the queen seemed under the weather when she came out earlier, that you had advised her to cancel it, assuring her that Minister Sakiguchi would understand. 

The queen takes a sip of her favorite rosehip and lemon tea, fingers delicate on the porcelain, and you send the email, huffing out a sigh. You place your phone facedown on the glass table and take a sugar cookie from the plate. “Just sent the email, Your Majesty,” you say. “Now you can just focus on resting tonight.” You smile as you take a bite.

Your boss smiles as she replaces the teacup on its saucer. “Thank you,” she says, relaxing against the lounge chair. “To be honest, I didn’t think Minister Sakiguchi would talk so much about the fair anyway. She probably suggested a meeting to tell me more of her ideas for the women’s sector.” You smile. Bingo. “Is anything else scheduled for tomorrow?”

You glance at your open laptop, as well as the printed-out spreadsheet on your lap. It’s an organized mess of colors and times and places and people. “Just the charity gala tomorrow night. I’ve coordinated with Subaru and she said the king will be late by an hour. Will you go alone?”

She tilts her head in thought and hums. “I don’t want to be late. Is there anyone available?”

You click through the several pinned tabs on your laptop to the tab for the royal family’s shared schedule. “It seems Princess Akari is free, as well as Prince Yuto,” you say after a moment.

“Ah, Akari will be busy designing something for the fair, I think, so maybe she won’t want to go,” the queen muses.

“So you’ll just take the prince, then? I’ll contact Daiki and ask him to notify the prince.”

“No need,” a deep, disembodied voice comes in from somewhere in the hedges before Prince Yuto pops his head into view. He walks towards the table as you clear up a space for him, closing your binder and putting that on top of the clipboard among other printouts on one of the spare chairs between you and the queen.

The prince strides across the grass in his black dress pants and long-sleeved shirt, to greet his mother. He places his hands softly on her shoulders and leans down to give her a kiss on the cheek. The queen smiles and accepts the kiss, patting a hand over one of his; her mood instantly lifts, and her posture relaxes further. As the youngest son, she dotes on him a lot; he in turn always keeps his mother company and can rarely be seen in public not by her side or his father’s. You think their relationship is sweet, and so do the many news articles posted online about it.

Prince Yuto takes a seat on the only empty chair and fixes himself a cup of tea while saying, “What’s the gala for?”

“The orphanages in the farther provinces,” the queen says as she takes a saucer and stacks it high with dark chocolate-coated cookies, pushing the small plate at her son’s direction. “Some dignitaries from other kingdoms as well as celebrities will be attending. And I will announce the new scholarship program for our state schools. There’s a chance your father won’t make it, so I’d like a companion.”

“Of course I’ll go with you, Mother,” Prince Yuto says after swallowing a bite of cookie. He turns to you. “What time is it?”

“Call time for the royals and major government officials is 7PM, and the program starts at 7:30. I’ll contact Daiki with the details as well,” you say.

The prince shakes his head, but there’s a smile on his face as he turns to the queen. “It’s such a shame, I thought you two were talking about Y/N transferring to my office,” he jokes. It’s a bit that he’s brought up many times before, and both you and the queen take it as a joke since you figure he just wants someone closer to his age with more experience than Daiki, who is about four years older and has only been working with him for two years.

The queen lets out a laugh and takes her teacup again. “What’s the matter with Daiki? He seems to be doing a good job.” Her eyes meet yours as she takes another sip, glinting in amusement.

Prince Yuto is smiling his bright, beautiful smile that the camera loves as he looks fondly at his mother. He probably got wind of her feeling run-down and hurried here to try to distract her. You know the queen is the most important person to him, and the queen may not know it, but it’s obvious to everyone else. “Well, as you know, Y/N is better,” he continues, “and Daiki-san is a stick-in-the-mud.” The teasing makes you huff out a laugh, immediately raising a hand to cover your mouth; Daiki is truly a stick-in-the-mud, even more than you are.

The queen laughs boisterously, throwing her head back. “Oh, you’re such a jokester, Yuto.” She sighs, fully relieved, and you’re thankful he decided to stop by. The queen finishes her tea and says, “Well, this was a fun teatime. I have some paperwork I have to sign, so Y/N, you may go.” She turns to her son. “It’s so nice of you to stop by, sweetheart,” she says, and leans down to drop a kiss on the crown of his head. “I’ll be seeing you both.” The queen glides away, and you briefly wonder how she can walk that gracefully in heels over damp, unpaved grass--but then you remember she’s the queen and has been doing this for years. She turns around the corner of the hedge and disappears.

You sigh and shut down your laptop, gathering your stuff as you message Daiki about the charity gala. You slide the laptop in your bag, and put all the printouts in order into a folder, before slipping everything else inside. You’re just about to get up to leave before Prince Yuto’s voice stops you.

“You sure you won’t consider transferring to my office?” you hear the prince suddenly ask. He’s looking at you, piercing eyes that make everyone in the kingdom, young and old, swoon. And if you didn’t talk to him everyday and your self-control had been any less, you would probably give in to whatever he wanted.

So you try to mask your rapidly beating heart behind a fond, teasing smile. “Well, I don’t really have a say in it. Don’t think the queen wants to let me go, anyway,” you say, taking a proffered dark chocolate-covered cookie from the prince and biting into it. The rich, slightly bitter punch of the chocolate explodes on your tongue.

The prince looks at you with a small smile. “I was serious, you know,” he says simply. “I mean, you won’t be as busy so you’ll have more free time, and the stuff I do is just small, as a minister for cultural arts. I split it with another person.”

You’re already shaking your head. “I like my job. I love working for the queen and seeing the results of what she’s done. You know she’s been my role model since I was a teenager, so this is a dream for me. And as much as I want a break sometimes, I can’t let this opportunity go.” You sigh, heart heavy now, and stand. “I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

He stands with you. “I know I’ve told you to call me just ‘Yuto’ before, didn’t I?”

“But decorum--,”

“Yeah, fine, practice etiquette in public, but when we’re alone you can just call me by my name.” You don’t answer, and hesitantly purse your lips. And then the prince begins to pout. “Come on, if you don’t wanna work for me, at least call me Yuto.” He presses the tips of his index fingers together and says, “I miss you,” so cutely, with his big puppy dog eyes and hilariously deep voice that’s sorely out of place for the cutesy thing he’s trying to do.

You have to laugh, bending down at the waist and steadying yourself with the table as you cackle. “Fine, fine,” you relent. “I’ll call you Yuto in private from now on.” You heave your heavy bag up onto your shoulder with a smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

***

“You look beautiful tonight,” someone says behind you. You turn carefully, eyes meeting Yuto, in another black ensemble: turtleneck under an overcoat with black dress pants and boots. His hair is slicked back artfully, apart from the stray locks of hair that insist on falling over his eyes. Simple, but very handsome; the paparazzi and journalists must be having a field day with that outfit.

And you look down at yourself: standard black satin-and-chiffon off-shoulder gown that you usually wear to these types of stuff. Your shoes are your everyday pair, and you’re thankful that the dress comes all the way to the floor because they are getting scuffed at the tip. Your hair is wavy, the result of sleeping in a braid through twelve hours, but you manage to tame it into a loose bun that’s mostly out of your face. The only accessory you have is the necklace you’ve worn since your mother passed down to you six or seven years ago. Makeup is minimal because you are here to assist, not be the center of attention. Everything you put into your appearance tonight is just to make sure you look clean and professional. And invisible.

You roll your eyes at the prince. “Your Highness, I look like this everytime the queen needs to go somewhere fancy. I don’t think ‘beautiful’ is the right word.” You know he means well, but you’re just plain, from your shoes to your face to your position in society, you’re just simple, unremarkable.

The prince furrows his brows and takes his place standing beside you. “You are, though. You may not see it, but I do.” He casts you a quick glance before turning his focus to the stage, where a popular singer is performing one of her new songs onstage as an opening act. “And those photographers over there see it, too.”

You whip your head at him before scanning the event hall for any cameras pointed at you, heart pounding hard in your chest. You don’t spot any, but you still say, “I think you had better take your seat, Your Highness. I bet those people just want to make a scandal out of nothing.” Prince Yuto may be the youngest out of the royal children, but that does not mean he is risk-free. He is being trained for the position of Minister of Culture and the Arts; he has a large following of young people who look up to him as a leader and as a person; he is one of the most important people in your life, and you can’t bear for anything bad to happen to him.

The work tablet you brought is getting crushed in your folded arms from how tight you’re clutching it. “I’m going to find Daiki--,” you say softly, making to leave, but getting stopped once again by the prince.

He’s holding one of your arms gently, but strong enough to pull you back beside him. “It’s okay,” he says. “Let them. It’s fine.”

You pull your arm away. “Your Highness, it’s not fine. You can’t risk a scandal blowing up on you right now. Everyone has eyes on you, even if you don’t think so.” You’re worried. The last thing you want is for him to get in trouble because of you.

The prince sighs. “Y/N, there’s not gonna be a scandal if we’re actually together.”

You take a moment to think. “What? You want us to pretend to be a couple? I don’t think it’s a good idea; people might get the misconception that you’re slacking off, or--,”

“No, I mean--,” he sighs frustrated, more at himself than at you, but he keeps his composure and his face remains stoic; you both are still in public, after all. “I’ve wanted to tell you this for a while now, but I just didn’t know how to say it, and I certainly didn’t plan on telling you at a charity event where hundreds of people could hear.” He’s rambling--a sign that he’s nervous, unprepared.

Prince Yuto takes a calming breath before fully facing you. “I like you, Y/N,” he says softly, aware of the number of ears that are possibly listening in. “I’ve liked you since the day you started working for my mom, and I liked you even more the longer you stayed. You’re a hard worker, you’re dedicated to your job, you genuinely care for the queen and the things she does for the people. And I’m thankful that I got close to you as much as I have because you do mean a lot to me. I know I don’t show it, because I’m not sure how to show it, and I don’t know how you would react to it. But I do like you. Very much.” He releases a breath and looks you in the eye. “So will you try? To be with me?”

All this you take in with wide eyes and a shocked-open mouth. You know the prince is not the most outgoing person; he’s most relaxed when he is with people he knows, which are limited to his family and their secretaries, along with some of the senior palace staff. You’ve never seen him in a pickle of trying to get someone’s attention, but you do remember him offering to carry your heavy work back once or twice and you insisting on carrying yourself; him telling you that you look beautiful even if you wear the same plain things all the time; him giving you a box of (really expensive) chocolate for Valentine’s Day on the excuse of “I gave all the royal family’s employees chocolates”; him giving you a piece of his favorite chocolate cookies, even though you’ve never seen him offer them to anyone else.

All this time he’s been telling you how he feels and you’ve never noticed. And you yourself can’t even tell him the same because you don’t want to risk the prince getting hurt, you getting hurt, the queen getting hurt because of your selfishness. Your work is important to you, and you can’t jeopardize it for your happiness.

But here he is, Prince Yuto. Being brave enough to know the uncertainty of what lies ahead and being prepared to face it, if you answer him; if you push aside your fear of messing up and tell him you like him back; if, for once, you look to your heart instead of thinking of your work.

He stands tall beside you, an imposing figure of grace and compassion. A man people look up to. A leader who is innovative, yet respects traditions. A role model for young people who are inspired by his music, his acts of service to everyone. A son that is loved by his parents, a brother that is loved by his siblings. A friend who listens and is always there, but always pushes you out of your comfort zone.

How can you not fall for him?

How can you say no, when everything around you points to yes?

You’re nodding your head before you know it, still too shocked to properly process the last five minutes. “Yes. Yes, I’ll try being with you.”

The blinding smile is back, and you can’t help but return it. The prince nods, unable to suppress the grin on his face and gestures to the audience, milling about finding their tables. “I’ll be on my way, then. Find my mother.” He clears his throat, fidgets about with his coat and pockets. “Good luck for the rest of the night,” he says with a nod, before leaving.

You just curtsy, still beaming and your heart is drumming in your chest like crazy, but it feels light. Like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders and you can take flight at any moment, straight into his arms.

[stdio2020]

Brad Troemel - The Selfie Report

Another great Brad Troemel presentation regarding the degradation of art institutions and the rise of their replacement - selfie museums. Brad’s thesis is that ‘selfie museums’ are the inevitable progression for art institutions due to the way in which the ‘selfie’ has changed the way we think about art. 

“The future of the art world is one where ‘inclusivity’ is so blindly worshipped the viewers become the art itself.”

Troemel begins with a breif history of the art museum as institutions which were paradoxically elitist and inclusive “the only way they could have an educational outreach was by maintaining the elitism of being connosseiurs. By gradually revealing art history to the public, it meant that there was always a vast reserve of art that was obscured from view.” 

Because the art world was always following the lead of a small number of avante gard artists and curators, the public has always had an uneasy relationship with this art education. Most of the public considered art to serve to functions 1. To be beautiful 2. To represent themselves. 

Aesthetically inclusive art (that is, art taken to the people, beyond the white cube, ideally resulting in a more authentic relationship with the viewer), despite its efforts to escape the white cube and the institutions surrounding it, would often come to be recuperated by those very same instituions in later exhibitions.

 “The idea of creating an artistic presentation of your own identity was the exlusive domain of artist for centuries, until social media came along and turned everyone into a creator of publically presented, autobiographical images.”

“Social media offered normal people the opportunity to ‘go viral’ and become the main characters of the internet, the entire dynamic of cultural representation shifted from audiences saying “aw man, why don’t they put someone like me up there” to audiences more boldly saying “shit, why not me? Why don’t I take a shot at being up there. Representation remained the goal but the expectation of who would be representing whom had irreversibly changed, out of the hands of elite artists and curators and into the hands of the audience themselves.”

“Within post internet art, using reflective surfaces and mirrors became especially popular formal strategy becuase mirros invited the possibility of audiences photographing themselves and sharing the images of the work. It was art designed with the audience depicting themselves as its ideal outcome. Selfies suddenly became a universally accepted currency in the 2010s art world.”

Celebrity art selfies functioned as a way to sure up the celebrity’s own creative legacy. A way of letting viewers know that the celebrity was among artworks because the celebrity posseses the same cultural capital equivalent to that art work, For celebrities, art was used as a reflection of their status, not just their status as a rich person, but also their status as a creator of culture in their own right. 

The way an artist takes a selfie with their own work says more about the way they wish to be perceived than an artist statement ever could. The way they are dressed, the formality or informality of the image, the occaision they choose to take the photo at. all of these things spoke volumes about the artist and their work.

All of this is very interesting to me and perhaps explains my fascination with the integration of art into the internet and vice verse, it also raises a lot of questions about self representation. I wonder if I am reifing an ideology that could ultimately me detrimental to the development of art and social relations??? idk who cares!!! morals.... ha!

[bethanysjournal]

I'm very interested in criminology but idk what career field is go into with it.. what are you doing after college or what job do you hope to get?

Hey Anon! Due to me only starting my second year on the  5th, it means that while I am currently studying criminology but it also means that I have not started specializing in anything yet. I have been thinking about going back to school after I finish my bachelor for 2 more years to get my Masters of Criminology because it could be helpful when getting a job.

However, job wise, there are so many careers that you can use a Bachelor of Criminology degree in. I found a list  on York University  website of careers, those that are italicized personally interest me.

⁂ Activist⁂ Addictions Counsellor⁂ Airport Security Officer⁂ Animal Welfare Investigator⁂ Author⁂ Behaviour Profiler⁂ Border Patrol Officer⁂ Child and Youth Worker⁂ Child Welfare Worker⁂ Coast Guard⁂ Community Outreach Worker⁂ Community Relations Consultant⁂ Consumer Advocate⁂ Corporate Security⁂ Corrections Officer⁂ Court Clerk⁂  Court Reporter⁂ Crime Reporter⁂ Crime Scene Analyst⁂ Customs Inspector⁂ Foreign Correspondent⁂ Forensics Specialist⁂ Fraud Investigator⁂ Historical Researcher⁂ Human Resource Specialist⁂ Human Rights Officer⁂ Journalist⁂ Juvenile Court Officer⁂ Labour Relations Specialist⁂ Law Enforcement Officer⁂ Lawyer⁂ Legal Secretary⁂ Legislative Aid⁂ Media Correspondent⁂ Mediator⁂ Military Officer⁂ Non-profit Sector Administrator⁂ Ombudsman⁂ Paralegal⁂ Park Ranger⁂ Personal Security Officer⁂ Policy Analyst⁂ Political Advisor⁂ Politician⁂ Polygraph Technician⁂ Prison Official⁂ Probation Officer⁂ Professor⁂ Public Administrator⁂ Rehabilitation Counsellor⁂ Researcher⁂ Social Policy Researcher⁂ Social Worker⁂ Surveillance Officer⁂ Teacher⁂ Victims Advocate

I’d also like to add that I am not familiar with many of these careers and what their jobs entail, meaning that a could be interested in a few more but still have to do research.

I also found a list from my university which is a lot more vague in what the exact career is but what you could be doing:

⁂ Work for a non-profit organization assisting justice-involved people with life skills and community involvement⁂ Working for organizations in the capacity of safety administrators, operations compliance officers or those that assist with anti-fraud measures⁂ Work as a police officer or security worker⁂ Work with offenders or prison inmates as a correctional officer, or case worker⁂ Work with young offenders in the community or in an institutional setting⁂ Work with women in conflict with the law⁂ Supervise offenders in the community on probation or parole⁂ Provide services to victims of crime, by helping prepare them for court or by providing other supports to them in the community⁂ Support inmates upon their release from prison⁂ Become involved in community-based alternatives to the criminal justice system

I think its important to realize that after graduation you can directly try to get employment or that you’ll also be prepared to apply to law school or graduate studies in disciplines such as Criminology, Social Justice, Policy Studies etc. which can lead to additional career choices.

While I wish I could personally be of more help, but due to my lack of doing research about careers that you can do with a Bachelor of Criminology I am not much help. My theory right now while I am in school is that I know many jobs can be done with a Criminology degree, because there will always be the law and issues with it, that I shouldn’t have to complexly focus on the future and first figure out what I enjoy learning and what I would enjoy doing 5 days a week for 40 hours, or even more. 

If you have more personal questions about what studying Criminology on a daily basis looks like, feel free to message me off anon and i’d love to help.

I hope this post gives you the push for studying Criminology because i personally love it. 

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[the-cryptographer]

@battymarionette replied to your post:

Yeah, like… I’m hesitant to sing their praises too highly because they’re still part of the mainstream porn industry, which is awful on a lot of levels, and doing a few nice things won’t offset that. And their site is still full of content that I don’t feel great accessing due to the unknowns about the safety of the women involved. It’s pretty hard to tell how much publicity stunts translate to positive effects there. But it’s still… nice??? Unexpectedly nice?

Yeah, pretty much. idk, it’s also the kind of thing that, from my very naive and lazy perspective, seems difficult to get a good read on or research properly, especially given how polarising these topics can be. Like, the site’s full of porn where women are being degraded for titillating effect. And I’m not gonna protest that under the understanding that we’re watching (amateur or otherwise) actors and actresses put on a performance. But, yeah, I’m also aware that there need to be measures taken off the set to ensure the safety and livelihood of the women (and men) that are involved in the industry, and overall it’s not been an industry with the reputation of looking out for its own - few industries have that reputation really. idk what exactly that would encompass - but at the very least I think the porn industry should be trying to regulate the safety of its workers (via outside mandate or otherwise) and should have some level of transparency, so it’s monitored and understood, both inside and outside the industry, that any degrading and dehumanising acts you see on camera are for the sake of the show, and not a mandate by which to base the treatment of other humans, even and especially sex workers.

So, like, yeah - what they’re doing seems nice. And doing some good is better than doing no good. But I feel like the primary outreach pornhub should be doing is outreach that mitigates the negative effects perpetuated by its own actions, not these other rando nice things that, while nice enough, seemed to be aimed at potential customers rather than the ppl in the industry itself.

or, idk, maybe it is doing outreach in those areas too and i just haven’t heard about it. i’m sorry, i know i should research more before opening my big yap, but, tbh, that’s not really a rabbit hole i want to go down rn.

[shirlleycoyle]

Teen Vogue Sponcon Fiasco Puts Spotlight on Facebook Stooges

Maybe you caught wind of yesterday’s media clusterfuck: Teen Vogue published unbylined, uncritical PR drivel about Facebook’s commitment to protecting the integrity of the 2020 election, featuring five high-ranking women at the company. The article was titled “How Facebook Is Helping Ensure the Integrity of the 2020 Election” and consisted of responses to softball and/or leading questions like “How do you ensure that relationships with third party groups such as voter registration platforms are reaching the right people who could potentially learn from them the most on Facebook?” alongside glossy portraits of the women, individually and as a group. In a now-deleted post, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg shared the article on her page and wrote: “Great Teen Vogue piece about five incredible women protecting elections on Facebook.”

Not long after it was published, an editor’s note appeared on the story confirming the origins of the article with a potent, oxymoronic descriptor: “Sponsored editorial content.” Confusion ensued. Facebook said it wasn’t sponcon, before changing its stance later in the day to admit it was sponcon, arranged in coordination with Teen Vogue’s women’s summit last fall. At one point a Teen Vogue employee’s byline appeared on the piece (she insisted she had nothing to do with it); at another, the Teen Vogue Twitter account said “literally idk” in a now-deleted response to a question about the post; then, the article was deleted completely. For the full breakdown, check out any one of these comprehensive summaries of the mess. The takeaway is that corporate media is antithetical to independent reporting and that Facebook, as it was when it traded access to its “war rooms” for favorable coverage, is desperate to launder its well-earned reputation as a platform that supports the proliferation of fake news and political misinformation.

Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.

There’s also something to be gleaned, though, from looking at who exactly Facebook trotted out to burnish its claims of newfound credibility. Facebook did not, for example, tout the contributions of Joel Kaplan, its vice-president for global public policy, or Kevin Martin, the company’s vice-president for U.S. public policy, both of whom work in Facebook’s D.C. office, both of whom spent chunks of their professional lives stewing in Republican politics, and both of whom worked for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney: Kaplan was Bush’s deputy chief of staff and Bush appointed Martin to the Federal Communications Commission in 2001. (Kaplan, a strong Brett Kavanaugh ally, has, according to the Wall Street Journal, been integral in making sure Facebook treats right-wing misinformation sites like the Daily Caller and Breitbart more or less the same as, say, the Washington Post.) Facebook also did not mention Guy Rosen, the company’s “VP of integrity,” who helped write Facebook’s press release about the company’s initiatives to protect the” 2020 election.

Know anything we should know? Contact the writer at laura.wagner@vice.com or laura.wags@protonmail.com.

The five people Facebook chose to highlight in the Teen Vogue ad are all women—one Republican operative, one who spent her career among Clinton Democrats, one who worked at McKinsey, a former special-education teacher, and a data scientist with a PhD in sociology. Here’s what we know about them.

Katie Harbath is Facebook’s director of global elections. Before that, according to her LinkedIn, she was chief digital strategist for the National Republican Senatorial Committee from August 2009 to March 2011, where she was “in charge of all the online operations at the NRSC for the 2010 cycle.” Before that, she was the digital director for Rudy Giuliani's 2008 presidential campaign. Going all the way back to 2003, she was the “associate director for e-communications” for the Republican National Committee. As Popular Info reported in October, Harbath remained active in the Republican party after joining Facebook: “In 2014, she was an official delegate to the Virginia Republican Convention, where she supported the nomination of her former boss, Ed Gillespie, for Senate.”

Harbath has also been one of Facebook’s most enthusiastic drum-beaters for letting lying politicians lie. In October, Harbath defended Facebook’s decision to allow candidates to lie in Facebook ads, sending a letter to the Joe Biden campaign that shrugged off any responsibility Facebook would have for running false ads. (“In mature democracies with a free press, political speech is already arguably the most scrutinized speech there is,” she wrote.) The same month, Harbath and another Facebook exec wrote an op-ed for USA Today titled “We shouldn't become the gatekeeper of truth on candidate ads.”

She shared the Teen Vogue story on her Facebook page, writing, “I'm very honored to work alongside so many amazing women on protecting the integrity of elections. Also, who ever thought I'd be saying at 39 that I'm in Teen Vogue!”

Crystal Patterson is Facebook’s head of global civic partnerships. Before working at Facebook, according to her LinkedIn, she was a Democratic operative. She worked in “online communications” for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign, as a field organizer for the Iowa Democratic Party, as communications director for Ohio congressman Tim Ryan, and as communications director for John Podesta’s think tank, the Center for American Progress. In a previous role at Facebook, she worked with Democrats directly. In a 2015 New York Times article, Patterson touted the ways politicians can use Facebook to reach voters (or donors):

“There’s a level of precision that doesn’t exist in any other medium,” said Crystal Patterson, a government and politics outreach manager at Facebook, who works with Democrats. “It’s getting the right message to the right people at the right time.”

Patterson also shared the Teen Vogue article on her Facebook page, writing: “On a serious note, I continue to to [sic] be impressed by and honored to collaborate with the incredible women I work with every day. On a less serious note, I am also thrilled I am still young and hip enough to make the cut for Teen Vogue.”

Antonia Woodford is Facebook’s product manager for misinformation. Before joining Facebook nearly four years ago, she worked at McKinsey for over two years. According to her LinkedIn, her responsibilities included “advising Fortune 500 companies on product and pricing strategy, operations, and corporate finance topics” and “conducting operational and market due diligence for private equity firms, directly impacting final acquisition prices.” According to her page, her “industry experience includes technology, transportation, payments, asset management, agriculture, and manufacturing. Additional experience in M&A strategy, restructuring, and IPO readiness.” Anyhow, this lady was seen in apparently unsponsored content at Cnet from 2018—”The cure for Facebook's fake news infection? It might be these women”—posing in a field of flowers with her fellow fierce lady bosses.

Sarah Schiff is Facebook’s product manager of business integrity. Her LinkedIn bio says “Experienced Product Manager in Silicon Valley and Austin, Texas. Former special education teacher in Itta Bena, Mississippi. Driven by a sense of purpose and making a difference. In constant pursuit of learning and hopeful travel.”

Monica Lee is a research scientist at Facebook. Before working there, she got her PhD in sociology from University of Chicago in 2014. Her studies investigated “how one’s cultural beliefs affect one’s social network and vice versa,” according to her website. The site also says she used to DJ German electronic music, which actually sounds cool. Maybe Teen Vogue can ask her about that next time—or about how Mark Zuckerberg's New Year's resolution to make laws irrelevant by developing such superior forms of governance as a Facebook-created board tasked with oversight of Facebook figures into her company's grand plans to protect democracy.

Teen Vogue Sponcon Fiasco Puts Spotlight on Facebook Stooges syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[majorasnightmare]

man

as its pride month i see a lot of discourse on both sides of the arguement wrt pride inclusion and etc and i see a lot of compelling points and history on both sides but like tbh

i cant bring myself to devote time and effort or care to it. like? im more concerned with the material plight of lgbtq+ people suffering under capitalist enforced oppression on the axis of homophobia, transphobia, racism, sexism, misogynoir, etc and with that in mind i just cannot bring myself to get involved in petty discourse over whether or not certain people have a place at pride! my opinion is always that toxic members of our community should be barred from it, that those individuals who represent dangerous hostile communities like terfs or fascists should be barred from it, and that our primary concern should be ousting dangerous institutions from our safe places such as corporations, military, and the police, and those groups who exploit those institutions to enact oppression (again, terfs and the fash), and then focus our community efforts towards ousting individuals.

like? obviously individual groups/bars/smaller community events and gatherings will, by nature and necessity, be more individual oriented, like local GSA's and gay bars and community outreach programs have a need and responsibility to identify and handle individuals in their communities who pose a danger, threaten the safety, or otherwise exploit and reinforce institutional oppression (ID'ing and dealing with abusive, homophobic, transphobic, racist, etc people who have placed themselves in these local gatherings) but for larger community events like pride? meant to be a gathering for lgbtq+ people for a massive area? i dont think pride should concern themselves with debating whether or not ace people belong there, or if its okay for couples you think are straight to be at pride, because pride should worry first and foremost about getting cops to fuck off! to worry about seperating themselves from corporations! to deal with terfs exploiting police presence to harass and harm trans women! THATS what pride should first and foremost deal with! let your local institutions handle smaller issues like queer discourse, or ace inclusion or exclusion! thats what theyre there for! your local GSA cant handle topics like police presence at pride, and because pride is so massive it HAS to focus on these larger issues! because ideally they work in tandem!

my opinion is that not every person has a voice in every topic and good discourse is knowing when you can meaningfully contribute and when you cant, and that a blanket silence statement does nothing to contribute to the discourse at hand. saying that ace people have nothing to contribute silences ace people of color and how they experience the unique intersections of their identities (being fetishized and hypersexualized and simultaneously desexualized, and how that intersects with their asexual identity), silences aces who are lgb+, trans aces, etc, because their asexualness contributes meaningfully to their experiences! and alsom ace people who dont enjoy or participate in pda cannot contribute meaningfully in conversations on how homophobia and transphobia punishes lgbtq+ people for simple acts of affection, because that is not an experience they have due to their decision to reject or abstain from pda! obviously if their experience is relevant, then well, its relevant and can contribute to the discussion at hand, but like!

idk! i just feel like so much online discourse is centered around local instituions working towards combatting communal oppressors, and communal institutions managing local discourse when thats so backwards to me.

im tired and low on spoons so idk if i even worded my points in a way thats understandable but like i guess the tldr is that i think pride should focus on getting rid of cops and stop putting cishet people like ariana grande at the forefront, and that it literally doesnt matter if ace people fly a flag at pride, or if leather and kink communities attend. like the rules of public decency and respect still apply especially in a place where minors can attend, but i think those issues are things best handled by smaller local groups, and that pride events shouldnt be pressured to make the call on that.