#but this is the long and short of it

[familyabolisher]

what do you think of gretchen felker-martin’s work, if you’ve read it? I expected a lot from manhunt based on everything I heard about it but found it to be just fine

short answer: manhunt's prose sucked

long answer: i'm so over this little clique which has identified - by and large correctly - that what tends to sell in mainstream publishing scenes for genre lit is v meek, tepid writing with timid politics and didactic liberalism shaping its discourse, and used this fact to effectively carve out a marketing niche. the selling point of manhunt wasn't felker-martin's skill as a writer (to be perfectly honest: she does not have a lot of this); it was her consciously positioning herself amidst a discourse of "puritanism," liberalism, "censorship," "childishness"(!) etc in genre lit such that buying and adulating her book was a way to signal one's immediate "side" in the genre lit discourse wars. like ... that's a grift and a half, innit.

i do have some sympathy for this position! i know that gretchen is largely responding to the harassment of isabel fall, and i respect that. and i do, i guess, agree with her that the bulk of contemporary anglophone genre lit in mainstream spheres is having to measure up to a particular palatability such that eg. trans women's writing comes under heavy scrutiny & the sort of writing that fall was doing encounters precisely the backlash she got. i just - don't buy into her imagined solution of publishing a very graphic horror book about terfs with tor nightfire to own the libs.

the problem is that it's an incurious position. going to the capitalist hegemony and getting mad when there's liberalism in the literature is like going to the circus and getting mad that you saw clowns. there's no desire to move away from these circuits which reward easy stories & bury difficult ones; there's no desire to question why we hold these sites of production up as ultimately legitimating structures. there's a real sense that just getting the big names in publishing to publish the Right books is a significant accomplishment (and by extension, you as the participant who Agrees with gretchen on this matter must therefore Support Her Work).

i'll admit that i never actually finished manhunt - i didn't get very far in at all because the prose just drove me insane. so maybe i can't give a fair assessment of the book. but the problem i had reading it was that like, the prose was bad! more specifically, it was an incurious prose, reflecting what i identified above - an incurious approach to storytelling. it was an excessively didactic voice guiding me as a reader from discourse point to discourse point like she was worried i wouldn't get what she was going for if she didn't make it absolutely crystal clear in quotidian prose. this tends to make for the kind of story where i'll think about it for maybe 20 minutes and then be done with it forever, because you've already given me all the answers yourself. like. challenge me! stop patronising the reader! if i wanted this i would go read a medium article!

like, i like novels that construct discourse through literary technique such that they leave me with these various entry points & angles from which i can think about them & respond to them in a sophisticated manner. when a book comes barrelling into my living room and goes Hi, I Am About Discourse Points 1, 2, and 3, i am left with very little space in which to do that. i also just - and maybe this is boring of me, but - i like when prose is good! it's very like, well, congratulations on publishing a novel where you write jkr getting like burned alive in her castle or whatever it was but did you care about this story as anything more than a vehicle for Discourse? lol

(there's absolutely a place for quotidian + straightforward prose, fwiw, and i wouldn't appeal to Literary Technique as a measure of quality, but - like, it just wasn't a technically skilled book, and it wasn't a book which had much of a desire to be received as much more than a bit of grist for the discourse mill.)

also i find gretchen annoying on twitter but since twitter is the website for annoying people i guess i can't hold that against her

[vvolken]

please stop following me because of this post. i am not a funny relatable meme blog.

also this post was about me forgetting significant life events due to CPTSD, but it is meant to be inclusive of anyone with a disorder or disability that causes them to forget things regardless of what they do to try to remember.

i know sometimes you can use lists or whatever to help yourself remember, but this does not work for all people in all situations. my original tags and the post itself imply this.

i do not check every note because i turn off notifications after 40 or 50 notes. i do not have the energy or desire to argue with all the people that bring up counter-topics. it's not my job to correct your poor reading comprehension.

i will turn off reblogs if people continue to follow me or make stupid arguments in the reblogs or comments. i don't like turning off reblogs because it's disappointing to see a post you like and not be able to reblog it, but i will if things continue the way they are.

original post:

"i would kill for you" "i would die for you" okay but would you forgive me if i forgot something important for the 51204th time in a row even though i tried my best to remember

[thunderon]

“long hair on guys doesn’t make them less masculine. think keanu reeves, jason momoa, danny trejo, or the guy at your local dive bar who rides a motorcycle”

*the crowd nods*

“so long hair doesn’t necessarily determine masculinity”

*the crowd, more hesitant, still nodding*

“butches can have long hair—“

*GUNSHOT*

[iamthekingdom-iamnotyourqueen]

[ardri-na-bpiteog]

Also increasingly aware that a LOT of people "manage" getting through the 40+ hour work week by sleeping less than is healthy and relying on stimulants like coffee and energy drinks to keep them going.

For people who are unwilling or unable to do this...work really does just dominate your life. Like we really should not have to rely on unhealthy practices just to have a social life or keep on top of housework or whatever.

I know I post about this a lot but I'm so TIRED all the time and it's just so depressing that this is how we're expected to spend the one life we have.

[poemale]

 　 　　   ⪩　 bow symbols　 𑆪ིྀᩧ

　   ^᪲　  ིྀྀི　   ౨ৎ   ꣑𓍢 　  ❜୧　  ୨୧ 　  𐙚᭄

　   ^᪲᪲᪲　  ೀ　  ೨౿   ᠀𓏲　  ϑ𐑞 　 ꣑୧　  ︶ིྀᩧ

　  𐙚　  ೇ　  𑁥౿　 ꢾ𓍢ִ໋　  𐒘𝛠　  ϑℓ　  ၄၃

　　 ꔫ　  ^ྀི᪲　   ୭ৎ　 𝝑𓏲 　 𝝑𝝔　  𝝑𝑒　   ⪩⪨

　  ᤣ९　 ◌⃘ꔫ　  ໑᱖　 ୨𓏲̼　 𝟅𝟈　  𝝑୧　   ⃟͚ 𐙚

　　 𓍼　  ੭̲᱖　  ꪆৎ　 𑁥𓍢　  𝞋𝞎 　 𝜗𝜚　   ၇⃪⃖ꪆ୧

͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏ ͏͏͏

　 

[bastardlybonkers]

i feel like not enough ppl are factoring in the cultural clash between laios and shuro and the many micro agressions shuro faced while being in their group. literally the name 'shuro' in itself is one

his name is toshiro 😭 lets also not forget that he has his own communication issues, in the opposite way that laios does- thats literally a factor in their argument, that his envy for laios's ability to express himself sincerely manifested as part of his distaste for him.

ig all this to say like, was their fight heart wrenching, especially when reading laios as autistic? absolutely. anybody whos ever been in laios's position knows how much it hurts to realize someone you thought was your friend doesnt actually like having you around, especially when they didnt tell you and you had no way of knowing due to not understanding their cues. but im begging yall to step back and see the nuance of this situation cause im gonna be real a lot of you are kinda just brushing over it acting like everything is toshiros fault and that hes a terrible person when in reality hes an average guy who really, really clashed with laios and it led to a very long misunderstanding due to their supremely opposite methods of communication. even laios and toshiro, after letting everything out in their fight, were able to come to an understanding and start a foundation for an actual friendship built on better communication

ok yknow what Edit: i shouldve made it even more explicit at the end of this post, i hadnt thought i would need to since i started the post with this, but i think a few too many people are missing my point so i just wanna clarify. i shouldnt have said 'really clashed' and left it at that because yeah they did, but it wasnt just their opposite methods of communication, it is also very much that toshiro was experiencing microaggressions via laios. it may have been unintentional on laios's part, but it still happened and wore him down, made it harder for him to communicate on top of both the more subtle social cues that he was raised with and his own communication difficulties. i also want to say that the fandom reaction to toshiro and the complete ignorance of this point is also racist tbh or at the very least ignorant. i understand that the anime did not cover this panel, and neither did the manga, as this was an omake, but im gonna be real with you guys. there are enough context clues within the story to clue you into this. if you didnt pick up on it thats ok, but i think this is a good lesson in picking up subtext in the stories that youre watching and/or reading. kui shouldnt have to explicitly say 'by the way laios was racist to toshiro' for this point to be understood, and at the very least, when the author portrays a character in a sympathetic light (as kui clearly does) it should make you question Why they are doing so and what makes them sympathetic, rather than youre immediate and only reaction to be 'well i hated what this guy did/said so i hate them and they suck'. idk exactly how to finish this, just. idk. question your biases and gut reactions to things you see in media and stories, and think about whether or not theres subtext that youre missing.

[inmyperfectworld]

Another natural hair appreciation post. 🤎✨ I just LOVE our hair so much.

[i9evabae]

  𖦹 ׂ 𓈒 🐇 ໋ cute  symbols ／ ⋆ ۪

♡ ̆̈ ୨ৎ. ᰔᩚ ⋆.˚ <𝟑 𓍯

๋࣭ ⭑⚝ ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗ 𐙚˙⋆.˚ ⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚ ♡?

𓆉 𓆝 𓆟 𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊 𝜗𝜚 ˙ᵕ˙ᰔᩚ

𓊆ྀི . . 🃜🃚🃖 ✎ᝰ. ⊹₊ ⋆ ⋆｡𖦹°‧

[kithj]

good games i've played on itchio lately:

please tell me you love me - chat with your guild members for the last time before the game's servers are shut down

GIRLKILLER (covet) - there is a girl who looks like you, and today you're going to kill her

cover me in leaves - stuck in your small hometown, you get your first tattoo. and then a few more, and more, and more

don't rock the boat - play through the different perspectives of a women's crew team as they are stalked by something in the water

GUTLESS - you are the captain of a deep sea vessel. your mission doesn't go well

so, about last night... - you wake up sick and weirdly hungry after hooking up with someone at a party. you spend the next night trying to find her.

close the window, my love - short bitsy poem about closing the window. sound on! this creator has a lot of short bitsy works i recommend.

there is a beautiful star - just a short, cute side scroller. lots of short, lighthearted games from them, definitely recommend for a mood booster.

[shopwitchvamp]

“Omg, I love these! They go up to size 6X AND they have pockets?! Wow!! But do you have anything longer?”

Sure do, no problem!!

“YES these are great!!! But what about.. longer?”

I gotcha!! Comin’ right up!

“Perfect! But I have just one more question… what if I’m feeling spicy? How about skirts that are even shorter than the first ones?!” Oh, you’re in luck! We’ve got minis now.

*wild cheering* /scene

🖤witchvamp.com🖤

[v6que]

ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ

ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ི᭨ᩧྀㅤ ㅤ ꒰͡⠀𝅄⠀͡꒱ㅤ ㅤ ❸

ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ 𓍚ํֻㅤㅤ ㅤ⭑๋܂෨ㅤㅤ ꘓꞋꞋ៰៰꣓

ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ 𐔌᭥ᩙ༉ㅤ ㅤ 𒈔ٍ⃛ㅤ ㅤ ᰔᩚಎ

ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ

[l-unitas]

͏

heart symbols :

ᥫ᭡ ᡣ𐭩 ᰔᩚ ఇ 𑁤 ‹𝟹 ꨄ︎

ᰔ ෆ ❣︎ ఌ ❥ ও ৎ୭ ♡̶

۪ᩍ ❤︎ ♡ﾟ ♡̵ ᡴꪫ ྐ❤︎ 𐚁

͏

[pineapple-frenzy]

Book 2 au: sparring sessions and short hair katara

They like to have sparring sessions in order to keep their bending skills sharp. They allow themselves to go all out and not hold back at all cause they know if anyone got hurt, Katara could just heal them

But anyways, wouldn't it be kinda funny if Zuko accidentally burned Katara's hair tho? Aofkqldkkajfjd

The "I think we can save the hairloops" line is from @linnoya-writes thank you for that!! :>>

[stil-lindigo]

the fox god.

a comic about a trickster.

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