#gold brook bridge

[heavenlybackside]

Here is a Little Information on a Vermont Legend Anyone can Visit and experience and one i Personally was freaked out by when i crossed it ...Vermont's most famous bridge, also known as the Gold Brook Covered Bridge, or Stowe Hollow Bridge is located in Stowe Vt. Of the many covered bridges in New England, this is allegedly one of the Most Haunted . Also Known as Emily's Bridge

The legend of Emily’s Bridge revolves around the ghost of a young woman named Emily who is believed to haunt the historic bridge. There are many variations to Emily’s story, but the most common legend told is that young Emily fell in love with a man her family disapproved of. Emily,

The two decided to elope and meet at the bridge at midnight. Emily arrived at the appointed time, but her lover never showed up. Distraught, she hanged herself from the rafters of the Gold Brook bridge in despair. The rocky brook below being the only witness to the alleged, tragic event. Her spirit now lingers, waiting for her lover, growing more angry and upset as time passes.

So if your in the Area or just want to see some really Beautiful Covered Bridges this is one you should see

[vanwritesfan-fiction]

Un bébé à Paris

A little blurb inspired by Jack’s trip to Paris ❤️

Traveling with Jack wasn’t always relaxing, with fans swarming him wherever he went, but when you mentioned that you wanted to spend a few days sightseeing in Paris after his work commitments were done, he pulled out all of the stops including hiring additional body guards to follow the three of you around the city.

Brooklyn had just turned one, and probably wouldn’t remember this trip, but Jack would and there was nothing he loved more than seeing his best friend smile.

****

“Alright, on three, say cheese!” Jack called out to you as you stood with Brooklyn in front of the Eiffel tower. “Brook, look over at Daddy!”, you pointed to where Jack was standing, Brooklyn’s face immediately lighting up when she saw her favorite person. She gave her best gummy smile while Jack took a couple of photos. After three minutes of standing in one spot, you were ready to move on.

“Babe, I think that’s enough.” You laughed, walking over to place Brooklyn back in her stroller.

“Sorry, I’m just trying to get one where her eyes aren’t closed”, he replied while scrolling through the photo album on his phone. “I’m sending these to the family group chat. My mom threatened to disown me if I didn’t send at least one pic of B a day.”

“You never told me what you had planned for today.” You turned to Jack, taking a bite of your crepe. Jack just shrugged, a sly smile on his face.

“You’ll see.”

****

Along the way you stopped to take a picture of the Notre Dame, turning around to see Jack bouncing Brooklyn on his hip while he tried to feed her a piece of croissant. She immediately rejected it, scrunching her face in disgust.

“Poor baby is teething.” You ripped off a piece of the croissant and pressed it against her gums so she could chew it. She grunted in delight.

Off in the distance you could hear someone calling Jack’s name in a distinctive French accent. You turned to see a group of young girls rushing over to where Jack was standing, phones in hand. One of the body guards stopped them, trying to corral the eager fans.

“I’ll tell them no if you want me to.” Jack looked at you, his curls falling perfectly over his rimless glasses. He knew how much this trip meant to you, and it was supposed to be one of the few times you didn’t have to compromise for his work.

You held out your hands to take Brooklyn. “Just be quick.”

Jack ran over to the girls, took a couple of selfies and chatted with them for a couple of minutes. You smiled watching him in his element. You didn’t like every aspect of his career, especially when it took him away from you, but he was such a kind soul and would stop for every fan if he could.

****

Jack had planned a private tour of the Louvre for just the three of you that afternoon, but first he had a stop to make along the way.

You recognized it immediately: the Love Lock Bridge, a spot in the middle of Paris where hundreds of couples wrote their names on a lock, placed it on the bridge and threw the key into the Seine.

“Baby, we should have gotten a lock for us.” You groaned out as you looked at the gold locks glistening in the sun.

“Actually…” you turned to Jack who pulled a gold lock out of his pocket. He handed it to you, the front engraved with both of your names and the date of your wedding. You turned it over to see Brooklyn’s name on the back with her birthdate and the words ‘our love, our heart, our world’. You ran your fingers over the engravings, tears brimming in your eyes.

“I can’t believe you thought to do this.” You looked up at Jack.

“I wanted this to be a trip that we wouldn’t forget. One day when we take Brooklyn back to Paris when she’s older, we’ll take her here. We know our love is meant to last a lifetime, and now we’ll always have a physical reminder of that.”

You pulled him in for a kiss, Brooklyn giggling when Jack turned to pepper her face with kisses as well.

“You and Brooklyn are the best things to ever happen to me, I would be nothing without you. I love you so much.”

Jack took Brooklyn from you, adjusting her to balance on his arm so she had a perfect view of the river.

“I think you’re supposed to make a wish.” Jack winked at you as you walked to the edge of the bridge. You placed the lock on an empty spot, clicking it close and removing the key. Without a second thought, you immediately threw the key into the river, watching it sink to the bottom.

“Wait, but you didn’t make a wish.” Jack rushed over just as the key hit the water.

“I had nothing else to wish for. Everything I could have ever dreamed of I already have in you two.”

[penny-weiss]

RWBY Volume 9 Intro

SPOILERS! RWBY V9, Episode 1 had many subtle details, especially in the into. 

Is Jaune running out of time?

We see dark circles with Jaune and his gold/white arm. It flashes back and forth a couple time to the image on the right with clock hands counting but Jack's silhouette. 

The White Knight?

In the forge, we see someone creating a sword with a hammer and a flame. In Alice in Wonderland, a White Knight rescues Alice from the Red Knight during the game of chess. When Alice reaches the end and jumps over the brook, she is crowned and becomes a queen.

Or I can believe the knight in fire is Jaune as the armor is similar and Jaune is based on Joan of Arc. But I think (and hope) it's the White Knight. I do think the loss of Jaune could bring Ruby to that final breaking point though.

Ruby is going to break

I mean, how could she not after V8?

There's a moment on the bridge where Ruby is crossing and sees the girl that I can only presume to be Alice, and it changes into an eerie smile of Ruby herself before she falls. I'm still trying to work out fairy tales surrounding bridges and what this might mean, but I did find Ruby's expression eerie and uncharacteristic.

The new girl is Alice

You see images of her inside the book in an image that's nearly identical to the original drawing of Alice with the Cheshire Cat. On the spine of the book, you can see the title The Girl Who Fell Through the World. In RWBY Roman Holiday, the girl's name in that story was said to be Alyx. In the RWBY v8, e9 "Witch," this is also hinted at. You also see her image in a looking glass.

Details I noticed just because they’re amusing

Smiley face man, the barrel of monkeys, and what appears to be a unicorn mascot.

What details did you notice and what are you looking forward to with Volume 9?

[hyperfixationhell25]

One Piece Au ideas

Hello fellow weebs I have returned to make shitty content

My horrid little brain has been concocting a bunch of different Au's for months at this point and I though eh fuck might as well get them out there to see what others think.

AU 1

Dragon maid but its Law desperately trying to get rid of the stray god and his supernatural buddies that have invaded his life. To start of Law lives in the "Modern world" he's working in the med field (the specifies to be determined later if I or someone decides to make this an actual fic) his roommate Bepo has had to move out of town and he's trying to find a replacement for costs. cut to Law getting drunk (or extremely sleep deprived) and finding a mortally wounded god laying in the alleyway near his apartment. que Law saving the God and then going home and passing out ands well its basically the opening episode for dragon maid but its Nika (Luffy ) instead of a dragon and he's not trying to be a maid but he is trying to be Law "roommate" and trying to pay back law for saving his life by taking care of him and being his friend. I've seen a similar concept for a zolu fic but the idea of Law just going insane as the SHs just invade his entire life is comedy gold. As for what the stawhat's are well Luffy's a god (Sun God Nika) Zoro's a demon along with Robin you don't really need to change Chopper Brook and Jinbei Nami's a witch duh Franky's an artificer( Just make it fantasy cyborg stuff) I thought it would be cool if Ussop was a wood puppet that Luffy accidently brought to life as a nod to Pinocchio, that or a wood sprite for the trickster aspect. also Law's human friend do come and interact with the SH's and to Laws horror they all become buddies and conspire to make him have fun!

(a lot of my ideas center on how to bully law and get him hugs at the same time :)

AU 2

another fucking ATLA OP AU (wow so original)

pretty basic concept Luffy's the avatar ya know normal shit

EXCEPT He drives everyone INSANE. oh Luffy your the avatar master of all four element you mu- HEY IS HE ASLEEP!!! Luffy the avatar is the bridge between the human and spirt- OH HEY FUNKY SPIRT DUDES DO YOU GUYS POOP? (it be funny if Luffy just didn't realized him just befriending spirits left and right was because of the avatar stuff he just does what he wants) people will get their faced punch in kyoshi approves of luffy throw hands with everything and everyone. in all seriousness the concept of a character like Luffy being the bringer of balance when he's chaos incarnate is funny.

[dvar-trek]

Romance Roundup: Part 2

the full list:

loved | liked | okay | didn't like

 ●Captive Prince Trilogy by C.S. Pacat     ○Captive Prince     ○Prince's Gambit     ○Kings Rising     ○The Summer Palace  ●Whyborne and Griffin Series by Jordan L. Hawk (there are like 11 of these in total, but this is as far as i got. this is not the only reason i stopped, but this series does contain a sex scene wherein sliding back the foreskin is described as "peeling". and i just. i simply don't think you should peel a dick. i don't think it's good for them.)     ○Widdershins     ○Eidolon     ○Threshold  ●Sweet Disorder by Rose Lerner  ●Sailor's Delight by Rose Lerner  ●Something Human by A.J. Demas  ●Doomsday Books by KJ Charles     ○The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen     ○A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel

 ●Old Bridge Inn Series by Annick Trent     ○Beck and Call     ○The Oak and the Ash  ●10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall  ●Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall (okay, listen, the first chapter hits you with a high concentration of cringe, and is therefore difficult to read. but the cringe concentration lessens considerably as you go along, and this ended up being one of my faves.)  ●Husband Material by Alexis Hall (again with the cringe, but it's not a strong enough book otherwise to make up for it, imo. the first book stands up great without having to bother with the sequel)  ●The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn  ●Bridgerton Series by Julia Quinn     ○The Duke and I     ○The Viscount Who Loved Me (there are six more of these, but i simply couldn't go on)

 ●The Mystery of Nevermore by C.S. Poe  ●Turner Series by Cat Sebastian     ○The Soldier's Scoundrel     ○The Lawrence Browne Affair     ○The Ruin of a Rake     ○A Little Light Mischief  ●The Last Binding by Freya Marske (these are kissing books, but i didn't like the actual romances so much as the. like. plot.)     ○A Marvellous Light     ○A Restless Truth     ○A Power Unbound  ●Lucky Lovers of London by Jess Everlee     ○The Gentleman's Book of Vices     ○A Rulebook for Restless Rogues  ●A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland  ●His Heart's Obsession by Alex Beecroft  ●Seducing the Sedgwicks by Cat Sebastian     ○It Takes Two to Tumble     ○A Gentleman Never Keeps Score     ○Two Rogues Make a Right  ●Hard Sell by Hudson Lin  ●Green Men World by KJ Charles     ○The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal (can be read as a stand-alone. is also not really a romance, per-se, although they sure do fuck. more like if shelock holmes had been a ghost-hunter, and watson had told us about all the sex they were having)     ○Spectred Isle (n.b. this was meant to be the first book in a series that is on hold indefinitely, though i enjoyed it plenty on its own)

 ●Winterbourne series by Joanna Chambers (there's one more novella in this series but none of my libraries has it)     ○Introducing Mr. Winterbourne     ○Mr. Winterbourne's Christmas     ○The First Snow of Winter  ●The Vicar and the Rake by Annabelle Greene  ●The Gentleman and the Spy by Neil S. Plakcy  ●The Lord and the Frenchman by Neil S. Plakcy  ●Unfit to Print by KJ Charles  ●Brook Street by Ava March  ●Enlightenment Trilogy by Joanna Chambers     ○Provoked     ○Beguiled     ○Enlightened     ○The Bequest (epilogue novella)  ●Unnatural by Joanna Chambers  ●Restored by Joanna Chambers  ●Society of Gentlemen by KJ Charles (another one where the whole series is worthwhile for the story, even if i didn't love all of the romances. the characters are endearing and there's an excellent little series epilogue availble on the author's website)     ○The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh (prequel novella)     ○A Fashionable Indulgence     ○A Seditious Affair     ○A Gentleman's Position

 ●Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall  ●Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian  ●The Missing Page by Cat Sebastian  ●Sins of the Cities by KJ Charles     ○An Unseen Attraction     ○An Unnatural Vice     ○An Unsuitable Heir  ●Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston  ●Bright Falls series by Ashley Herring Blake (I'm still on a waitlist for the third book, which just came out)     ○Delilah Green Doesn't Care     ○Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail  ●Fake it 'til You Make Out by Isla Olsen  ●The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite  ●The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite  ●The Lilywhite Boys by KJ Charles     ○The Rat-Catcher's Daugher (prequel novella)     ○Any Old Diamonds     ○Guilded Cage     ○Masters in this Hall (sequel novella)  ●England World by KJ Charles     ○Proper English     ○Think of England  ●Will Darling Adventures by KJ Charles     ○Slippery Creatures     ○The Sugared Game     ○Subtle Blood

 ●The Lady's Secret by Joanna Chambers  ●A Charm of Magpies series by KJ Charles     ○The Magpie Lord     ○A Case of Possession     ○Flight of Magpies  ●Other KJ Charles book linked to the Magpies world     ○A Queer Trade     ○Rag and Bone     ○Jackdaw  ●Wanted, A Gentleman by KJ Charles  ●The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by KJ Charles  ●A Thief in the Night by KJ Charles (novella linked to Gentle Art)  ●Band Sinister by KJ Charles  ●Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian  ●A Duke in Disguise by Cat Sebastian

romance roundup part 1

[law-d-water-trafalgar]

Getting Drunk With The Strawhats

Law X F. Reader

Zoro likes you but your from the heart pirates. Your not girlfriend to Law but maybe if you all get drunk enough with a contest you might be. ;P Maybe a spin the bottle too.

Context: drunk, two men after you, right after Punk Hazard heading to Dressrosa on the Thousand Sunny.

Art by ♡ Ai-sun ♡

-☆-

"All right listen up everyone were gonna due due due duel! To see who can drink the most!" You hear Zoro yell for everyone on the Thousand Sunny to hear.

"Well I guess we have enough time to goof off before we get to Dressrosa sure I'm in, I might earn some berries" Nami says nonchalantly with money signs in her eyes. Everyone else agrees as soon as Nami says shes in, including you and Robin. But Law on the other hand your best friend didnt like it.

"Oh come on itll be fun!" You say cheerfully to him.

"Hey your in whether you like it or not, now sit down in the circle" Zoro says as you drag Law to the circle you see a bottle on the ground.

"Whatever shitty swordsman" Law mumbled as Zoro pirked up.

"Hn what was that pretend doctor?" Zoro retorts. Finally the tension is broken by Sanji.

"First everyone drinks three rounds then we play truth or dare or drink, spin the bottle!" Sanji exclaims hoping to see some action with heart eyes. Everyone chugs three rounds now it's time to start the game.

"Since you started this, you go first Zoro"Nami says boldly.

"Fine I will" he spins the bottle as it lands on you, you see him slightly blush as it fades. But three rounds is nothing to you your going for gold.

"Okay Zoro truth, dare, or drink?" Nami asks. He just fills his booze up and downs it.

"Okay next (n) spin the bottle" Nami says. You spin it as it lands on Franky.

"Truth, dare or drink?" You ask Franky.

"Truth"he says as you think then say

"So do you like Robin?" And he just pours himself some booze and chugs it.

"I'm going for gold try and beat me!" You exclaim as Law puts a hand on the bridge of his nose clearly annoyed with you.

"Okay Franky spin the bottle" this goes on as others choose truth like Chopper and others choose dare like Luffy. Until it goes back to Zoro. Its Zoros turn again as he spins the bottle it lands on you again.

"No fair mosshead (n) is so beautiful keep your mits off her" Sanji yells.

"Allright truth, dare or drink" Nami breaks the tension.

"Dare." Zoro smirks.

"I dare you to kiss (n)" Brook says as Zoro blushes and Law looks like hes about to fight him. Zoro scoots up to you then after a second plants a kiss on your cheek. Now Law is glaring at Zoro but trying to hide it by tilting his hat down.

"No fair (n) swannnn" Sanji states.

"Okay (n) your turn" Robin says as you spin the bottle it lands on Law and you blush now.

"Truth, dare or drink?" Robin asks.

"Truth" you say and Robin asks

"Do you have feelings for Law?"

"Robin!" You yell as you fill your cup to the top and chug it down. Law looks a bit saddened but you pay him no mind at the moment almost getting a slight buzz. Theres just no way that your Captain and best friend could possibly like you back. Next round everyone drinks one. Sanji brought out some desserts and you snack on some as the bottle goes round and round. It was Namis turn and it landed on Law.

"Truth, dare, or drink?" Chopper asks.

"Hmm dare" Nami says.

"I dare you to kiss Law Nami" Chopper says with a smile. You gained a blush and small rage inside he was your man. Nami just fills up her booze and chugs away.

'Thats right Nami stay away from my man' you think to yourself. After that round everyone drinks again the other girls are definitely buzzed and Chopper but the rest are going strong.

"I'm on seven try and take me down now!" You cheerfully yell.

"Its your turn now (n)" Brook says as you spin the bottle round and round where it stops you'll its Zoro.

"Truth, dare, or drink (n)-chan" Brook states.

"Dare" you say and you wish you hadn't.

"I dare you to show Zoro your panties hohohohohoho!" Brook says as Zoro spits out his booze.

Law just looks shocked and angry but tries to hide it after all your were just part of his crew not his girlfriend or anything.

"I'll drink to that" you fill your cup up again starting to get buzzed. Zoro spins the bottle only to land on Law.

"Wowz look at you, your popular tonight Captain" you slightly bumps arms with Law laughing.

"Truth, dare or drink" Zoro reluctantly says crossing his arms. Law thinks for a moment.

"Truth" Law states.

"Okay do you have feelings for (n)?" Zoro asks with a smirk.

"I meant dare" Law coughs.

"All right I dare you to kiss (n)" Chopper passed out. Apparently seven was the magic number because Law had a booze blush on his face seeing as he was a doctor he didnt drink at all. He leaned over and kisses you on the lips. Your blush deepens as you feel your soul leave your body in pure happiness.

-☆-

Well Into The Night

-☆-

The scores are Zoro 10, Law 10, (n) 11, Luffy 10 but he quit to go eat some more, and the girls went to bed, and Franky went to drink some cola. Remaining players Zoro, Law, Brook, (n).

"It lands on you again (n) truth, dare or drink" you hear brook say.

"Dare" you slosh your words around.

"I dare you to sit on Laws lap for the rest of the game hohohoho" Brook says evilly. As you stare at a also sloshed Law hes giving it his all to stay with you in the game.

"Come to me my best friend" as you hop onto his lap his neck by your face your hot breath exhaling onto his neck causing him to shiver. You look over to the remaining players. Zoro doesn't look happy at all but also he looks sloshed. Everyone besides Brook since hes just a skeleton. Hes now in control of three drunkards. As sanji had to retire due to to much alchohol he was currently puking his guts out and probably crying he didnt get to see any action. After another round this was the breaking point. You could feel Law behind you swaying from side to side but refusing to let you go unbeknownst to you. Zoro spins the bottle landing on you.

"Truth, dare, or drink (n)" Brook says controlling the situation now making sure no one vomits.

"I choose truth I havent done that much tonight" you say as Zoro says

"Okay (n) who do you like me , Sanji, or Law?" Zoro states holding his booze better than you now. Being the sloshed you were you let it slip.

"Okay finnnee I'm in love with. Law" you finally say and you turned slightly wrapped your arms around his neck and fell asleep.

"Well that's game and I win" Zoro says angrily chugging two more cups.

"You know she wont remember this in the morning" Zoro states to Law then goes up to the crows nest.

"I won!" Law yells as he lays down with you ontop of him and falls asleep. In the early morning before everyone is awake you awaken from your slumber feeling Laws cloak on top of you as you realize your laying on him.

"Hes so warm" you say quietly as he rustles awake.

"(N) what time is it oh god my head" he says holding his head his hat had fallen off in the middle of the night. You stroke his hair then it hits you from last night.

'Oh my god I confessed to Law my best friend oh no. Maybe if I pretend not to remember hell cut me some slack' you think to yourself.

"(N)...(n) are you listening?" Law asks.

"Hn yes what?" Snapping out of your thoughts.

"I asked do you remember anything from last night?" Luckily for you, you never get hangovers.

"Um I remember a bit" you just left out the vital information.

'Isnt that lieing? I cant lie to my best friend but itll be weird otherwise forever now' you think to your self.

"Um here's your cloak thank you. And I just remembered" placing your head in your hands peeking at Law.

"I confessed last night didnt I?" You say quietly. He nods.

"Oh great this ruins everything I'm sor-" you were cut off by something soft his lips on yours craving yours as yours craved his you wrap your arms around his neck as you deepen the kiss. After awhile you both break for air.

"What you didnt know (n) is that I drank because I'm in love with you too" Law says wrapping his arms around your waist. Whispering in your ear

"Will you please be my girlfriend?" He nibbles on your ear as you blush a deep red. Still sitting on him you turn to face him

"Yes I'd like that Trafalgar" you say as you pull him in for another kiss. As the girls come outside they see you both and close the door behind them squealing.

"Well our secrets out now" Law states as he just hugs you close.

[myhauntedsalem]

EMILY’S BRIDGE

VERMONT

This bridge is actually called the Gold Brook Covered Bridge, but it’s known as Emily’s Bridge because of the ghost who haunts it, of course. The circumstances of Emily’s death are somewhat uncertain—some say she hung herself after being jilted by a lover; others say she fell while riding a horse—but rumors of her haunting the bridge have persisted since 1968. The best time to get a glimpse of Emily? Park your car on the bridge between 12:00 A.M. and 3:30 A.M. (her most active hours), and you might hear footsteps, a girl’s screams, and banging … and maybe even find scratch marks on your car.

[roadtripnewengland]

The Gold Brook, or “Emily’s Bridge” in Stowe, Vermont. The bridge was built in 1844, and it’s single lane crosses 50 feet over the Gold Brook to connect a country dirt road with Vermont’s Route 100.

.

Legend has it the bridge is haunted by Emily, a jilted lover- who may scratch a passing car, or who’s ghostly whisper might be heard over the sound of the babbling brook below. #stowevt #coveredbridge #hauntedplaces #ghoststories #EmilysBridge

[mantrabay]

Interlocking Rueful Sky And Trapped Earth 1

Azure blue skies weep in rent glacial torrents,

iridescent earth sun trap poised to garner sympathy,

dark red cloud’s indignant float might yet rumble,

toxic deluge drenches mudbank plot as toilers whine,

thunderstruck I gaze at wild indigo sea mist on brine-fleck shore

Edge of seat terra firma species orange alert mere bluster,

grim altitude apocalypse for amber moon orb,

rampant shower pockmark with visual scar as trenchant plague,

vapour trail from lachrymose horizon now a shrunken haze,

alarm bell’s doleful peal across an impact cratered expanse once sumptuous mint green

Stream of gurgling silken brook upon reciprocal bright cadence,

otherworldly pine from volatile nebulae’s damp swathe,

vapid biome acreage a gaunt reflection though surreal,

despite magenta stardust twinkle whose infant phase corralled

by wayward drizzle

Hemisphere by half redolent of sombre devastation,

yet exotic visual haunt is that vaunted shadow zone,

sweet maple leaf ether bound refuge from monsoon rife,

pot of gold opal strewn paradise escape hatch,

from lesion blight topsoil or open sore empyrean

Purple leaf and bell pepper cascade swirling o'er panic stricken globe,

perfume clad hillock under hawk-eye squint,

denizens idyllic foster atmospheric canny urban vault,

they hobble gingerly on salmon pink stone bridge en route to harried terrain rescue

Literary work and pictures

All mine

I value everyone on Tumbrl who

support my posts

[franeridan]

thriller bark is such a good arc honestly. first of all it's as a general rule dumb as shit - it's the halloween arc, nothing of what happens is presented in a serious light, not even the most cowardly of them spend too long being seriously scared about it. for the longest part it's just one joke after another - I'm just two volumes in but I've already had: usopp defeating perona by being too negative for her powers to work on him, nami making friends with her enemy by being supportive of her relationship goals, chopper seriously thinking nami is a man (does he?? still think that???), luffy saying zoro's zombie is just like him aside from the sandals, taking issue with moria not for the shadows but for the food, taming the fake cerberus and pushing the zombie back underground, franky building a whole bridge in thirty seconds flat, ninety percent of the words out of brook and robin's mouths, whatever the hell was going on with sanji. it's a dumb arc with dumb reactions from dumb people (still not there yet but later on franky trying to "build a robot" with the others and robin saying it's too embarrassing for her to take part?? comedy gold)

and yet! despite being dumb as shit! nearly every single thing that happens in that arc is a seed planted for things happening later on - lola being one of big mom's kids, learning about the vivre cards and ace, zoro finding shusui and the mention of wano and kaido, perona being sent away by kuma, kuma himself! and zoro taking on luffy's pain which'll greatly influence the next arc's outcome. nami getting the big mom vivre card too. of course brook joining the crew. sanji's thing with invisibility too. I guess.

also, the tone might be light but the fights are all incredible, and luffy never had to go so above and beyond before this very moment either since this is the first time he can't focus on one single enemy. And the tone shift by the end is pretty damn insane tbh, you just spent five whole volumes fucking around having a laugh and then suddenly kuma's there demanding luffy's head and zoro's sacrificing himself instead and nearly dying, talk about whiplash

it's not an arc that's mentioned a lot aside from its ending, but I really think it's so well built from start to end - usually joke arcs like this are easily skippable in manga, but thriller bark is probably the most integral arc in the whole of op: you can't just be told One thing that happens in it and be good to go, there's so much going on that has repercussions on the plot in the long run that you have to read it if you don't want to miss anything.

and also it's a lot of fun. it's so dumb so over the top. op has rarely pushed the aesthetics and designs that much as well. man I really love thriller bark

[celestial-thoughts]

june 26, 2023 - weekly women's pro wrestling news roundup: week of june 19-25, 2023

this week's news roundup includes:

News & results from last week’s editions of Monday Night Raw, NXT, and Friday Night SmackDown.

News & results from last week's editions of WWE Main Event and NXT Level Up.

News & results from last week’s editions of AEW Dynamite, AEW Rampage, and AEW Collision.

News & results from AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door.

Other updates and news from last week.

Things to look forward to in women’s wrestling this week!

spoilers below the cut for shows/events listed above!

Notable news & results from TV last week:

Monday Night Raw (6/19):

Kayden Carter & Katana Chance defeated Sonya Deville & Chelsea Green. Katana pinned Sonya after hitting the Afterparty. match length-2:01.

WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley was set to take on Natalya in a non-title match, but Rhea attacked Natalya before the match could begin.

In a backstage interview, Raquel Rodriguez was being interviewed ahead of her Money in the Bank qualifying match. Raquel said that she would win the contract and cash in on Rhea Ripley, before being interrupted by Rhea coming backstage through the curtain. The two stared each other down, before Raquel made her entrance.

Trish Stratus defeated Raquel Rodriguez by disqualification to qualify for the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match. Trish won after Becky Lynch came out and attacked Zoey Stark, and in the chaos also attacked Trish, resulting in the DQ finish. match length-5:55.

NXT Gold Rush part 1 (6/20):

There was a video package of Gigi Dolin, followed by Kiana James talking trash about Gigi. Kiana called Gigi mediocre, and said that she is fueled by winning.

Duke Hudson hosted a pep rally to celebrate Thea Hail becoming the number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship. Thea was interrupted by NXT Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton, who called Thea dumb and crazy. Thea got Tiffany in the Kimura Lock, before Tiffany escaped the ring, and Thea stood tall with the title in her hand.

Cora Jade defeated Dana Brooke by referee stoppage. At one point, medical officials tried to remove Dana from the ring after her knee buckled, but she got off of the stretcher and re-entered the ring. Cora locked in a Single Leg Crab, and the official made the decision to call for the bell. match length-10:46.

Lash Legend & Jakara Jackson defeated Yulisa Leon & Valentina Feroz. During the match, Elektra Lopez and Lola Vice came out and watched from the ramp. Lash Legend scored the pinfall win with a pump kick. match length-3:22.

A match between Gigi Dolin and Kiana James was announced for week two of NXT Gold Rush.

AEW Dynamite (6/21):

Kris Statlander defeated Taya Valkyrie to retain the TBS Championship. Kris landed Big Bang Theory to get the win, and successfully defend the TBS Championship once again. match length-8:55.

WWE Main Event (6/22):

Dana Brooke defeated Xia Li. Dana pinned Xia after hitting a somersault neckbreaker. match length-5:07.

Friday Night SmackDown (6/23)

Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler (WWE) defeated Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn (NXT) to become the new Unified WWE Women's Tag Team Champions. The match ended with Ronda locking in an armbar and forcing Isla to tap out, while Shayna submitted Alba with the Kirifuda Clutch at the same time. match length-10:22.

After the match, Ronda and Shayna were confronted by Raquel Rodriguez, who said that she wanted a rematch for the titles that she had been forced to vacate. Raquel was then joined by a returning Liv Morgan, who has been out of action since the May 12 episode of SmackDown when she suffered a shoulder injury.

Charlotte Flair defeated Lacey Evans. Charlotte hit Lacey with a big boot, before she submitted her with the Figure 8. match length-2:43.

After the match, Charlotte stayed in the bridge and held Lacey in the figure 8. Charlotte was then attacked by WWE Women's Champion Asuka.

WWE official Adam Pearce told Bianca Belair that she would be barred from ringside for the WWE Women's Championship match next week on SmackDown, in order to prevent her from getting involved.

NXT Level Up (6/23):

Jacy Jeyne defeated Ivy Nile. match length-5:19.

AEW Rampage (6/23):

Women’s Owen Hart Cup Tournament first round: Skye Blue defeated Anna Jay A.S. Skye defeated Anna after hitting Code Blue, picking up her second win in a row in her hometown of Chicago. She will face the winner of Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. vs. Ruby Soho (which takes place on the June 28 episode of Dynamite). match length-8:17.

AEW Collision (6/24):

Women’s Owen Hart Cup Tournament first round: Willow Nightingale defeated Nyla Rose. Willow pinned Nyla after hitting the Doctor Bomb. She will face the winner of Athena vs. Billie Starkz (which takes place at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door: Zero Hour). match length-8:54.

Notable news & results from PPVs last week:

AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door (6/25): Disclaimer: I didn't actually watch Forbidden Door, but I got updates and results from the internet, as well as a friend of mine who was watching.

Women’s Owen Hart Cup Tournament first round: Athena defeated Billie Starkz. Athena pinned Billie after hitting a fireman's carry into a spinning double knees to the face. In addition to competing in AEW, Athena is currently the Ring of Honor Women's World Champion. She will face NJPW Strong Women's Champion Willow Nightingale in the semi-finals. match length-7:50.

AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm defeated. Willow Nightingale to retain the AEW Women’s World Championship. Toni was aided by the rest of The Outcasts, Ruby Soho and Saraya, in the opening of the match, but the duo were eventually ejected from ringside. Toni ultimately was able to get the pinfall win over Willow, after racking the eyes of her challenger and following it up with Storm Zero. match length-10:30.

Other news & updates from last week:

On The Pat Mcafee Show on Tuesday, June 20, Paul Heyman announced that WWE Fastlane will be held on Saturday, October 7 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Fastlane takes the October Premium Live Event spot that was held by Extreme Rules last year. This will be the first Fastlane event since 2021. Prior to that year, Fastlane was held annually from 2015 until 2019, with the 2017 and 2018 events being exclusive to Raw and SmackDown, respectively.

There is a press conference planned for directly after Money in the Bank this weekend. WWE have not held a post show press conference since WrestleMania, as the media events for Backlash and Night of Champions were both held the day before the show.

In the hours leading up to SmackDown on June 23, fans on Twitter pointed out the the match between Bayley and Shotzi for Bayley’s Money in the Bank ladder match spot had been removed from previews for the show. This match did not end up taking place on SmackDown, and was replaced by Charlotte Flair vs. Lacey Evans. It's unclear why Bayley vs. Shotzi was scrapped, but Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful did note on Twitter that Smackdown got "Vinced" tonight, saying that a lot of changes had been made.

Liv Morgan made her return on the June 23, 2023 episode of SmackDown. Liv had been out of action due to a torn shoulder, and recovered much faster than had originally been expected.

During the Women's Tag Team Title unification match on SmackDown last Friday, Michael Cole stated that the Women's Tag Team Championships will now be defended on all three brands, which was the original intention for the titles when they were created.

Speaking of the unification match, shortly after SmackDown ended last week, the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship was officially listed as "retired" on the WWE website. Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn are officially listed as the final NXT Women's Tag Team Champions, with their reign lasting 83 days.

On last week’s edition of The SmackDown Lowdown, it was announced that Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler will defend the Undisputed Women’s Tag Team titles against former champions Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan.

At Stardom Sunshine on June 25, Giulia (who is currently one-third of the reigning Artist of Stardom Champions), called out NJPW Strong Women’s Champion Willow Nightingale and issued a challenge for the title.

Following her match at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door on Sunday, June 25, the NJPW official Twitter account posted a video of NJPW Strong Women's Champion Willow Nightingale, who accepted Giulia's challenge. It is currently unclear when this match will take place.

It was officially announced on Sunday, June 25 that AEW All Out will be held on Sunday, September 3 at the United Center in Chicago. The pay-per-view will take place just one week after AEW All In, which is on Sunday, August 27 in London.

Things to look forward to this week:

This Monday, June 26 on Monday Night Raw, a women's Money in the Bank summit will be held.

This Tuesday, June 27, NXT Gold Rush continues. After winning a number one contender battle royal a few weeks ago, 19 year old Thea Hail challenges NXT Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton for the title. This will be Thea's very first opportunity at a title in her professional wrestling career.

Also this Tuesday at NXT Gold Rush, Gigi Dolin goes one-on-one with Kiana James.

This Wednesday, June 28 on AEW Dynamite, Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. takes on Ruby Soho of The Outcasts in the final first round match of the Women's Owen Hart Cup Tournament.

This Friday, June 30 on SmackDown live from London, WWE Women's Champion Asuka defends the title against 14 time world champion Charlotte Flair.

This Saturday, July 1 live from the O2 Arena in London, it's WWE Money in the Bank. The show will have a special start time of 3 pm Eastern time.

Current Women's Champions in WWE, AEW, ROH, & NJPW:

WWE: - Women's World Championship: Rhea Ripley - WWE Women's Championship: Asuka - NXT Women's Championship: Tiffany Stratton - WWE Women's Tag Team Championship: Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler

AEW: - AEW Women's World Championship: Toni Storm - TBS Championship: Kris Statlander

ROH: - ROH Women's World Championship: Athena

NJPW: - IWGP Women's Championship: Mayu Iwatani - Strong Women's Championship: Willow Nightingale

[dcbbw]

Sunday Snippets 8.7.22

Happy Sunday, Tumblr! I hope everyone’s weekend has been restful, relaxing, and restorative.

I am here for Six Sentence Sunday. I have snippets from two new stories to share. Ideas for a lot of stories, old and new, are bubbling up; fingers crossed secret ingredients arrive soon and are not delayed by supply chain issues.

And I PROMISE, I am working on some Riam: they’re going to be birthing babies, celebrating 25 years on the throne, and “vacationing” in Texas. Also in the mix: some Liara, DC AU Maxlivia, Little Nobles, One Night Stand, and working on a second part to Déjà vu (trying to work a twist in there).

Snippets are below the cut, but no music inspos just yet. As always, everything is in a state of rough draft, and final product and serving sizes may vary.

Wanderlust (Adventures of a Crown Prince):

We end the call; I absently scratch my bare stomach as I pour a cup of joe, ignoring the cream and sugar.

I like my bad habits undiluted.

I walk over to the window, pulling the heavy drapes apart using a braided gold tassel. Yep, I’m in London. The city is gray and overcast, a sea of umbrella raised against the drizzling rain.

It’s six months after the death of Queen Consort Eleanor. Father thought it best I begin touring foreign countries to expand my knowledge of international politics and policies. I have a decent knowledge of the concept, but textbooks and real-life are two different things. As Crown Prince of Cordonia, it was my duty to be able to speak not only knowledgeably, but from experience.

It was all a farce, two-fold: I was a known runaway, and Constantine had no idea how to handle it. I was punished for my travels within Cordonia, I was berated. But he never asked me why I ran.

Never.

He assumed I wanted to see the world outside of palace walls.

I didn’t.

I was searching for my mother. I still am.

The second reason he sent me away was so he could grieve alone without having to deal with two sons who were also hurting. Eleanor was a loving mother to both Liam and me. She never replaced my mother nor my memories of her; Eleanor didn’t even try. Instead, she gave me new ones to remember her by.

Liam was farmed out to the Walkers, and I was sent to England for a fortnight. I’d like to think Father sent us away for our own safety; it was evident he had enemies, but were they in the Palace? This was a time for us to be a family, to grieve together and show solidarity … not separated and alone under the watchful gaze of guards.

The guards didn’t save Eleanor. They never found my mother. And he thought they were the best course of action.

Life in a Southern Town:

Voting in the Mayoral primaries is in exactly eight weeks, with early voting taking place in four weeks. Please make sure you are registered to vote in what promises to be a true family feud! The candidates are:

Riley Brooks-Rys, the Incumbent. Mayor Brooks-Rys has served two four-year terms as our fearless leader and has brought major employers to our city and surrounding suburbs, kept the tax rate steady; she has also been instrumental in bridging the gap between law enforcement and the community to lower incidences of crime in Creswell.

Her missions and goals for a third term include diversity and inclusion, sustainability, and affordable housing.

Liam Rys: Liam Rys is the ex-husband of the Incumbent, former State Senator, and a current councilmember representing Ward B. Mr. Rys is also chair of the City’s Economic and Development Board. He says that Creswell is ready for change and effective leadership, and he’s the man to do it.

He has not revealed his agenda should he be elected Mayor.

The couple share custody of their two daughters, Eleanor and Fabiana.

Madeleine Amaranth: Current councilmember at-large. She is the former sister-in-law of the Incumbent and lost soundly in the last Mayoral election. Ms. Amaranth is the Southeastern District Manager for Walmart Corporation and can be found cheerfully cashiering at the Diamond Plaza Center store when not traveling for audit and inspections at regional stores.

Councilmember Amaranth is running on a platform of governmental transparency, city growth, and equity for every member of the Creswell community.

Leo Rys: You may remember this candidate as the former District Court Judge who stepped down from the bench for good 18 months ago to hang his shingle as a criminal defense attorney, taking on most of Creswell’s highest profile and murkiest cases.

If elected, Attorney Rys, ex-husband of Councilmember Amaranth, promises to clean out City Hall and repair the communication, economic, and class systems dividing Creswell,

Drake Walker: Mr. Walker, owner of the Saddle Up Bar & Grill located in Government Square, is a familiar face at Council meetings in addition to sitting on both the Neighborhood Affordability Council and the Creswell Transportation Board.

He and the Incumbent were previously involved in a romantic relationship which must not have ended well as he has since sued the city a whopping 12 times, citing that his FOIA requests for public information were never answered.

When asked why he was running to be Mayor of Creswell, Mr. Walker replied with, “That woman is a demon, and it’s time for the Devil’s handmaiden to return to Hell where she belongs.”

We here at Creswell Chat are unsure if Mr. Walker is running on a religious platform or not.

Tagging:@jared2612 @ao719 @burnsoslow @marietrinmimi @merridithsmiscellany-blog @queenjilian  @indiacater​ @kingliam2019​ @bebepac​ @liamxs-world​ @the-soot-sprite​ @hopelessromanticmonie​ @mom2000aggie​ @cmestrella​ @iaminlovewithtrr​ @liamrhysstalker2020​  @neotericthemis​ @twinkleallnight​ @umccall71​ @superharriet​  @busywoman​ @gabesmommie1130​ @tessa-liam​ @phoenixrising308​ @beezm​ @gardeningourmet​ @lovingchoices14​ @foreverethereal123​ @mainstreetreader​ @angelasscribbles​ @lady-calypso​ @emkay512​ @jovialyouthmusic​ @21-wishes​ @princessleac1​ @charlotteg234​ @bbrandy2002​ @queenrileyrose​ @debramcg1106​ @alj4890​ @yourfavaqua222​

In case you’re interested: @motorcitymademadame 

[danwhobrowses]

House of the Dragon - Eps 1&2 Thoughts and Review

Fire cannot kill a dragon, and yet we can afford to be burned twice.

In Spite of the bitter taste of Game of Thrones' finale, I like many others have plunged myself into House of the Dragon with tempered expectation of the prequel. Now that the first two episodes are out - and totally not because I forgot to do a standalone one for episode 1 - I'm gonna start giving my blind thoughts on the matter.

To be clear, I'm not super familiar with this story, I know it's covered in a book and other reactors inform me that the book has two unreliable accounts (a Maester and a Court Jester) and this is a 'how it really happened' version for the tv version rather than the book version - so there are some changes and age ups - but otherwise I am blind to the direction it's going, so here's my thoughts on it.

Spoilers for the first two episodes of course, and a bit of Game of Thrones too, give them a watch first if you don't want some plot points ruined for you

So this is a good start, I think I am still a bit hesitant to go fully into it but I am liking what I'm seeing so far.

The first episode was good but I must admit I found myself more unsettled than entertained, purely because of the graphic C-Section scene and the presence of pus, I mean I never wanted to see it with the Jorah greyscale scene and I didn't want it here either, same with the sound of choking babies, it was perhaps too uncomfortable. I think the dragon CGI looked a bit wonky at times, it could be the gold on Syrax is just not great for CGI (I'm sure we all recall The Witcher's golden dragon) or perhaps the smoothness of its scales. I do feel 50/50 on the frequent need to reference Game of Thrones even though it's a prequel, on one hand I get it because it bridges the gap but on the other hand if this show is a prequel by over a century it's a little too on the nose.

Episode 2 was a lot better, but I think it suffered a narrative flaw of 'character a does not talk to character b' when it came to Viscerys announcing his marriage to Alicent, he made no effort to even discuss with Rhaenyra his intent to wed her best friend, which will inevitably start the rift between them showed in the trailers. It also doesn't make Viscerys look any better to go against his better counsel and alienating one of his strongest allies because Laena Velayron is 12, especially when Alicent is apparently around 15. The time jump is a little abrupt, though I feel that we may have more to come.

I will praise heavily the attention to detail when it comes to costuming, something the GoT universe hadn't ever had a problem with thriving on, but I will say that sometimes it does look like the helmets don't fit as well as they should. Then again, this could be an intentional design flaw since this is considered a more peaceful period of Westeros.

I like the characters so far, mostly at the least. So far the star of the show is Matt Smith's Daemon Targaryen, the sociopath prince who has become social media's latest beloved bastard, both cunning and childish he fits a balance of being a villain but also one who still cares about his family. Rhaenyra and Alicent's younger actors have done really well, as has Rhys Ifans' Otto Hightower. Paddy Considine has been really good as the grieving king Viscerys I, completing subverting the descendant of his namesake we're familiar with by appearing at the least as a fair King and a decent person put under a lot of pressure by traditions. Sian Brooke did very well as Queen Aemma, given how she would be the first major casualty of the show, it is a shame we won't get more of her. Episode 2 got to showcase Eve Best's Rhaenys (George making it really easy to second guess every Targaryen's name and spelling) and Steve Toussaint's Corlys a bit more but we still need more of them, same for Graham McTavish's Ser Harrold and Fabien Frankel's Criston Cole, who have simply looked formidable among the crowd. We are yet to have a slew of charismatic characters equal to Tyrion, Tywin, Cersei, Ned, Arya, Bronn, Littlefinger, The Hound and Varys, but we can give it time.

Story-wise, I wish we had more time with Rhaenyra and Alicent before their rift, they established their friendship well but it probably would've hit deeper if we had more time with them, I understand the time jump but we could've had a bit more in between. While I don't think Daemon's a good guy, or that he'd be the worst king (more that he'd be a ruthless one), I do agree with him that the Small Counsel are trying to manipulate Viscerys for their own gains, seen most blatantly by Otto and Corlys throwing their daughters at him. Daemon being rescinded as an heir is grief-driven, especially since we never see him say it, but Daemon's reaction to it as detailed in Episode 2 doesn't do him any favours towards making it seem unfair. Viscerys as I pointed out is a good guy, but he seriously needs to work on his communication, from not telling Aemma his choice to let her die to try and save his son, to not discussing his marriage decisions with anyone or even trying to prepare his daughter for the throne, there is a difference between 'You will learn' and 'Let me teach you'. Alicent seems sweet, for now at least Arya and Daenerys once seemed sweet too, she is in a tough spot that makes me sympathise with her, I don't sympathise with Corlys as much, Viscerys should have married his daughter (or at least sought another way to merge their houses) but his own reaction going straight to Daemon proves that his ambitions are greater than his loyalty.

Of the two episodes I think my favourite scenes so far have been the jousting tournament - both for its visual spectacle but also as a strong introduction to Cole to what I guess will set up a feud between the two - and Viscerys confronting Daemon from Episode 1, and the Dragonstone standoff from Episode 2, not in that order though. The show has promise but since we're still in 'setup' we'll see on the next episode if it can up the ante.

[hauntscast]

The haunting of the Gold Brook Covered Bridge

[kaiafms]

*  ──  (  maia cotton  ,  twenty  -  two  ,  cis female  ,  she  /  her  )  welcome  to  hilton  hills  ,  kaia  henare !  as  well  known  actress  ,  we  can’t  believe  you  traveled  all  the  way  from  los  angeles ,  california  in  order  to  spend  a  few  months  here  .  you’ve  made  quite  the  name  for  yourself  in  the  tabloids  as  being  - conniving  and  -  tactless  ,  but  all  we  have  seen  is  how  +  poised   and  +  enticing  you  are  since  you  arrived  a  few  days  ago  .  if  we  were  to  compare  you  to  anything  ,  it  would  be  wearing   lipstick  as  a  weapon  ,  cat  eye  sunglasses  disguising  sleep  deprivation  ,   &  a  room overfilled  with  gold  awards  .  make  sure  to  unpack  in  time  to  make  it  to  the  bonfire  tonight  !  i  hear  they  are  going to  play  illicit  affairs  by  taylor  swift  just  for  you  !  [  ally  ,  24  ,  she / her  ,  est  ]

pinterest  |  spotify

━━ ♡ 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐒  .

FULL  NAME  :  kaia  ( a nod to her father’s maori background, meaning ‘ the sea ’  )  luna  ( the roman goddess that ruled the moon )  henare  (  maori surname ).

SEXUAL  ORIENTATION  :  not so closeted bisexual.

HEIGHT  :  five foot six.

AGE  :  twenty-two.

BIRTHDAY  :  april 10th, 2000.

ZODIAC  :  aries sun, pisces moon, leo rising.

ETHNICITY  :  half maori, half white.

NATIONALITY  :  dual citizen of america & australia.

HAIR  COLOR  :  dark brown.

EYE  COLOR  :  brown, but have specs of gold that are most noticeable when she’s out in the sun.

NOTABLE  FEATURES  :  dark expressive doe eyes that have won the hearts of the public through her onscreen roles, olive skin littered with birthmarks on her cheeks & neck, a soft spoken aussie voice that’s gotten less notable due to her time spent in the states, thick dark brows that knit together whenever she is angry, prominent cheekbones that compliment her occasional rosy cheeks, envious full lips, & a guarded heart that only opens up whenever she’s under the influence or when she’s with someone she can picture spending the rest of her life with.

OCCUPATION  :  actress ( margot robbie career claim ).

NET  WORTH  :  22 billion.

HOMETOWN  :  sydney, australia.

LABELS  :  the babydoll, the black sheep, & the cataclysmic. 

AESTHETICS  :  silk sliding off of envious curves at the end of a late night,  bouquets of lafleur roses decorating bedside tables, walking through a door only to crush your hopes & dreams, old hollywood, crimson lipstick imprints left on wine glasses, crying for the camera, heartfelt confessions left on read, matching lingerie, the satisfied grin after getting your way, sunset yacht rides, screaming only for no one to hear,  & diamond  earrings.

POSITIVE TRAITS  :  seductive, friendly, intelligent, independent, affectionate, audacious, coquettish, challenging, calculated, persuasive, poised, strategic, jocular, witty, & curious

NEGATIVE  TRAITS  :  materialistic, conniving, mendacious, brash, careless, defiant, duplicitous, greedy, ignorant, destructive, meddlesome, narcissistic, dramatic, provocative, reckless, selfish, troublesome, vain, volatile, & wanton.

CHARACTER PARALLELS  :  shiv roy ( succession ), blair waldorf ( gossip girl ), carla rosón caleruega ( elite ), maddy perez ( euphoria ), brooke davis ( one tree hill ), & summer roberts ( the oc ).

━━ ♡  𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐑  .

standing at five foot six, her height is deemed as slightly taller than average. when it comes to her outward appearance she is anything but average. she is most known for her olive skin, her most notable mark being a birthmark at the bridge of her ski slope nose. due to her ability to tan easily, she never fake tans unless required for a specific role or red carpet event. her figure is petite yet curvy, most known for her enviously small waist & toned assets due to high intensity workout classes.

as it pertains to her choice in fashion, she tends to keep it safe. her day-to-day outfits are most often deemed as classy such as long form fitting designer dresses paired with heels & earrings. however, she will dress down every now & then ; often sporting crisp white button down shirts paired with straight legged jeans.

her hair cascades well past her shoulders & is dark brown & has never been chemically processed. she usually wears her hair down & embraces her natural waves, but often straightens it or slicks it back for a star studded event. she most recently got it trimmed & added two face framing pieces that are most evident when she wears it up.

she only has one piercing that she got with her parents for her eighth birthday. she’s considered getting tattoos or a navel piercing a handful of times, but has backed out at the last minute not due to her mother’s impending disapproval but due to her fear of needles. she usually wears earrings, most often sporting diamond or pearl studs or small gold hoops.

━━ ♡  𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘  𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒  .

FATHER  :  tayn henare, highly regarded writer that is often featured on the new york times best seller list.

MOTHER  :  elizabeth carlson, ceo & founder of right news media & right news network ( the equivalent of fox news ).

SIBLINGS  :  connor carlson ( 35 ), half brother due to her mother’s previous marriage & full time trust fund baby, shane carlson ( 32 ), full brother & chief operating office of right news network, & james carlson ( 30 ), full brother & president of operations of right news network.

━━ ♡  𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃  .

the story starts in auckland, new zealand in january of 1988. elizabeth carlson, a then newly divorced & rising journalist at nbc, was assigned to travel to the other side of the world to interview tayn henare about his most recent novel. tayn refused to travel to new york for this sit down interview despite how many emails & personal phone calls he received from the executives at the network. thus, the young blonde journalist left her infant in the care of her ex husband & flew to new zealand for a week for this interview.

as a divorcee, elizabeth wasn’t looking for love. she was simply looking to carry out this interview & return home to new york to her infant son. however, as the week went on & as tayn showed her his humble beginnings that were the motivation behind his new release, she was falling in love. so, when the cameras were tucked away & it was time for elizabeth to catch her flight back to new york, tayn asked if she could delay her flight by another day or two so he could take her out on a proper date. when she eventually returned home to new york, she knew that wasn’t going to be the last time she saw tayn & she made sure of it.

eventually, the two got into a relationship. it was incredibly difficult to have a relationship on opposite ends of the world, but they made it work. they would often fly to see each other & since elizabeth had a child, they would meet in the middle. after dating for less than a year, tayn eventually asked for her hand in marriage & the two were married shortly after in a small church wedding in his hometown. now that they were married, they knew they had to forego their long distance relationship for something more permanent. meaning, they both had to live in the same continent in order for this to work. all along she felt as if new zealand was far too small for her big city mindset. tayn never wanted to leave his family behind, but he knew in order for his marriage to work he had to compromise. elizabeth wanted them to create a live for themselves in new york, but tayn wasn’t ready for a move that drastic. so, they decided to move to sydney where they would welcome three children of their own.

since elizabeth moved to the other side of the world to be with the man she loved, she had no other option but to leave her prestigious job in new york. as her husband continued his career & relished in his deserved stardom, she was at a lost. she wanted to be more than just a mother or tayn henare’s wife. she wanted to make something of herself. & she saw moving to a new country as an opportunity to truly venture out of her comfort zone & start something new. so the former journalist who’s name was once floated around to become anchor one day decided to venture into right wing news, a hotbed of misinformation & conspiracy theories.

what started out as taking over a small newspaper company on the rink of bankruptcy eventually turned into a multibillion dollar conglomerate. within the course of just two years, she acquired hundreds of newspapers in australia. & as the rise of cable news dominated networks, she decided to create her own news network. it didn’t take long for elizabeth to make her first fortune & relish in the fame & fortune that came along with it. however, she knew that if she wanted right news media to be really successful, she would have to venture into other continents. of course, such a drastic business move would require moving her entire family. however, tayn decided that it would be in their children’s best interest to stay put in sydney while his wife looked to expand her media company in the united kingdom.

it wasn’t until her company received unparalled success in america that they decided to split their time between new york & sydney. everywhere elizabeth went, she did the same things that led to her widespread success in australia which were buy out newspapers & tv broadcasting channels. with the launch of right news network in america, elizabeth carlson became one of the most well known names in the world. she ensured that the on air politics were relatively tame to start out, but it wasn’t long before the anchors were peddling dangerous rhetoric. nowadays, right news network is home to flagrant misinformation & manipulation to its uneducated viewers.

aside from being associated with right wing news & harmful stereotypes, right wing media is also home to several production & publishing companies along with movie studios & theme parks across the world. it goes without saying that elizabeth is good at her job. otherwise she wouldn’t have been the first female ceo of a media company & television networks. however, that does not negate how dangerous her role is in politics. multiple presidents have even gone as far as to refer to her as ‘ the most dangerous woman in the world. ’ her networks give a place for politicians to push their hateful rhetoric without any sort of pushback. it’s an echo chamber that breeds nothing but hate & divisiveness.

all their lives, kaia & her brothers have enjoyed the perks & well funded lifestyles courtesy of their mother’s success. private jets, butlers, chefs, yachts, & mansions all across the globe. if it weren’t for their mother heading a multi billion dollar operation, they wouldn’t be able to afford such luxuries. growing up, her brothers would mention their mother’s controversial reputation to kaia in passing. since all three of her brothers are all significantly older than her, they were acutely aware of their mother’s reputation, but it was never spoken about in great length.

it wasn’t until kaia was of school age & her classmates would make snide remarks about her mother. due to everyone’s young age, they were never capable of telling her that her mother’s politics is what further oppresses already marginalized groups. but they were able to point at her during recess & say something along the lines of ‘ my mommy says that your mommy is bad for the country. ’ as she got older, she became more & more aware of her mother’s business & reputation that accompanied it. it was hard to ignore her mother’s name being dropped by practically every late night talk show host as a punchline of a joke.

by the time she turned ten, kaia’s father filed for divorce. he tried to downplay the situation as best as he could to his children, but the real reasons became front page news when he decided to sit down for an interview. it was during this interview that tayn mentioned how he couldn’t stay married to someone who’s politics pushed white supremacist theories, which ultimately put him & his children at risk due to their maori background. after he walked out of the divorce with eight billion, he moved back to new zealand. no matter how he felt about his ex wife’s politics, he felt as if the children staying in her primary custody was in their best interest. he couldn’t expect them to abandon their lives in sydney & new york to live in new zealand.

as an evident daddy’s girl, this transition was incredibly difficult. it wasn’t that her mother didn’t love her or her brothers. it was that she had an unorthodox wife of showing it. she much preferred to wave a checkbook & have the nanny of the week look after them instead of sitting at the kitchen table to help them with math homework. it wasn’t until two of her brothers began working for her company that elizabeth showed a genuine interest in them. her affection was measured in how useful her children can be & how much money they can help make her.

& for the longest time, kaia planned on one day working for her mother in order to receive the same affection as her brothers. but as she became more aware of the network’s politics as she got older, she realized this wasn’t what she wanted. kaia knew that if she didn’t share the same dna as the ceo then they would be discriminating against her due to her dark features ; a stark contrast to her mother’s fair skin & blue eyes.

when all of her friends were applying to the most prestigious universities the world has to offer during her senior year of high school, kaia was at a standstill. she didn’t want to attend some cushy ivy league school only to work for a far right echo chamber for the rest of her life. the glitz & the glam weren’t worth it if it meant spewing rhetoric that endangered people’s lives. when she sat down with her mother to express how she didn’t want to go to college, nonetheless even apply, she was adamant that she had to have a plan. her eldest child was already enjoying the high life of a trust fund baby, but elizabeth knew kaia’s potential & refused to allow her to follow suit. as the owner of the new york post & the infamous page six, the last thing she wanted was to report on her only daughter galavanting around with no purpose in life.

so when one of her brothers mentioned that she might as well be an actress due to her flair for the dramatics in passing, kaia knew that’s what she wanted to do with her life. she grew up around a-list celebrities who would grovel at her mother’s size six louboutin heels for the chance of working for her film studio. in her eyes, the life of a celebrity wouldn’t be that hard. in many ways, she was already living that life. the only thing that was missing was starring on the big screen. when kaia finally told her parents her desire for wanting to pursue an acting career following her graduation from high school, they allowed it. of course, her mother pushed back at first. she didn’t want to keep on hiring nobody ivy league graduates to run her business, because she wanted it to be a family operation. her father, on the other hand, just wanted his youngest child to be happy. & if that meant being an actress, so be it. as much as her mother opposed the idea, she eventually gave in, but it came with conditions. all of her conditions were tied to her & the family reputation, but kaia was in no position to argue. the most important rule she established was that if kaia wanted to pursue a career in hollywood, she had to stay out of trouble & never speak poorly of the family business in interviews or even in passing. the last thing she needed was for news to get out of how much elizabeth carlson’s only daughter hated right news media & their role in global politics & the rise of right wing extremism.

following her graduation from high school, she was immediately placed in acting lessons. as someone who already liked to cry for attention, she was a natural. she made her acting debut by guest starring on a few shows, that were of course, on her mother’s many networks. television roles soon transitioned into supporting roles in movies, & as much as most of the world hated her family name, her on screen talent was undeniable. & if people wanted to hate her solely based off her mother’s conglomerate, they quickly scrambled for excuses once she began to get nominated ( & later win ) a series of awards for her performances.

kaia’s breakthrough role was when she was cast to play naomi lapagila in the wolf of wall street, starring alongside leonardo dicaprio. despite being only twenty years old at the time, this role propelled her into her first oscar nomination & award. as a way to distance herself from her mother’s business, she went by her real last name as opposed to adopting her mother’s maiden name like her brothers. she believed that she wouldn’t be taken seriously if she was associated with her mother’s last name, so she never changed it to get more roles. 

like any young actress, kaia embraced her coveted a-list status with open arms. what she wasn’t expecting was how the media portrayed her following the movie’s widespread success. due to her role’s provocative nature, media outlets were likening her to her role. they went from seeing her as nothing but a billionaire nepotism baby to a sex symbol. practically every headline written about her mentioned her physique or relationship status. as much as she preferred to have her own headlines not mentioning her controversial family business, she hated how she was being portrayed. no one cared to know who she really was. all they saw her as was a piece of meat as opposed to an oscar award winning actress.

as she continued to book leading roles in blockbuster films, that were more often than not, the role of a young attractive new wife or a temptress complimenting a male action role, kaia & her pr team doubled down on her public image. in order to preserve her family’s seemingly pristine image, she never wore anything revealing out in public if it wasn’t for a role. this media strategy gave role to her infamous street wear typically consisting of flowy feminine dresses paired with designer heels. furthermore, the only times she was ever photographed with someone of the opposite sex out in public was when she was in a well documented committed relationship. & whenever interviewers would try & ask her provocative questions, she would simply change the topic by talking about the movie.

no matter how hard she tried, the media still went out of the way to make her out to be some provocateur out to steal everyone’s husband. & once the news broke of her most recent relationship, they ran as fast as they could to be the first to break the story. while filming her newest movie that is just wrapping up production, news broke that kaia was dating her male costar who was in a well known relationship. she doesn’t know who leaked the story, but every single headline printed about their relationship referred to her as a home wrecker.

little did anyone know, her ex boyfriend wasn’t in a legitimate relationship during the time they were together. he was in a pr relationship, but of course no one knew about that other than close friends. & when pictures leaked of the two of them kissing following months of speculation of the two being cozy on set, they were forced to breakup. & their breakup only fueled negative headlines about kaia, blaming her for the relationship’s unfortunate demise.

& to add insult to injury, her mother’s publications were publishing those same headlines despite her sitting down with her to explain the true story. her mother’s betrayal proved that she didn’t care about protecting her daughter. at the end of the day, all she cared about was increasing her profits even if it meant humiliating kaia.

at first, kaia considered disappearing out of the public spotlight all together until the scandal was replaced by the next. however, she saw this as an opportunity to forego everything her mother & her media team worked for. she no longer wants the media or the public to continue to see her as someone she’s not. if the world wants to continue to view her as a husband stealer, temptress, & everything else in between, then that’s exactly who she’ll be. she wants to show the world who she actually is & she plans on doing that this summer in hilton hills.

━━ ♡  𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘  .

as the youngest of four, she’s used to getting whatever she wants. she can count on a perfectly manicured hand the amount of times someone has ever told her no. & in kaia’s eyes, it’s either her way or the highway. depending on the situation & who she finds herself with at the time, she goes through great lengths just to ensure everything works out in her favor. for example, when she’s with her father or anyone of her brothers, all she has to do is pout her lips & say please until they acquiesce & give her what she wants. when she’s with her friends or a significant other, she’ll act polite at first. & if that doesn’t work, she’ll quickly result to manipulation.

in interviews, she is always smiling & joking with her costars. while kaia is nice in real life, she also has formidable ice queen tendencies. she turns her mean side on as if it’s second nature, which in her case, it is. due to her complex relationship with her family, she often comes across as poised yet distant. she’s always afraid to open up in fear that she’ll get burned in the end. but her sweet side is almost always on display when she’s with her father.

when she’s in the company of her friends, she’s her true self. she’s kind, but not sickly sweet. she’s easy to get along with just as long as you don’t say the wrong thing or look at her weird. & if you ever do something to get on her bad side, she won’t stop until they are metaphorically ( or literally ) destroyed.

kaia has been in her fair share of relationships, but due to her family trauma that has sunk deep in her core, she is incapable of truly expressing herself. more often than not, confessions of love make her feel uncomfortable. she has never said i love you to any romantic partner & she doesn’t know if she’s capable of feeling such emotions.

speaking of strong emotions, she never knows how to react when anyone cries in front of her. sometimes she laughs or just sits there awkwardly, but having grown up in an environment where emotions were frowned upon, she may as well be a robot in certain situations.

she’s super well spoken despite having never received any formal education. she is constantly throwing big words around, even if no one she’s having a conversation with understands her.

she’s currently undergoing a vixen esque transformation in order to transform into the kind of person the world believes she is. as a result, you’ll often see her baring more skin than usual, wearing red lipstick to draw attention to her lips, & flirting with people who she deems worthy.

has severe abandonment issues stemming from her parents’ divorce, but those issues take place in the form of commitment issues whenever she is in a relationship

overall, she has issues caused by her complex family dynamic but she’s too stubborn to realize just how fucked up she truly is KLSHDF

━━ ♡  𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐒  .

super confused when it comes to her sexuality. she is attracted to both men & women, however, she has only acted on her attraction to the same sex when she’s had threesomes in relationships. since her mother’s cable news network is proudly homophobic, she’s afraid to admit that she’s bisexual. but if you ask any one of her exes, they’ll tell you that she’s 100% bi.

as it pertains to her mother’s life following her divorce from kaia’s father, she has been married & remarried several times. if anyone’s keeping count, she is on her fifth marriage & fourth divorce, but her cable news networks & her newspapers will never report on her rumored infidelity. rather, they talk about her evangelical religion & how her numerous husbands were a god sent.

speaking of her mother, if you’ve ever seen succession she is without a doubt of hybrid of both logan & caroline. in other words, she’s a mess LKSDF she didn’t adopt logan’s physically abusive ways, but she was definitely mentally & verbally abusive every now & then. however, she adopted practically everything from caroline, especially her passive aggressiveness & lack of desire of becoming a mother in the first place.

if your muse’s parents are in politics, chances are they know her mother. depending on where they fall on the political aisle, they either worship the ground she walks on or detests her. & there really is no in between. so if your muse comes from a long line of conservative politicians, it’s more likely than not they often meet with her mother to beg for her endorsement. every single high profile conservative politician comes crawling her way for the chance of receiving her endorsement.

kaia isn’t one to shy away from any illicit substances. she never goes overboard & typically only does drugs in social settings, but she does drink a fair amount. it will be hard to see her in hilton hills this summer without one of her hands being wrapped around a crystal wine glass.

she’s actually staying at one of the sprawling mansions on her family’s 200 million dollar estate this summer !!

━━ ♡  𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃  𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒  .

BEST FRIEND  :  kaia definitely needs someone who not only understands her, but understands the way she was brought up. she needs someone who genuinely cares for her. mushiness aside, this person is her whole world. the serena to her blair. the person who’s ear she’s constantly whispering in at any party. they are the sister she never had ( 0 / 1 )

ENEMIES  :  for whatever the reason, these two hate each other. it could be over a boy, family rivalry, or literally anything else. bonus points if your muse was the one who was entangled in her most recent scandal ( 0 / ?? ) LOVERS  :  first & foremost, i am a huge h*e for slowburn. but i’d also love something forbidden, like her dating someone with a bad reputation solely to piss off her mom, cat & mouse dynamic, or any sort of enemies to loves dynamic ( 0 / ?? )

EXES  :  could be on good or bad terms !! ( 0 / ?? )

GIRL SQUAD  :  enough said KJHSDF ( 0 / ?? )

FORMER COSTAR  :  this person is her ex boyfriend who was in a pr relationship at the time the two started dating, but the media didn’t know that. the pr relationship could have been something serious, like if they were married or engaged at the time. they’re definitely on bad terms since kaia resents how the media made her out to be a home wrecker & he still has his reputation in tact ( 0 / 1 )

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“After the US military occupied the Isthmus of Panamá and the HayBunau-Varilla Treaty was signed, President Theodore Roosevelt issued a series of executive orders to establish US law in the Canal Zone. The 1904 treaty provided the US government with “all rights, power, and authority which it would possess and exercise if it was the sovereign of the territory,” and Roosevelt’s orders created an outline for the criminal legal system. He gave the governor and the Isthmian Canal Commission (ICC) sweeping exclusion and deportation power, and initially chose not to extend the right to jury trial. The Thirteenth Amendment’s “convict clause” was central among the constitutional guarantees that were selectively extended: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist except as punishment for crime,” the order proclaimed. As Canal Zone District Attorney William Jackson described it, the sources of law included a mix of executive orders, congressional acts, Columbian civil law, local ordinances, criminal codes of procedure, and military doctrine, all of which were designed to ensure labor productivity.

....

The ICC convened a “Special Committee on the Employment of Prisoners” in the Panamá Canal Zone in 1908. Proposing that convicts be forced to build roads, their stated aims were threefold: to reimburse the Government for the expense of maintaining its penal system, to open the fertile valleys of the Canal Zone to development, and to improve the condition of the prisoner. The convict road-building program began in March of 1908, when Governor Joseph Blackburn authorized the transport and housing of prisoners outside the Culebra penitentiary. As a Kentucky plantation owner and former Confederate officer in charge of an independent command in Mississippi, he was familiar with regimes of forced labor as well as military-style work camps. On his order, Canal Zone police established a portable camp at Brazos Brook and moved half of the penitentiary population there to be near the work at all times.

Clearing, cutting, grading, leveling, draining, filling—each stage of the road-building process presented its own arduous challenges. Work must have been especially grueling that first summer, as those who were imprisoned were forced to grade a sixty-foot slope leading to a bridge they would have to build over the Miraflores dump. But perhaps even that gang, averaging one hundred prisoners daily, did not envy their fellow prisoners who were sent to fill swamps at West Culebra in May, or those who spent over twenty-five thousand total hours filling the Lirio swamp in August and September. By fall, work had begun on the Empire-Paraíso section of road and seventy prisoners were transferred to a new convict labor camp on the side of Gold Hill. They had already put in over 140,000 total hours on the highway between the towns of Empire and Bas Obispo. When Chief Engineer George Goethals announced the opening of the highway to Empire in his “Notes on Progress” in September of 1910, it had taken over a year for prisoners to build the 18,392-foot long, 18-foot wide stretch of roadway. They excavated some 17,457 cubic yards of material for the subgrade, laid 2,563 cubic yards of gravel, and another 2,860 cubic yards of stone in the process.

Reimbursing the government for the expense of maintaining the penal system was one of the three central aims of the ICC Special Committee on the Employment of Prisoners. Monthly police reports made the financial record of prisoners’ labor publicly available. The system of accounting for the value of prison labor used a fixed hourly wage rate and then subtracted the cost of their subsistence, clothing, and guarding. At the program’s inception, the chief of police reported that the division of municipal engineering credited the department of civil engineering eighty cents per day for each convict employed on the roads. He was proud to report that the experiment was proving profitable: “The Department of Civil Administration finds that the revenue from its prisoners is greater than the expense of keeping them.”

Yet that was not the total cost of maintaining the penal system; the payroll for 150 members of the police force was still listed at ten times the value of road work performed by about the same number of prisoners. One year later, the monthly value of prisoner roadwork was reported as $1,821.55, while the cost of subsistence was $857.75, clothing was another $378.80, and guard payroll was an additional $1,473.76.31 By 1914, the value of work surpassed the cost of “prisoner maintenance.” The costs involved in road building, meanwhile, were reported in local newspapers in a such a way as to reinforce the idea that their work was already a naturally unpaid, and presumably unobjectionable, part of the equation. It was estimated, for example, that the Empire-Gamboa Road would cost $17,952.98, “exclusive of convict labor.”

Once incarcerated and designated for road work, Canal Zone prisoners were made to clear the ground, build portable camps, haul water, prepare food, and clean. The force “does its own cooking and takes care of the sanitation of the camp,” claimed one monthly police report. By making them responsible  for their own social reproduction, such as it was, colonial officials and prison guards sought to turn prisoners into pure surplus. In 1913, a photographer from the Keystone View Company captured one of these “convict corrals” in the background of a photograph of a “Thatched Roof Native Home.” Of course, the caption read, “this corral is a temporary structure because these convicts are transported from point to point, according to where their labor is needed.” Intrigued, the photographer captured the camp itself. “We have a closer view of the corral partially seen in view 21740,” they wrote. “The corral is the temporary quarters for the prison convicts, who are here employed in building a macadam road.” The image [SHOWN BELOW] depicts the barbed-wire enclosure and an officer “brandishing a revolver,” described as “necessary assistants in such camps,” as well as the prisoners’ mess table shown in the foreground.

The stereograph’s caption explained how “the roads are being built by the United States Government and the convicts here located are prisoners sentenced for misdemeanors done in the Canal Zone.” Perhaps in an attempt to portray the prison system as racially unbiased, the Keystone View Company’s writer added, “Naturally these prisoners are of all races and colors.” But in fact, the prison population and road gangs they were looking at were disproportionately black. “In the Canal Zone is to be found, doubtless, the only place where the National Government uses convicts for road construction,” they noted, while in some southern states “convict labor is the usual one employed in building roads,” the practice had not yet been taken up in the nation’s federal penitentiaries. Stereographs like these, together with photographs in news reports and exhibitions like the 1915 World’s Fair, were instrumental in constructing the visual representation of the Canal Zone’s prison labor program to the US public in ways that obscured the racial violence of Uncle Sam’s chain gangs.

Another goal of the Special Committee on the Employment of Prisoners was to open the fertile valleys to cultivation and development, by which they meant to white settlement. When Governor Blackburn first authorized the prison road gangs, ICC officials explained it this way: “the intention is to locate these roads away from the railroad so as to develop the agricultural recourses of the country to as great an extent as possible.” The roads were designed to facilitate settlement and plantation-style agriculture both within the Zone and in the neighboring Republic of Panamá. Zone administrators pressured their government counterparts in Panamá, urging them also to employ convicts to build connector roads outside the Zone. As civil engineer J.G. Holcombe told The Daily Star and Herald, he intended to get to work at building roads throughout Panamá and would use prison laborers wherever possible so they would cost a minimum outlay. The Star and Herald reported that a highway would be built from the town of Empire in the Canal Zone through to Chorrera, in the Republic of Panamá: 

“From Empire to Arraijan the trail traverses one of the best agricultural sections of the Zone and a large amount of fruit and produce is brought over it by pack horse and marketed in Empire.” 

It was nine more miles, however, from the edge of the Zone boundary to the “native village” of Chorrera, a town of about thirty-five hundred people with “many farms of considerable extent” growing corn and other produce and raising cattle. The Government of Panamá has given assurance, a reporter assured readers, that it will continue the highway built to the Zone line into Chorrera, “thereby making the entire section of country accessible to Empire.”

The Canal Zone prison road-building scheme was situated squarely in an ongoing debate over settlement versus depopulation. Those who favored settler colonialism in the Zone, advocated roads be built in order to connect agricultural plantations to markets. As the Canal Zone Governor George Goethals told it a few years later, the group in favor of establishing a white settler colony “asserted that Americans should be permitted to take up land, provision being made for homesteading it as an inducement … the assumption being that they would have farms or plantations worked by West Indian negroes; the general idea amounted to opening up the land to ‘gentlemen farmers.’” 

Goethals himself, however, opposed settlement in favor of depopulation after work on the canal was complete in 1914. “I did not care to see a population of Panamanian or West Indian negroes occupying the land, for these are nonproductive, thriftless, and indolent,” he wrote.  According to his racial nightmare, they would not only act as unproductive squatters, but drain government resources by congregating in small settlements and costing the government money for sanitation and police. As his theory about the increased cost of policing suggests, he speculatively criminalized those he lumped into the category “negro” and deemed as an unwanted surplus population once their labor was no longer needed on the canal. The irony was that throughout the canal construction period, only black Silver Roll employees paid income tax, which supported such public services, while white Gold Roll employees paid no income tax and received a range of free and subsidized government benefits.

Through these type of discussions over depopulation, criminality, and prison labor, Canal officials actively inverted the meaning of who was generating value and who was supposedly a burden on the government. In a declassified record from the ICC’s executive office at the end of canal construction, officials noted that in addition to those they had deported and those “removed in the course of depopulation,” the ICC planned to begin transporting people who were now out of work “as a police measure.” Their justification for mass deportations revealed the logic at work in speculatively criminalizing unemployment and poverty: 

“[A]ny increase in crime always occurs where conditions cause a large number of men to be without employment,” 

wrote Police Chief Mitchell, expressing what seemed like a timeless, race-neutral, truism.

Yet he and Mr. Copeland knew exactly what group they were targeting: “Nearly all police cases in Panama for wounding, sneak thieving, robbery and fraud,” he speculated, “are those of Jamaicans who are out of work on account of termination of canal work.” They were also clearly ambivalent about those they deemed as surplus, whose lives they evidently did not consider very valuable. While Mitchell proposed removing all “unemployed aliens” from the Isthmus if the US government “had to take care of them,” for example, he added that they actually might need all available labor for defense measures, adding that “such labor could be forced.”

- Benjamin D. Weber, “The Strange Career of the Convict Clause: US Prison Imperialism in the Panamá Canal Zone,” International Labor and Working-Class History No. 96, Fall 2019, p. 83-88.

Image at top is: “CONVICTS BUILDING A COMMISSION ROAD: The excellence of these roads should be an object lesson to Central America.” from Willis J. Abott, PANAMA And the Canal IN PICTURE AND PROSE. New York: Syndicate Publishing Company, 1913. p. 348.