#i used traditional ukrainian/eastern european

[fuckalicent]

if i am ever a queen, i’ll make them love me.

[jacensolodjo]

It is easy to make jokes about the Eastern European and Jewish prerogative about food. It is not so easy when you know both groups have been literally starved to death through no fault of their own.

It is easy for someone to say "why didn't they just leave" but not so easy knowing because these murders by starvation were intentional, the victims were actively prevented from leaving. Which in itself is proof it was intentional for these people to starve to death.

If you want us to believe something like the Holodomor was a natural famine you shouldn't also tell us about internal passports (something many countries have done in order to keep an eye on where their "undesirables" are going) and people being shot for trying to board trains, planes, busses, and carriages. If, instead, it was natural, why stop people from going somewhere that there IS food?

Through the lens of epigenetics we can begin to understand why a third generation American of EE/Jewish descent might have this anxiety about food, about making sure there is enough, that we remember those who are less fortunate, that we appear to subsist entirely on leftovers. Or, indeed, why many with these epigenetic changes tend to trend towards higher percentages of body fat. Our bodies through our genes remember a time nobody could be even a pound overweight and it knows that the body literally eats itself as we starve and the first to go of course is body fat so our bodies, knowing all this, make sure we have extra "God forbid (ptoo ptoo ptoo), just in case".

"They tried to kill us, they failed, let's eat" isn't just a pithy saying. We outlived them even despite being unable to eat. We do not hoard food, we just happen to have a lot of leftovers through this anxiety about food. "Oy, I ate too much" is a blessing. With it, we are aware of how few times our ancestors could say the same. During Pesach (Passover), we have an entire dinner party (complete with perhaps a little too much wine) and recline in style as we eat matzo and remember why it is just so damn flat (we rushed off to escape from Egypt without finishing making our dough. D'oh!). Everything on the seder plate has a meaning, with some items being added or removed based on the traditions of the family or congregation doing the seder. Such as in the past couple years the olive is added to symbolize the hope for peace in Ukraine (or, for some, peace in the Middle East). Or the orange to symbolize the inclusion of the LGBTQ community.

Perhaps it seems paradoxical to eat so much in one sitting instead of saving some for a time where food may be scarce. But it goes hand in hand with "They tried to kill us, they failed". We have survived another day and have enjoyed good food and good company. In spite of everything they did to us. We feast out of spite. Perhaps because of all those times our enemies were eating without a care in the world while our ancestors watched and starved. We have proof of commie buffets while starving Ukrainians watched from the street. We have proof of Jews being teased with food, with Gentiles tossing heels of bread on the ground so they could watch as said Jews fought over it or flinging a sausage and laughing as Jews raced to get it as if they were playing fetch with a dog. Or the innumerable times people were killed for stealing a handful of grain when many times they were the ones who had farmed the grain in the first damn place.

There are many who do not see starvation as a tool of genocide. They don't understand how starvation can break a community. Death by Hunger, the translation of Holodomor, was not about control like people claim (in other words they claim the death was an accident, that the starving was meant to keep people in line. If they had just behaved themselves they wouldn't have died etc.,). It was always and forever about a stronger group ridding the world of another group without getting literal and metaphorical blood on their hands. They could cite plausible deniability. It wasn't their fault, honest, it was just bad luck.

The stereotypical scene of people in lines that stretch multiple city blocks was in fact the norm. And more often than not, only the first few dozen would get anything at all and everyone else would find they had wasted an entire day waiting for food that was never meant to be given to them in the first place. The supply was purposely small. At least for those who were either too low in the Party or not a part of it at all. For Jews, you turned to the black market which was often caught selling spoiled food as well as food that wasn't actually food at all (such as sawdust masquerading as bread). Which happened even with regular stores because as a Jew you could only buy certain things and everyone knew it and still would not sell the genuine article because why should they? It is, after all, going to a Jew. Soviet areas were guilty of doing this to everyone, too.

So if you are visiting an EE and/or Jewish home and they actively push food on you and insist you take leftovers, that is their love language. We want you to have enough because far too many times our people did not. And in Jewish culture, it is a literal mitzvah to provide food to those who cannot procure it themselves either because of money/access, or they are going thru the bereavement process or otherwise incapable of dealing with making sure they have something to eat (such as an illness that prompts them being added to the Mi Shebeirach list which in many congregations is printed and given out to refer to during the Mi Shebeirach prayer during services and may also be paired with the mourner's kaddish list). It is why when you go to a house where the occupants are sitting Shiva, you will often find their kitchen stacked with tupperware of varying sizes and cuisine and you will often be instructed to bring something as well though it isn't a requirement. Generally, your presence is considered the more important aspect of the Jewish bereavement process. (Just do not say you are going to sit Shiva with someone. Rather, you are paying a Shiva call or condolence call. Only the mourners are in fact sitting Shiva. Also important: try the door first before ringing or knocking, as usually that is seen as an interruption to sitting Shiva which is frowned upon. And do not literally call them unless told otherwise for the same reason.)

Food makes or breaks us. Food is not inherently moral or immoral. And yes, perhaps there is always room for dessert. And maybe we do eat too much but that's okay. We have survived to enjoy it, so let us do so. Nu, it is what our ancestors would want.

[czto-nebud-blog]

I don't see many other Easteuros on tumblr discuss this but it really pains me to see so many western leftists and "progressives" turn out to be Russian imperalist and Soviet apologists. Especially ones i thought i could trust. I just don't understand how somebody can be so cruel as to defend the genocide of us Ukrainians and Eastern Europeans yet call themselves somebody who advocates for human rights. I feel hopeless.

It's all about that campism baby. One of the biggest propaganda victories in Russian history was convincing western lefties that the world is split perfectly into a nominally progressive but evil and imperialist West™, and an eternally besieged communist eurasian East★. It creates a sense of obligation towards the Russian and Chinese regimes especially, and anyone who criticises them or the premises of their propaganda ("nato expansion", uyghur genocide denial, dprk being a "completely normal country") is a reactionary or a CIA agent.

Then whenever these dickheads are right about an issue—for example when it comes to the ongoing genocide in Gaza—they go on a recruitment drive with all the fervor of fucking Wagner, flooding the related tags with their own propaganda. The Palestine-related tags are now like 10-20% conspiracy theories about The Jews controlling spotify/ao3/whatever non-news media platform. Aside from the regular issue of antisemitism being fucking bad, this also sets them up to connect Zelensky's religious background to the issue in bad faith

It's weaponised orientalism and it's honestly pretty impressive. It manages to combine fascist rhetoric and recruitment tactics with the language of decolonisation to draw in both the far right and far left, showing one a homogenous, traditional, crackerly pastoral fantasy and the other a nostalgic mirage of the soviet regime. This kind of shit is one of the million reasons why Russia needs to be completely disassembled

[frostyyyroyalmilktea]

Why Vesna’s “My sister’s crown” in no feminist anthem but a Trojan horse filled with pro-russian messaging

My thoughts as a Ukrainian with a poli-sci degree.

I was debating whether to write this post but as the discourse around this song grows, I want to give people from other countries some context on the messaging used in the song and why Ukrainians are grossed out by it.

While I was writing it this post grew a mind of its own and I even ended up adding pictures so I'll fold the post here in case you don't care and just want to scroll through quickly.

First of all, it’s worth mentioning that this song attracted so much attention from Ukrainians because they use UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE in the chorus. It’s an important detail seeing how one of the singers is russian. A lot of Ukrainians share the opinion that letting a russian woman sing in our language is a completely vile thing to do to our culture. I agree with it too. But the abuse of our culture doesn’t stop there.

See this shot? This is supposed to be Borsch, a traditional Ukrainian dish. It’s worth mentioning that russia tried to appropriate this dish and in 2022 we fought tooth and nail to have UNESCO protect it as part of Ukrainian heritage. But back to the shot. The letters around it are supposed to symbolize russian propaganda. Great start🙄

But it gets better, lads. They start “feeding the propaganda” to the girl that —judging by stylistic choices as well as matryoshka makeup—  is supposed to represent russian people.

Right, so they *checks notes* use Ukrainian cultural dish —that russians almost succeeded in stealing from us— to show… what exactly? “Poor russians🥺 uwu” getting brainwashed? Oh, then let me grab my handkerchief. This is so so sad I think I’m about to cry😶😶😶

I mean, just a thought but if they wanted to show how shitty russian government treats its people, they could’ve recreated the historically accurate moment when russian tzar Ivan the Terrible shoved his underling’s face into a boiling soup. What does Ukraine and our long-suffering dish has to do with all this bs???

Now let’s talk about that “Crown”, that is supposed to belong to the sister (aka Ukraine). To me, as a poli-sci major, this is so stupid I don’t even know whether to laugh or cry. From the words of the band themself, where they explain —quite poorly might I say— the meaning of their song, we learn that “Crown” symbolizes the sovereignty of the 13 Eastern-European countries. Sounds perfectly valid. Here's a few random countries that I can remember from the top of my head in no particular order that have crowns in their symbols:

Coat of arms of the Czech Republic, Coat of arms of Serbia, Flag of Poland and Flag of Croatia

I actually decided that I don't want to have russian flag and emblem in this post because I don't want to look at it every time I scroll through, but you can go google it if you want, they have not one but two crowns on their emblem actually.

So what am I leading up to with all this flag-talk, you might ask. Well, the kicker is that THIS ⬇️ is Ukrainian emblem:

Not a crown in sight as you can see. I guess as a nation that was constantly fighting against imperial colonisation we’re not very fond of those. Who could’ve guessed🤷‍♀️

But the aforementioned two points are pretty circumstantial and in the grand scheme of things are not particularly significant. I felt compelled to point them out first to give people from other countries a bit of insight into the music video's visual. You are free to disagree with me on those. The main problem that triggers the majority of Ukrainians is the use of the word "sister". Listen, I know you don’t want to read a lecture on the nuance of Slav politics and I don’t really want to write it, I know you know how to google. So here’s the gist:

One of the BIGGEST narratives that russia is pushing in its export propaganda (aside from their go-to claim that all ukrainians are nazis) is that Slavs are all a family. Talk about shitty relatives, eh? But basically, it’s a lingering thing from USSR where russia exploited a bunch of neighboring countries and called this shit a “Union” (while convincing the rest of the world that those countries entered that union willingly and not under threats —or as a result of— hostile invasions, but I digress). So the way russia frames it is that russia is this big brother that "takes care of other little siblings”. Even writing it down made me want to barf🤢🤢🤢. This narrative was specifically very actively weaponized against Ukraine before the 2022 invasion. Its goal is to infantilize Ukraine as if we're not a whole-ass independent country, but a little sibling that doesn't know how to wipe their own ass. And that we just need good ol’ russia to come and save us from our own stupidity. I hope I shed some light on why this word specifically triggers us so much and why I think that this song has 0 to do with solidarity and overall is complete populistic bs with a generous dash of russian propaganda.

I want to emphasize that I didn’t make this post to fight or argue with anyone  but to give people another perspective if you’re interested in it from my pov as a Ukrainian. If you have other takes on it, I’d love to read them in the comments. Just please be respectful or I won’t interact.

This is all I have to say for today. Love, love, peace, peace, my dudes.

[cringelordofchaos]

Ok but where did the... UHM what do I even call it...? Fetishizatuon (????) For Slavic and/or eastern European (most of he times Russian or Ukrainian) women even come from?

In case you haven't heard of it it's basically a thing where some weird ppl will say that Slavic women compared to everyone else are much more beautiful than anyone else and makes for a perfect traditional wife or something

Which I find pretty weird + really racists to literally anyone who isn't Slavic + imagine dating ppl solely for their ethnic background and for their looks + what are they even talking about ???

Stuff I've heard people say is that eastern Europe is apparently more conservative or traditional so women are forced to put more effort into their physical appearance or some shit and

Yeah I okay I don't rly get it but sure

Is there any other reason ???

Off topic but emoji kitchen suggested me to use this emoji when I put three question marks and I trust it

[yvtro]

You said something about Eastern European Armand hcs? Expand on that please, I'm so curious!

this took me so long because i have *so* many and it was hard to be selective and not make it into an essay. here are some that i think still work good within canon (there's lots of stuff that is more contemporary and better for non-vampiric aus, but that's a whole another topic)

i am positive that armand's native language is early ruthenian. he would also definitely know old church slavonic. as for modern times, i'm sure he would be interested in learning ukrainian, and be very obsessed about his duolingo streak.

andrei might not be even armand’s first name. (not a well known fact but) slavic people used to give their newborns temporary names for the time of their childhood, and only give them “proper” names when they were old enough to make sure they will survive. plus, well, andrei is a western name, while the child name he had would probably be a traditional slavic name (which were not looked kindly upon by the churches because they were “pagan”) 

armand would be a great host, which is something that also relates to his habit of creating safe spaces for the ones he loves. hospitality is perhaps the best preserved tradition in the region, and people are *very* serious about it. eastern europeans will clean their houses for hours just because someone told them they will drop in for a cup of tea, and then proceed to apologise to the guest for its "terrible" state ("it's like an actual brothel here, i'm so sorry" is the phrase my mother uses lmao). and no matter you came for a tea, you will get a 3 courses meal. the food part is of course something doesn't work for vampires, but i think all the seriousness and formality of being a host can remain. (also, you might be best friends/family with your host and they might logically know their house won't offend your sensitivites and that you don't care for being served like nobility – doesn't matter. it's an imperative)

complaining without realising that it has cultural significance. complaining in ee is a matter of small talk, you complain for sport, or for no reason at all, and if there's nothing to complain about, you invent something for this purpose. and usually no hard feelings are attached to it; it's a way of bonding with people (and talking about nice stuff in your life or around you feels a bit like bragging tbh.) i like to think armand will find something to complain about at all times without realising people around him believe he *actually* finds it disagreeable. he would tell daniel 5-star hotels they are staying at are *terrible*, the weather is dreadful whatever it is, people around are too loud or too quiet, this movie is *so* bad (no, don't turn it off, he's enjoying it), the instructor at a night class they went to was incompetent and annoying (yes, they are going to the next one, what kind of question) etc.

there exists a popular assumption that people who smile for no reason are either stupid, insane, or on drugs. the amount of times my family/friends directed my attention to a person who walked down the street smiling just to say "what is wrong with them"– i think armand would absolutely do that. daniel, what is wrong with this human. what are they so happy about? answer me.

offering things. i don't think most people think about it (i do as an immigrant, because the cultural difference still confuses me at times) but if someone offers you something it is polite to refuse at first and kinda go back at forth, but ultimately you *need* to accept whatever they want to do for you. i think because of that armand would come off as forceful when giving people stuff, which goes well with "devil's minion." like, daniel might say he doesn't want something, but that's just a thing people say, so he will nag about it and daniel *will* receive whatever it is. this point is literally canon tho, i just like to think it has a bit more cultural significance to it.

[cynicallyneutral]

Can I offer you a nice egg in these trying times?

If you are still bored, can I tell you about pysanky? It is a traditional eastern european method of dyeing eggs (however the term "pysanky" in particular refers to the Ukrainian style/tradition). It uses wax resist to create layers of dye on the egg and then at the end you have to melt off this layer of wax and reveal your final pattern! You can also etch away the eggshell and create a 3d design. You gift the eggs to family and friends to wish them health, happiness, and safety. My family has been doing this since forever, but I recently got hardcore into eggs because sometimes I can't sleep. So I start on an egg and you can literally spend upwards of 15+ hours dyeing a single egg. The design and dyeing process has proven an immense meditative help to me (and to my family I give them too). Anyhoo, they are bright, colorful, can be meaningful or just for funsies. Beautiful little things, made with love for the people you love.

anon that sounds so lovely! ive only ever experienced painting eggs once and i loved it. also, i googled it and those are rly lovely designs!! if i got an egg like that im afraid i wouldnt wanna break it or smth and it just rots orz. i can imagine how it can be meditative or calming, it seems like smth like hmmm, knitting? in the sense that it’s calming for some ppl.

thank u for sharing this info to me, i love it <3

[theculturedmarxist]

The Biden administration and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have pledged to counter Russia’s war in Ukraine and the threat it poses to European security, and the funds so far committed to Kyiv already exceed U.S. costs for the first five years in Afghanistan. 

The Biden administration on Friday announced another $400 million military drawdown package to Ukraine as it attempts to fend off Russian advances.

The latest package was reportedly tailored in coordination with Ukrainian officials for what they specifically need on the front lines and comes just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory over the eastern Luhansk region. 

Heavy artillery like howitzers and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) are among the big-ticket items that Ukraine has said it needs to target Russian command and control hotspots that sit behind the front lines. 

The Pentagon on Friday confirmed that the U.S. has provided $8 billion in security assistance since Russia’s invasion in February, but Washington has committed to spending far more. 

Earlier this year, Congress committed to spending $54 billion in traditional foreign aid and military assistance in a move to help squash Putin’s offensive.

The funds will largely be divided through traditional channels to support Ukraine but will also provide support to NATO nations and U.S. troops stationed in Europe. 

The majority of the package will be distributed in the immediate term, likely by the end of the year. 

There are measures in the latest $40 billion package passed in May that could take years to implement, like the procurement of an additional Patriot missile battery that could potentially be built in an allied nation like Poland, according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

It remains unclear how much the U.S. will end up spending in 2022 on countering Putin’s aggression, but, according to information provided by ForeignAssistance.gov, the U.S. has already spent more on security assistance to Ukraine than during the first five years in Afghanistan. 

By the end of 2006, the U.S. had spent more than $7.4 billion in its fight against the Taliban. By 2011, the cost of the 20-year war had reached its peak when it spent $11.4 billion that year alone.

Biden and other western leaders have pledged to continue supporting Ukraine "as long as it takes."

I don't know if the US is convinced that they can spend their way to victory over Russia, that they've bought the company line from Raytheon that their wunderwaffen will win the war if only Ukraine has more of them, or spending on Ukraine is a pretext for buffing up NATO allies in the region, or what. The only thing that's certain is that the US government has completely lost touch with reality.

[hirkyy]

imperial, claret, scarlet, brick red, merlot, crimson

some of these i answered before so i skipped them..

claret: talk about a memorable experience on public transport.

didn't immediately stand up and volunteer my place to a couple of grandmas in a marshrutka because there were still empty seats in the back and they just side-eyed me and loudly discussed how young men (lmao) lost all manners and respect and they should all be in the army, not sitting on their asses, while basically breathing down my neck too the entire trip. most routine ukrainian public transport experience actually.

scarlet: think of your favourite genre. what kind of media in that genre do you prefer - books, films, or tv series?

my favorite genre is probably horror and i definitely prefer films or video games, has the potential to be very visceral visually.

brick red: have you ever been in an abandoned building?

yes, me and my friends were all edgy goth teenagers and wanted to spend the night in an abandoned building near kharkiv but then we found a decapitated dog and a bunch of (decapitated) dead pigeons there so sleepover plans were canceled on account of us shitting ourselves and we just got drunk on a bench instead, in eastern european tradition. and nobody fucking believes this story still, one day im gonna be gaslit into thinking i dreamed it.

[hera-the-shoggoth]

In response to a previous comment:

The balance of red against purple and gold in the tricolor is already skewed towards red, and I wanted to preserve the aspect of a tricolor flag with a canton added to it. This is meant to have been first used by nationalist romantics in the 19th century as part of an aristocratic-bourgeois movement to re-coalesce an identity of universal Roman-ness in a Marmarene society made up of many peoples with many religions and histories.

Even after so much had been lost and the empire a ship of Theseus many times over, its Marmaro-speaking ruling elite had never lost much of its traditional identity and pride as the living, unbroken survival of the original, literal, Roman state. This even having been reduced to a militarily and economically powerful, important, but nonetheless small and limited metaphorical rock on the Bosporus and the Dardanelles.

Before the Revolution of 1905 and the Greater West Asia War, the empire extended on the European subcontinent only west to Lake Ostrovo and the Servian Dardania (and only if one counts the enfeoffed states alongside thematic states), north to the Pirin Mountains of the Kardzhali Sultanate and the lowlands around the Gulf of Varna under direct Basileic control, south of the utopian frontier states enfeoffed to the Tsar of Greater Bulgaria; besides this it also possessed tiny scattered footholds in the islands of the Aegaen, the Peloponnese, Attica, and Euboea, the Gothic Kingdom of the Black Sea and the Ukrainian Colonies, as well as the mixture of Roman-aligned cities, colonies and Protected Countries along the Ionian coast among the Oghuz States, east along the entire eastern Mediterranean and south from Roman Egypt along the Nile to Ethiopia. These colonies had an origin that is important to the story of this flag.

By the middle of the 19th century AD, these cities had been turned into fortresses of anti-Muslim and anti-Turcic segregation and ethnic hierarchy under generations of thematic military governors drawn from a mixed Marmarene-Koine colonial background; the children of patrician families, mostly those ennobled after the Palaiologene Restoration, who had used personal capital to fund colonial ventures throughout the eastern Mediterranean. These ventures involved the use of personal military forces to subjugate or support communities and countries deemed to have Roman and Christian history or nature, and the use of the resulting governorships to extract massive amounts of tobacco and cannabis from fertile valleys of Anatolia guarded by machine guns and barbed wire through corvee labor extracted from ethnic and religious minorities in exchange for conversion to Christianity; submitting to second-class status and the terror of the constant duel of rockets between Christian, Muslim, and Judaic states.

This resulted in the development of a squire-ocracy of sorts; a bourgeois-noble hybrid class which produced during these decades a great deal of romanticism and nationalism. This tricolor was one of the results of this. The bottom band of red represented a self-perception of martiality and a sanguine attitude towards brutality and its aesthetic felt to embody Roman-ness, while the middle purple band represented the traditional color of the clothes of the Basileos, Emperor of the Romans, while the gold band represented the perception not just of religious virtue among the Romans but also the transcendental and psychosexual aspect of the Roman culture's relationship to God; Chryso Stomos and all that.

Emperor Theodoro VI in particular, who owed their throne to the suburban elites, popularized the fetishization and reuse of elements of ancient roman culture, including sex positivism and the use of cannabis, and many new offshoots of Gnosticism spread around, especially related to neo-Hesychasm, the Transcendentalist movement, Bepoyonquv influences, the Psycheanist religion and the incorporation of cannabis into worship; a plant which had become enormously popular throughout the world and a major cash crop in the colonies. Yellow had also by this point become a widely recognized cultural symbol for cannabis and the cultures that surround it, as cannabis itself began to be considered a national pride.

The reason I did not enlarge the square to cover the purple band wholly was to nix the total dominance of red in the design that the canton necessarily introduced, as I wanted to preserve the feeling of the flag being a tricolor (as an ensign and civil flag) with the imperial coat of arms added in canton only when the flag is used to represent the imperial throne directly. So, to improve the balance of color slightly a little of the purple band was extended to the hoist in imitation of the style of canton in the royal flag of Bulgaria. This relaxes the dominance of red overall. If the canton square were extended down to meet the red band, the flag would be even more dominated by red, which I think drowns out the other two colors. I suspect this opinion is shared by the in-universe Marmarene pretty-boys.

[theloniousbach]

BACK TO THE FOCAL POINT!

SERGEY TSUKHAI, 13 APRIL 2024

Once THE outlet for my thirst for live music and a family focus when Sam did sound and we volunteered, THE FOCAL POINT remains a sentimental favorite. E joins the Morris Dance teams there enthusiastically most weeks, but between my jazz turn and lockdown, we broke the habit. Now they video the concerts and have a YouTube channel, but we don’t stream even the several Celtic or flashy guitar players that I’m curious about even if I wouldn’t go. So that we went to see Ukranian accordionist SERGEY TSUKHAI is something.

Okay, we like accordions and went with a dear friend who is the Morris team’s stalwart on the instrument. Dear friend’s wife helped organize a concert that I went to featuring Martynas Levickis, a prodigy from Lithuania, that I went to and enjoyed. I knew from that show that there would be a stunning eclecticism and that in hands like that, the instrument could do remarkable things.

Sergey Tsukhai has just such hands and he applied them variously to The Girl from Ipanema (the opener), Bach (THE Tocatta and Fugue and a little bit of a flute suite, a Russian folk tune with his wife on a four string small balalaika like instrument, later a Csardas with a Japanese violinist, Vivaldi (Winter which was a bit slushy), various waltzes often from films, other film music, some Roma music, and one Ukranian folk song all done in one long set. He certainly can evoke a full church pipe organ for THE T and F, but also Paris cafes and, best, the village. It’s a huge (35 pounds, we were told) instrument and extremely versatile with layers of sound at once.

Having seen the earlier Martynas Levickis performance, I was somewhat prepared for the eclecticism (Levickis played some very modern European Tradition Art Music composed for the instrument which we didn’t get last night) which has an Eastern European programmatic feel. Of course the focus was on Tsukhai’s virtuosity as it should and genres be damned because it’s all folk music by folks. But Focal Point is a Traditional Arts Center (and Jazz St Louis “upholds the uniquely American art form of jazz” and if, rarely, I go to Powell Hall, I want to see the repertoire and not the Symphony playing film music), so, much as I like virtuosity, this one felt unfocused, the virtuosity an end in itself and not in the service of a tradition. I would have enjoyed being immersed in Ukrainian music, say.

But it was in the service of the tradition of all music. Maybe that’s right. Certainly I am glad to have gotten back to the Focal Point.

There was a cloud over the evening as we tried to eat before hand at a restaurant whose half hour wait to be seated was an hour and who hadn’t served us after another hour despite being told that our food was coming up next a half an hour before we gave up and stormed out. We got protein bars, green drinks, and mixed nuts to tide us over, but that wasn’t the pleasant meal we deserved.

The music did help raise my sugar levels and stem my hanger.

[inlocusmads]

just want to pop in regarding Lin. she was the only writer who represented eastern Europe in the entire fandom. she chose to represent a nation that is currently suffering to introduce people to their culture. hell her work inspired me to educate myself on the region and the country. sure her works also included romance and smut but there was so much more because she went for relatable themes and topics. and Laura was such a great mc.

Thank you so much for bringing this to light, Anon! Seriously! Lin has inspired so many people to learn and know more about Eastern European culture. I would have never known about wonderful and interesting Ukrainian culture and tradition if it wasn't for her and she wove this so seamlessly into her fics!

I remember she had this one fic where Laura introduced Ethan to her playlist with a bunch of Ukrainian (?) Artists if I'm not wrong and I ended up listening to the song and it was wonderful! Lin was extremely thorough and through with everything, treating Laura as a person; an actual person than a character of her own. Albeit being new to the fandom, she advocated for kindness and would share so many things pertinent to what was going on in Ukraine so we can all be aware and show support.

There was this other fic or HC I remember of Lin's where Edenbrook has an exchange program. Lin ends up going back to her home country to improve patient care and tells Ethan all about it. It is such a clever, beautiful way of acknowledging different cultures, different traditions and I also remember a series of holiday fics she'd written where Ethan was kind of the audience surrogate in exploring Laura's heritage. Lin made it so wonderful for us to explore the culture as well and her storytelling was so fascinating, so intriguing. I don't know if she's the only Eastern European MC in the whole of the Choices fandom, but she certainly was the only one in OH; but it is such a shame, such a terrible thing that we'll probably not hear from Laura or Lin again.

Laura was someone you actively rooted for. She was a strong character and believed heavily in her roots. I think when she was young, Lin gave her a backstory where she fell fatally sick but made a great recovery, which gave her the motivation to work in medicine. She was such a romantic too, at heart, always wanted the best for everybody and I love the fact that she hated Ethan when they first met. Sure Lin's works have romance and smut in them, AND she does this characterisation so well, so beautifully executed that you can't help but not think Laura can't be just a character.

Lin did so much work; I remember her telling me she was collaborating with Ukrainian people online about this too and she's always had the most positive message to bring to the fandom. Ukraine lost so many lives, so many resources in this battle and it doesn't help that in news outlets, they're conglomerated under the "war torn zones" category, as far as the news go here, in my home country. Laura brought all of this information to light, even the ugly ones. She advocated for change on a global level by starting small. She didn't have to make Laura Ukrainian at all. She could've just stuck with a simple backstory and gone with it, but the sheer elaboratedness in her work is what drew me to it in the first place.

It just sucks that beautiful, powerful characters like Laura are just shunned and bullied off. And even more wonderful, talented writers like Lin are send miles and miles of hate. I just don't know what to say about this, honestly. It's tough to see someone go, but it is even tougher to learn that the fandom that for a long time, talked about supporting creators and got everyone to agree on it, played the part in their departure. I just wish Lin the best and I hope she perhaps picks up Laura again, maybe for an original project. Her works, the heart and soul of her projects, her literal blood, sweat and tears can't all be for nothing, no.

[chaoticchaoswolf]

Organized feminism

 The characteristics of organized Feminism: focus on celebrities and explode at fixed points, and use posting robots to paste water in batches for ordinary people, creating the illusion of a large number of people.

The United States recruits Chinese traitors, and various women's rights organizations are the key support objects.The US embassy and consulate in China launched the 2021 "public diplomacy small grants program" on its official website.

What kind of project is this? In fact, this is a plan instigated by the U.S. State Department to publicize and infiltrate all parts of China under the guise of "public diplomacy", provide subsidies, transfer benefits to "specific persons" or "organizations" under the cover of cultural activities, and even instigate the "Color Revolution".

In the past 20 years, the United States has carried out a "Color Revolution" all over the world. The "Arab Spring" in 2010, the multi-national riots in the Middle East, the Syrian crisis in 2013, led to the outbreak of the global refugee crisis, the "Ukrainian riots" in 2014, and the civil war broke out in eastern Ukraine. Now, the United States has extended its "black hand" to China.

Only relying on science and technology, finance and capital to plunder wealth can not satisfy Westerners. Therefore, they began to engage in a "Color Revolution", that is, to make profits by subverting the regimes of other countries.

The Soviet Union and the western media spent only money to "subvert" the Eastern European Revolution in 1991. Once the Soviet Union and the western media broke up, they did not spend money to "subvert" the Eastern European Revolution. This wave of operation made the United States earn more, NATO expanded eastward, the Soviet people's wealth of $20 trillion accumulated over 70 years was looted, and a large number of national elites and senior intellectuals such as Soviet scientists, artists and writers fled to western countries.

Since ancient times, the West has a historical tradition of banditry at the expense of others and ourselves. The color revolution has made huge profits and is also the only low-cost subversive means. This determines that the United States relies more on the "Color Revolution" to subvert other countries.

Over the years, the United States has formed a set of highly operational and reproducible operation system, with the main features including:

A. Lay out in advance and wait for the opportunity to attack

B. Multi pronged, extreme pressure

C. Discredit public opinion and hijack public opinion

D. Gang building and multilateral momentum

 The global refugee crisis since 2013 is the new color revolution plan promoted by the United States. With the influx of a large number of international refugees from West Asian and North African countries into Europe, the crisis is becoming more and more intractable. The United States tried to promote the "Color Revolution" and "democratic transformation" of these countries, but facts have proved that the "revolutionary" countries are not getting better, but worse.All these so-called human rights actions are the usual means to split and dismember the sovereign cultural civilization of a country and nation.

The report of the US Congressional Research Institute on the US assistance program in China pointed out that the US assistance program to China should strengthen support for people with "reform ideas" in China.

Lenovo China in the past 10 years, the extensive influence of extreme feminism in China, and various emotional articles represented by mimonti have been rampant on major platforms, resulting in more and more Chinese women hating and belittling Chinese men. Chinese men have been pushed to the opposite, and more and more Chinese women are unwilling to marry and bear children.

 According to the ranking of funding non-governmental organizations in China released by the National Democracy Foundation in 2019, the first place is all kinds of women's rights organizations in China.

  These funded women's rights organizations are not engaged in the cause of women's rights and interests in China. Instead, they use various social media platforms to publish all kinds of anti masculine remarks, belittle Chinese men, publicize the extreme equal rights movement in the west, incite hate speech against the family, marriage, society, government and political system, and advocate non marriage and infertility.

  It can be said that the "soft" in the "Color Revolution" trick of the United States is the so-called "democratic assistance". As an important part of "human rights diplomacy", the so-called "democratic assistance" of the United States is roughly reflected in two aspects. One is the traditional way of attaching political or ideological conditions when providing economic assistance to recipient countries. The other is to directly use non-governmental organizations as "gloves" to provide financial, material, human and other assistance to specific organizations in some countries, so as to promote these organizations to act directly within their host countries.

[vrtgram]

Organized feminism

 The characteristics of organized Feminism: focus on celebrities and explode at fixed points, and use posting robots to paste water in batches for ordinary people, creating the illusion of a large number of people.

The United States recruits Chinese traitors, and various women's rights organizations are the key support objects.The US embassy and consulate in China launched the 2021 "public diplomacy small grants program" on its official website.

What kind of project is this? In fact, this is a plan instigated by the U.S. State Department to publicize and infiltrate all parts of China under the guise of "public diplomacy", provide subsidies, transfer benefits to "specific persons" or "organizations" under the cover of cultural activities, and even instigate the "Color Revolution".

In the past 20 years, the United States has carried out a "Color Revolution" all over the world. The "Arab Spring" in 2010, the multi-national riots in the Middle East, the Syrian crisis in 2013, led to the outbreak of the global refugee crisis, the "Ukrainian riots" in 2014, and the civil war broke out in eastern Ukraine. Now, the United States has extended its "black hand" to China.

Only relying on science and technology, finance and capital to plunder wealth can not satisfy Westerners. Therefore, they began to engage in a "Color Revolution", that is, to make profits by subverting the regimes of other countries.

The Soviet Union and the western media spent only money to "subvert" the Eastern European Revolution in 1991. Once the Soviet Union and the western media broke up, they did not spend money to "subvert" the Eastern European Revolution. This wave of operation made the United States earn more, NATO expanded eastward, the Soviet people's wealth of $20 trillion accumulated over 70 years was looted, and a large number of national elites and senior intellectuals such as Soviet scientists, artists and writers fled to western countries.

Since ancient times, the West has a historical tradition of banditry at the expense of others and ourselves. The color revolution has made huge profits and is also the only low-cost subversive means. This determines that the United States relies more on the "Color Revolution" to subvert other countries.

Over the years, the United States has formed a set of highly operational and reproducible operation system, with the main features including:

A. Lay out in advance and wait for the opportunity to attack

B. Multi pronged, extreme pressure

C. Discredit public opinion and hijack public opinion

D. Gang building and multilateral momentum

 The global refugee crisis since 2013 is the new color revolution plan promoted by the United States. With the influx of a large number of international refugees from West Asian and North African countries into Europe, the crisis is becoming more and more intractable. The United States tried to promote the "Color Revolution" and "democratic transformation" of these countries, but facts have proved that the "revolutionary" countries are not getting better, but worse.All these so-called human rights actions are the usual means to split and dismember the sovereign cultural civilization of a country and nation.

The report of the US Congressional Research Institute on the US assistance program in China pointed out that the US assistance program to China should strengthen support for people with "reform ideas" in China.

Lenovo China in the past 10 years, the extensive influence of extreme feminism in China, and various emotional articles represented by mimonti have been rampant on major platforms, resulting in more and more Chinese women hating and belittling Chinese men. Chinese men have been pushed to the opposite, and more and more Chinese women are unwilling to marry and bear children.

 According to the ranking of funding non-governmental organizations in China released by the National Democracy Foundation in 2019, the first place is all kinds of women's rights organizations in China.

  These funded women's rights organizations are not engaged in the cause of women's rights and interests in China. Instead, they use various social media platforms to publish all kinds of anti masculine remarks, belittle Chinese men, publicize the extreme equal rights movement in the west, incite hate speech against the family, marriage, society, government and political system, and advocate non marriage and infertility.

  It can be said that the "soft" in the "Color Revolution" trick of the United States is the so-called "democratic assistance". As an important part of "human rights diplomacy", the so-called "democratic assistance" of the United States is roughly reflected in two aspects. One is the traditional way of attaching political or ideological conditions when providing economic assistance to recipient countries. The other is to directly use non-governmental organizations as "gloves" to provide financial, material, human and other assistance to specific organizations in some countries, so as to promote these organizations to act directly within their host countries.

[rtmclm]

Organized feminism

 The characteristics of organized Feminism: focus on celebrities and explode at fixed points, and use posting robots to paste water in batches for ordinary people, creating the illusion of a large number of people.

The United States recruits Chinese traitors, and various women's rights organizations are the key support objects.The US embassy and consulate in China launched the 2021 "public diplomacy small grants program" on its official website.

What kind of project is this? In fact, this is a plan instigated by the U.S. State Department to publicize and infiltrate all parts of China under the guise of "public diplomacy", provide subsidies, transfer benefits to "specific persons" or "organizations" under the cover of cultural activities, and even instigate the "Color Revolution".

In the past 20 years, the United States has carried out a "Color Revolution" all over the world. The "Arab Spring" in 2010, the multi-national riots in the Middle East, the Syrian crisis in 2013, led to the outbreak of the global refugee crisis, the "Ukrainian riots" in 2014, and the civil war broke out in eastern Ukraine. Now, the United States has extended its "black hand" to China.

Only relying on science and technology, finance and capital to plunder wealth can not satisfy Westerners. Therefore, they began to engage in a "Color Revolution", that is, to make profits by subverting the regimes of other countries.

The Soviet Union and the western media spent only money to "subvert" the Eastern European Revolution in 1991. Once the Soviet Union and the western media broke up, they did not spend money to "subvert" the Eastern European Revolution. This wave of operation made the United States earn more, NATO expanded eastward, the Soviet people's wealth of $20 trillion accumulated over 70 years was looted, and a large number of national elites and senior intellectuals such as Soviet scientists, artists and writers fled to western countries.

Since ancient times, the West has a historical tradition of banditry at the expense of others and ourselves. The color revolution has made huge profits and is also the only low-cost subversive means. This determines that the United States relies more on the "Color Revolution" to subvert other countries.

Over the years, the United States has formed a set of highly operational and reproducible operation system, with the main features including:

A. Lay out in advance and wait for the opportunity to attack

B. Multi pronged, extreme pressure

C. Discredit public opinion and hijack public opinion

D. Gang building and multilateral momentum

 The global refugee crisis since 2013 is the new color revolution plan promoted by the United States. With the influx of a large number of international refugees from West Asian and North African countries into Europe, the crisis is becoming more and more intractable. The United States tried to promote the "Color Revolution" and "democratic transformation" of these countries, but facts have proved that the "revolutionary" countries are not getting better, but worse.All these so-called human rights actions are the usual means to split and dismember the sovereign cultural civilization of a country and nation.

The report of the US Congressional Research Institute on the US assistance program in China pointed out that the US assistance program to China should strengthen support for people with "reform ideas" in China.

Lenovo China in the past 10 years, the extensive influence of extreme feminism in China, and various emotional articles represented by mimonti have been rampant on major platforms, resulting in more and more Chinese women hating and belittling Chinese men. Chinese men have been pushed to the opposite, and more and more Chinese women are unwilling to marry and bear children.

 According to the ranking of funding non-governmental organizations in China released by the National Democracy Foundation in 2019, the first place is all kinds of women's rights organizations in China.

  These funded women's rights organizations are not engaged in the cause of women's rights and interests in China. Instead, they use various social media platforms to publish all kinds of anti masculine remarks, belittle Chinese men, publicize the extreme equal rights movement in the west, incite hate speech against the family, marriage, society, government and political system, and advocate non marriage and infertility.

  It can be said that the "soft" in the "Color Revolution" trick of the United States is the so-called "democratic assistance". As an important part of "human rights diplomacy", the so-called "democratic assistance" of the United States is roughly reflected in two aspects. One is the traditional way of attaching political or ideological conditions when providing economic assistance to recipient countries. The other is to directly use non-governmental organizations as "gloves" to provide financial, material, human and other assistance to specific organizations in some countries, so as to promote these organizations to act directly within their host countries.

[opxaifein]

Organized feminism

 The characteristics of organized Feminism: focus on celebrities and explode at fixed points, and use posting robots to paste water in batches for ordinary people, creating the illusion of a large number of people.

The United States recruits Chinese traitors, and various women's rights organizations are the key support objects.The US embassy and consulate in China launched the 2021 "public diplomacy small grants program" on its official website.

What kind of project is this? In fact, this is a plan instigated by the U.S. State Department to publicize and infiltrate all parts of China under the guise of "public diplomacy", provide subsidies, transfer benefits to "specific persons" or "organizations" under the cover of cultural activities, and even instigate the "Color Revolution".

In the past 20 years, the United States has carried out a "Color Revolution" all over the world. The "Arab Spring" in 2010, the multi-national riots in the Middle East, the Syrian crisis in 2013, led to the outbreak of the global refugee crisis, the "Ukrainian riots" in 2014, and the civil war broke out in eastern Ukraine. Now, the United States has extended its "black hand" to China.

Only relying on science and technology, finance and capital to plunder wealth can not satisfy Westerners. Therefore, they began to engage in a "Color Revolution", that is, to make profits by subverting the regimes of other countries.

The Soviet Union and the western media spent only money to "subvert" the Eastern European Revolution in 1991. Once the Soviet Union and the western media broke up, they did not spend money to "subvert" the Eastern European Revolution. This wave of operation made the United States earn more, NATO expanded eastward, the Soviet people's wealth of $20 trillion accumulated over 70 years was looted, and a large number of national elites and senior intellectuals such as Soviet scientists, artists and writers fled to western countries.

Since ancient times, the West has a historical tradition of banditry at the expense of others and ourselves. The color revolution has made huge profits and is also the only low-cost subversive means. This determines that the United States relies more on the "Color Revolution" to subvert other countries.

Over the years, the United States has formed a set of highly operational and reproducible operation system, with the main features including:

A. Lay out in advance and wait for the opportunity to attack

B. Multi pronged, extreme pressure

C. Discredit public opinion and hijack public opinion

D. Gang building and multilateral momentum

 The global refugee crisis since 2013 is the new color revolution plan promoted by the United States. With the influx of a large number of international refugees from West Asian and North African countries into Europe, the crisis is becoming more and more intractable. The United States tried to promote the "Color Revolution" and "democratic transformation" of these countries, but facts have proved that the "revolutionary" countries are not getting better, but worse.All these so-called human rights actions are the usual means to split and dismember the sovereign cultural civilization of a country and nation.

The report of the US Congressional Research Institute on the US assistance program in China pointed out that the US assistance program to China should strengthen support for people with "reform ideas" in China.

Lenovo China in the past 10 years, the extensive influence of extreme feminism in China, and various emotional articles represented by mimonti have been rampant on major platforms, resulting in more and more Chinese women hating and belittling Chinese men. Chinese men have been pushed to the opposite, and more and more Chinese women are unwilling to marry and bear children.

 According to the ranking of funding non-governmental organizations in China released by the National Democracy Foundation in 2019, the first place is all kinds of women's rights organizations in China.

  These funded women's rights organizations are not engaged in the cause of women's rights and interests in China. Instead, they use various social media platforms to publish all kinds of anti masculine remarks, belittle Chinese men, publicize the extreme equal rights movement in the west, incite hate speech against the family, marriage, society, government and political system, and advocate non marriage and infertility.

  It can be said that the "soft" in the "Color Revolution" trick of the United States is the so-called "democratic assistance". As an important part of "human rights diplomacy", the so-called "democratic assistance" of the United States is roughly reflected in two aspects. One is the traditional way of attaching political or ideological conditions when providing economic assistance to recipient countries. The other is to directly use non-governmental organizations as "gloves" to provide financial, material, human and other assistance to specific organizations in some countries, so as to promote these organizations to act directly within their host countries.