#especially if youre in europe and north america!

[incognitopolls]

In Brazil, Turma da Monica was created in the 1960s, and to this day is one of the main starter reading materials for children. Anon is curious if comic books are universally culturally significant, especially among children.

–

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[wilbursoot-updates]

Lovejoy is in this article!

Wake Up! Lovejoy are already a phenomenon

Squashed into a tour bus somewhere in Berlin are the biggest band that – unless you’re as chronically online as us, Dear Reader – you’ve maybe never heard of. With sold-out tours across the UK, Europe and North America, millions of monthly Spotify listeners and a spot in the UK Top 40 with their latest single ‘Call Me What You Like’, Lovejoy could be mistaken for veterans.

Far from it. Their first proper bit of press is, well, this very cover interview. They’re gearing up to release only their third (or maybe fourth, depending how you count their just dropped ‘From Studio 4’ collection, released under the name Anvil Cat) EP, ‘Wake Up & It’s Over’, and those sold-out tours? The first shows they’ve ever played. It’s rare this amount of hype surrounds a guitar band these days, so who the fuck are Lovejoy?

Formed during the early 2021 UK lockdown, Lovejoy consists of Will Gold as the frontman, Joe Goldsmith on lead guitar, Ash Kabosu on bass, and Mark Boardman on drums. Seemingly brought together by sheer luck, their epic ascent is the result of a lifetime of individual hard work and some serious fan devotion over the past couple of years.

It’s taken a while to pin the band down, and we catch them just after their first full UK tour as they embark on the European leg. It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind.

“I think it was our 32nd show yesterday, which is just nuts,” says Ash, who introduces himself as the one who doesn’t talk and proceeds to lead the interview. “Literally every show we’ve played, we’ve been like, ‘That was the best one!’ Then the next one, ‘Oh, that was the best one!’”

“I’ve especially been enjoying acclimating myself to not knowing where I’m going to be falling asleep every night,” says Will, “which is a very hard thing to get around. But it’s a lot of fun. I’m really enjoying it. And I love seeing everyone’s faces because we’ve been somewhat of a lockdown band. To now be able to put faces to the numbers is great; it’s lovely to see and speak to them.”

Describing their very first live shows at the end of 2022 as “teething”, Lovejoy admit they’re still getting to grips with it all. Although the size of their fanbase means they could’ve easily sold out bigger venues than the humble Electric Brixton they headed up on this tour, they didn’t want to skip steps for a good reason.

“Rock music has always been what me and Joe were the most interested in” -Will Gold

“We didn’t want to be bad,” says Ash, frankly. “It’s a completely different ballpark to just, you know, playing guitar in your bedroom, and there are so many moving parts and so many things you don’t think about that you need to learn and understand. We didn’t want to deliver a show to the fans that wasn’t good enough, so we’ve been deliberately ramping it up step by step and going through the process as naturally as possible.”

“It’s so much more personable and fun to make mistakes in front of a crowd of a couple hundred people who are along with you for the ride than when you start to get into the larger crowds,” adds Will. “Making a mistake, at least for me, really gets to me, but if I’m in a room with less people, and they’re there for the story, I feel more ready to make mistakes.”

Will and Joe cut their teeth playing with a folk punk band a few years prior to Lovejoy forming. After what Will describes as a “very dramatic first gig”, they went their separate ways, but his lust for live never went away. Finding one another at the beginning of the pandemic, Joe came to visit Will before the lockdowns kicked in and decided to sleep on the sofa rather than risking taking public transport back and forth to London.

“We wrote our entire first EP in my basement and very quickly decided we’re going to need a drummer and a bassist because all the stuff we were writing was band stuff,” Will explains. “It wasn’t our normal folk stuff that we were used to – and rock music has always been what me and Joe were the most interested in; even when we were in that folk band, we used to implore the lead singer if we could write some indie music please, and he would always be like, nah, not really into Arctic Monkeys actually.”

So they set out to find both a bassist and a drummer. Fate did its thing, and upon walking into a Smashburger in Brighton, Will met Ash, bass guitar in tow, and asked him if he’d like to be in a band.

“Ash is not one to say no to many exciting adventures,” says Will, “so he said yeah, and I gave him my address. Joe was very sceptical at first when I said I found a bassist in a burger shop.”

“I think for me personally,” adds Ash, “I’m living in Brighton – which is kind of a young, creative place – you often have conversations in pubs and places where people are like, we should do this, we should do that, and I genuinely thought that this was just another one of those conversations. Like, ‘Hey, I’m in a band, do you want to play?’ I never thought in my wildest dreams anything would even come of it. I didn’t even think we’d practice, let alone be playing shows in front of thousands of people.”

As for Mark, he was booked for the day via the freelancer hiring website Fiverr. When they couldn’t pay him the fee he was owed, they instead offered him a spot in the band. 

“I said, look, you’re sick at this, do you want to just join the band?” Will explains. “Mark thought about it for a good five seconds and then said yes.”

“I was really determined, playing acoustic guitar and learning stuff from YouTube and Arctic Monkeys songbooks” -Joe Goldsmith

Echoing Ash’s sentiments, Mark recalls, “I thought it would be another band that I’d join that wouldn’t even release on Spotify. Now we’ve sold out tours in the UK, Europe, America….”

Life before Lovejoy was very different for most of the boys. Mark was at university studying editing, hoping to work in visual effects, letting drumming take the back seat. “It would have been a grind for like 40 years to get a good paying job, and Will came along and saved me. So I’m very grateful for that,” he says.

Ash was working in broadcasting as a producer for TV, a job he’d gotten into after studying film production at uni, and had taught himself animation as another means of income. “Unlike Mark, I actually enjoyed it,” he adds.

As for Joe, he was working as a tree surgeon, which is a flashier-sounding name than what the job actually entailed. “I was literally just cleaning up branches on the floor,” he says. “I wasn’t even allowed to go up the trees.”

Will isn’t such a stranger to the spotlight, as he edited for the YouTube channel SootHouse in the late 2010s, later creating his own channel as Wilbur Soot and amassing a sizeable following on the streaming platform Twitch (although the other boys say they had no idea about his following when they joined the band, Ash noting, “I just thought he was quite a tall, handsome man, we’re just here because we fancy Will”).

With the band assembled, they started recording together in Will’s bedroom. In early 2021, the UK was still firmly in lockdown, so with all studios closed, it was their only choice. When they finally made it to a studio, the group had two days to record five songs, the ones that would make up their first EP, 2021’s ‘Are You Alright?’.

“We didn’t get enough done,” says Will, “which is why the first EP actually has scratch vocals. We just used my draft vocals that are then doubled up and thickened out. And also because it would have been far too expensive to just keep going back.”

“Which is why, little easter egg,” adds Ash, “some of the lyrics are wrong. We don’t sing those anymore, so the fans get very confused when we perform some of the earlier songs.”

The whole journey has been a learning curve for all four members. With none of them coming from a proper musical background, there was no one to guide them in the process. “We kind of had to jump headfirst in and see what we can do off the back of it,” says Will.

That isn’t to say they haven’t put the work in, though. With each of the boys picking up their instruments in their childhood or teenage years, it feels like they’ve been setting up their own individual dominoes, hitting the ground running when they were knocked down in perfect formation.

“There’s a photo of me when I was a baby,” Mark begins, explaining where he got his start in music. “I couldn’t even walk, and I’m on my auntie’s lap, who originally taught me drums. I’ve been wanting to play since I could speak, basically, but we could never afford a kit. And then I got to about eight years old, my parents finally got me an electric drum kit, and my auntie started teaching me. I caught up with her quickly, which was crazy. I always wanted to be in a band, but I was thinking more realistically, it’s the same odds as becoming a famous football player or something like that. Then along came these boys, and it all changed.”

“I was really determined from when I was about 13, 14?” Joe recalls, “Playing acoustic guitar and just learning stuff from YouTube and Arctic Monkeys songbooks, working out tabs and things like that. I was pretty dead set on at least giving it a shot to try.”

Ash’s start was similar, learning to play guitar with his dad. “When I was very young, my dad found an old Spanish guitar in the attic of our family home that wasn’t ours,” he tells us. “I’ve kind of always played guitar, and I’ve always been interested in music; my dad is in a band as well, bless him, doing dad rock. It’s always been a part of me, but I never ever thought I’d do anything with it.”

“Not for me,” Will jumps in. “The minute I first started learning guitar, I was like, this is what I want. When I was a teenager, I used to follow around bands and go to all their shows, and I knew from that moment I want this as my creative outlet. This is where I want to put my creative energy. I literally remember I shut myself in my room and practised guitar for like ten hours a day in the beginning. I missed two summers doing that. To finally be in this position I’m in now, thanks to all the wonderful support we’ve gotten from people, a lot of them have come across from the YouTube space, is just absolutely humbling. I’m trying to give it back in any way I can.”

“I like to make rumours amongst the fan base; we’ve made up a bunch of nonsense” -Ash Kabosu

It’s fair to say Lovejoy have been pulled substantially further up the ladder by a deeply devoted fan base, but that’s part of what makes their trajectory so exciting. There hasn’t been a new guitar band that’s had venues bursting at the seams like this for a long time. Just two self-released (on their own label Anvil Cat via AWAL) EPs, debut ‘Are You Alright?’ and follow-up ‘Pebble Brain’ garnered enough love to have fans queuing around the block for hours on end when the live shows finally came. It’s reminiscent of what 5SOS were seeing at the start of their career ten years ago, or that other numbers band.

And the devotion goes both ways, too; Lovejoy play games with the fans, leaving puzzles on social media for the fans to solve, firing confetti with QR codes printed on every other piece out at their London headline show. Their involvement hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“Oh, man, I love them,” Ash gushes. “One of the best feelings for me is when we create something, even if it’s something as simple as a little photo shoot, the response is incredible. And to inspire other people to create through our creativity is just so rewarding. My favourite part of it is seeing the writing, the poetry, the paintings, the drawings, like all the art that comes back to us is incredible.”

Joe adds, “Every single person that I’ve met after a show or before a show, they’re all so respectful and all so lovely. And they’re just so generous.”

Ash continues, “They make such an effort and go out of their way to listen to the support bands’ music and show up for them; they show up on time and fill the place out for everyone. And then they go crazy jumping around and singing to everyone’s music, and that’s just so fucking cool.”

With new EP ‘Wake Up & It’s Over’ on the horizon, it’ll be their first proper release since 2021. A break away from recording to do the touring part of being a new band has led to Lovejoy’s longest writing phase yet and has played a part in shaping the sound of their new material. This time around, being able to take more time to record and more studio options, they’ve fined tuned their sound and brought it closer to their personal ideal.

Aiming for something a little heavier this time, the boys wanted to pull in their individual influences more drastically. For Will, that’s shouty British lyrics and overdriven guitars (he calls Arctic Monkeys the most famous example), with Ash also growing up on the late 2000s indie of Foals and Bombay Bicycle Club. Mark, on the other hand, was introduced to bands like Bring Me The Horizon and Asking Alexandria by his sister at a young age, pushing him into heavier territory when it came to discovering his own tastes and allowing the band to take on the slogan of ‘the only indie band with a double kick drum’. (Joe simply adds, “In the words of Brandon Flowers, it’s indie rock and roll for me.”)

Opening track ‘Portrait of a Blank Slate’ pulls in those influences most brazenly, employing the mathy Foals-y lead guitar, ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ era Arctic Monkeys fiddly bass, and wordy vocals a la The Wombats. “I can’t wait to play that for thousands of people,” says Joe.

They’ve been road-testing some of the other tracks too, the poppier (see: jumpier) ‘Consequences’ and ‘Warsaw’, as well as the single ‘Call Me What You Like’, but the rest have been kept a secret, one track particularly well.

Initially beginning the recording of this EP late last year, the boys weren’t 100% satisfied with the tracks. Having already played some of the tracks live, fans developed a particular affinity for one called ‘It’s Golden Hour Somewhere’, and up until the EP drops, have been under the impression it isn’t going to be released.

“I like to make rumours amongst the fan base,” says Ash, “I sort of said yeah, it’s scrapped, we just don’t like it, it’s not up to scratch, it doesn’t fit the nature of the EP, blah, blah, blah. We’ve just made up a bunch of nonsense. And they’ve bought into it. And as I expected, they’re also campaigning to bring it back. We’ve seen signs at shows saying ‘PLAY GOLDEN HOUR’. It’s just a bit of fun, and I think the relief and the excitement they’ll feel on the day that it comes out to just see it in the tracklisting will be worth it. I think for the amount of time that the fans have been waiting, we want it to be as special as possible.”

Even with ‘Call Me What You Like’ landing at No.32 on the UK Top 40 – an enormous feat and a rarity for a new band these days – it’s still what the fans think that means the most to Lovejoy. 

“It was very validating to see it go that far,” says Will. “I think that was our longest-ever lyric writing time; we had the tune down for about ten months before I even penned the lyrics that ended up going in the final release. To see that time pay off is amazing, but we had no idea it would get that reception. It’s more important that our fans really love what we’re putting out. We’re aiming to create music that will really connect with our fan base, and you know, we’ll give them back what they’ve given us.”

With formative years that any new band would dream of, a knockout first tour and an audience hungry for more, Lovejoy are keen to maintain the hype. Currently using soundcheck time to write new material, every spare hour is used wisely while they’re on the road, Ash hinting they’ve already got new songs saved up for when they return home. This summer, they’ll be hitting the festival circuit, playing Reading and Leeds for the first time and undoubtedly not the last. The path may not be fully paved yet, but it’s definitely leading somewhere exciting.

Will says, “We’ve felt that wave of energy from the audience singing our words back at us, and that’s really influenced my lyrical style and our music instrumentally, which took a lot longer. 2022 was a sort of foundational year; I feel like this is the launch in 2023 into this next era of Lovejoy.”

[esotericpluto]

where is your future spouse from

from left to right; intuitively choose the pile you feel more connected to. To make it easier, you can take a deep breathe, close your eyes and ask for guidance to your deities or guides. These are all general messages, so just take what resonates and leave what doesn't. This reading is timeless. If it resonates, feedback is always appreciated and motivates to keep doing pick a card readings. You can donate here.

dividers: @animatedglittergraphics-n-more

pile 1

I feel like for most of you who picked this pile this person is of Asian descent. Keep in mind that Asia is a big country with many countries and ethnic groups, so I will try to break it down more.

I do feel like for some of you who chose this pile, your future spouse might be of korean origin, but I feel like they will be half white and/or live in the west, like Europe or North America. This message seems to be more true for those of you who have strong scorpio, aquarius and possibly aries influences in your chart. If your name starts with C, E or P or has a more vintage vibe to it, it can still be for you.

For another group who chose this pile, I'm sensing someone of indian origin, I'm getting they could be kashmir and, for some of you, even telugu as well. This feels especially true for those of you that have a strong sagittarius or leo influence in your charts or if your name starts by A, L or U.

I am getting for a minority of people who chose this pile, your fs might be of levantine origin, mainly lebanese and/or palestinian, living most likely in Lebanon, for some of you, or in Southern Europe as of now. I feel like this message is especially true for those of you with strong scorpio, taurus or libra placements. Especially those who get M, S or V as first names.

pile 2

For this pile, I'm specifically getting southeast asian, most likely indonesian and/or malay. I feel like they might be living in Singapore right now. If you are a capricorn, a virgo or a cancer or have strong influences from these signs, this might be the ethnicity of your fs.

I'm getting potentially someone is of sub-saharian african descent mixed with european for some people who picked this pile. I'm getting this person might have ancestors from different parts of Africa and Europe and I'm getting difficulty pinpointing some exact places. I feel like for some of you, they might be west african and partially british. For others, this person could be afrolatino from the caribbean. Signs for this one I'm only getting scorpio and pisces, but I'm also gettingthe initials C, M and D.

There is a smaller group of you that could have a fs from a eastern african country too, potentially Ethiopia or Somalia. I'm getting this is likely true for you especially if you always enjoyed cultures and foods from different african countries, if you like the color red or if your name starts by J, F or E. Potentially if you like orange or are a capricorn rising/sun/moon.

pile 3

I'm getting a strong european influence here. I feel like this person might be italian and, for some of you, of a similar background like iberian, balkan or greek. You will meet them while on a trip to their country or city, if you are from the same country. This might resonate the most with those of you who like the color green, to wear t-shirts or whose name starts with B. If you are a cancer, leo, libra or taurus, this might also be true for you.

For others of you, I'm getting this person might be mexican, likely of a mestizo background. I feel like they might be in the US living right now, although for some it could even be Canada. This might resonate more with you if you like green vegetables like spinach or broccoli, if you like coke, if you like the colors red and pink, if you like mermaids or are of strong aquarius, aries or gemini.

For some of you, although a larger minority, your fs might also be argentinian or brazillian. This can be true especially if you like soccer (I think this one are my guides joking), cinema, romance movies/books, the color white and pink, lana del rey. Alternatively, if your name starts by N, A or Z and your signs are leo, virgo or cancer.

[solar-sunnyside-up]

Community gardens-

Community gardens are a piece of land gardened or cultivated by a group of people, which you can do individually or collectively. So they can be done on private or public land. 

Community gardens are not only a testament to community care and mutual aid, it's also almost a radical act of protest and activism. You're combining and sharing resources, which is inherently anti-capitalist, and you're actively protesting climate change by cultivating the land and bringing back native plants. They exist in various forms, it can be located in the proximity of neighborhoods or on balconies and rooftops. They are far from a one size fits all, they are built to meet the needs of the people cultivating them.

History-

this is gunna be a long one yall--

1890s-- Rapid urbanization in Europe and North America lead to community ran gardens to supplement food stocks that the city couldn't maintain causing an obscene cost of food. Thus lead to cities across the world attempting in their own ways to handle the problem-

1893 - Detroit Mayor Hazen S. Pingree took office with citizens even calling for “bread or blood”. In the mist of this crisis the city establishes a program that required vacant lots to be used as gardens and farms for the unemployed citizens have access to food. The deal the city basically makes is 'we will provide the land for you to farm, you feed yourself by farming it!' Later called "Potato Patches" would convert thousands of acres of vacant and idle land in the city for subsistence gardens, then cultivated by the unemployed in order to ensure citizens access to food regardless of the employment or economic status. At its peak, 1563 families participating over 430 acres of donated or City land. This would become so successful that later other cities like Boston and Buffalo would later adopt similar programs.

In England, “allotment” gardens were created to improve working-class people’s food provision, living conditions, and overall health of people living in suddenly crowded city centers.

Marseille in 1896, “les jardins d’ouvriers”, or ‘the workers’ gardens’, were created by a clergyman, with the purpose of reducing the misery of the working class and improving living condition.

1917- The War Gardens Commission was established to call on citizens to become, "Soldiers of the soil," planting gardens to meet some of their own domestic need for food as well as solider rations. (talk about abandoning your citizens for the sake of war >.>) Providing booklets, cartoons, and plenty of propaganda to teach everyone able to grow and preserve their own food supplies. War and Victory Gardens running well through the 1920s into the 50s. Often communties would have a vacant lot or shared spaces to also fullfill any need that wouldnt fit on private land. By 1944, between 18 to 20 million families with victory gardens were providing up to 40% of the vegetables in America.

1970s - In major cities that were fighting both economic crisis and urban decay as a result of white flight to the suburbs. Bringing rise to community groups like The Green Guerillas-  built of horticulturalists, gardeners, botanists, and planners who work to turn abandoned or empty spaces in New York City into gardens. The group threw "seed grenades" into derelict lots and developed community gardens, often without going through official channels. It became especially popular after the concerted redevelopment of a dangerous, trash-filled space at the corner of Houston Street and Bowery in Manhattan.  That first and now oldest recognized community garden in New York City on a street corner, grew to be over an acre and remains active as of 2023 now named the Liz Christy Garden after its founder who wanted a safe space and good food for children in her community.

2010-Current

Millions of community gardens spanning across the entire world have been reestablished. Particularly over the course of 2012 on wards in order to get back to connecting with the soil and feeding low income housing. Many of the gardens today also hold other community functions like yoga and woodworking classes, socializing centers, holding events, and act as a 3rd space where there are so few these days. Becoming more like a community hub over just a simple source of food.

How do I join or create a community garden?

Join an existing garden- look up one in your area here

To create your own, you will need to do your own research on your city or towns bylaws but generally you'll need a few things-

Gather friends/group to garden with

Secure a place to garden, as well as access to water

Gardening Equipment

Happy Gardening!!

Also @solarpunkani this is for you!!!

[rebeccathenaturalist]

*deep breath* This, folks, is EXACTLY why I am writing The Everyday Naturalist. Because it's not enough to have an app. You HAVE to know how to use multiple identification tools and have keen observational skills if you are going to safely forage or otherwise identify things in nature.

Here's the deal. Apps are a tool. They are not infallible, and they should never, ever, EVER be your only tool for identifying mushrooms and other organisms. This goes even moreso for when you're trying to determine whether something is edible or not. I go into more detail about why apps should never be used by themselves in this article that I wrote a few months back, but let's explore a bit more about how an app works.

Any identification app has access to a particular database of pictures and other information for various species. In the case of my favorite app, iNaturalist, it draws from the over 156 million (and growing) observations of animals, plants, fungi, and other living beings that have been uploaded to it over the years.

When you upload a photo to an app, your phone usually inputs the date, time, and GPS location automatically, though these can be updated manually if need be. Then the app's algorithms sift through the database looking for species that are found in the same location at the same time of year, and which have similar photos.

Notice that I said SIMILAR, not identical. Many organisms, to include many fungi, have varying appearances based on subspecies, life stage, and other factors. And there are a lot of species that have close lookalikes, whether we're talking birds, wildflowers, mushrooms, etc.

So the algorithms then use their search results to give you their suggestion(s) of what most closely resembles the organism you are trying to identify. Some give you one answer; others, like iNaturalist, offer you a list to choose from, and may also qualify their response with "We're not sure, but these were found nearby" or something similar. The first one on the list is NOT always going to be the correct answer. However, the app doesn't have reasoning skills, and all it can do is play match-up and then produce suggestions based on that. (Yes, other iNaturalist users can come along and comment on your observations once you've uploaded and saved them, but you always want to carefully assess their claims, too.)

There are several toxic mushrooms that are implicated in poisonings on a regular basis; among them are what I call the "deadly Amanitas": the death cap (Amanita phalloides) and the destroying angels (A. bisporigera, A. ocreata, and A. verna.) In addition to these species' respective native ranges in Europe and North America, some have managed to make their way to other parts of the world. This includes in Australia, where there is a current investigation underway over a woman who fed several family members deadly Amanitas, three of whom have died.

These poisonous mushrooms have several edible lookalikes. As one example, while matsutakes (Tricholoma matsutake) are often brown, they may sometimes appear white, especially if the brown layer has peeled off. And field mushrooms (Agaricus spp, especially A. bisporus and A. campestris) are also large white mushrooms, though their gills and spores tend to be brown rather than the white of Amanita species.

Still, someone taking a picture of a large white mushroom--especially if they neglect to take another picture of the gills (the more pictures you take, the better)--could easily end up with an app telling them an Amanita is an Agaricus. Or they might read that some people think it's safe to eat Amanita muscaria if you parboil it long enough, and assume that other Amanita species are the same way (one of MANY reasons I do not advocate for treating A. muscaria as an edible.)

So--again--DO NOT USE APPS AS YOUR ONLY ID TOOL. Use them in conjunction with multiple field guides, websites, other foragers, etc. Practice using these tools and developing a critical eye before you go out foraging. Be super cautious, and when in doubt, throw it out.

And my inbox is ALWAYS open, as is my email (rebeccathenaturalist(at)gmail(dot)com.) You can ALWAYS email me with questions about field guides, apps, and other resources, and I am also happy to look at pictures of mushrooms (and other living beings) you're trying to identify, whether edible or not. You might need to give me a few days to reply, but I will get back to you. Don't use ME as your only source, either; I'm just one person. But I can point you to online groups that are also good resources.

[ecstarry]

8M

cw: Violence towards women in Latin America

Today March 8th is not a day to celebrate. Latin America lives through this day very differently than North America and most of Europe.

This is the day we take our fight to the streets. We protest and we scream the names of those who were taken away from us. We will continue tu burn everything until our governments understand how far we will go until they do their jobs.

WOMEN ARE MISSING, THEY ARE GETTING KILLED AND RAPED.

THERE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS THAN NOT ENOUGH WHITE WOMEN IN POSITIONS OF POWER IN CORPORATE AMERICA.

IF YOU HAVE BEEN PRIVILED ENOUGH TO GO THROUGH YOUR LIFE WITHOUT KNOWING THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS DAY I URGE YOUR TO INFORM YOURSELVES. DO THE REASEARCH, IT IS NOT OUR JOB TO HELP YOU WORK THROUGH YOUR WHITE GUILT.

THERE ARE MY WAYS TO HELP AND AWARNESS IS ONE OF THEM.

Read about this day. And don't forget about Palestinian women, especially not today.

¡Alerta! ¡Alerta! 

Alerta que camina 

la lucha feminista 

por América Latina.

Y tiemblen, y tiemblen

y tiemblen los machistas

qué América Latina será

toda feminista

[ssavaart]

___ Scott, I have been long meaning to ask,

Did you ever deal with dissatisfaction of your end product art versus the quality of your supplies?

I say this as most art supplies that are readily available in the US, have its prices inflated easily up to three times the original (in USD) where I am from.

Though I desire greatly to support my local brands, they will rarely provide the gamut of quality found in the art supplies available in other countries. (Mainly Europe and North America).

Any time I come to ponder this, it brings me an anxiety that once my art evolves, I will be unable to follow up and upgrade the materials used for them; the cost of professional and international art supplies would make it unpractical in the long run.

This mainly affects me during the creation process, as I am constantly reminded that even those advertised and sold as artist grade where I live fall significantly behind those internationally known, and well respected art brands. (Arrtx, Blick, and even Winston & Newton are hardly heard of)

Consequently, I then think; if I am to purchase art supplies any more expensive, it might just not be worth and wasteful, as my art would not justify the cost.

I am aware this might not apply to everyone (maybe not to you, either!), but I am relatively new to this ─ and you are my greatest reference as an artist.

So, how would you do it? ~for-the-writing-artist

Hi. This is a great question that I'm asked a lot (especially from my fans in India) and I think the best answer that I have is that you will KNOW when you need to upgrade your art materials. In other words... if you're still young (under 25) and still learning... use what you have. You don't need good art materials to learn design, composition, proportions, values, negative space, color theory, and generally just building your style and confidence.

Use the cheap materials to get good at storytelling.

Find your voice.

Then... when you start to get to the point where you're getting job offers, commissions, or generally feeling like "yeah... I'm a professional now", then... THEN you can look into the "good stuff".

Until that day... you're still learning (though, to be honest... I'M still learning too. We're always learning) and there's no need to waste money on better materials.

Will better art supplies help your art? Absolutely.

Will it make you a better artist? Nope.

Work on getting better.

Work on learning.

The good art supplies can come later when your art (and you) are ready.

Sending Big Hugs from the Hobbit Hole. ♥♥♥

Scott

[communistkenobi]

im an undergrad student who was thinking about specializing in studying fascist movements in North America for my masters and ive really enjoyed reading your book commentary - you connect things that I'm not always aware of in ways that are really comprehensive and appreciate

Do you know of any researchers who are moving things on the topic right now (most of the books ive read are around 20+ years old, unfortunately)?

(sorry if any of this is unclear/grammatically incorrect/weirdly worded - I'm super sick rn)

thank you! I'm really glad to hear that :)

For contemporary writing, I'm currently working through some of Alberto Toscano's work - he has a really interesting article from 2021 on fascism from a Black radical/Marxist perspective where he summarizes various historical analyses of fascism from Black (particularly US) thinkers and activists. One thing I especially appreciate is that he complicates Aime Cesaire's formulation of fascism (i.e., "european colonialism come home") as incomplete when applied to settler colonial contexts, especially the United States - one of Cesaire's articulations of fascism is that (to paraphrase) "one fine day, the prisons begin to fill up, the Gestapo gets busy" and so on, and Toscano, working through Angela Davis and George Jackson, responds with (again I'm paraphrasing) "the prisons are already full! The Gestapo is already here!" etc. Toscano also has a new book that just came out in 2023 called Late Fascism, which explicitly addresses the current moment. I only have a physical copy of that so I can't share a pdf unfortunately, and I still need to get around to reading it lol.

These are also a couple random articles I found insightful:

Carnut (2022). Marxist Critical Systematic Review on Neo-Fascism and International Capital: Diffuse Networks, Capitalist Decadence and Culture War - does what it says on the tin

Daggett (2018). Petro-masculinity: Fossil Fuels and Authoritarian Desire - talks about car culture as a site of modern reactionary political movements, links climate denialism with (proto-)fascist movements

Parmigiani (2021). Magic and politics: Conspirituality and COVID-19 - this one does not mention fascism explicitly, but imo the intersection between new age spirituality, anti-vaccine sentiment, and qanon/q-adjacent conspiracies are pretty important to understanding contemporary fascist social movements, so I'd still recommend reading this

Finally, this isn't an article but I found this recorded lecture about the history of Qanon pretty interesting. I don't think the author gives particularly insightful answers on how to solve the problem of far right conspiracies in the Q&A portion but I found it to be a helpful summary

Otherwise I've been focusing a lot on decolonial scholarship more so than fascist scholarship - this is again guided by Cesaire's argument that Europe/The West broadly is inherently fascist. These works aren't contemporary, but you can look at this post for some of the readings I linked on decolonial scholarship if you want to go that route. Those are serving me more for theoretical frameworks to guide contemporary analysis, not analysis of contemporary events directly

also idk if I need to put this disclaimer, but just in case this leaves my blog: this isn't a full throated defense of/apology for everything in these articles, I'm not claiming they're sufficient to understanding the present moment, these are just some of the things I've been reading recently and have found helpful in some way or another. a lot of contemporary work I have read (much of which isn't linked here because I don't think its very good/do not have it on hand) focuses on populism and authoritarianism as central analytical terminology, which i think does a lot of work to exceptionalize and mystify fascism as a historical and political process/project originating from European colonialism & Western imperialism, but these terms are endemic to the field so you have to contend with them no matter what

good luck with your studies!

[txttletale]

i'll actually in a limited capacity defend the overwatch league's regional teams gimmick but the execution was bad. having regional teams could have been hype. like--during astralis' 2018-2019 csgo run, danish esports fans went fucking insane for them. and like of course they did. there's inherently something exciting about having a team you can in some way 'identify' with. and geography does create natural sports rivalries and pre-writes your stories.

there were two glaring bad problems in the dumb way blizzard did this though. one is forcing teams to come up with brand new branding. this was a horrible idea. it forced well-established esports organizations with strong fanbases across different games like cloud9 and optic to try and build new brands up from scratch. they realized this with their call of duty leage where they let teams play as 'atlanta faze' and 'optic texas' but yknow. kind of too little too late

the other one (and this is also the glaring fatal flaw in the overwatch league's entire silly, silly business plan) is the idea of a global league. now if you don't know much about esports you might think 'wait whats wrong with that. its gaming you can do it online players can be anywhere'. however that's not true! first of all, esports--well esports doesn't make money, esports when managed correctly is essentially a loss leader for the game it's an esport for--but esports makes a lot of its money on live events. yeah, people go to see esports games:

much more importantly, ping is a huge factor in esports. the higher the level you're playing at, especially in a game like overwatch that's full of twitchy hitscan aiming, the more a 10ms latency difference can make or break a game. you need to be running in-person events in order to have a competitive esports league and to make a good chunk of your revenue.

and that means that a global esports league runs into the exact same problem a global normal sports league would run into and the reason why that doesn't exist, which is travel logistics. the overwatch league has a london team, a san francisco team, and a chengdu team. these cities are very far away from each other [citation needed] and although overwatch league people will often blame covid for ruining their plans, i honestly think it actually saved them by preventing the horrible idea they had for how the league would work from actually happening. imagine all the problems that travel causes in a league like the NBA--jet lag, exhaustion, the obvious budgetary expenditure. now imagine that the travel itinerary also includes flights across the atlantic and/or pacific.

that's not even all! the thing about esports is that, because practicing for ten hours a day doesn't physically destroy your body like it would for regular sports, esports players and teams... do that. if you spend seventeen hours on a plane from paris to hangzhou for a match that's seventeen hours where you're not practicing. when you arrive, you can't just stay at a hotel--you need to be able to practice in the days leading up to the match too, especially because it's esports, which means the game can change. if you miss some practice as a sports team, you're gonna be rusty--if you miss some practice as an esports team, the rules of the game might have literally changed since your last practice session.

the result of this, by the way, is that the london and paris teams have never been actually based in europe--and that right now the dallas team is based in korea. it is very silly. every other multinational esport ever invented has created regional leagues--league of legends has a league for korea, china, europe, north america, pacific, vietnam, brazil, japan, and latin america. but blizzard entertainment are god's special little gamers and they weren't going to let something like 'the ocean' get in the way of their global league dream.

and ultimately this means that the entire local team concept was pointless. most of the teams aren't locally based. and even if they were -- the madcap way they play against each other mean that those city affiliations don't matter. when manchester united play liverpool f.c., even if you are not a big football fan, if you're from manchester you presumably have an opinion of liverpool and liverpudlians, and vice versa. there is an emotional hook to latch on to. if manchester united were to play khon khaen united, you would probably say 'where the fuck is khon khaen'. for the localisation to work, the overwatch league's london team needed a manchester or glasgow or dublin or amsterdam or brussels team (etc.) to play against. if you're invested in the esport itself and the players, you can get invested in a philadelphia-london or chengdu-houston rivalry--but the localisation aspect of it isn't doing the work it should there.

tldr: the overwatch league was a bad idea ever since the moment it was announced. people are too harsh on the team localization idea but the way it was executed was hot garbage and it's no wonder this entire venture failed badly

[bumblebeeappletree]

For those who enjoy cottagecore, please read what I have to say.

As you may or may not know, cottagecore has stemmed from colonist ideals, is racist, and has ties to tradwives. However I will not go in depth on it as it has already been talked about in a few articles and some posts on tumblr. The articles are here, here, here, and here. The tumblr posts can be found here, here, here, here, and here. However I say this person, Zoe Bee, has done a really good job on her video here as she summed up everything I already linked before.

I will say this article came out more recently if you wanted something newer about tradwives.

In this current day and age it’s understandable to want what cottagecore promotes with its aesthetic. Beautiful flowers as far as the eye can see, a garden you tailored yourself that you like specifically, billowing dresses, cute animals that provide you eggs and milk, and so on. Especially having your own house is very appealing at a time where it’s unattainable for many people. But going out where you’re isolated from everyone, with just yourself and your animals, is not the answer. Going out to land that once belonged to indigenous people who have not been able to go back home is not the answer. Continuing to think of ideals of the past is not the answer.

Instead what we can do is transform cities to be more green, safe for people, and work with the environment around it. This is the answer. To move forward. To think of the future and create it.

One of the first things we should do is improve accessibility. As you know not everyone can walk, see, or hear as a few examples. Having better public transportation is important to ensure everyone is able to get to where they need to. As it stands being in a city, not everyone has enough spoons, or ability, to walk where they can go. Trains are very popular, especially when it comes to going to other cities or towns. However when it comes to North America compared to Europe it’s not as widespread. Trams (or streetcars or trolleys if you’re from North America) are also a wonderful example. We must be able to ensure that entryways are large enough for even the biggest set of wheelchairs to go through. Ramps for easy access are important as well as wheelchairs cannot simply “step up” into vehicles. And this is not just for wheelchairs, it would be good for parents who are taking their baby or small child around in a stroller. There’s also those who use walkers, people with wheeled luggage, carts and so forth.

But most importantly, it is vital for people with disabilities to be part of the designing process of a city, to ensure that their voices are heard and to ensure they take part in that everyday easy access that most abled people already enjoy. Like Braille, audio description, large print, and subtitles as a ready option that’s there from the get go.

Another thing with more access to public transportation, people would need cars less and less. And should they need to go somewhere a train or tram cannot, buses are still options. However with fewer cars, the roads would be used less. Parking lots would be smaller. We could a: make roads and parking lots smaller; b: take out roads and parking lots completely; c: transform roads and parking lots into community spaces; or d: do a mixture of all of the above. Some roads could turn back into the wild environment that existed there before, while we could turn parking lots into more parks. Streets could be like they were before cars became mainstream, where street vendors would sell their wares, where children would play games, and anyone would hang out. Parking lots could become a space for events like farmer’s markets or a place to shoot off fireworks. Or even instead of parks in place of parking lots, it could be transformed into a community garden.

When it comes to housing, apartment complexes are where we should go in cities. To keep from city sprawl, we can go up. We can transform rooftops to community gardens, water harvesting spaces, solar panel spaces, or a community space.

However in some spaces, like in the suburbs, or even some spaces where there are houses in a neighborhood in a city, we can turn them into “pockethoods”. We can turn a neighborhood into a village. In the city we could have tiny houses on the same plot of land one house would typically be on. In a regular neighborhood, picture a series of houses without fencing and the series of backyards turn into a common area.

We can plant more trees alongside sidewalks, both fruit producing and pollen producing, more fruit bearing than pollen bearing, to help keep the allergies down and to keep a variety of plants. We can plant native species in cities, and we can have non-natives in our community gardens, or even inside city farms, for both practical use, such as eating or creating fibers, or enjoyment, like flowers to cut into bouquets. We can create rain gardens to help collect rainwater to put back into our water table.

I know that cottagecore lovers love the idea of going out into the country and perhaps finding a community there, but the cities are here, we’ve been here. It’s people’s homes, their lives. Cities have been around for such a long time, one of the most well known oldest city is Mesopotamia’s Babylon. (Very famous for their hanging gardens I might add.) Most importantly it can be done. Even now we can go talk to neighbors, go to events others are holding, or even create our own events, create a big pot of food to share with others, and have community. We can make a difference and we can have that sense of love. We just need to band together, demand change, and create our change. It can be hard, yes, but it will be so rewarding. This, you might find yourself doing, is something that aligns more with Solarpunk. Something that people look to strive for a brighter future for everyone.

Thank you.

(And thank you so much @cwicseolfor for helping me edit this TT^TT)

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Words related to Spring

to include in your next poem/story

Bloodroot -> a plant (Sanguinaria canadensis) of the poppy family having a red root and sap and bearing a solitary lobed leaf and white flower in early spring.

Bluebonnet -> either of two low-growing annual lupines (Lupinus subcarnosus or L. texensis) of Texas with silky foliage and blue flowers.

Coltsfoot -> a perennial composite herb (Tussilago farfara) with yellow flower heads appearing before the leaves.

Crocus -> any of a genus (Crocus) of herbs of the iris family developing from corms and having solitary long-tubed flowers and slender linear leaves.

Magnolia -> any of a genus (Magnolia of the family Magnoliaceae, the magnolia family) of American and Asian shrubs and trees with entire evergreen or deciduous leaves and usually showy white, yellow, rose, or purple flowers usually appearing in early spring.

Morel -> any of several edible fungi (genus Morchella, especially M. esculenta) having a conical cap with a highly pitted surface.

Mourning cloak -> a blackish-brown nymphalid butterfly (Nymphalis antiopa) that has a broad yellow border on the wings and is found in temperate parts of Europe, Asia, and North America.

Skunk cabbage -> any of several early-blooming perennial herbs of the arum family that occur in shaded, wet to swampy areas and have a fetid odor suggestive of a skunk.

Spring peeper -> a small brown tree frog (Pseudacris crucifer synonym Hyla crucifer) of the eastern U.S. and Canada that has a shrill piping call and breeds in ponds and streams in the spring. They are often just called peepers start singing on some of the earliest warm spring nights, ushering in the season with an evocative chorus. While they are highly successful in permanent ponds, they also utilize temporary, ephemeral ponds that appear briefly in the spring due to rain and snowmelt.

Tulip -> any of a genus (Tulipa) of Eurasian bulbous herbs of the lily family that have linear or broadly lanceolate leaves and are widely grown for their showy flowers.

[thewrothode-if]

Just so you know your page is giving racist. Not only are you proud of how little research you have done but you also have decided that no black people existed in the Scandinavia... I understand that Google is hard but putting in academic journals or looking at peer reviewed articles could really help you. Ps I'm not doing the leg work for you. I hate when people need to be spoon fed so they aren't racist. White supremacy is on the rise and many fascists have used "viking culture" as a blanket to hide under. Many well read readers will be majorly turned off by how... let's just say indelicately you are handling this. I'm hoping that you are just young. I saw your wip and enjoyed it but will unfortunately be dropping this due to your followers and your own take on race. I hope you learn from this. Don't let your followers make you complacent, you have been racist. Not allowing diverse skin tone, racist. Not capable of doing any research on the topic knowing damn well that many people of African descent were all over Europe in general. Literally Icelandic and Nordic peoples travelled all the way to North America but pop off with your dog whistles. This was overall extremely disappointing hope you get better or hope you stop writing either would be great 👍

I’m so sad that I have to address this once more but here I go.

“Literally Icelandic and Nordic peoples travelled all the way to North America but pop off with your dog whistles.”

First things first, this tells me that you didn’t quite read through all that I have written on race on my blog because I did talk about that right here.

I’ll add it down here as well:

“It is interesting to note that Vikings found their way to North Africa (more specifically Morocco) at some point because they really were such vast travelers. So it was more so the Vikings coming to Africa rather than the other way around.”

2. “…you also have decided that no black people existed in the Scandinavia..”

No, I did not decide that no black people existed in Scandinavia. Maybe the way I talked about people of color being in Scandinavia made it seem like that, especially here when I said, “so it was more so the Vikings coming to Africa rather than the other way around.” But that doesn’t translate to, “there were absolutely no black people in Scandinavia.”

3. “Not allowing diverse skin tone, racist.”

Not allowing diverse skin tone is not racist, especially for this IF because as I said, you are playing as a Viking in Denmark. You are not a Viking from China or South Africa or Brazil or Italy, but Denmark.

I want to write a story where the main character is a white viking. I don’t see why that is a big problem. As many people have told me, A Tale of Crown has a lack of white skin tone options because the story is based in the Middle East. That is not a problem and what I’m doing here shouldn’t be a problem either.

4. “Ps I'm not doing the leg work for you.”

Then if you won’t do the leg work and I won’t do the leg work, why are we both fighting about something we have no clue over? I think that if you are going to start an argument about this, maybe you should research a little more so you can factually tell me why I’m wrong instead of just saying I’m racist.

5. “… hope you get better or hope you stop writing either would be great.”

I won’t stop writing, but I will probably take a small little break to calm down so I don’t let this affect me too much.

[peashooter85]

What were these old timey jiggly machines and were they supposed to do?

Around the mid 19th century a popular medical theory was the idea that massage was good for health as it strengthened muscles through "passive exercise" and flushed the body of toxins. At the time Europe and North America was undergoing the Industrial Revolution, and there were many inventors who sought to invent new technologies to treat illness and care for patients. One of the pioneers of "mechanotherapy" was a Swedish physician named Dr. Gustav Zander, who invented series of exercise and health machines between 1850 and the turn of the century. Many of these machines actually were quite brilliant and would be the forefathers of modern exercise and weightlifting machines common in gyms today.

Among his many inventions were mechanical belt vibrating machines that were to take the place of human hands for delivering massages to patients.

Dr. Zander intended his belt vibrators to be used for patients who were badly crippled, injured, paralyzed, or bed bound in order to maintain muscle tone and prevent muscle atrophy. However around the early 20th century medical and fitness quacks began to invent and patent their own machines claiming that they could either cure any disease or that they could spot reduce fat and build muscle. They especially became popular as a muscle building and fat removing machine due to the allure of being able "exercise" without actually having to exercise. Many companies who manufactured these machines marketed to this allure.

The main theory behind these machines, or at least the main theory marketed by exercise belt manufacturers was that the vibration caused by the machine would physically breakdown fat and flush it out of the body. Thus loop the belt around your waist and it would break down that beer belly giving you a toned core. Loop it around your chest and it will reduce those man boobs. Loop it around your bum and it will reduce your fat bum giving you a muscular bum. This of course is all a load of humbuggery, and at best all the these machines did was make people look silly in the gym.

Regardless of their effectiveness, these vibrating belt exercise machines skyrocketed in popularity, especially the 1920's with increased access to electricity and an unprecedented boom in wealth. They could be found in every gym, health spa, and even in people's homes. Popularity declined during the Great Depression and World War II as declining wealth during the depression and lack of resources during the war stunted production and availability. They made a comeback in the 1950's and maintained some popularity into the 1960's. By 1970 they finally died out and never came back into popularity again.

Ha! Just kidding. While old timey belt vibrating belt exercise machines have gone extinct, today in the Year of our Lord 2022 there are a wide variety of vibrating and electro-muscle stimulating machines which claim to be able to turn your flabby belly into six pack abs, give you bulging biceps, and a give you a firm butt all without any effort. The only difference are these devices are much smaller, much cheaper, and can be ordered with the click of a mouse. In our new digital age, what was once old timey humbuggery has merely evolved into modern day fuckery.

[andreal831]

I loved your answer about the Bennetts and it makes me curious how you feel about how the originals show handles/barley mentions them

Honestly relieved.

Let's be honest, The Originals didn't handle POC characters any better than TVD did. So I know they would have handled it just as poorly. Don't even get me started on how the show treated Marcel and Vincent or any of the many women of color they killed off for the plot.

Now in reality (if the show was real), the Bennetts would have been all over New Orleans. The show really said the Bennetts were in the Americas before Europe had even invaded and then pretended that the Bennetts didn't have ties to nearly every coven in North America. We know they were focused in Salem until they were run out and found their way to Mystic Falls. But we also know they are often not found together and we see them in so many cities, so it would make sense that they would have ties to most of the covens. Especially in a city like New Orleans that is flooded with magic. The Bennetts would have found their way there at some point.

The Mikaelsons also have a long history with the Bennetts so even if the the Bennetts hadn't already been in New Orleans, I would think the Mikaelsons would have dragged them into their drama at some point. Now I could see the Bennett witches fleeing the city as soon as the Mikaelsons landed knowing they only bring pain to witches. But if the Bennetts had been there, they likely would have prevented the Mikaelsons from settling.

There were so many times throughout The Originals that they were stumped and the audience was yelling at the characters because Bonnie already solved these problems in TVD. Now I don't compare witch powers because the show is so inconsistent with power level that I don't think it's possible, but Bonnie was a powerful witch who would have been incredibly useful. A witch whom the Mikaelsons were all very aware of.

A couple of moments where I was expecting Bonnie to get dragged in or at least mentioned:

When Hope was sent with Rebekah. They said she was cloaked by a witch but the Mikaelsons didn't have a witch in the family yet. Who would they have trusted to do it? Who would be powerful enough to make the New Orleans coven/Esther unable to track her? I could see Klaus calling Bonnie up with all kinds of threats to cloak Hope.

When Freya was in the chambre and Hayley was trying to bring them back. She mentions she had a witch but doesn't name one. This would have been an easy moment to mention the Bennetts. After all, Hayley knows Bonnie and could have tried to plead with her to help. She could have at least started there.

The most ridiculous moment is at the end when they die to kill the Hollow, like Bonnie hasn't been creating worlds to trap souls in for years. Bonnie and Freya would have been a cool team-up moment at the end to save the day.

I do think it would be hard to explain why Bonnie was willing to help them at any point, but that goes for any witch. None of them wanted to help the Mikaelsons but did so for various reasons.

TVD created this long history of Bennett witches that constantly interacted with the Original family and yet were not mentioned once throughout their show. It just made no sense.

I don't ship Bonnie with any of the Mikaelsons for many reasons but I think it would have been such a good story to see her come to New Orleans and interact with Marcel, Davina, Vincent, etc. I think they would have welcomed her in as a fellow Mikaelson-anti and I really wanted to see Bonnie with more witch friends. They could have taught each other so much.

But personally, I wanted Bonnie and Enzo to leave the MFG behind and start their own life. I could see Bonnie bringing her distant relatives together and finally creating a home for the Bennett coven. She deserved that way more than continuing to get tied up in the vampire drama.

Thanks for asking! Bonnie is one of my favorite TVD characters and I don't talk about her nearly enough.

[toastloafley]

Found and photographed on a mountain biking trail in West Virginia

ID by, me: Pleated Inkcap

Life is fleeting, especially for this mushroom. It's body disappears in under 24 hours.

See more photos, and learn more about the pleated Inkcap below the cut!

The pleated Inkcap grows at night after rain, it has to spread its spores fast, and like a vampire this mushroom does not fare well in sunlight.  

After sprouting, it grows to full size within hours releases its spores, then consumes itself. Quickly self decomposing to gather as much nutrients from its fruiting body as it can before the sun dries it out.

It's fruiting body short lived but beautiful, this fungi continues on strong through its mycelium underground, waiting patiently for the next rainfall. 

Medicinal uses are unknown.

Edibility: inedible

Rarity: common

Genus: Parasola

Regions: Britain, Ireland, Mainland Europe, & North America

Please do your own research, I am an enthusiast not a scientist. I'm here to share and have fun. 

All photographs taken by me: 

Toast Loafley/Juno S.

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/727759268990910464/since-were-talking-about-dialogue-i-hate-the-way

There’s also the fact that writing out accents can come across as stereotyping or stigmatizing, especially if you’re doing that for some accents and not others (for instance, an Irish fandom pal was pointing out how in our shared fandom for a U.S. TV show, it’s really telling when predominantly-North-American fanfic writers feel the need to write out one character’s Irish accent, but not another character’s posh English one). If a character has a particular accent in the canon then readers are likely picturing them saying that in that voice anyway, there’s no need to draw attention to it. If they’re from a different background in your fic that you want to highlight, or if like it’s an anime set in Europe/North America/etc. and the Japanese dialogue doesn’t reflect accents that you want to have in your fic, or it’s an OC, then as you said, just point it out in dialogue tags. Like for an example as I put in a recent fic, “she said in a distinct Texas drawl.” Slang can also be a way to indicate particular dialects or backgrounds rather than writing out accents, like using “bless your heart” for a Southern American, or British vs. American terms or regional terms (e.g. “pop” vs. “soda”)

Writing out accents phonetically also impacts readability: I remember with my time in MLP:FiM fandom how people would do this with Applejack’s family’s Southern-US-ish accent and how hard it was sometimes to figure out if “ah” meant the interjection or someone was using it to mean the way this character said “I.” Obviously you’d pick it up with context clues but it still meant an extra read-over of a sentence or two to get there, plus it was just irritating. And everyone who’d seen the show already knew they talked like that.

--