#essay contest

[sliding-down-rainbows]

My thoughts on Striker as a PERFECT narrative foil for Blitzo

I've been watching a lot of reactions and reading through theories about HB given the new ep.

One thing I keep seeing is this surprise that Striker would work with the Nobles against Blitzo, considering how outspoken he was about hating royals.

To me, this makes perfect sense and I think they established this for the character early on. Striker hates Blitzo because Blitzo is exactly who Striker THOUGHT he was, and who he claims to be.

The thing is with Striker, I think a review I just watched of tbskyen got it spot on during his first appearance in Harvest Festival. "He doesn't seem to articulate an argument against the hierarchy so much as an argument against his place in it."

Striker, as much as he wants to be seen as a class hero, looks down on other imps and hellhounds, and his resentment is the HE should be above them. He says so to Blitzo.

"Blitzo, c'mon. You know the two of us are superior than most of our kind."

And he REPEATEDLY belittles other imps

"Don't worry, little one. You never stood a chance."

"Plus, you little things ain't worth the cleanup." ―Striker before locking Millie and Moxxie in the cellar

"I still think it’s embarrassing. You’re wasting a lot of potential relying on a weak little-" ―Striker about Moxxie

Calling Fizz a "worthless little pet"

I think I still missed some but you get the idea.

Striker think he and Blitzo are better than other imps, and don;t deserve to be subservient.

But here's the funny thing, BLITZO is the one who started and runs his own business, who became his own boss. And he uses that position to actually pull up other imps and hellhounds. Blitzo, for all of his jokes, fucking respects Moxxie's skill, he doesn't let anyone treat Loona like his pet. He uses his position as being seen as stronger than other imps to help others see their own worth. When Millie was speaking bad about herself:

Millie: We don't deserve this. We're just Wrathians, Blitzo. Muscle. It's all we're good for, all I'm good for. It's why you hired me. Any demon good at making a buck is welcome in Lust or Greed, but here? Demons like us ain't cut out for this. - Ghostfuckers flashback

And Blitzo's response?:

(Long paragraph of encouragment I won't copy all of... The point is, if we can't make it here then- then no one deserves to, right?

Blitzo saved them all from their lowest point and showed them their worth, that they deserve as much respect as anyone else.

And Striker, for all his fucking posturing, is working FOR a Goetia. So you have this guy, who thinks he's some class hero, better than other imps, but is stuck working for royalty. And along swings Blitzo, who is his own boss, and is just as strong if not stronger than him. Blitzo is EVERYTHING Striker wishes he was.

So then we come to Mastermind. Given the chance, Striker fucks over his own race/class in favour of royalty who probably offered a bribe. Blitzo, even to the very end, speaks of imps as a whole being mistreated.

No fucking wonder he became a class hero.

Striker has his "values" so long as they serve him directly, if he can get to the top of the food chain he'll make no effort to dismantle it or help bring anyone else up.

[jukeboxhound]

SCREAMING

Last year I wrote a column for a state news reporting agency on the intersection of domestic violence and restorative justice, and I just got an email from the editor saying that I WON FIRST PLACE IN A JOURNALISM AWARD

broooooooooooooooooo what

[smallerontheoutside]

okay so i uhhh wrote an essay, if anyone wants to read it and / or give me feedback

(trigger warning for self hate)

[macrolit]

Walden and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience Henry David Thoreau

FYI - this is 1 of 12 vintage paperback classics that comprise our current giveaw@y.

[icarianlibrary]

End of December - Begging of January, yk what that means…

Writing for my library’s local writing contest 😋😋

Small breakdown: There is two brackets: Middle school & High school, this year will be my first year in the High school bracket!

There are 3 categories: Essays, poems, and short stories! There is six first places in all (Because there are 3 first places for each bracket).

This will be my 3rd year competing!

1st year - Short story (Man, idek what the plot was) - 17th place

2nd year - Essay (On stuttering) - 1st place

3rd year - Essay (AI “art”) - N/A

ANYWAY I need a pen name because I don’t want to use my deadname but I’m not out to my parents, so I need a pen name. If y’all have any suggestions, let me know!

[cosmos-dot-semicolon]

Who's your favourite Dicey Dungeons contestant?

Robot! It embodies Dicey Dungeons at its best.

Writing-wise, Robot really struck a chord with me when I first played the game ('oh wow who could've seen that coming from the guy that wrote-' shhhhhh). All of the protagonists in this game have some sort of message attached to them: a sort of comment on how their mindsets clash with their actual fate-

-hey did anyone see that? i'm sure it was nothing. Anyways, they're all surprisingly relevant to modern life despite the game's fantastical design, but Robot's really is the most unique and effective of them: you have limits, and you can't win them all.

Growing up, there was a very real pressure for me to be 'productive' as a kid as a result of my rocky upbringing and undiagnosed neurodivergency. I always had the idea in my head that if I just worked Betterer and Harder and Always, things would eventually reach an equilibrium point and I would never have to worry about anything again. You wouldn't be looked at as a weirdo because you'd be so good at your thing everyone would have to accept you! You wouldn't have any mortal problems anymore! You wouldn't ever have to make decisions in your life because you could simply attempt everything, with no consequences. Ever.

Also there was like, a huge glut of self-help and grindset culture being pushed in the mid 2010's. I don't know if you remember when 'I'm good at multi-tasking' was the hot new thing to put on CVs (until studies discovered it was actually worse), and how there were 100 TedTalks on how to stop procrastinating, but it was so fucking prevalent even in secondary schools back then. And also it was religious propaganda.

This wasn't really investigated much until the end of the decade, where a lot of peoples' fascination with tech wore off, and it became clear capitalism was the problem. We all know now that people work better when they have time to clear their minds, and it's kind of insane to spend your one life grinding out work.

So the fact that a kids' game managed to tackle this subject better than entire sectors of the publshing industry -- by making one kind of nutty but lovable character (who turned down immortality for not missing out on work) -- is just fantastic.

And everything in Robot's gameplay is made to suit this goal. It isn't that hard to master, as you've said in the past: you just need to know when's a good time to stop, and what best works with your build. You're in control of your gains and your losses; you can handle probability better than you think you can, if you're just willing to meet her where she stands. I think that's the core philosophy of Dicey Dungeons' design, and Robot constantly getting unique mechanics being based off classic games of chance like Blackjack and coin flips really emphasises that. You really get the sense that the dev had this idea polished right down to the last detail.

Also I just love how you usually have a full 6 pieces of equipment with Robot compared to like 3-5 with the others. You get a lot of room to explore different synergies. It's very hard to optimise your slots fully, and you end up with a couple of boring (but also potentially life-saving) redundancies.

And on a more subjective note, Robot just feels like it has the most personalised design of the main characters? It would've been so easy to lean into 'beep boop', or base another archetype off D&D, or make shallow nods at the concept of 'humanity' for a robot character, but no! Robot's fun! And a try-hard finance kid! And adorable! You get to see all of Marlowe Dobbe's cool theming with her art, Holly Gramazio's witty but reflective writing style, and Terry Cavanagh's hilarious equipment names and past as an actuary, all in one character!

Also it's autistic and uses it/its and that's so mecore

[prettyholic7]

So how's y'all's evening been going?

[themakeupbrush]

Miss Washington USA 2023 State Costume

Archangel Raphael, the angel of the North, is the patron saint of healing and medical workers! The Rod of Asclepius features a serpent-entwined staff, which represents healing and rejuvenation. As the first dentist to compete at Miss USA, I was proud to represent my specialty training institution, the University of Washington Medical Center, which has been ranked as the #1 hospital in the state for the last 12 years and serves over 1.7 million patients each year.

[heisoark]

How are you doing

Something evil and scary is brewing in me

[thenamessparkplug]

well well well, lookie what the cat dragged in

thats right boys, i SOMEHOW actually got it done

(its absolutely ass but im so tired at this point i dont even care)

seriously, good luck to all the entries!! yall did so awesome omg

[accidental-spice]

True romance is when you find out you're not competing against your crush I mean academic rival like the last two years, and you are just like . Unacceptable. And try to convince the teacher to let her compete

[hibiscuswolverine]

Anomaly thing Makoto and ever unnerved out junko (who can also reincarnate but not as herself) ough

Like. Imagine you kill this guy ok, you kill him, you watched his body be crushed. He’s dead and you ship off one of his body parts to a fan which is probably your undoing.

The mood in the school is somber and despair filling, they try to pick up the pieces but they’re not really motivated. The detective is but she can’t rally the others to care about the mystery it’s great you’ve basically won.

Then the detective leaves, you and the others can’t find her for a day or two. Then all of sudden she returned not alone, the body of boy you watch be crushed broken to bits hell your that chopped him up abit and then burned his remains. You KNOW he died, everyone watched him die. He’s back like nothing ever happened, he’s abit dirty but he is ALIVE. How is that possible.

You don’t know if your gut is filled with despair or something else.. fear? Unease?

Worst is no one else seems to care, they way they’re acting is like they never watched him get crushed in the first place, it’s like they saw the hatch swallow him whole instead. They’re in denial.

Yet they still follow and cling onto his very words including in the final trial, you don’t remember him being this like this in your normal liked sure he was influential but not like This.

As the conveyor belt slowly drags you towards your demise you two have a staring contest. You lose because he never blinks. Only an unblinking smile with some teeth bids you goodbye.

When you wake up again one of the first things your given for your fourth birthday. Is a sweet smile of plushie, in his ugly hoodie and blazer combo. His stitched hazel eyes staring you down, overwhelming you went a sense of unease that you drop the toy and begin to cry.

[yume-fanfare]

i have sooooo many (cool) things to do within the next week and a bit ahhh time to lock in (i am still sleep deprived)

[roguetelepaths]

TUMBLR IS NOW GIVING ME ADS FOR THE FUCKING PINKERTONS???

[twinktorturer]

honestly feeling like shit cause i completely bombed a project thats worth most of my grade for a class. and i even had an extension on it but i Still ran out of time. i just got paralyzed by how much there was to write and ended up not writing anything and then it was massively under the word count and i barely got it in in time (like within minutes)...

[snizx]

I’m ill and I have to wake up for work in four hours or whatever but NONE OF THAT MATTERS!! I FOUND MY TIME LOOP STORY THAT I THOUGHT I HAD LOST! I HAVE WON!