#reflective statement

[rodawgg]

backgoud practice !! :3 sighh me when i come home to my malewife... flips hair flippantly glisten would be a good dad i think. hed also rock those vintage floral pajama sets methinks

[maidenofcrows]

Too many jokes about Kaz becoming Wylan’s father figure. Not enough jokes about Wylan and Jesper adopting Kaz. Not in a child-parent way, but more of a feral cat way.

[elderwisp]

Alright! I wanted to address something!

I made this post a few days ago that I'm certain ruffled a few feathers! But the thing is, this sentiment isn't new. Throughout my years of being on simblr (and real life!), there is always a hard shove of speaking up or remaining silent.

I should start off by saying that making a "bold" (it isn't very bold of me) statement on my blog isn't done for brownie points or engagement. Especially when it is known that speaking up about politics leads to mass unfollowing. If I genuinely cared about my "engagement" I would absolutely shut the hell up. It is absolutely the most isolating thing I could do. Especially in a society that minimizes efforts to being SJW-y or performative. (Which is a conversation in it's own but I digress.)

The thing is, people oftentimes forget there are many levels to activism. There are people that cannot leave their homes due to disability or even safety reasons, and so their online presence does matter. Without people who post from the internet I wouldn't have learned the detail in which Palestine suffers, where/how to protest, a bill that passed in the senate that is meant for voter suppression, and more! Wild!

There are people who have no online presence yet stay involved through their communities. Valid. There are people who post stats online. Also valid. And then there are people who will do absolutely nothing and look for validation in that. That is the intended audience for statements like mine and many others. Because all it took was one post about how gfm's from Palestine are scams for traction to slow down. So when I say something like that, I mean it. Hell, I even took something from my own post because that was the point. I've seen what reblogging gfm's for fellow simblrs can do. I've seen what passing around info about some wcif or a game bug can do. I might as well apply it to vital information as well!

So I leave you guys with a few references:

Why your silence is no longer a currency you can afford

A therapist explains why unplugging does more harm than good (although it is good to take breaks! remember context)

How history does not remember the people who stayed neutral

Remember, a reblog is free. You don't even gotta say anything! Sharing information is free. You still have a voice and you might as well use it. Especially when censorship seems to be all the rage.

(also if you can please email or call your representatives about the SAVE act because damn it's gonna suppress a lot of disabled, trans and/or married people holy shit)

[aroaceleovaldez]

apparently pjotv twt was being weird about book!Percy's eyes being green because they don't think the ocean can be green (???) so consider this a sequel to my Grace siblings eye colors post and here is some visual references of green water for all your Percy inspo needs:

And for reference, the water around New York-ish where Percy is usually is somewhere around this color:

or some alternatives:

or here is a nice hazel green if you want his eyes more on the brown side, which is very common in freshwater ponds and streams:

or if you want him to have totally brown eyes - water rich in tannins will appear brown, greenish-brown, or very dark brown - this is sometimes called "blackwater" due to often appearing very dark or having low visibility:

[origami-butterfly]

Reminder for pride month that queerness is not limited to whiteness and if you erase non white queers, when talking about the community, every queer person who isn't white gets to throw rocks at you and shoot you out of a cannon 💖

[tea-cat-arts]

So like, the Wens attacking Lotus Pier obviously wasn't wwx's fault and they had wanted to attack for a long time and were just waiting for an excuse, but also if I was trapped in a room with a hungry bear I'd probably also be mad at the dude who poked it with a stick

[kerryweaverlesbian]

Cas stitching up his trench coat in one of the motel chairs while Sam and Dean are asleep and quietly talking to Jack about how to him the coat feels as part of himself now as his blade is. That it reminds him that he wasn't always aware of just how deeply humans could feel. How deeply angels could feel. How putting care into something can make it meaningful. The stars were mere pricks of light before humans decided to name them. The more he cares for his coat, the more of his perspective and memory gets sewn into it. The more it becomes his.

"And the pockets," he confides with a deep wink, "Are good for keeping snacks in."

Later, when Dean is asleep again, drooling over an open book of research in the bunker, Jack watches as Cas tucks his coat over Dean's shoulders and sees how he hesitates for a moment before brushing his hand softly through Dean's hair. Dean is transformed, through Cas’s careful attention, from the man who was the gatekeeper of acceptance and goodness to just a man, vulnerable and in need of care.

Jack wonders whether Castiel cares for everyone like they are a precious object. And he wonders what Castiel would transform him into, if he had to be repaired. Jack isn't sure that he likes the idea. He already has a hard time understanding his own morality, how can he also be expected live up to the idea of himself in Castiel's head? The object that Castiel loves? Does he need to be changed in order to become his?

"I could get him my pillow?" Jack suggests, swallowing against the cold mass in his throat when Cas smiles gently at that. He does like it, then, when Jack acts against his own interest.

"That might wake him. We should let him rest."

"He's precious to you."

"He is." Castiel reaches out and puts a hand on Jack's sleeve, expression sincere, "And so are you."

"Right," Jack says, then, "thanks," and holds his smile until Cas wanders back to sit perpendicular to Dean, to watch him until just before he stirred. Castiel and Jack, both, were good at pretending not to feel what they felt.

Watching the angel watch the man, Jack feels like a star. Immense and powerful but also distant, removed. Not special until a real person decides that he is. He is between angel and human. Person and object. Precious and disregarded. He is the blade and the coat, and Jack doesn't know which is worse.

[copalcetic]

I think sometimes people forget just how old Alexsandr Kallus is.

Star Wars Rebels: The Visual Guide, which came out during season one, refers to him as “late 30s.” Season one of Rebels is set 5 BBY; if Kallus is 36-39 then, that puts his birthdate at 41-44 BBY, and makes him about a decade older than Kanan.

The Republic fell in 19 BBY. Kallus would have been 22-25 years old. The Clone Wars started in 22 BBY. Kallus would have been 19-23 years old. Academy service starts at age 16. Unless Kallus was a very late bloomer, it is extremely likely his recruitment and training happened not under the Empire but under the Republic.

I know Wookieepedia says “Kallus attended the Royal Imperial Academy on Coruscant, the main campus of the new regime's military training program,” but its source for that is the comic “Kallus’s Hunt,” and I have the comic right here and it never says that. Kallus talks a lot in the comic about what it means to serve the Empire and Imperial justice, but when he’s discussing his backstory with Jovan, it’s “We arrived on Coruscant and graduated from the main academy at the same time.” 

Not “the Royal Imperial Academy”; “the main academy.” We know from the High Republic books that there has been an academy on Coruscant since at least the High Republic era. There is no particular reason to believe from this comic that the academy was under Imperial control at the time Kallus attended it, and in fact his backstory with Jovan (they were friends at the academy, then had a philosophical difference later in life about what it meant to serve the Empire) makes a lot more sense if the “serving the Empire” part comes after their time at the academy together.

The other time Kallus references his academy days is in “Through Imperial Eyes,” when he asks Yularen if he remembers him “from the academy,” and Yularen says “Of course… I keep tabs on all my star pupils.” Again: “the academy.” Not “the Imperial Academy.” And we know from Clone Wars that Yularen’s career starts as a Republic Navy officer; why assume he was teaching Kallus under the Empire? Given how busy Yularen was in the early days of the Empire, it makes a lot more sense if his time teaching at the academy predates the Clone Wars. You know: back when Kallus was the right age to be at the academy.

Tl;dr: like Yularen and Tarkin, Kallus is probably a former Republic officer who stayed to become an Imperial officer after the change of regime. His intensely pro-Imperial feelings in early Rebels don't come from being indoctrinated from childhood; they come from having served under both the Republic and the Empire and concluding (or convincing himself) that the Empire is better. And I find that much more interesting as character backstory.

[capsfriendly]

with the caps at home vs the panthers tonight, i wanted to come on here and say a couple things about the panthers’ visit to the white house.

i’ve seen some people on here and on twitter pointing out the hypocrisy of certain players who have vocally supported diversity initiatives in hockey turning around and doing a photo op with a man who is nakedly trying to strip marginalized people of their rights. the sense of betrayal those fans are feeling is completely justified. despite appearances, conservative politics are incredibly popular among nhl players. i’m not writing to defend any of these men (my views lean pretty far left), but to share my understanding of the ways north american hockey as an institution perpetuates conservatism.

1) barrier of entry

ice hockey requires a lot of equipment to play. to be able to put a child through the decade or more of club dues and equipment fees required to begin seeing returns on investment—in men’s hockey, this begins with stipend pay at the major junior level in north america—requires an amount of money that many families simply cannot pay (though there are a bevy of charities trying to combat this). sports like soccer and basketball, which require comparably little equipment, are far more popular among both players of color and players from low-income families, especially in countries where hockey isn’t a national pastime.

because of this economic disparity between those who can play hockey and those who can’t, locker rooms can turn into echo chambers of privilege.

2) lack of higher education

i’m not sure of the data for other countries, but in the united states, there is a high positive correlation between holding a college degree and voting for democratic candidates. north american players are drafted to the nhl from major junior and collegiate teams, and entrance to professional leagues cuts their education short.

nhl players drafted from collegiate teams often enter the league without completing a bachelor’s degree, getting a year or two of higher education. during those years, many pick classes that they already have a strong knowledge base in, aware they’ll need to keep their grades up to maintain their university’s gpa requirement for athletes. because of this, many miss out on subjects that would teach them about systems of inequality like statistics, sociology, and studies of groups of historically marginalized people.

major juniors players, who move away from home in their mid teens, are even worse off. they leave school, usually completing the bare minimum requirements of a high school diploma to focus on their development as players and travel for games. and up until a recent vote, athletes from the canadian major junior hockey leagues were ineligible from playing ncaa hockey.

3) body economics

like all athletes, hockey players’ bodies are their jobs. the natural decline of their bodies over time limits their playing careers to the years of their lives when they can physically compete with both opposing players (to win games) and their own teammates (for roster spots).

the mean nhl career is 7 years. many hockey players don’t learn another trade and have no guarantee of making a successful career transition after retirement from playing (though some go on to coaching and media positions).

this creates a pressure to make as much money as possible while they still can, knowing that every time the take to the ice to do their jobs, they risk the very things they use to earn money: their bodies.

the physical nature of hockey means that a career-ending injury could come at any point. holding onto their earnings, knowing they’ll likely make up the bulk of income over their entire life, is essential to ensuring the comfort and health of themselves and their families.

earning high paychecks for an inherently limited number of years, it becomes attractive to these players to support candidates who promise to cut taxes for the rich, something popular among conservative politicians. while players may bear no ill will to members of historically marginalized groups and may even support their rights and freedoms, their personal economic situations lead them to vote for politicians who perpetuate that marginalization.

there are plenty of straight-up bigots playing major league sports. the panthers shouldn’t be singled out for visiting 1600 pennsylvania avenue. not because supporting the current administration isn’t reprehensible, but because it isn’t unique among hockey players—or even among athletes.

[thankstothe]

im...................

[the-run-and-go]

[book-lover85]

fics where Inej tells Kaz it's ok if he can't always touch her or can't always bring his full armor down as long as he's trying >>>>>>>

[phoebebuggers]

my two cents on this only because i saw people talking about hosegate again:

the statements "teenagers are allowed to and do experience sexuality" and "hosegate is mostly likely bs" are not mutually exclusive

[corporrealism]

deeply unsettling that one of the world’s biggest art competitions awarded (and has since rescinded) an honorable mention to a blatant piece of AI art, while at the same time praising “the return to skill-based art” on all of their promotional materials. it’s almost as if. they don’t actually care about the craft, but upholding supremacist ideas about art making and what it should look like

[spaciebabie]

if i ever post depressing lyrics as my status on discord just know that they're not about me, they're about The Character

[beanghostprincess]

Saying Sanji is "straight-washed" might be the funniest thing in the whole world because yes, his character is heavily queer-coded and reflects queer experiences, and no, it is not about his sexuality. It's about his gender. You got it a bit wrong, bestie.