#or as i like to call it the adolescence of ramona | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

zo2paintedlady · 3 years

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LGBTQ+ Novels/Memoirs

Here is the book list from my LIS 618 class. The links will bring you to their Goodreads pages.

The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater (2017) *based on a true story* "One teenager in a skirt. One teenager with a lighter. One moment that changes both of their lives forever. If it weren't for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country, but they inhabited different worlds. Sasha, a white teen, lived in the middle-class foothills and attended a small private school. Richard, a black teen, lived in the crime-plagued flatlands and attended a large public one. Each day, their paths overlapped for a mere eight minutes. But one afternoon on the bus ride home from school, a single reckless act left Sasha severely burned, and Richard charged with two hate crimes and facing life imprisonment. The case garnered international attention, thrusting both teenagers into the spotlight."

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Saenz (2012) "Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship--the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be."

The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson (2016) "Two boys. Two secrets. David Piper has always been an outsider. His parents think he’s gay. The school bully thinks he’s a freak. Only his two best friends know the real truth – David wants to be a girl. On the first day at his new school Leo Denton has one goal – to be invisible. Attracting the attention of the most beautiful girl in year eleven is definitely not part of that plan. When Leo stands up for David in a fight, an unlikely friendship forms. But things are about to get messy. Because at Eden Park School secrets have a funny habit of not staying secret for long…"

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender (2020) "Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after. When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages—after publicly posting Felix’s deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned—Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi–love triangle...."

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe (2019) "In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here. Maia's intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma of pap smears. Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity--what it means and how to think about it--for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere."

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver (2019) "When Ben De Backer comes out to their parents as nonbinary, they're thrown out of their house and forced to move in with their estranged older sister, Hannah, and her husband, Thomas, whom Ben has never even met. Struggling with an anxiety disorder compounded by their parents' rejection, they come out only to Hannah, Thomas, and their therapist and try to keep a low profile in a new school. But Ben's attempts to survive the last half of senior year unnoticed are thwarted when Nathan Allan, a funny and charismatic student, decides to take Ben under his wing. As Ben and Nathan's friendship grows, their feelings for each other begin to change, and what started as a disastrous turn of events looks like it might just be a chance to start a happier new life."

Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert (2017) "When Suzette comes home to Los Angeles from her boarding school in New England, she isn't sure if she'll ever want to go back. L.A. is where her friends and family are (along with her crush, Emil). And her stepbrother, Lionel, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, needs her emotional support. But as she settles into her old life, Suzette finds herself falling for someone new...the same girl her brother is in love with. When Lionel's disorder spirals out of control, Suzette is forced to confront her past mistakes and find a way to help her brother before he hurts himself--or worse."

The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg (2019) "IMax: Chill. Sports. Video games. Gay and not a big deal, not to him, not to his mom, not to his buddies. And a secret: An encounter with an older kid that makes it hard to breathe, one that he doesn't want to think about, ever. Jordan: The opposite of chill. Poetry. His "wives" and the Chandler Mall. Never been kissed and searching for Mr. Right, who probably won't like him anyway. And a secret: A spiraling out of control mother, and the knowledge that he's the only one who can keep the family from falling apart. Throw in a rickety, 1980s-era food truck called Coq Au Vinny. Add in prickly pears, cloud eggs, and a murky idea of what's considered locally sourced and organic. Place it all in Mesa, Arizona, in June, where the temp regularly hits 114. And top it off with a touch of undeniable chemistry between utter opposites."

Odd One Out by Nic Stone (2018) "Courtney "Coop" Cooper Dumped. Again. And normally I wouldn't mind. But right now, my best friend and source of solace, Jupiter Sanchez, is ignoring me to text some girl. Rae Evelyn Chin I assumed "new girl" would be synonymous with "pariah," but Jupiter and Courtney make me feel like I'm right where I belong. I also want to kiss him. And her. Which is . . . perplexing. Jupiter Charity-Sanchez The only thing worse than losing the girl you love to a boy is losing her to your boy. That means losing him, too. I have to make a move. . . . One story. Three sides. No easy answers."

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy (2017) "'Ramona was only five years old when Hurricane Katrina changed her life forever. Since then, it’s been Ramona and her family against the world. Standing over six feet tall with unmistakable blue hair, Ramona is sure of three things: she likes girls, she’s fiercely devoted to her family, and she knows she’s destined for something bigger than the trailer she calls home in Eulogy, Mississippi. But juggling multiple jobs, her flaky mom, and her well-meaning but ineffectual dad forces her to be the adult of the family. Now, with her sister, Hattie, pregnant, responsibility weighs more heavily than ever."

Rethinking Normal by Katie Rain Hill (2014) "Have you ever worried that you'd never be able to live up to your parents' expectations? Have you ever imagined that life would be better if you were just invisible? Have you ever thought you would do anything--anything--to make the teasing stop? Katie Hill had and it nearly tore her apart. Katie never felt comfortable in her own skin. She realized very young that a serious mistake had been made; she was a girl who had been born in the body of a boy. Suffocating under her peers' bullying and the mounting pressure to be "normal," Katie tried to take her life at the age of eight years old. After several other failed attempts, she finally understood that "Katie"--the girl trapped within her--was determined to live."

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera (2017) "On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day."

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan (2013) "New York Times bestselling author David Levithan tells the based-on-true-events story of Harry and Craig, two 17-year-olds who are about to take part in a 32-hour marathon of kissing to set a new Guinness World Record—all of which is narrated by a Greek Chorus of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS. While the two increasingly dehydrated and sleep-deprived boys are locking lips, they become a focal point in the lives of other teen boys dealing with languishing long-term relationships, coming out, navigating gender identity, and falling deeper into the digital rabbit hole of gay hookup sites—all while the kissing former couple tries to figure out their own feelings for each other."

We are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson (2016) "Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button. Only he isn’t sure he wants to. After all, life hasn’t been great for Henry. His mom is a struggling waitress held together by a thin layer of cigarette smoke. His brother is a jobless dropout who just knocked someone up. His grandmother is slowly losing herself to Alzheimer’s. And Henry is still dealing with the grief of his boyfriend’s suicide last year. Wiping the slate clean sounds like a pretty good choice to him. But Henry is a scientist first, and facing the question thoroughly and logically, he begins to look for pros and cons: in the bully who is his perpetual one-night stand, in the best friend who betrayed him, in the brilliant and mysterious boy who walked into the wrong class. Weighing the pain and the joy that surrounds him, Henry is left with the ultimate choice: push the button and save the planet and everyone on it…or let the world—and his pain—be destroyed forever."

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson (2020) "Liz Lighty has always believed she's too black, too poor, too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom-obsessed midwestern town. But it's okay -- Liz has a plan that will get her out of Campbell, Indiana, forever: attend the uber-elite Pennington College, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor. But when the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz's plans come crashing down . . . until she's reminded of her school's scholarship for prom king and queen. There's nothing Liz wants to do less than endure a gauntlet of social media trolls, catty competitors, and humiliating public events, but despite her devastating fear of the spotlight she's willing to do whatever it takes to get to Pennington. The only thing that makes it halfway bearable is the new girl in school, Mack. She's smart, funny, and just as much of an outsider as Liz. But Mack is also in the running for queen. Will falling for the competition keep Liz from her dreams . . . or make them come true?"

#lgbtq+ literature #lgbtq+ books for adolescents #lgbtq+#book list #lgbtq+ book list #novels/memoirs #ya books #lgbtq

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aesthetic-uwus · 4 years

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Movies/tvshow recommendations

1. Scott pilgrim (2010)

As bass guitarist for a garage‑rock band, Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) has never had trouble getting a girlfriend; usually, the problem is getting rid of them. As Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) skates into his heart

2. Growing op (2008)

A teenager tries to live a normal life while his parents run an operation growing weed out of their home

3. 10 things I hate about you (1999)

Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles) is beautiful, smart and quite abrasive to most of her fellow teens, meaning that she doesn't attract many boys. Unfortunately for her younger sister, Bianca (Larisa Oleynik), house rules say that she can't date until Kat has a boyfriend

4. Juno (2007)

When precocious teen Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) becomes pregnant, she chooses a failed rock star and his wife (Jennifer Garner) to adopt her unborn child. Complications occur

5. Easy A (2010)

Prompted by her popular best friend to spill details of her boring weekend, Olive (Emma Stone), a clean‑cut teen, decides to spice things up by telling a little lie about losing her virginity. When the high‑school busybody (Amanda Bynes) overhears the conversation...

6. Warehouse 13 (2009-2014)

Plot. The series follows U.S. Secret Service Agents Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) and Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) when they are assigned to the secretive Warehouse 13 for supernatural artifacts. It is located in a barren landscape in South Dakota, and they initially regard the assignment as punishment.

7. ferris buellers day off (1986)

Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) has an uncanny skill at cutting classes and getting away with it. Intending to make one last duck‑out before graduation, Ferris calls in sick, "borrows" a Ferrari, and embarks on a one‑day journey through the streets of Chicago.

8. Perks of being a wallflower (2012)

Socially awkward teen Charlie (Logan Lerman) is a wallflower, always watching life from the sidelines, until two charismatic students become his mentors. Free‑spirited Sam (Emma Watson) and her stepbrother Patrick (Ezra Miller) while overcoming the problem from his past

9. Sex education (2019-?)

Socially awkward high school student Otis may not have much experience in the lovemaking department, but he gets good guidance on the topic in his personal sex ed course -- living with mom Jean, who is a sex therapist. Being surrounded by manuals, videos and tediously open conversations about sex

10. Anne with an E (2017-?)

In the late 19th century, brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, both past their prime, decide to take on an orphan boy to help out around their ancestral farm of Green Gables, on the outskirts of the town of Avonlea, on Prince Edward Island.

11. Santa Clarita diet (2017-2019)

Joel and Sheila Hammond are everyday suburban real estate agents in Santa Clarita, California. The couple face a series of obstacles when Sheila undergoes a metamorphosis, becomes undead and starts craving human flesh.

12. Atypical (2017-?)

This heartfelt comedy follows Sam, a teenager on the autism spectrum, who has decided he is ready for romance. In order to start dating -- and hopefully find love -- Sam will need to be more independent, which also sends his mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh) on her own life-changing path.

13. That 70s show (1998-2006)

A comedy revolving around a group of teenage friends, their mishaps, and their coming of age, set in 1970s Wisconsin. Eric Forman is a typical high school student growing up in Wisconsin in 1976 with his family and his friends. ... The head of the group is Eric Forman who lives under the authority of parents Red and Kitty.

14. Tuca and Bertie (2019)

Premise. Tuca & Bertie follows "the friendship between two 30-year-old bird-women who live in the same apartment building, Tuca, a cocky, care-free toucan, and Bertie, an anxious, daydreaming songbird."

15. The end of the fucking world (2017-2019?)

James (Alex Lawther), a 17-year-old who believes himself to be a psychopath, and Alyssa (Jessica Barden), a rebellious classmate who sees in James a chance to escape from her tumultuous home life. ...

16 Derry girls (2018-?)

Derry Girls is a Northern Irish sitcom created by Lisa McGee. Set in 1990s Derry, Northern Ireland the show follows five teens as they live through political conflict while going through the challenges of being teenagers.

17. Grease (1978)

Plot. In the summer of 1958, local boy Danny Zuko and vacationing Sandy Olsson meet at the beach and fall in love. When the summer comes to an end, Sandy—who is going back to Australia—frets that they may never meet again, but Danny tells her that their love is "only the beginning"

18. Love simon (2018)

Everyone deserves a great love story, but for 17‑year‑old Simon Spier, it's a little more complicated. He hasn't told his family or friends that he's gay, and he doesn't know the identity of the anonymous classmate that he's fallen for online. Resolving both issues proves hilarious, terrifying

19. Legally blond (2001)

Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) has it all. She wants nothing more than to be Mrs. Warner Huntington III. But there is one thing stopping him (Matthew Davis) from proposing: She is too blond. Elle rallies all of her resources and gets into Harvard, determined to win

20. Legally blonde 2 (2003)

Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) journeys to Washington, D.C., to have her say about animal rights, but is ignored by every politician she encounters and quickly learns that the White House can be even tougher to navigate than the Ivy League

21. shameless us (2011-?)

Shameless is the story of a family of six kids and their drunk and selfish father. The eldest daughter Fiona has to raise the rest of the family on her own. They need to steal food and steal money to live while their father takes everything and offers nothing. Meet the fabulously dysfunctional Gallagher family.

22. Dead like me (2003)

Georgia Lass is aloof and emotionally distant from her family and shies away from her life. After dropping out of college, she takes a temp job through Happy Time Temporary Services. During her lunch break on her first day, she is hit and killed by a toilet seat falling from the deorbiting Mir space station.

23. Daria (1997-2002)

A smart and cynical girl goes through teenage life as a proud outsider in a world of mainly idiotic adolescents and condescending adults. Daria Morgendorffer is an intelligent, unpopular, and quite sarcastic teenager tolerating life among the idiots at Lawndale High.

24. IT (2017)

Seven young outcasts in Derry, Maine, are about to face their worst nightmare ‑‑ an ancient, shape‑shifting evil that emerges from the sewer every 27 years to prey on the town's children. Banding together over the course of one horrifying summer

25. IT chapter 2 (2019)

Defeated by members of the Losers' Club, the evil clown Pennywise returns 27 years later to terrorize the town of Derry, Maine, once again. Now adults, the childhood friends have long since gone their separate ways. But then people start disappearing....

26. Stranger things (2016-?)

A young boy, Will Byers, goes missing near a top-secret government laboratory. On the same night, a strange young girl appears at a diner in the town. ... A love letter to the '80s classics that captivated a generation, 'Stranger things' is set in 1983 Indiana, where a young boy vanishes into thin air.

27. Ginger snaps (2000)

The story of two outcast sisters, Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) and Brigitte (Emily Perkins), in the mindless suburban town of Bailey Downs. On the night of Ginger's first period, she is savagely attacked by a wild creature. Ginger's wounds miraculously heal

28. Arrietty (2010)

Arrietty, a tiny teenager, lives with her parents in the recesses of a suburban home, unbeknown to the homeowner and housekeeper. Like others of her kind, Arrietty remains hidden from her human hosts, but occasionally ventures forth

29. F is for family (2015-?)

Set in the 1970s, this animated raunchy comedy is inspired by the life of stand-up comic Bill Burr, who is a co-creator and executive producer of the series. Burr also voices the character of Frank Murphy, a short-tempered veteran who lives in the suburbs with his wife, Sue (Laura Dern) and their three children

#movies #television #recommend #ferris bueller's day off #derry girls #10 things i hate about you #daria #scott pilgrim #easy a #legally blonde #ginger snaps

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emybain · 4 years

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The Mall

im not gonna lie i lowkey based this off of my own (very few) experiences going to the nasty old mall in the next town over with my friends. lets just say: very worried parents, sticky atmosphere, and great people watching but also pedophiles left and right sksksks. the movie is also based on a movie I saw with friends when I was thirteen, but I saw it at the nice, trustworthy outlet mall closer to my house lmao. anyone else ever seen the boy? anyway, enjoy me projecting my awkward young teen experiences on the AU where Nova’s parents live. this is unedited as well:)

Part of the Nova’s family lives AU***

Masterpost of all my Renegades Fics

Nova was practically vibrating with happiness. She bounced up and down in the passenger seat of her mom’s car, leg jiggling in excitement. Only half paying attention to the radio, she hummed along to the music playing. Today was a new day. A breakthrough in Nova’s thirteen years of life.

For the first time ever, after countless hours and years of begging, Nova was being dropped off at the mall to hang out with her friends.

Her parents were what most would call overprotective. By this point, Nova was used to it, but it was still annoying when she had to miss out on fun activities just because Mom said no. They never even gave a clear answer when she asked why, too. It was always “Because we’re the parents and we say so,” usually followed by them telling Nova to go clean her room or entertain her siblings. Even with this new experience, Nova hadn’t been completely honest when her parents grilled her on the details. As far as they knew, Nova was just seeing a movie with a few friends and would not be venturing into the main mall. They were under the illusion that Adrian Everhart, Nova’s best friend and the only boy her parents trusted, was going to be the only male present. Not that it mattered much, anyway, seeing as Nova had expressed her attraction to girls as well at dinner one night about a year ago. Still, according to her parents, adolescent boys were trouble. All except for stupidly perfect Adrian Everhart. He was the kind of kid that everyone and their mother couldn’t help but be friends with. The kind of boy that, after leaving someone’s house, the mom would say “I always liked him. Good kid.” The same couldn't be said about Nova, his partner in crime since they were six and seven years old.

Her mom parked the car along the curb outside the movie theater entrance of the mall. Leaning back from the wheel with a heavy sigh, she looked over at Nova. “Just a movie, right?”

Nova nodded firmly, hand already reaching for the door in her hurry to escape. She could see the silhouettes of her friends, waiting in line for tickets.

“Hold on there, young lady.” Nova heard the clicking of the lock and groaned. “I want you to text me once every hour, okay? Stay with Adrian no matter what. If anything happens, call me or your father immediately.” Nova inched toward the door again, this time trying to unlock it subtly. Her mother still noticed. “Don’t talk to anyone you don’t know.”

Nova felt an evil smile creep onto her lips. “But what if they’re selling candy?”

“I mean it, Nova Jean.” She swore she saw the flash of fear in her mother’s eyes. “No funny business. You know how I feel about leaving you, and here of all places.” She gestured to the building before them. “Be on your best behavior. There are-”

“Eyes on me at all times, I know.” She rolled her eyes, thinking back to all the times those words had been repeated to her whenever she went anywhere. When she was younger, they confused her. But now, Nova knew her mom meant the media and how the older Nova got,

the more people watched her every move. After all, her family had a reputation. “Can I go now? Adrian’s already coming over here.”

Closing her eyes, Tala Artino nodded. She reached for Nova’s hand when her eyes reopened, now soft. “I love you, sweetheart, Be safe. I’ll pick you up at 10.”

“Love you too, Mom.” Reaching over, Nova pressed a kiss to her mom’s cheek. Then, she was finally allowed to exit the vehicle. Adrian, waiting outside, greeted her with a hug. Nova couldn’t help but notice his growth spurt in recent months. She had always been the short one, but there had been a time once where she didn’t have to tilt her head up to look at him. Now, her neck stretched more and more each time she saw him. She should’ve seen it coming; his mom had been tall, and he was a spitting image of her.

“Hi, Mrs. Artino.” Adrian waved as the passenger window rolled down. All traces of a stern parent vanished from her mother’s face when she waved back.

“Hi, honey. You’re going to make sure my daughter doesn’t do anything she’s not supposed to, right?”

“Mom!”

But Adrian laughed and simply nodded, putting on his dumb charming smile that won over every parent. They said bye to her mother. Nova watched until the car had disappeared from view before turning to face her friend.

“Where should we go first?”

Adrian frowned. “Are we not seeing the movie? Everyone else already has their tickets.”

“They can see it if they want.” Nova wrapped an arm around Adrian’s and pulled him forward. “But it honestly looks boring. All horror movies are the same.”

But Adrian didn’t look convinced, and while Nova wanted nothing more than to explore the mysterious place her mother hated with a passion, she could tell he wanted to see the movie. Well, the movie was only an hour and a half. And it was only 5 in the evening right now. They had plenty of time.

Nova let out a sigh, then pulled Adrian in the direction of the ticket line. “Fine, but you’re staying in line with me to buy a ticket.”

Adrian snorted. “Just as long as you sit next to me in case I get scared so I can hold your hand.” He seemed almost shy in saying that, despite trying to be nonchalant and joking. Nova glanced over at him and noticed how his cheeks and neck had darkened. A flutter twirled in her belly, but she pushed it aside. Those feelings were nothing new by now. But for whatever reason, she only felt them when she was around her best friend.

———-

“That movie was terrible!” Nova said as soon as she exited the theater with her friends. A few people glanced over at her, shooting disapproving looks before recognition dawned on their faces and their eyes flitted between her and Adrian and the linked arms between their bodies. Nova had to refrain from making faces at them, remembering her mother’s warnings.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Ramona said with an eye roll. “At least it wasn’t the same as every other horror movie.” Ramona was a Renegade, like Nova and Adrian. She had been chosen by Nova at the last trials a few months before to be a part of her team. Usually, the Council didn’t let the younger Renegades participate in the trials other than to watch, but they gave Nova an exemption at the ripe age of thirteen. Why, she wasn’t fully sure, especially when Adrian’s dads were on the Council and still wouldn’t let him create his. She suspected her parents had a bit of a pull in that, as well as the Council recognizing the amount of time Nova put in every day for the organization. After all, she was dedicated to righting the wrongs her uncle had done in the past. Her team couldn’t do much anyway. Patrols were too dangerous, so they were forced to stick to duties inside headquarters, something that quickly grew boring but at least helped Nova’s team bond.

Benton, Nova’s other recruit, shook his head. “No, I’m with Nova on this one. Possessed dolls? C’mon, it’s been done like, fifty times already.”

Nova headed the group as they ventured into the main part of the mall. The aroma of pretzels and stinky children pierced her nostrils. Nova hadn’t been inside a mall for some years. Her mom tried to avoid the place as much as possible, as it wasn’t the cleanest place on earth. Usually, if they had to go to a store in the mall, they would spend time only in that store, parking near an entrance by the store in order to spend the least amount of time in the main mall as possible. Tala had practically drilled Nova every single day leading up to her mall escapade on what to do and what not to do, as well as reminding her of the dangers of the media and of course, the splotchy-faced pedophiles who camped out in the food court all day watching teen girls pass by in crop tops and cut off shorts.

“Okay, but you have to admit the creepy dude at the end was a surprise,” Adrian countered, pushing his glasses up over his nose. Nova bit back a smile; she had promised not to make fun of his scratchy, changing voice. Even if he did squeak every other word. “Living in the walls?” He shuddered. “Spying on her that entire time?”

Ramona muttered something under her breath in Spanish. “No wonder his parents left. I honestly would’ve left sooner if I were them. Screw his feelings.”

“Yeah, he was weird, but that kind of came out of nowhere.” Benton ran a hand through his blond locks. “The plot holes are endless. Why didn’t his parents just up and abandon him? What was keeping them there? Why was he in the fucking walls to begin with? Why didn’t they get him mental help sooner?”

Nova gasped, quieting the group. She had spotted one of her favorite shops, a small store that sold band and other nerdy merch. Her mom wasn’t a big fan, seeing as they sold goth and emo type stuff, and their workers were ‘scary looking’. She grabbed Adrian’s hand in her excitement, missing the way his gaze widened at the gesture, and tugged him in the direction of the shop.

“There’s a shirt I’ve had my eyes on for the longest time,” she explained to him as they halted in front of the wall lined with band t-shirts. Benton and Ramona trailed off from them, drifting over to the racks and cubbies of fandom merch.

Adrian hummed in understanding. “The West Side?”

“East Side,” Nova corrected, glaring at his teasing shit eating smile. “If you’re going to their concert with me in November then you better learn their name at least, you asshole.”

Adrian bumped her shoulder lightly, but helped her look for the shirt after she gave him a brief description. Just when she was beginning to think they didn’t have it, Adrian let go of her hand to reach forward and to the left. When he turned back to her, he had the shirt, and in a size medium, just as she liked it. The baggier, the better. She grinned and accepted the shirt, wrapping an arm around him in a loose hug.

That’s when she saw a flash in the corner of her eye.

Flipping around, she saw a girl a few years older than her, the phone in her hand dropping awkwardly. Her group of friends all giggled and whispered to one another. Based on the way they were dressed and were acting, Nova could tell they had followed her and her friends into the store.

The girls entire face turned beet red, but that didn’t stop her from tearing her gaze from Nova to look at the photo she had taken. Before Nova could even open her mouth to ask her to delete the photo, the group of girls was gone, flocking out of the store quickly as if they hadn’t even been there.And that was when Nova noticed the hidden phones of quite a few shoppers. One was held in crossed arms as the lady pretended to look at a pair of shoes, another behind a clothing rack. One didn’t even try hiding their camera, or even bother to whisper to the person beside them.

A chill ran through Nova’s body, and suddenly she didn’t feel very well. Well, her few minutes of freedom were fun while they lasted. She closed her eyes and practically leaned against Adrian, jaw clenched as she pressed the shirt back into his hands.

“Shit.”

#renegades #supernova #archenemies #nova artino #Adrian everhart #nodrian #Oscar silva #danna bell #ruby tucker #tuckva #osby #anarchists #my writing

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the-marx-brothers-will-live-on · 4 years

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Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, and television star. A master of quick wit, he is generally considered to be one of America's greatest comedians.

Julius Henry Marx was born on October 2, 1890, in Manhattan, New York. Marx stated that he was born in a room above a butcher's shop on East 78th Street, "Between Lexington & 3rd", as he told Dick Cavett in a 1969 television interview. The Marx children grew up in a turn-of-the-century building on East 93rd Street off Lexington Avenue in a neighborhood now known as Carnegie Hill on the Upper East Side of the borough of Manhattan. His brother Harpo, in his memoir Harpo Speaks, called the building "the first real home they ever knew". It was populated with European immigrants, mostly artisans. Just across the street were the oldest brownstones in the area, owned by people such as the well-connected Loew Brothers and William Orth. The Marx family lived there "for about 14 years," Groucho also told Cavett.

Marx's family was Jewish.[7] His mother was Miene "Minnie" Schoenberg, whose family came from Dornum in northern Germany when she was 16 years old. His father was Simon "Sam" Marx, who changed his name from Marrix, and was called "Frenchie" by his sons throughout his life, because he and his family came from Alsace in France.[8] Minnie's brother was Al Schoenberg, who shortened his name to Al Shean when he went into show business as half of Gallagher and Shean, a noted vaudeville act of the early 20th century. According to Marx, when Shean visited, he would throw the local waifs a few coins so that when he knocked at the door he would be surrounded by adoring fans. Marx and his brothers respected his opinions and asked him on several occasions to write some material for them.

Minnie Marx did not have an entertainment industry career but had intense ambition for her sons to go on the stage like their uncle. While pushing her eldest son Leonard (Chico Marx) in piano lessons, she found that Julius had a pleasant soprano voice and the ability to remain on key. Julius's early career goal was to become a doctor, but the family's need for income forced him out of school at the age of twelve. By that time, young Julius had become a voracious reader, particularly fond of Horatio Alger. Marx would continue to overcome his lack of formal education by becoming well-read.

After a few stabs at entry-level office work and jobs suitable for adolescents, Julius took to the stage as a boy singer with the Gene Leroy Trio, debuting at the Ramona Theatre in Grand Rapids, MI, on July 16, 1905.[9] Marx reputedly claimed that he was "hopelessly average" as a vaudevillian, but this was typical Marx, wisecracking in his true form. By 1909, Minnie Marx had assembled her sons into an undistinguished vaudeville singing group billed as "The Four Nightingales". The brothers Julius, Milton (Gummo Marx) and Arthur (originally Adolph, but Harpo Marx from 1911) and another boy singer, Lou Levy, traveled the U.S. vaudeville circuits to little fanfare. After exhausting their prospects in the East, the family moved to La Grange, Illinois, to play the Midwest.

After a particularly dispiriting performance in Nacogdoches, Texas, Julius, Milton, and Arthur began cracking jokes onstage for their own amusement. Much to their surprise, the audience liked them better as comedians than as singers. They modified the then-popular Gus Edwards comedy skit "School Days" and renamed it "Fun In Hi Skule". The Marx Brothers would perform variations on this routine for the next seven years.

For a time in vaudeville, all the brothers performed using ethnic accents. Leonard, the oldest, developed the Italian accent he used as Chico Marx to convince some roving bullies that he was Italian, not Jewish. Arthur, the next oldest, donned a curly red wig and became "Patsy Brannigan", a stereotypical Irish character. His discomfort when speaking on stage led to his uncle Al Shean's suggestion that he stop speaking altogether and play the role in mime. Julius Marx's character from "Fun In Hi Skule" was an ethnic German, so Julius played him with a German accent. After the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in 1915, public anti-German sentiment was widespread, and Marx's German character was booed, so he quickly dropped the accent and developed the fast-talking wise-guy character that became his trademark.

The Marx Brothers became the biggest comedic stars of the Palace Theatre in New York, which billed itself as the "Valhalla of Vaudeville". Brother Chico's deal-making skills resulted in three hit plays on Broadway. No other comedy routine had ever so infected the Broadway circuit. All of this stage work predated their Hollywood career. By the time the Marxes made their first movie, they were already major stars with sharply honed skills; and by the time Groucho was relaunched to stardom on You Bet Your Life, he had been performing successfully for half a century.

Marx started his career in vaudeville in 1905 when he joined up with an act called The Leroy Trio. He was asked by a man named Robin Leroy to join the group as a singer, along with fellow vaudeville actor Johnny Morris. Through this act, Marx got his first taste of life as a vaudeville performer. In 1909, Marx and his brothers had become a group act, at first called The Three Nightingales and later The Four Nightingales. The brothers' mother, Minnie Marx, was the group's manager, putting them together and booking their shows. The group had a rocky start, performing in less than adequate venues and rarely, if ever, being paid for their performances. Eventually one of the brothers would leave to serve in World War I and was replaced by Herbert (Zeppo), and the group became known as the Marx Brothers. Their first successful show was Fun In Hi Skule (1910).

Marx made 26 movies, 13 of them with his brothers Chico and Harpo. Marx developed a routine as a wisecracking hustler with a distinctive chicken-walking lope, an exaggerated greasepaint mustache and eyebrows, and an ever-present cigar, improvising insults to stuffy dowagers (usually played by Margaret Dumont) and anyone else who stood in his way. As the Marx Brothers, he and his brothers starred in a series of popular stage shows and movies.

Their first movie was a silent film made in 1921 that was never released, and is believed to have been destroyed at the time. A decade later, the team made two of their Broadway hits—The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers—into movies. Other successful films were Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup, and A Night at the Opera.[11] One quip from Marx concerned his response to Sam Wood, the director of A Night at the Opera. Furious with the Marx Brothers' ad-libs and antics on the set, Wood yelled in disgust: "You can't make an actor out of clay." Marx responded, "Nor a director out of Wood."

Marx also worked as a radio comedian and show host. One of his earliest stints was a short-lived series in 1932, Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel, costarring Chico. Though most of the scripts and discs were thought to have been destroyed, all but one of the scripts were found in 1988 in the Library of Congress. In 1947, Marx was asked to host a radio quiz program You Bet Your Life. It was broadcast by ABC and then CBS before moving to NBC. It moved from radio to television on October 5, 1950, and ran for eleven years. Filmed before an audience, the show consisted of Marx bantering with the contestants and ad-libbing jokes before briefly quizzing them. The show was responsible for popularizing the phrases "Say the secret word and the duck will come down and give you fifty dollars," "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" and "What color is the White House?" (asked to reward a losing contestant a consolation prize).

Throughout his career, Marx introduced a number of memorable songs in films, including "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" and "Hello, I Must Be Going", in Animal Crackers, "Whatever It Is, I'm Against It", "Everyone Says I Love You" and "Lydia the Tattooed Lady". Frank Sinatra, who once quipped that the only thing he could do better than Marx was sing, made a film with Marx and Jane Russell in 1951 entitled Double Dynamite.

In public and off-camera, Harpo and Chico were hard to recognize, without their wigs and costumes, and it was almost impossible for fans to recognize Groucho without his trademark eyeglasses, fake eyebrows, and mustache.

The greasepaint mustache and eyebrows originated spontaneously prior to a vaudeville performance in the early 1920s when he did not have time to apply the pasted-on mustache he had been using (or, according to his autobiography, simply did not enjoy the removal of the mustache because of the effects of tearing an adhesive bandage off the same patch of skin every night). After applying the greasepaint mustache, a quick glance in the mirror revealed his natural hair eyebrows were too undertoned and did not match the rest of his face, so Marx added the greasepaint to his eyebrows and headed for the stage. The absurdity of the greasepaint was never discussed on-screen, but in a famous scene in Duck Soup, where both Chicolini (Chico) and Pinky (Harpo) disguise themselves as Groucho, they are briefly seen applying the greasepaint, implicitly answering any question a viewer might have had about where he got his mustache and eyebrows.

Marx was asked to apply the greasepaint mustache once more for You Bet Your Life when it came to television, but he refused, opting instead to grow a real one, which he wore for the rest of his life. By this time, his eyesight had weakened enough for him to actually need corrective lenses; before then, his eyeglasses had merely been a stage prop. He debuted this new, and now much-older, appearance in Love Happy, the Marx Brothers's last film as a comedy team.

He did paint the old character mustache over his real one on a few rare occasions, including a TV sketch with Jackie Gleason on the latter's variety show in the 1960s (in which they performed a variation on the song "Mister Gallagher and Mister Shean," co-written by Marx's uncle Al Shean) and the 1968 Otto Preminger film Skidoo. In his late 70s at the time, Marx remarked on his appearance: "I looked like I was embalmed." He played a mob boss called "God" and, according to Marx, "both my performance and the film were God-awful!"

The exaggerated walk, with one hand on the small of his back and his torso bent almost 90 degrees at the waist was a parody of a fad from the 1880s and 1890s. Fashionable young men of the upper classes would affect a walk with their right hand held fast to the base of their spines, and with a slight lean forward at the waist and a very slight twist toward the right with the left shoulder, allowing the left hand to swing free with the gait. Edmund Morris, in his biography The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, describes a young Roosevelt, newly elected to the State Assembly, walking into the House Chamber for the first time in this trendy, affected gait, somewhat to the amusement of the older and more rural members. Marx exaggerated this fad to a marked degree, and the comedy effect was enhanced by how out of date the fashion was by the 1940s and 1950s.

Marx's three marriages ended in divorce. His first wife was chorus girl Ruth Johnson (m. 1920-42). He was 29 and she was 19 at the time of their wedding. The couple had two children, Arthur Marx and Miriam Marx. His second wife was Kay Marvis (m. 1945–51), Catherine Dittig, ormer wife of Leo Gorcey. Marx was 54 and Kay was 21 at the time of their marriage. They had a daughter, Melinda Marx. His third wife was actress Eden Hartford (m. 1954-69). He was 64 and she was 24 at the time of their wedding.

During the early 1950s, Marx described his perfect woman: "Someone who looks like Marilyn Monroe and talks like George S. Kaufman."

Marx was denied membership in an informal symphonietta of friends (including Harpo) organized by Ben Hecht, because he could play only the mandolin. When the group began its first rehearsal at Hecht's home, Marx rushed in and demanded silence from the "lousy amateurs". The musicians discovered him conducting the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the overture to Tannhäuser in Hecht's living room. Marx was allowed to join the symphonietta.

Later in life, Marx would sometimes note to talk show hosts, not entirely jokingly, that he was unable to actually insult anyone, because the target of his comment would assume that it was a Groucho-esque joke, and would laugh.

Despite his lack of formal education, he wrote many books, including his autobiography, Groucho and Me (1959) and Memoirs of a Mangy Lover (1963). He was a friend of such literary figures as Booth Tarkington, T. S. Eliot and Carl Sandburg. Much of his personal correspondence with those and other figures is featured in the book The Groucho Letters (1967) with an introduction and commentary on the letters written by Marx, who donated his letters to the Library of Congress. His daughter Miriam published a collection of his letters to her in 1992 titled Love, Groucho.

Marx made serious efforts to learn to play the guitar. In the 1932 film Horse Feathers, he performs the film's love theme "Everyone Says I Love You" for costar Thelma Todd on a Gibson L-5.

In July 1937, an America vs England pro-celebrity tennis doubles match was organized, featuring Marx and Ellsworth Vines playing against Charlie Chaplin and Fred Perry, to open the new clubhouse at the Beverly Hills Tennis Club. Marx appeared on court with 12 rackets and a suitcase, leaving Chaplin – who took tennis seriously – bemused, before he asked what was in it. Marx asked Chaplin what was in his, with Chaplin responding he didn't have one. Marx replied, "What kind of tennis player are you?" After playing only a few games, Marx sat on the court and unpacked an elaborate picnic lunch from his suitcase.

Irving Berlin quipped, "The world would not be in such a snarl, had Marx been Groucho instead of Karl". In his book The Groucho Phile, Marx says "I've been a liberal Democrat all my life", and "I frankly find Democrats a better, more sympathetic crowd.... I'll continue to believe that Democrats have a greater regard for the common man than Republicans do". However, just like some of the other Democrats of the time, Marx also said in a television interview that he disliked the women's liberation movement. On the July 7, 1967, Firing Line TV show, Marx said, "The whole political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence."

Marx's radio career was not as successful as his work on stage and in film, though historians such as Gerald Nachman and Michael Barson suggest that, in the case of the single-season Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel (1932), the failure may have been a combination of a poor time slot and the Marx Brothers' returning to Hollywood to make another film.

In the mid-1940s, during a depressing lull in his career (his radio show Blue Ribbon Town had failed, he failed to sell his proposed sitcom The Flotsam Family only to see it become a huge hit as The Life of Riley with William Bendix in the title role, and the Marx Brothers as film performers were well past their prime), Marx was scheduled to appear on a radio show with Bob Hope. Annoyed that he was made to wait in the green room for 40 minutes, he went on the air in a foul mood.

Hope started by saying "Why, Groucho Marx! Groucho, what are you doing out here in the desert?" Marx retorted, "Huh, desert, I've been sitting in the dressing room for forty minutes! Some desert alright..." Marx continued to ignore the script, ad-libbing at length to take the scene well beyond its allotted time slot.

Listening in on the show was producer John Guedel, who had a brainstorm. He approached Marx about doing a quiz show, to which Marx derisively retorted, "A quiz show? Only actors who are completely washed up resort to a quiz show!" Undeterred, Guedel proposed that the quiz would be only a backdrop for Marx's interviews of people, and the storm of ad-libbing that they would elicit. Marx replied, "Well, I've had no success in radio, and I can't hold on to a sponsor. At this point, I'll try anything!"

You Bet Your Life debuted in October 1947 on ABC radio (which aired it from 1947 to 1949), sponsored by costume jewelry manufacturer Allen Gellman;[23] and then on CBS (1949–50), and finally NBC. The show was on radio only from 1947 to 1950; on both radio and television from 1950 to 1960; and on television only, from 1960 to 1961. The show proved a huge hit, being one of the most popular on television by the mid-1950s. With George Fenneman as his announcer and straight man, Marx entertained his audiences with improvised conversation with his guests. Since You Bet Your Life was mostly ad-libbed and unscripted—although writers did pre-interview the guests and feed Marx ready-made lines in advance—the producers insisted that the network prerecord it instead of it being broadcast live. There were two reasons for this: prerecording provided Marx with time to fish around for funny exchanges and any intervening dead spots to be edited out; and secondly to protect the network, since Marx was a notorious loose cannon and known to say almost anything. The television show ran for 11 seasons until it was canceled in 1961. Automobile marque DeSoto was a longtime major sponsor. For the DeSoto ads, Marx would sometimes say: "Tell 'em Groucho sent you", or "Try a DeSoto before you decide".

The program's theme music was an instrumental version of "Hooray for Captain Spaulding", which became increasingly identified as Marx's personal theme song. A recording of the song with Marx and the Ken Lane singers with an orchestra directed by Victor Young was released in 1952. Another recording made by Marx during this period was "The Funniest Song in the World", released on the Young People's Records label in 1949. It was a series of five original children's songs with a connecting narrative about a monkey and his fellow zoo creatures.

An apocryphal story relates Marx interviewing Charlotte Story, who had borne 20 children. When Marx asked why she had chosen to raise such a large family, Mrs. Story is said to have replied, "I love my husband"; to which Marx responded, "I love my cigar, but I take it out of my mouth once in a while." The remark was judged too risqué to be aired, according to the anecdote, and was edited out before broadcast. Charlotte Story and her husband Marion, indeed parents of 20 children, were real people who appeared on the program in 1950. Audio recordings of the interview exist, and a reference to cigars is made ("With each new kid, do you go around passing out cigars?"), but there is no evidence of the claimed remark. Marx and Fenneman both denied that the incident took place. "I get credit all the time for things I never said," Marx told Roger Ebert in 1972. "You know that line in You Bet Your Life? The guy says he has seventeen kids and I say, 'I smoke a cigar, but I take it out of my mouth occasionally'? I never said that." Marx's 1976 memoir recounts the episode as fact, but co-writer Hector Arce relied mostly on sources other than Marx himself—who was by then in his mid eighties, in ill health and mentally compromised—and was probably unaware that Marx had specifically denied making the observation. Another anecdote that may or may not be apocryphal recounts how Warner Brothers threatened to sue Groucho when they learned that the next Marx Brothers film was to be called "A Night in Casablanca", contending that that title was too similar to their own film Casablanca. Groucho is reported to have replied: "I'll sue you for using the word Brothers."

By the time You Bet Your Life debuted on TV on October 5, 1950, Marx had grown a real mustache (which he had already sported earlier in the films Copacabana and Love Happy).

During a tour of Germany in 1958, accompanied by then-wife Eden, daughter Melinda, Robert Dwan and Dwan's daughter Judith, he climbed a pile of rubble that marked the site of Adolf Hitler's bunker, the site of Hitler's death, and performed a two-minute Charleston. He later remarked to Richard J. Anobile in The Marx Brothers Scrapbook, "Not much satisfaction after he killed six million Jews!"

In 1960, Marx, a lifelong devotee of the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, appeared as Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner, in a televised production of The Mikado on NBC's Bell Telephone Hour. A clip of this is in rotation on Classic Arts Showcase.

Another TV show, Tell It To Groucho, premiered January 11, 1962, on CBS, but only lasted five months. On October 1, 1962, Marx, after acting as occasional guest host of The Tonight Show during the six-month interval between Jack Paar and Johnny Carson, introduced Carson as the new host.

In 1964, Marx starred in the "Time for Elizabeth" episode of Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, a truncated version of a play that he and Norman Krasna wrote in 1948.

In 1965, Marx starred in a weekly show for British TV titled Groucho, broadcast on ITV. The program was along similar lines to You Bet Your Life, with Keith Fordyce taking on the Fenneman role. However, it was poorly received and lasted only 11 weeks.

Marx appeared as a gangster named God in the movie Skidoo (1968), directed by Otto Preminger, and costarring Jackie Gleason and Carol Channing. It was released by the studio where the Marx Brothers began their film career, Paramount Pictures. The film received almost universally negative reviews. As a side note, writer Paul Krassner published a story in the February 1981 issue of High Times, relating how Marx prepared for the LSD-themed movie by taking a dose of the drug in Krassner's company, and had a moving, largely pleasant experience.

Marx developed friendships with rock star Alice Cooper—the two were photographed together for Rolling Stone magazine—and television host Dick Cavett, becoming a frequent guest on Cavett's late-night talk show, even appearing in a one-man, 90-minute interview. He befriended Elton John when the British singer was staying in California in 1972, insisting on calling him "John Elton." According to writer Philip Norman, when Marx jokingly pointed his index fingers as if holding a pair of six-shooters, Elton John put up his hands and said, "Don't shoot me, I'm only the piano player," thereby naming the album he had just completed. A film poster for the Marx Bros. movie Go West is visible on the album cover photograph as an homage to Marx. Elton John accompanied Marx to a performance of Jesus Christ Superstar. As the lights went down, Marx called out, "Does it have a happy ending?" And during the Crucifixion scene, he declared, "This is sure to offend the Jews."

Marx's previous work regained popularity; new books of transcribed conversations were published by Richard J. Anobile and Charlotte Chandler. In a BBC interview in 1975, Marx called his greatest achievement having a book selected for cultural preservation in the Library of Congress. In a Cavett interview in 1971, Marx said being published in The New Yorker under his own name, Julius Henry Marx, meant more than all the plays he appeared in. As a man who never had formal schooling, to have his writings declared culturally important was a point of great satisfaction. As he passed his 81st birthday in 1971, however, Marx became increasingly frail, physically and mentally, as a result of a succession of minor strokes and other health issues.

In 1972, largely at the behest of his companion Erin Fleming, Marx staged a live one-man show at Carnegie Hall that was later released as a double album, An Evening with Groucho, on A&M Records. He also made an appearance in 1973 on a short-lived variety show hosted by Bill Cosby. Fleming's influence on Marx was controversial. Some close to Marx believed that she did much to revive his popularity, and the relationship with a younger woman boosted his ego and vitality. Others described her as a Svengali, exploiting an increasingly senile Marx in pursuit of her own stardom. Marx's children, particularly Arthur, felt strongly that Fleming was pushing their weak father beyond his physical and mental limits. Writer Mark Evanier concurred.

On the 1974 Academy Awards telecast, Marx's final major public appearance, Jack Lemmon presented him with an honorary Academy Award to a standing ovation. The award honored Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo as well: "in recognition of his brilliant creativity and for the unequalled achievements of the Marx Brothers in the art of motion picture comedy.” Noticeably frail, Marx took a bow for his deceased brothers. "I wish that Harpo and Chico could be here to share with me this great honor," he said, naming the two deceased brothers (Zeppo, still alive, was in the audience). He also praised the late Margaret Dumont as a great straight woman who never understood any of his jokes. Marx's final appearance was a brief sketch with George Burns in the Bob Hope television special Joys (a parody of the 1975 movie Jaws) in March 1976. His health continued to decline the following year; when his younger brother Gummo died at age 83 on April 21, 1977, Marx was never told for fear of eliciting still further deterioration of his health.

Marx maintained his irrepressible sense of humor to the very end, however. George Fenneman, his radio and TV announcer, good-natured foil, and lifelong friend, often related a story of one of his final visits to Marx's home: When the time came to end the visit, Fenneman lifted Marx from his wheelchair, put his arms around his torso, and began to "walk" the frail comedian backwards across the room towards his bed. As he did, he heard a weak voice in his ear: "Fenneman," whispered Marx, "you always were a lousy dancer." When a nurse approached him with a thermometer during his final hospitalization, explaining that she wanted to see if he had a temperature, he responded, "Don't be silly — everybody has a temperature." Actor Elliott Gould recalled a similar incident: "I recall the last time I saw Groucho, he was in the hospital, and he had tubes in his nose and what have you," he said. "And when he saw me, he was weak, but he was there; and he put his fingers on the tubes and played them like it was a clarinet. Groucho played the tubes for me, which brings me to tears."

Marx was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with pneumonia on June 22, 1977, and died there nearly two months later at the age of 86 on August 19, four months after Gummo's death.

Marx was cremated and the ashes are interred in the Eden Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. He was survived by his three children and younger brother Zeppo, who outlived him by two years. His gravestone bears no epitaph, but in one of his last interviews he suggested one: "Excuse me, I can't stand up."

Litigation over his estate lasted into the 1980s. Eventually, Arthur Marx and his sisters were awarded the bulk of the estate, and Erin Fleming was ordered to repay $472,000.

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scribblescrabblebabble · 6 years

Text

RoyEd Week Day 2

Title: All in One

Rating: T+

Relationships: Roy Mustang/ Edward Elric; Alphonse Elric/ Winry Rockbell

Chapter: 2 (Celebration/Stillness) [Trisha Elric’s ghost and Sarah Rockbell’s ghost- centric. Roy and Ed visit the Resembool Graveyard.]

Cross- Posted on AO3 and Fanfic.net links- AO3; Fanfic.net

Trisha Elric sat boredly atop her gravestone, absentmindedly poking her foot through a dandelion, when she noticed two figures walk through the gates of the small countryside cemetery. She immediately recognized the first person as her eldest son, Ed, but the other she didn’t recognize.

“Sarah, Edward’s here!” She called to her old friend, who had been talking up an elderly lady (who had died ages before the both of them) named Ramona.

“Took him long enough!” Sarah replied, “Who’s that with him?”

Trisha shrugged, “Beats me.” She inspected the second man better once the duo was closer to her grave. His dark hair almost obscured a dark eye-patch from the distance the two were still at, and he walked a respectful few steps behind Edward as they made their way closer to Trisha.

Ed was wearing a normal white button down and brown waistcoat (for once). Trisha thought the look was rather charming and much better than that ghastly red cloak he had worn throughout his entire adolescence (if she’d been alive, Trisha would have burnt the hideous garment along with those obscene leather pants long ago). Trisha also noted how much Ed’s brown trench coat made him look like Hohenheim.

The two finally made it to the Elric mother’s graveside. Ed laid down a bouquet he’d been carrying by the gravestone; it was full of pink and violet flowers that Trisha recognized as the local florist Martha’s prized spring combination. The blonde turned when he noticed the other man straggling along.

“Roy, hurry the shit up, it’ll be sunset soon!”

Roy, Trisha assumed, sighed through a small smile, “I’m barely two yards behind you, Ed.” His voice was deeper than her son’s, and she realized as he came to a stop beside Ed that he had to be a good bit older than her son as well. He held two smaller bouquets in one hand, the other rested lightly in his pocket.

Trisha hopped off of her grave, choosing to stand in front of the two as she noticed in her periphery Sarah coming towards her.

“He’s familiar, don’t you think?” Winry’s mother asked.

Trisha frowned, shaking her head, “I’ve never seen him before. Edward called him Roy.”

“Roy, huh? Maybe he’s one of those Central city-men; that’s where Edward lives, right?” Sarah asked. Trisha nodded.

Ed glanced sidelong at Roy, smirking, “Can’t keep up walking half a mile? Your age is really starting to take its toll.”

Roy rolled his eyes, “Maybe I enjoy taking in the scenery while I walk.”

Ed snorted, “That’s what old people do.”

“It’s what people who know how to appreciate days-off do, thank you.”

Ed smiled fondly, “Sure, keep believing that.” Trisha couldn’t help but notice the warmth with which the taller man smiled as he shrugged in response to Ed’s snarky remark.

Both Trisha and Sarah were caught off-guard when, having stood from placing his bouquet down, Ed tugged Roy’s arm out of his pocket and entwined his fingers with the other man’s, the newly-captured appendage quick to comply. It was also at this point, when Trisha actually paid attention to the duo’s (couple’s?) hands that she noticed the matching rings around their left ring-fingers.

Trisha was speechless, but she knew that Sarah had noticed as well, as she began to hit Trisha’s arm excitedly with the back of her hand, “Oh my God, Trish, do you see it?!”

The brunette woman grabbed at the neck of her apron, eyes affixed to the metal bands, “My little boy’s got a…”

A what? Fiancée? Husband? Friend with benefits? City people do those kinds of things, right?

“Hey Mom,” Ed greeted awkwardly, which Trisha understood. It’s hard to talk seriously to a rock, especially with another person in your midst. Ed gestured vaguely behind him, “That’s Roy, he’s a bastard but I’m marrying him in a quarter of a year. Yeah, I don’t know why either.”

Trisha would have been worried about Ed’s words, had she not, firstly, known about Ed’s snarky side and, secondly, seen the amused eye-roll Ed’s fiancée directed towards him.

Having broken the initial awkward atmosphere, Ed settled down into his usual graveyard visit rambling about his work- a research job within the military- which Trisha didn’t follow amazingly, but loved to hear anyways, just to listen to her son’s happy voice. It hadn’t been happy or relaxed for many years, so just to see Ed able to ramble without worries lifted years of anxiety off of Trisha’s heart.

While Ed talked, Trisha took this time to examine her future son-in-law. Roy seemed quiet, or maybe just giving Ed his space to do his thing, and his adoring gaze almost never left Ed (so much, in fact, that Ed turned around and lightly slapped Roy’s arm, calling him a ‘sappy old man).

Compared to Ed, Trisha noted, Roy was rather old. He couldn’t be older than Trisha, but if she had to guess, the dark-haired man was at least in his adolescence when Ed was born. ‘It’s no matter’ Trisha reminded herself, ‘Edward is an adult, and Hohenheim was a fair few hundred years old when you married him, so who are you to talk?’

Trisha kept observing the soon-to-be addition to her little family. As his eye slowly peeled from Ed to observe his surroundings, Trisha saw a near-nervousness overcome his mannerisms. He began to bounce his fingers against the bouquets in his one hand, whilst rubbing his fingers together in the other. His fond expression even dimmed a little as he scanned each gravestone around Trisha’s. His eyes and fidgets seemed to stop abruptly at the Rockbells’ graves, which sat directly behind Trisha’s.

Sarah, from beside Trisha seemed to give Roy the same scrutinizing gaze as Trisha, whilst Urey, who sat atop his wife’s stone, gazed elsewhere.

Sarah shook her head, “I just can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen him before.”

Trisha hummed, noticing that Ed was finishing up his talking. She stepped forwards, patting her son lightly on the shoulder (even though he couldn’t see her). He smiled wistfully and turned to Roy. Tiptoeing, Ed gave Roy a quick cheek-kiss, winning him a forehead kiss in return.

“Take your time- I’ll see you back at Winry’s, okay?” Ed said, squeezing Roy’s forearm.

“Okay,” Roy repeated, smiling down at his fiancée. He stood still until Ed passed the gates of the graveyard, watching his figure disappear amongst the rolling hills of Resembool.

Instead of taking his own turn talking to Trisha, as she’d expected, Roy moved past her grave (not without a sad smile) to the two directly behind hers- The Rockbells.

----

When Sarah first saw the black-haired man beside Edward, she was absolutely sure she’d seen him somewhere before. She definitely didn’t recognize the eye patch, but she’d been dead a while- anything could happen. What she did recognize was his remaining eye that matched the darkness of his hair. If only she could place the face to the eye…

It clicked when, despite having come to the graveyard for Ed’s sake, Roy took a detour from Trisha’s grave towards her own, two small bouquets in hand. He knelt down at the foot of her and Urey’s graves, setting the bouquets gently against either.

Urey, who had previously been zoned out atop Sarah’s grave, stood confusedly, “Sarah, do you know him?” He pointed to Roy.

Trisha spoke, equally perplexed, “He’s Edward’s fiancée.”

Urey looked surprised, “I didn’t know Ed swung that way.”

“No.” Sarah interjected, eliciting silence from the other two. She knelt down in front of Roy, who had yet to rise from his knees. He looked distantly at the stones, previously peaceful face transformed with new lines of remorse and mild terror. It was the terror in his eye that she recognized most of all. “Urey, your back was turned. You were folding bandages in our makeshift tent. You didn’t get a chance to turn around when he came in. I looked at him- that’s why he hesitated the second time.”

“The second time?” Trisha asked. Urey had gone still.

“…The second time he fired his gun.”

“Oh my God…” Trisha gasped.

“He’s the kid? Are you sure?” Urey rested his hand atop Sarah’s shoulder.

Her voice shook a bit, “I’m positive. Back then- his expression- you can’t replicate utter horror so accurately unless you felt it.”

It was true. The longer Roy sat crouched in front of the graves, the more distant and jarringly haunted his gaze became. He didn’t seem to really process the growing darkness around them, although everything around them seemed to grow tired and fall asleep, stilling with the lessening light.

The three ghosts stood in silence. Trisha looked very consternated, like her mind was waging a battle against its other half. Urey stood behind his wife, a spark of anger somewhere deep down unable to rise fully to the surface, as the man, hunched in front of them all, simply looked so pitiful it was hard for Winry’s father to feel much more than exhausted wariness. Had Roy shown up years previously, then he maybe could have let that spark of anger fester into a flame, but he’d been dead for upwards of two decades.

Sarah gazed into Roy’s distantly staring face, although the deepening dusk made it hard to discern sharp details on him.

She had also been angry, earlier on. She had been angry with Roy for taking them her away from her daughter, at the military for giving orders to execute neutrals, and with Urey and herself for leaving Winry and Pinako behind for that stupid war.

Sarah had seethed behind her phantasmal tears during her own funeral, unable to hold Winry as she cried her heart out, and for years afterward. Her anger had tempered slightly when Trisha joined them, and her heart’s anger was drowned out by sympathy. She watched when Trisha, panicked, had screamed wildly at her sons when Ed suggested they bring her back to life, and when she merely dropped to her knees in disbelief a few years later as a two-limbed Ed returned to her graveside, carried by a suit of armor whose voice resembled Al’s. Now, as Sarah sat directly in front of the man that killed her, she was surprised to find herself not feeling as angry as she had imagined she would. By this time, the sun had pretty much completely set, so only the large moon and speckles of stars made out any indication of the man’s features.

It had to have been at least an hour since Ed had left. Roy was in the same position as he had been at the start, but Sarah and Urey were sitting atop their respective graves now. Trisha sat in between them. Ironically, the Elrics’ mother seemed the most uncomfortable about Roy.

“Edward has to have known that his fiancée is your executioner. I’m just saying, how much of a kindred spirit could he really be? He could have refused to kill you, but he didn’t!” Trisha vented.

“He was young back then, Trish. They probably threatened him with his own death. I saw soldiers on both sides, nobody really expects war to be just as horrifying as it really is. You can’t really use a decade-old war to define the life of someone who survived it.” Urey said back.

“I can be concerned for my son’s marital choices, though.” Trisha stood back up when a lantern’s light appeared over the crest of the hill that opened up into the graveyard. As the light grew closer, Sarah could see Ed’s features illuminated by the glow.

Ed reached Roy and crouched quietly beside him, setting down the lantern in front of them both. The sudden light seemed to shake Roy from his stupor a bit, as he turned his head, blinking, towards his fiancée.

“Dinner’s just about ready, and you’ve been here a while. I was getting worried.” Ed stated.

“I’m sorry,” Roy said back.

Ed shook his head, “Don’t be, I get it.”

It was Roy’s turn to shake his head, “You haven’t had to experience a battlefront like Ishbal. There wasn’t any reason for all the death- it just was. To keep living with yourself you had to strip off any kind of empathy or relativity. I had killed before the Rockbells, but they were both the first people not decidedly against us I was ordered to shoot. I argued with General Grand, because they weren’t just helping Ishballan soldiers, but our men as well. None of it was right, but their deaths were the least right- least justified.”

“Well, Mr. Fürher, sir,” Ed said whilst he stood up, Roy soon to follow, “Now you can make sure we don’t have another war like Ishbal.”

Before Ed could crouch back down to pick up the lantern, Roy pulled him into a tight hug, “Thanks.”

Ed smiled, wrapping his arms over Roy’s, “Whatever.”

After a second, Roy pulled himself away from his fiancée, picking up the discarded lantern and grabbing onto one of the blonde’s hands instead, “I guess we should go back before the food gets too cold. What is the food, anyways?”

Ed shrugged as they began to walk away from the graves, “I don’t know, but it smelled really good.”

Their voices grew incomprehensibly fainter they further from the graves they became. The land stood quiet and still behind them; not even an owl hooted its presence. Trisha, Sarah, and Urey remained how they had been, non-contributive to the stillness around them. Mildly wary and filled with new questions, they watched the lantern light bob around the hills and fade away into night.

[END]

#royed #safe royed #Roy Mustang #edward elric #cross-posted #AO3 #fanfic #fanfiction #ghosts #graveyard #parents #engagement #ghost pov #writing #royedweek2018 #RoyEd Week #Royed Week 2018 #Fullmetal Alchemist

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backtomylakearearootsstory · 6 years

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S1E13

Saturday mid-morning. Malachi and Quincy are out and about running errands.

“Hey I have a few bills to pay”

“Oh sure dad!”

Malachi sat in the truck wearing a sleeveless Nike t-shirt with a dark pair of cargo khaki shorts with a pair of Keds shoes wondering how his father, who wore a button down and a pair of blue jeans was managing not to break a sweat.

“Dad, it’s hot outside! How are you not sweating?”

“Son, I’m from the deep south where we have a head index of 90 plus in the morning. Your boxers will be stuck to your ass at 7:00 am from the humidity during the summer months. By 10:00 am, the heat index is more than 100 degrees! This ain’t nothing for me.”

They went to pay a few bills prior to going to the grocery store.

“Your mom has a cousin who lives in Long Beach who’s coming to visit. She’s gonna bring her kids”

“Yea, mom said something about that”

“She’d be grandma’s niece?”

“Yes, your mom’s first cousin”

He picked up a block of cheddar cheese, two bags of shredded cheese, and a can of salsa. “I hope they like nachos. Doesn’t costs too much and it’s an easy fix”

“Son, grab a couple of packs of ground beef for me”

After placing the ground beef in the basket, they went to the produce section to grab some fixings such as sour cream, lettuce, pico, and tomatoes.

“Essentially, we are reconnecting with family and being introduced to some through all this”

“Right!”

Malachi then asked about Quincy’s family. He had seen them more than he had seen his mother’s family. It was usually during the summer. They would make at least one trip per summer to California for vacationing. He had not seen his aunt or his uncle in about three years. He had not seen his grandparents since he was about 6 years old; however, he did not consider them strangers. On the other hand, he was clueless when it came to his father’s cousins.

“My mom was born and raised in Mississippi. My dad is from a town in Louisiana called Jennings, it’s about a half an hour east of Lake Charles. He went to Jackson State University on an athletic scholarship. He majored in Management, got a job at a beverage plant and eventually worked his way up to being a sales supervisor. Mama worked in the hotel industry. We weren’t dirt poor, but more or less low middle class. There were five of us; I have three sisters and one brother. I have three siblings that are older than me. Me and my baby sister are the last two.”

“Do you still talk?”

“Yes, and I’d always make the effort to get a trip in down there when I was on duty. We don’t talk as much as I’d like, but we’re not estranged”

After checking out, they headed to the house to clean up. When they got there, they saw Deja and Clarissa sitting on the sofa reading something on Clarissa’s phone. “Did y’all forget that we got company coming over?”

“Yeah, and the house is a mess”

Deja make getting ready for company a difficult task. “You know how stressed out you get when you have to clean house” Quincy reminded her.

“I know, I’m on it. Clarissa, wanna help?”

“Well since I’m here….. I’ll grab a broom”

The children were then sent off to their rooms to clean as well as clean the bathrooms.

“Can one of y’all straighten out the guestroom?” Quincy asked, “I’m fixing to get in the kitchen and help your mama”

While cleaning Aundrea was talking with Malachi and QJ, “She has four kids, they’re spending the night tonight, and we’re going to be on the floor in the den. Better, get the air mattress out. Just giving you a heads up”

The kids were cleaning while Deja and Quincy were getting the food ready. Hours passed by when Yvonne, Azalea and Anita arrived. Faye arrived shortly after 5:00 pm. 5:15 pm to be exact.

Faye can be described as dark brown, about 5’8, with a pixie cut. She sported a pink sundress with matching earrings.

“Hello”

Deja then called for the kids to come in.

She then had her kids introduce themselves. Two daughters and two sons. The youngest son was around QJs age. Her older son had just turned 14 and her daughters were 11 and 12.

“This is my youngest one”

“Darius”, the young boy said, shaking QJs hand.

The oldest son introduced himself as “Ian”

The 12 yr. old “Ramona” and the 11 year old revealed her name to be “Alexis”

“Dominic” Azalea’s son said.

After introductions, Deja informed Faye that Yvonne had mentioned her in a conversation.

“All good I hope?”

“Nothing bad, stated that you lived in Long Beach and that you’re our mother’s first cousin”

“Yes, my mom is your aunt Clarisse.”

“So tell us about you?”

“My mom and your mom are like three years apart in age, your mom moved out here early on in life. My mom was 35 when she moved, so I was 10 yrs. old. We lived a rough life for a while, she never married and I unfortunately did not have a relationship with my dad growing up. She went to school later in life and became a therapist. She began applying everywhere, and having our cousins in Sacramento was a big help. She stayed in Sacramento until she could get on her feet and then we settled in Long Beach. I graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School. I went to a technical school and obtained a certification. I’m currently working for a cable company out here. My kids go to an online k-12 school. I initially had them in public school, but I took them out due to teachers wanting to penalize anything and everything.”

Yvonne chimed in. “Zero Tolerance, was a trap”

“Amen” Faye responded followed by a hi-five.

“well you guys hungry?” Deja asked

“we have a little food fixed, not much, but you know? Last minute.”

While they were eating. Deja asked Faye if she was married.

“No divorced. Been six years, I found out that my husband had been seeing another woman for half of our marriage.”

“Damn!” Quincy exclaimed

“Yeah, imagine my surprise to find out that he has a child around the same age as my 11 year old.”

“We have joint custody and I’ve never withheld the kids from him, we co-parent alright, though I’ll admit that it took me a while to get there”.

Anita then asked about the homeschooling situation

“I took my kids out of public school due to what I felt like was unfair treatment. My sons couldn’t even play tag with their friends without administration throwing a bitch fit about it. They do okay with the k-12 academy I found. It’s a free online school. I’ve networked with some other parents who have enrolled their children. We do a field trip at the end of the school year.”

“That’s neat, what do you do for the cable company?”

“I work in IT, enough about me, what about you?”

“Well I’m an attorney; I’ve been with the firm for a little less than a year”

They continued talking over nachos and wine when Clarissa and Azalea confirmed that they were both professors and Deja informed about her status as a high school English teacher. As they asked more about her father, she revealed that her mother informed her that she was conceived through a one night stand and that she met her father when she was 15 years old doing a trip down to Louisiana. While they were conversing, Azalea asked, “Hey, where’s mama”

“Aunt Helen?” Faye asked, “I have yet to meet her and we’ve been living here for so long. My mom has told me some of the stories. I know that our grandmother had a drinking problem. She’s sorry about what happened”

“What do you mean?” Deja asked

“Well let’s just say, there is a reason that the family is somewhat estranged now. Our grandmother’s alcoholism got in the way of her being the parent that she could have been. I’ll leave it at that for tonight”

The children were sitting on the porch when QJ and Darius decided to go play video games. The adolescents stayed on the porch and finished eating prior to watching TV

“Hey can we have some more?” Darius asked.

“Of course”

“Eat in the kitchen” Faye interjected.

QJ laughed and said, “My mama is the same way”.

They later played video games for about two hours before getting the sleeping bags out.

“Can Darius sleep in here tonight?”

Deja agreed, figuring that they would probably fall asleep playing video games.

After Clarissa, Anita, Azalea, and Yvonne left. She got the air mattress out and some blankets. The older children decided to sleep in the den on the air mattress watching movies on Netflix.

Faye, Deja, and Quincy went to bed. Before calling it a night, she Deja advised that they not stay up too late as they were going to get out and do something tomorrow morning.

TO BE CONTINUED WITH EPISODE 14

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the-blog-of-anger-blog · 7 years

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I’m Pro-Life and tired of it being mocked so here we go

Now, I absolutely believe that it is a woman’s choice to get pregnant or not but more on that later. This is a long one, folks. Buckle in for health class.

This is not a popular opinion on tumblr and that is because people like to pretend that things are what they’ve heard repeated rather than do their own research and often that means it’s a crisis, it’s an outrage, and it’s an attack. So here’s my research to support the other pro-lifers out there.

Do I believe there are exceptions for abortion? Yes, Of course.

But the Pro-Choice movement too often uses the exceptions to justify the majority. The percentage of rapes that result in a pregnancy is 5%. 5% This is from 2 different studies.

This is not even the percentage of women who are raped who actually choose to have an abortion. In fact, the women who choose (not forced mind you, I’m not heartless) to keep their baby often recover easier and faster from the trauma as they have something good to focus on and help them heal.

So when it comes to the other 95% of women, I have problems. The natural biological consequence of sex is reproduction. The whole point of sex is to build on the relationship between partners (Oxytocin, folks, nothing like it apart from straight up dopamine) and to reproduce.

Also, if any of your are interested, John F. Kennedy, Victoria Woodhull, the first female candidate for president, Elizabeth Blackwell, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the latter being notable suffragettes, were all very anti-abortion.

“The Revolution published a piece, attributable to [Susan B.] Anthony, that said abortion was a choice that would burden both a woman’s “conscience in life and soul in death” and also ultimately an exploitation of women.” (http://time.com/4093214/suffragettes-abortion/)

Times have changed and this is a hydra of a problem so I’m not going to just say ‘abstinence is all you need’ because I’m not in charge of anyone’s sex life. People have been sleeping together out of wedlock for centuries and it’s not just going to go away. However, if we’re talking about a woman’s right to choose, why is the woman’s right to choose to have sex somehow not a factor?

So, key issues: Contraception, Science/Biology, Inhumanity, and Responsibility.

#1 Contraception. We need better contraceptive methods. Period. I especially promote researching better male contraceptives cause condoms are clearly not cutting it and, as spoken before, it’s a lot safer to unload a gun than to shoot at a bulletproof vest. It bothers me a great deal that people on both sides of this debate overlook that we can stand united on this front at the very least. No one should really be arguing with me on this. It’s gotta get better.

Also, better sex-education and to me, this means parents stepping up and being parents and giving the freaking Talk like the adults they are as well as discussing safe contraceptive methods. Sex-Ed classes are failing miserably with a nasty combination of misinformation and the creation of false confidence so teens believe that they know enough about what they’re doing to not worry about the consequences. (Fun fact: Planned Parenthood has actually taken over Sex-Ed program for multiple states in the North West and STDs and Pregnancy rates have been on the rise there compared to the alternative classes. These are the results of a 5 year report from the HHS Office of Adolescent Health.)

So from this, I hope it’s clear that I truly believe that women have the right to choose whether or not to be pregnant. I simply argue against abortion.

#2. Science/Biology. When does life begin? Some say at birth, some say only if the mother wants the child. Imagine for me, if you will, that NASA discovered bacteria growing in the ice just below the Martian landscape. There would be a freak out! Why? Because it would be life on another planet! Now, you tell me that science classifies bacteria as living creatures that we can study, that we protect in several instances because of their potential to replicate vaccines and insulin... but something that has fingers, toes, a functional nervous system, and studies are going on out whether or not can dream... is only considered alive if it’s wanted by the mother? Wake up call: That’s not science. That’s strictly opinion and it’s an opinion that science refutes.

“But it’s just a glob of cells. It’s not a real person.” Have you taken a biology course? What are you made of? What are all living things made of? Cells. What are a bunch of cells called? Tissue. What do tissues make? Organs and on to organ systems and a body. You are a glob of cells. I’ll repeat that really quick. YOU ARE TECHNICALLY A GLOB OF CELLS. So, yeah. Of course that’s what you’re going to be told if you’re getting an abortion. Abortion clinics want your business. They want your money. Why else does Planned Parenthood not do ultrasounds unless you’ve agreed to have an abortion already?

“ I worked at Planned Parenthood here in New Jersey and they don't do ultrasounds unless you are there for an abortion. They only do gynceology. Your best bet is to call and ask. “ (direct quote. Name not to be disclosed.)

“ Another issue that we ran into quite often, was when women would come in who had a legitimate problem, for example polycystic ovary syndrome, or maybe fibroids, or something like that, who we could not diagnose because there were no ultrasound technicians or any type of ultrasound other than the ultrasound that is available at the abortion facilities. “ - Ramona Trevino, Former Planned Parenthood Manager who has since joined the Pro-Life movement

So, yeah. I don’t trust or support Planned Parenthood at all let alone to define for me what life is.

Btw, 1st trimester of pregnancy ends at 12 weeks. This is a miscarried baby at 12 weeks.

Eyes, finger, toes, organs, ears, cartilage forming bones, all of these and more are present and people degrade it to “a clump of cells” making is sound like there’s no shape or form or potential to a fetus. That’s not science. That’s intentional deception.

#3 It’s entirely inhumane. For those of you who are unaware of what each trimester level abortion is, it’s more and more horrible the more you research exactly what “ D & X or Intrauterine Cranial Decompression” means.

The first is usually just a pill, 2 really, that essentially trigger your period x 5. There is immense bleeding, cramping, general pain and discomfort and it goes on for sometimes over a week. If you were to contact Planned Parenthood about concerns you have (which a great deal of young teen girls will do) you will be told to go to the emergency room and tell them you’re simply having a miscarriage. Meanwhile a chemical is in your body that can have bad reactions to medications you may receive to stop the bleeding. In short, as soon as you leave the clinic, Planned Parenthood is done with you until the next time you’re pregnant. The other possible option is to have the fetus sucked out of you with a vacuum, often in pieces but sometimes as one singular body.

2nd Trimester: Either a chemical solution is inserted into the amniotic sac to basically burn the fetus to death inside of you - this sometimes fails and instead triggers an early labor - before the now dead baby leaves in a miscarriage, or a doctor will basically take a mini ice cream scooper and break the baby into pieces before scooping them out. Option three involves the baby being torn into pieces and vacuumed out instead. Don’t believe me? The way they check that the procedure is done is they catalog that each part of the baby is present.There have been babies born at 16 weeks - the end of the 2nd trimester - that have since grown up.

3rd trimester - Often illegal now but some people don’t care: Chemical solution again followed by crushing the baby’s skull so it can be pulled out through the vaginal cavity often followed once again by a vacuum to get the brain matter and leftover pieces out of the uterus. If you don’t think that’s sick, you’re too far gone. This is for babies that could be born any day without this procedure. The only other case is for actual late-term miscarriages.

#4 Responsibilty. Most abortions, as previously proved, occur due to inconvenience. Cases of medical complications or rape trauma are not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking straight-up “I just don’t want to have to deal with kids” inconvenience. Only it’s not even that. It’s “Well, yeah, I created this thing... but... You know, it’s hard maintenance, you know? Continually existing while having another life dependent on me and my ability to exist responsibly. Nah, it’s not for me. I’ll just go over here and play with my cat instead.”. It’s ridiculous.

Perhaps you haven’t noticed this trend, but our society has been trained and hate responsibility. I know. It comes from a heck of a lot of other people’s consequences slamming into us with the force of a semi truck. It comes from schools where we’re overloaded with homework to the point where dropping out sounds nicer and nicer. It comes from growing up in a family that’s struggling financially where you might even see the example of parents choosing to shrug off the responsibility to raise their kids properly.

We hate responsibility and we fear it. So when I tell you that I know most of you who are Pro-Choice simply want to be able to sleep with whoever they want whenever they want with no consequence, it’s because you don’t want to be responsible. If you’re at that point, heck no. You should not be a parent. I don’t want to put a kid at risk with someone who clearly doesn’t want the responsibility of parenthood. That’s the whole reason people choose foster care and adoption. Because there’s a higher chance of the child being cared for. That’s sad considering the foster system is a mess.

For ladies being pressured into an abortion by your partner, ask yourself this: Do I want to stay in a relationship where my man abuses my kids? Would I stand by in a situation like that? No? If you’re being pressured into an abortion, you’re being told to sacrifice your child for their convenience. Don’t do it. Reach out for help and you will find it.

So here’s my advice for anyone considering abortion but who isn’t sure: Pull a Juno. Take responsibility for your actions and responsibility for your child for as long as you need to. Find a family looking to adopt - skip the Foster Care System entirely - and it’s surprisingly easy. You can literally google “looking for a family to adopt my baby” and you’ll be given dozens of options of hopeful parents willing to work with you to adopt right away. Reminder: If you find someone who wants to adopt your baby, they’re definitely going to work with you to make it happen. Your baby is at more risk of an unhappy foster home if you’re just dropping them off at the hospital with no connections.

So, there’s my blurb. I’ll write one purely on Planned Parenthood and all of the many many ways that it’s actually costing women more than other pregnancy health centers.

#abortion #pro-life #here's my rant #talk to me if you wanna talk

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sophisticated-angel · 7 years

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The Parent Trap - Part Three

Character: Dean Winchester

Warning: None

Word Count: 1,483

Pairing: Eventual Dean x Reader

Part One - Part Two

Summary: On a snow day, Mitchell asks to go to the park, but he’s got an ulterior motive.

Story:

Monday comes, and it brings eight inches of snow with it, enough to close every school in the county. You and Mitchell indulge yourselves with extra sleep, and then you rise before him intending to make a pancake and bacon breakfast – one of the few things you can cook. Once the smell starts to waft down the hall, the nine-year-old shuffles out of his room sporting a bedhead and rumpled PJ’s.

“Morning, sunshine.”

“Morning, Mama.” He yawns.

“Would you like your pancakes to look like anything special?”

“Um, Mickey Mouse is fine.”

“Taking it easy on me. That’s why you’re my favorite.”

Only one Mickey Mouse pancake is made. By the time Mitchell finishes that one, he realizes he’s too hungry to wait on more special orders and proceeds to eat an inordinate number of pancakes and bacon. It astonishes you how much this boy manages to put away on a daily basis, and it’s hard to believe that it’ll only get worse as he enters adolescence. Afterwards, he up and disappears, leaving a syrupy plate in his wake. Minutes later, you overhear him talking on the phone in his room. All you have to hear is Ramona’s name to know the two are planning something. Grinning, you sneak away and wait for him to approach you.

“Mama, can we go to the park today?” he asks a while later.

“I don’t know about that. The roads are pretty bad.”

“We can walk.”

“You want to walk through eight inches of snow?” Hands on your hips, you roll your eyes when he nods. “Alright. Go get dressed.”

Mitchell gladly plows through the mounds of snow ahead of you on the walk to the park. He knows where to go, and he can’t hide his sense of urgency. While following your son, something tells you you’ll be seeing a familiar face at the park.

* * * * *

Dean is glad he wore a proper coat today. Last night’s snowfall has made the air colder than usual. A pair of gloves, a hat, and a scarf help keep his top half warm, but on his legs is just a pair of jeans that have gone stiff with the ice and low temperature. He loves his daughter dearly, but frankly it’s too damn cold to be at the park. There are a number of things, indoor things, he would have been happy to do with Ramona, but she was adamant they go to the park, and he has a sneaking suspicion why. Finally, however, he can’t handle the snow seeping into his shoes, and he tells the eight-year-old that it’s time to go.

“Daddy, no! We can’t go yet!” Ramona protests, rosy cheeks visible above her scarf. Unlike Dean, she’s protected by a snowsuit that no amount of snow could penetrate.

“Mon Ami, it’s cold, and we’ve been here for an hour. No one else is even here. How about we find some hot chocolate?”

“No,” she whines. Seconds later, her face lights up, and she bounds across the playground through the snow with a cry of “Mitchell!”

Dean follows her path and watches her tackle her friend into the snow. As expected, (y/n) accompanies her son. She grins and rolls her eyes as the two kids begin to wrestle at her feet.

“Didn’t expect to see you here,” she says when Dean approaches.

“Total surprise, right?”

“Enjoying the snow day?”

“Too cold.”

She laughs in agreement. Dean likes that sound. He likes how she shoes her teeth when she smiles. He likes how her nose and cheeks are pink from the February air. He likes how her hair is pressed to frame her face by her hat. At this moment, he would like to admire her forever, and he would if Ramona didn’t start tugging at his arm.

“Will you spin me and Mitchell on the tire swing?” To Mitchell she says. “Daddy can spin it faster than anyone in the world.”

“Oh, I don’t know that I’m faster than anyone.”

“Yes, you are. Will you spin us?”

Dean observes the two faces in front of him, one pleading, the other excited, and the waves at the tire swing. Mitchell and Ramona take off running and soon have themselves positioned on the swing. Grabbing one of the swings, Dean begins twirling them, slowly at first, and the children shout for him to go faster. He does, and within seconds the swing and its riders are nothing but a blur. He slows it to a halt when their delighted shrieks turn to motion sick silence.

Pale, wobbly, and grinning broadly, Ramona clambers off the swing. Mitchell appears to be in much the same state, but instead of a smile, his lips are pressed tightly together. He hardly takes two steps before vomiting directly into the snow. Immediately, (y/n) rushes over to hold his scarf away from his face and rests her hand on his back. She wipes his mouth with a tissue from her purse and offers him a mint to get the sour taste out of his mouth. Meanwhile, Dean blushes – or he would if the cold hadn’t already gotten to him – embarrassed. It’s because he spun the swing too fast that Mitchell got sick, and that can’t have won him any favors with (y/n). His gaze lands on her open purse, and, desperate for a distraction, he focuses on what’s glinting on the inside. A blade of some sort? An odd item to be carrying around. In a moment, she picks up the purse and stands.

“I am so sorry,” Dean apologizes. “I shouldn’t have gone so fast. Ramona can handle it, and I guess I assume every other kid can too.”

(y/n) holds up a forgiving hand. “Don’t worry about it. He’s done it before, and he’ll do it again. He’s fine.” She nods towards where Mitchell and Ramona have begun making snow angels to prove her point.

A weight is lifted from Dean’s chest. He finds himself blurting out the next sentences. “Ramona and I were gonna find a hot drink. You want to come with?”

His heart flutters when she says yes. Corralling the children, they walk out of the park and down the street to a little coffee shop. Two coffees and two hot chocolate are bought by Dean; he insisted but isn’t sure if he’s flirting or still apologizing. Afterwards, he’s surprised when he ends up at (y/n)’s house. There’s no good reason for him to have walked fifteen minutes in the wrong direction of his apartment. Quite possibly, he’s a tad smitten. Of course, (y/n) invites him and Ramona inside to warm up. Even if he could say no, Ramona wouldn’t have let him, so into the house they go, and the children get out Mitchell’s wooden building blocks.

“Mitchell says you’re a mechanic,” says (y/n) as she takes the kitchen stool next to his.

“Yep. Full time. Early mornings for both of us, but I get off when school ends, and my weekends are free. Sometimes I even get the occasional snow day. What about you?”

“My friend owns a bookstore, and I handle finances, orders, things like that. Mostly I work from home.”

“Have you lived here very long?”

“Sort of. Was in and out for a while, didn’t settle down until I had Mitchell. I was my aunt’s favorite niece, so when she died I got the house and a decent inheritance. You?”

“Moved here with my brother five years ago this summer. No inheritance, unfortunately. We just needed a change.”

“A change from what?”

Dean hadn’t meant to say that last bit. It’s a topic he isn’t ready to discuss with this woman no matter how smitten he is, and his mind scrambles for an escape. Ramona, that precious girl, has literally constructed the perfect excuse for a subject change.

“Ramona May Sunshine,” he exclaims, “that is the tallest block tower I have ever seen!”

Beaming, Ramona bounces up, ready to rant about her creation, but she bumps it. It comes crashing down, and she and Mitchell collapse into a fit of shrieks and giggles.

“That’s a unique name.” (y/n) tilts her head curiously. “Where’d it come from?”

Grinning, Dean calls, “Mon Ami, tell miss (y/n) what your name means.”

Ramona snaps to attention. “Ramona after the Ramones, May because that’s the month I was born, and Sunshine because I’m my daddy’s sunshine.”

“Damn right you’re my sunshine. Why don’t you clean up so we can get going?”

Ramona blows him a big kiss and turns to pick up the blocks. Dean thanks (y/n) for letting them stay, and then he gathers his coat and helps his daughter put on her snowsuit. He takes his time with the buckles and zippers, finding that he doesn’t quite want to leave, and not just because it’s a long, cold walk back to his apartment.

READ PART FOUR HERE

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#supernatural #dean winchester #the parent trap #daddy!dean #reader insert #part three #series #x-reader #mother!reader

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