#buddy on tumblr you can fucking BLOCK PEOPLE! we did not have that option in ye olde FFN days!

[beholdthemem]

On one hand I don't have the patience for the kind of people who declare themselves the judge of what does or does not qualify as 'problematic' in a ship, because I've noticed that it inevitably seems to boil down to 'You don't ship the thing that I do, and I don't think that ships besides mine should exist' using progressive sounding buzzwords that kind of fall apart the minute you investigate them closer. ('That's pedophilia!' Two year age gap between an 18 and 20 year old. 'You're homophobic!' Shipping a bisexual dude with a female character.)

On the other hand, I also do not have the patience for the type of people who unironically use the word 'antis' when talking about people who don't like their ship, because every one that I have ever talked to has the BIGGEST fucking victim complex about shipping something unpopular and seems to consider themselves genuinely oppressed because of it to the point where I want to be like

[mageicalwishes]

A Smashing Summer - Chapter 3

Read on AO3: here

Read the previous chapter (On Tumblr): here

Summary: “I’m egging your house for a dare, but you’re parent is a cop and now they’re yelling at me, so I told them you were my ex and you wronged me, and now you’re coming outside, so please just go along with this, I really don’t want to go to jail” AU When Simon Snow agreed to egg some posho’s house, he never thought he’d find himself here - The only thing standing between himself and a criminal charge, the word of a handsome stranger.

Chapter: 3/?

Words: 1,694

Simon

I slide down against the sofa, pulling my phone out of my pocket, with a smile.

ME (19:57): Hey, hey, hey, Bazaroo!

ME (19:57): I’m super glad you liked the scones! They’re my absolute faveee

ME (19:57): I’ll bring enough to share next time :)

ME (19:58): How are you today?

To my delight, my phone buzzes with a response, almost immediately.

BP (19:58): If you ever call me that again, I will block your number. I’m not even joking.

BP (19:58): And, I’m pretty good, thanks. Yourself?

ME (19:59): Aw :( Imma just have to keep trying different names till I find one you like, then :p

ME (19:59): I’m great! Had a pretty good day today :)

ME (20:00): Sorry I didn’t message earlier btw - It’s been a busy day! Me and the lads went into town and played some footie, and then I had to do some dumb history essay (Idk who told my history teacher she could set homework in the holidays, but I wanna fight them!)

ME (20:00): I fucking despise the Tudors. I mean, why the fuck would I care about socio-economic policies from like a million years ago! Grrrr!

BP (20:01): No worries, Snow. I understand.

BP (20:01): That is unfortunate - But, you got lucky with the Tudors, to be honest. I’d rather that, than the bloody Industrial Revolution. That is mind-numbingly dull!

BP (20:02): But, I hate to break it to you - If you think the Tudor dynasty was a million years ago, then maybe you should reconsider your subject choice. You’ll definitely fail the A-level, if that’s your level of understanding.

ME (20:03): Aha trueee. Sucks to be you :p

ME (20:03): And stfu!! I know it wasn’t actually a million years ago, you tosser! I was BEING dramatic - You should've realised, you know ALL about that, Mr. Roll-your-eyes-every-two-fucking-seconds.

BP (20:04): I’m unconvinced.

Stupidly, I scoff aloud - Drawing Nathan’s attention away from the television and over to me. He stands, trudging over, and plopping down onto the sofa besides me.

I groan, frustrated.

“What do you want?”

“Nothing. Nothing … Just wondering who you’re texting,” he drawls, the mocking amusement clear in his tone. “Got yourself a new girlfriend, or something?”

“No! I’m just talking to Penny,” I defend, my voice rising suspiciously. Fuck. I’m such a crap liar.

“You know, I know you’re lying, right?”

“Obviously,” I drone. “Just … Butt out of it, though, yeah? Please.”

“Alright, alright” he laughs, throwing his hands up in a mock surrender. “I’ll leave you be. But, if you wanna keep your little buddy a secret - I’d advise against laughing at their messages in the bloody common room, you divvy.”

“Noted,” I sigh, turning towards the door. “Don’t tell Josh though, yeah?”

“Sure, Simon. If that’s what you want, your secret is safe with me.”

“Cheers, mate.” I smile. “You’re the best.”

“I know, I know. I’m amazing. Just go and text them, you mug!”

I do (Obviously). Quickly jogging upstairs, and locking myself in the bathroom - Where I’m safely hidden from prying eyes. Laying myself down in the bathtub, I hammer out a reply, sending it off Baz immediately.

ME (20:13): Whatever, dickhead!!

ME (20:13): Also soz I didn’t answer. Nathan was being nosy lol.

ME (20:13): Anyway … You been up to much today?

Baz

Just as I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I won’t be receiving a response, my phone buzzes loudly against my bedside table - My chest swelling pathetically, as I reach out and grab it.

Typing out a response, I find myself smiling - Unbridled joy melting away my impassive neutrality.

ME (20:14): No worries, Snow. It’s not as though I’m just sitting here, desperately awaiting your every response. I do have a life outside of you, you know.

That's not exactly true ... But, he doesn’t need to know that.

ME (20:14): And, no, not really. I’ve mostly just been reading. I did try to teach Mordelia how to play chess, though - Which was fairly disastrous.

SS (20:15): Lol! Sounds good :)

SS (20:15): Who is Mordelia, though?

SS (20:15): Is that your girlfriend?

I stare at my phone, blankly - Trying to formulate a response.

ME (20:17): Seriously?

Barely a second after I've send it, my phone starts buzzing furiously - Message after message, pouring in.

SS (20:17): What?

SS (20:17): That’s a perfectly valid question!

SS (20:17): You haven’t mentioned anyone called Mordelia, I swear to God!

SS (20:18): I’d remember, for sure.

SS (20:18): It’s not exactly a common name

ME (20:19): I know that, Snow. I was referring to the girlfriend question!

ME (20:19): I thought that we had already established that, a girlfriend isn’t exactly on the cards for me - Given the whole fake ex-boyfriend situation.

SS (20:20): Bi people exist, you moron!

SS (20:20): I’m Bi. Lol.

SS (20:20): I didn’t wanna assume you were only into guys … Or that you were even really into them at all.

SS (20:21): You totally could’ve been Bi!

SS (20:21): Or straight! The whole ex-boyfriend thing was a lie, remember? - You could’ve just been a straight bro, pretending to be into dudes, to help me out.

SS (20:22): It aint a dumb question, really. So … Don’t be annoying!!

Oh. Okay.

Newly nervous, I begin typing out my response - Ensuring that I sound perfectly unphased.  

ME (20:22): Christ, Snow! You seriously have to stop sending so many texts in a row. My phone is going to have a meltdown, if you keep it up.

Hesitating slightly, I continue.

ME (20:23): But, you’re right. Sorry. I didn’t mean to make it to sound as though Gay and Straight were the only options. I could’ve been Bi … Or Straight, I suppose. But, to clarify - I’m definitely not. I’m gay.

ME (20:24): I guess that - Where I’ve known since I was eleven, and I stopped trying to hide it a while ago now, I sort of forget that it isn’t immediately apparent to everybody else. Everyone in my Family knows. Everyone at College, too. So, I just, sort of, forget that I can still be perceived as anything other than what I actually am.

SS (20:26): Hush you! I like multiple texts!! It’s easier to keep my track of my thoughts, like that. If I try to put it all in one text, I forget what I wanna say.

SS (20:26): And dw about it, it’s chill! I know you didn’t mean it like that, I was just teasing :)

SS (20:27): I get what you mean tho. Coming out was so scary … But now I sort of forget that not everybody knows. I just like to assume they do lol. It’s stopped being such a big thing, now that I can just, like, relax about it.

Unsure of how to respond, I type out a simple …

ME (20:28): Yeah.

SS (20:28): Yeah :)

SS (20:28): Seriously, tho. Who is Mordelia? You never actually answered me lol.

ME (20:29): She’s my little sister.

SS (20:30): Oh lol! That’s crazy! I didn’t think you had a sibling.

SS (20:30): You don’t give off doting big brother vibes.

SS (20:31): More like … Spoiled only child, ones. LOL! :D

SS (20:31): Is she your only sibling?

Unable to help myself, I chuckle, quietly.  

ME (20:32): Very funny, Snow. But I never said I was doting! I may be their brother, but I still have standards.

ME (20:33): And, no (Unfortunately). I have three more - Two sisters, and a brother. They’re my step-siblings technically, though. And they’re quite a bit younger than me. So, I was an only child for quite a long time.

SS (20:33): Cool!

SS (20:34): Do they all have stupidly posh names, too?

SS (20:34): And, do you like having siblings?

SS (20:35): I always wanted a brother, when I was little!

ME (20:36): Yes. Unfortunately, my family are incapable of picking normal names.

ME (20:37): And, yes. Most of the time, anyway. It’s nice to always have somebody to talk to - Or to play with (Although, I think I would’ve appreciated that more, if the age-gap wasn’t quite so wide). But, they do drive me up the wall, sometimes! Mordelia has taken to drawing all over my revision notes, recently - I’m sure you can imagine how I felt about that!

SS (20:40): Aw, yeah. That sounds nice!

SS (20:40): LMAO! THAT’S HILARIOUS! I feel bad for her tho … I’d hate to have your wrath turned on me! You'd probs make me cry lol.

ME (20:41): Yes, well. Despite what you think - My wrath was, evidently, not strong enough! She’s still bloody doing it!

SS (20:43): Aha lol! I like her! She sounds as stubborn as you.

————————————————————————————

A soft rap on the door, disturbs me from my conversation with Snow.

“Baz, Honey? Are you in there?” Daphne calls, her voice sweet and cautious.

“Yeah? You can open the door. It’s fine - I’m decent.”

“Okay,” she hums, pushing the door open slightly, and peeping her head in. “I just wanted to let you know that I'm about to start plating up dinner.”

“Alright,” I smile. “Thank you. I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Perfect. See you then,” she sings, turning and leaving the room.

Hastily, I rattle out a text to Snow.

ME (21:14): As much as I am enjoying this, I have to go now, Snow. Sorry.

SS (21:14): Aw :( How come?

ME (21:15): I’ve got to go and eat dinner.

SS (21:15): At nine ?!?

ME (21:16): Yes, Snow - At nine. I must compliment you on your time-telling abilities!  

ME (21:16): My Father insists that we eat dinner together as a family, but he was working late tonight … So, nine P.M steak it is.

SS (21:17): Aw fuck! You have steak! I’m well jel :(((

SS (21:17): But, okay, no worries! Hope you enjoy your dinner.

SS (21:18): TTYL :D

ME (21:18):  Will do! Talk to you later. Goodbye for now :)

[mist-chance]

So. There’s a post very much like this one already here, on my Tumblr, that I claimed was a one-shot – I was wrong. Somehow, when I made an aO3 account, I was inspired to expand on it a bit, and it became the first chapter of From the Ashes. 

It’s categorized as Gen, with the possibility of becoming shonen-ai Endeavor/OC.

Summary:

The U.A. Sports Festival is the perfect stage for Shouto's debut as the future Hero who will overtake All Might's Number One Hero position - all Enji has to do is convince the rebellious idiot to use his flames.

Somehow, this ends up not being the focus of Enji's attention.

Enji scoured the stands for a seat that would give him the best vantage point for watching Shouto. He'd never attended the U.A. Sports Festival as a spectator – usually he sent a few Sidekicks as representatives in case he needed someone to act in his stead (either by interacting with other Heroes or scouting new talent), while he watched the event at his office.

It was necessary for him to be here, this time. Shouto, despite his rebellious stubbornness, wouldn't be able to keep up his ridiculous pledge during the Sports Festival. This was the event for wannabe Heroes, the time, place, and opportunity to show their strength and ability – what little they had, in most cases.

At some point, Shouto would give in. And Enji would be here to see it.

Enji spotted a row relatively free of spectators that suited his purposes well enough. Though his Quirk, constantly active, generally encouraged other people to give him a wide berth, he'd learned early on that it was best to squash any possibility for misunderstandings by pointedly isolating himself, and then exercising use of his scowl and flames with extreme prejudice.

“Move,” he ordered the man blocking the aisle. When the redhead didn’t immediately do so, Enji kicked his sneaker.

“Jesus!” The redhead jumped, scribbling zigzags in the notebook propped on his thigh. “What the fuck is your problem?” He turned to glare at Enji.

He was younger than expected, but it was his mismatched eyes – one teal, the other silver – that startled Enji. He quickly snapped, “You are, brat. Move your legs and stop blocking the damn row.”

For a moment, it looked like the redhead was going to put up a fight. Then he sighed, loud with exasperation, and pulled his legs in. “You don’t have to be such an asshole about it, Endeavor-san,” he mockingly said as Enji slipped by his knees. He glared again when Enji sat down next to him. “Really? There are literally three other seats open in this row.”

“The view’s better here.” Enji crossed his arms, flexing them to make his bulk and flames take up more space.

The redhead muttered something that sounded like a vehement “Asshole” as he shifted to the far side of his seat. He adjusted the headband of his headphones to a more secure position in his spiky hair, placed the notebook back on his thigh, and started writing with the focused, single-minded intensity Enji had only ever seen in reporters sniffing around for a scoop.

Since he had nothing better to do, Enji watched the redhead. After writing on a line or two, the redhead would press buttons on the headphone casing over his left ear, write some more, and then repeat the process. Enji’s frown deepened, but movement in the arena drew his attention as Present Mic announced the start of the cavalry battle.

Throughout the event, Enji kept half an eye on the redhead, whose scribbling and messing with the headphones increased with the students’ shouts from the arena and the roar of the spectators. It wasn’t as though Shouto was displaying power or abilities Enji didn't already know the stubborn idiot possessed. The only reason Enji bothered to watch him at all, from time to time, was to make sure the brat didn’t slack off more, and to see if he’d give up his meaningless rebellion to use Enji’s power. And Shouto did slip, just for a moment, against that pipsqueak Enji had seen All Might hovering around. For those reasons, the pipsqueak might be worth keeping an eye on.

After the event ended, Enji stood and hauled the redhead up by the arm.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” the redhead snapped, his eyes flashing and pupils narrowed into pinpricks. He managed to catch the pen in his notebook as Enji dragged him away. His arm was tense in Enji’s hand, trembling in a way that had little to do with the fact they were pushing past crowds of spectators to the contestants’ backstage area of the arena, and everything to do with the furious rage the redhead bored into the back of Enji’s head with his glare.

“You’ve got some nerve, gathering info on prospective Heroes and Pro Heroes during the Sports Festival,” Enji said lowly after he shoved the redhead against a wall. He braced a hand just above the redhead’s shoulder and loomed. “Who are you working for?”

The redhead gave Enji’s chest an ineffectual shove. “First of all,” he snapped, fearlessly meeting Enji’s scowl with his own, “this is a nationally televised event, which means Villains don’t have to come here to gather info. Second, if you’d asked like a civilized person, I would’ve told you that I’m here as a favor for Nedzu and Aizawa Shouta, your son’s teacher. And third –”

“Long time no see, Endeavor!” All Might’s loud greeting prevented Enji from finding out the redhead’s third point. His face remained irritatingly jovial with his customary grin as Enji turned a scowl onto him. “We should get –” He cut himself off when his overshadowed gaze flickered from Enji to the redhead. “Uh… Sorry, Endeavor, I didn’t realize you were – Hisui-chan?”

“Hey Toshi-san.” The redhead smiled. This time, Enji stepped back when the redhead pushed at his chest. “I was wondering where you were,” he said, walking over to hug All Might.

“Hisui-chan,” All Might repeated, sounding pleased instead of incredulous as he readily wrapped his thick arms around the redhead’s slender frame. “If I’d known you were coming, I would’ve arranged to sit with you.”

“I thought Shouta told you I was.” The redhead stepped back to frown in the direction of the commentator’s box. “Well, it’s fine. You probably would’ve distracted me,” he teased, giving All Might’s arm a playful shove.

All Might gave an awkward laugh. “Accidentally, of course,” he assured as he rubbed the back of his head. “I didn’t know you were acquainted with Endeavor.” He fixed an uncharacteristically stern look on Enji.

Enji restlessly rolled a shoulder. He had better things to do than watch All Might be buddy-buddy with an irritating redhead, now that he knew said redhead wasn’t a security risk. “We aren’t,” Enji growled. “We aren’t acquaintances,” he snapped when All Might’s face crumpled into a bemused frown.

“Then, Endeavor, this is Hisui!” All Might’s smile returned to its blinding effect full-force as he clapped a large hand on the redhead’s slim shoulder. “And Hisui-chan, you know of Endeavor.”

“Uh huh,” Hisui dryly agreed, his gaze flickering to Enji. “A real charmer.”

Enji bristled, but before he could retort, All Might asked, “So what’re you two doing down here? I thought you’d visit Aizawa-kun, Hisui-chan, or stay in the stands.”

“I wanted to talk with Todoroki-kun, Midoriya-kun, and Bakugou-kun real quick, to see if I can confirm something,” Hisui explained. “Endeavor found me down here and wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to cause trouble.”

Anger burned under his skin and made his flames flicker ominously as Hisui’s mismatched eyes slyly met Enji’s glare. All Might, of course, was oblivious to the exchange.

“What a doting father!” All Might chuckled. “Don’t worry, Endeavor, Hisui-chan’s just going to give some pointers. He used to be a Hero himself, you know,” he said with a proud paternal air that made Enji’s lip curl in disgust.

“I’m just gonna…” Hisui trailed off, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder as he started slinking away.

“Go on.” All Might waved him off. “Let’s meet after the awards ceremony.”

“You got it, Toshi-san.” Hisui grinned and quickly disappeared down the corridor, leaving Enji with All Might.

“He used to be a Hero?” Enji demanded. He needed something as compensation for enduring All Might’s presence longer than necessary.

“Yes! He went by the Hero name Oracle. Of course, he was an Underground Hero much like Aizawa-kun, so he didn’t receive a lot of publicity, and not many people are aware he existed. He retired five years ago. Now he works as a consultant for the Police, though he also consults for U.A. at Nedzu-kouchou's request.”

“Retired? He can’t be older than twenty-five,” Enji scoffed.

“He’s thirty-one,” All Might corrected. “Unfortunately, retirement was his only option. He was severely injured fighting a Villain. It is…one of my biggest regrets,” he softly admitted.

All Might's slumped shoulders told Enji everything he needed to know about the circumstances that had forced the redhead into retirement. It was the first time Enji could remember him expressing a genuine emotion other than cheerfulness. Thankfully, All Might recovered himself before Enji was tempted to see him as anything other than the enthusiastic, boisterous annoyance that had managed to secure the position of Number One Hero.

“I’m glad I ran into you, Endeavor! It really has been a while; we should catch up. You can give me pointers on raising the next generation of Heroes. Todoroki-kun’s adept at using his Quirk, which is impressive for his age. His future as a Hero is extremely promising.”

“You think I’ll teach you anything? Remember this: I created the Hero that will surpass you,” Enji said as he turned away. “It’s the only reason I created that boy.”

[terminalpolitics]

A Short History of My Blog

I made this blog a few years back so that I could talk to various friends from an MMO after the game forums got overmoderated and complaining about racist behavior by a player earned you a ban.

In the beginning, I mostly used it to discuss things about that video game and to socialize or reblog pictures of charming cats. My friends would always cheer me on when I defended Obama or talked about how morally reprehensible Republicans were. They were also very happy with my call-out posts in which I archived evidence of sexual predation or bigotry by members of our small MMo community.

I noticed then, though, that when the creeper in our community was popular –or worse, one of their buddies– they suddenly took a much more “tolerant” veiw of when things like racial slurs were really in bad taste.

While posting more politics in defense of Obama and against Republican obstruction, I ran into Tumblr’s white supremacist and neo-Nazi community. Now, I had been antifascist for years and I have warned for a long time against the rise of the far-right and the dangers of rightwing extremism – in person as well as online.

So, I got into a lot of fights with Naziblr, and I got a lot of notes from folks (mostly anonymous) who thought I was being “unfair” or who wished my blog “went back to how it used to be”. And because I did feel bad springing Naziism on people’s dash, I made up a special tag for my anti-Nazi posts so that folks could filter it out and just enjoy MMO talk and cat photos.

A similar thing happened when I wanted to talk about Putin, Russia’s anti-LGBT bigotry, and the resurgence of the far-right globally. It got to be a bit much for my followers so I had to make a special tag again.

As I became more and more disgusted and realized that Obama was not the progressive we had voted for, and I began to criticize the United States more – attacking fuck-ups like the thankfully-late Chris Kyle, I got less and less “^^this”s from my friends.

When the Democratic primary happened and I started posting in support of Bernie Sanders, my friends (who were largely with her) started vague-posting anti-Sanders responses to my posts, but acted all “I don’t know what you mean” when I tried to discuss it directly. So, I (you may have guessed it) made a unique tag for my pro-Bernie Sanders posts so that people could block them. I also made a separate unique tag for my criticism of Hillary Clinton, and used #politics so if somebody wanted to ignore the whole election, they could block that too.

Then, having not really been connected to my MMO community in awhile and being bored of blogging in general. I shutdown my blog for a couple of months.

When I restarted it, I changed the name and informed everyone that it was 100% political from there on out. Bernie had lost the rigged Democratic Primary and I was now supporting Jill Stein and the Green Party as they were the only progressive act in town.

Well, that was completely unacceptable.

Though they knew I was planning on voting third party, my friends repeatedly reblogged memes and shitposts insulting third party voters. When I responded to these posts, they usually gaslit me and said I was actually attacking them by objecting to their post that insulted me.

And because I was voting for the wrong white women, they smeared me as being racist and sexist – in vague-posts or MMO chats of course.

At the same time, they posted ridiculous and objectively sexist things about Jill Stein. When I responded negatively, they lamented what I had “turned into” and called Jill Stein a “cunt” and “bitch” and added that I was a “pussy.” Yet, somehow I was the person being sexist here.

When I called out the clique who were responsible for the trolling, my friends again tried to gaslight me and acted like it was a coincidence or something that they all frequently dogpiled my posts.

In some cases, I asked people who obviously hated me to unfollow me and they refused because “Um, I kinda read some of the news you post even though I think you are a scumfuck.” So I blocked them.

Then, I just blocked everyone who liked the “Jill Stein is a cunt” post and suddenly about 90% of the trolling that my admittedly controversial blog received dropped off.

While blocked, whenever I made a post about something like Clinton’s complicity in the right-wing coup in Honduras and subsequent assassination of activists, there would be a spate of mirror-posts arguing that Rightwing coups were actually progressive. And I’d be told about it by our mutual friends.

When I didn’t respond, a “friend of a friend” made a parody of my tumblr called @terminallystupidpolitics that’s profile read something like “hurr durr Jill Stein mah white privilege.” I was told about that by another mutual friend.

And of course when Trump won it was my mostly my fault according to my friends. But I had blocked them, so I only heard echoes of it when mutual friends reblogged their sentiments.

I don’t tell you this because “Oh, I’ve had it so rough!” I haven’t. A few appleheads hating on you over politics comes with the territory. Even losing friends over politics is completely normal – especially when the politics reveals that your friend was only ever concern-trolling when it came to social justice.

The reason I tell you this is because I tried to self-censorship and I tried not to rock the boat, but that wasn’t enough. It isn’t enough that you hide your position or just keep your social justice on the downlow.

The very fact that you are committed to social justice is a threat to people who secretly feel that your committment makes theirs look bad. They can’t allow you to exist even on the margins because if someone says “I won’t compromise on this issue” and they will compromise, they suddenly feel bad about themselves.

And when people feel bad about themselves, the easy option is for them to take it out on someone else. 

Rather than recommitting to social justice which is hard, they can just discredit the person who is more real than they are – you see this done constantly by the Democratic Party on a much larger level.

Self-censorship gets you nowhere and just stifles your message. Your friends don’t want your civility, they want your conformity. Only when you stop having opinions outside the party line will you be allowed back into the fold. “Agree-to-disagree” is just shit they say when they are losing the argument and smearing you instead behind your back.

You can only be true to your own beliefs. You gain nothing by moderating your beliefs so that your friends will be more accepting of your difference – it is not your difference they value, it is your likemindedness. They want their biases and values confirmed and justified. They don’t want you to fuck up the bubble by offering an alternative.

These days I feel much happier being able to post what I want without pulling any punches. I like to think that I am expressing myself openly and honestly and people can either take it or leave it.

I do still see comments reblogged by mutuals from folks that gaslit and smeared me, but it seems pretty distant now – like we were all different people. Or maybe we just got a better look at each other.

I value the work that people are doing on tumblr in spreading truly progressive and antifascist messages. I think that a lot of good can come from that. If you think to yourself, hey, maybe I should start a political blog, my advice is to not worry about what your friends think – if they can’t handle you talking about social justice then they were pretty shitty friends to start.

As Trump consolidates power and the press and political system normalize his bigotry, it is more important than ever that we speak our minds. We cannot hold back because of society’s centrist propagnda, or because it might upset our friends, or because the Democratic Party tells us we aren’t allowed to criticize them.

We need to be real, and that is what I aim to do with this blog for the rest of my time here and I hope you will join me.