#seriously how many weird rules do we all uphold

[knowlesian]

“why do i believe this” and “who benefits from me believing it” are the first steps to decolonization and we should all be doing this more

[greysfall]

My 4444-word review of NEO TWEWY (with personal illustration + heavy spoilers)

My overall critical score for the game is 7.5/10, while my personal enjoyment score is 8.5/10. This review is posted as I have 80% completed the game, got the secret ending and achieved the Angel psychic rank. I’ll first start with the main pros and cons as follows.

PROS:

-        Enjoyable as a whole, still upholding the first game’s spirit in world building and sharing the same backbone - which was mostly revealed in the Secret Reports, it’s impossible to grasp the story without reading them.

-        The new cast and new game is charming in their own way

-        The old cast’s return is one of the biggest highlights for sure, it was fun and impactful. Everyone stays true to themselves and also had their own stories wrapped up nicely.

-        Boss designs are cool, new pins are fun to use and collect

-        The connection between the old and new cast is well written and executed, including but are not limited to the tension between the old and new protagonist, the weird but fun interaction between the 2 Composers, the new friendships revealed and formed

-        Sho being in the main cast is something so uniquely TWEWY and uniquely Sho

-        Still good music

-        Still many fun side quests, some of them really uphold the same quirky spirit of the old game and some are surprisingly touching

-        Many new nice stores and yummy looking foods to explore

-        The map is really easy to memorize for me, it’s fun to travel around the “current” Shibuya to see all the differences compared to the past

-        The social network is crazy and interesting to read through

-        Has an anti-frustration system to help 100% complete the game more easily and earn money faster, so post-game is relatively managable.

-        Overall, I really feel the efforts the team poured into making this as their passion project, not just during the development process but for all the last 14 years. They showed the vision of what they wanted to make, at the same time giving something to both the old as well as new fans.

CONS:

-        The biggest problem with the game is scenario writing. The story is so heavily back-loaded. The director himself thought it would be better to balance out the tension flow by adding more at the beginning but gave in to the scenario writer in the end, probably due to time pressure. This results in an underwhelming execution of characterization and lots of wasted potentials for the first half of the game.  

-        I struggle to view it as a stand-alone game, since the backstory and the old cast both play such an important role in the core of the game. If someone plays this game without having played the OG, they can only enjoy it on surface value at best.

-        The new cast is nice but most of them aren’t quite as intriguing as the old cast, maybe it’s cuz they’re all too nice deep down that they lack a little bit of an edge, of that batshit craziness that everyone in the OG used to have? I think some characters (Fret, Nagi) ended up weaker in terms of characterization because the writer is too afraid of making them unlikeable – which kind of backlashed cuz they only became likable in the most expectable way to cater for a specific group of fans. I would have wished for the other team leaders to be more crazy too, had they not suffered 30+ loops of the Game…

-        The CAMERAWORK IS HELL.

-        Gameplay does get tedious at certain points with all the time travels.

-        Shiba is so badly written as a villain, some Shinjuku characters should be given more screentime cutting into Shiba’s– like Hishima or Kaie or even, Hazuki (though his limited presence also solidified his importance).

-        Some of the main character designs, for example Beat’s hairstyle and his food reactions are hilariously bad. What’s the point of covering up most of his unique facial features?

-        Some of the minor/side characters’ design are too cool for them to have such a small role (eg: Ayano, Eiru). Ryoji did get much screentime but is nowhere as fun as Makoto was.

-        Overall the scope of this game is made a little too big for the team to handle as perfectly as the last game that was very compact, it felt somewhat rushed in development too so the missing pieces are clearly there in the final picture

The entry fee versus paying for it all in the end

An important difference between the Neo game and the original Shibuya game was that the Shibuya rule asked for an entry fee that is the Player’s most important asset, stated as a chance the Composer gives them to reexamine themselves. Meanwhile, the Shinjuku rule neither encourages nor allows personal growth and ultimately aims to erase as many Players as possible. It’s a pity we were never introduced to the full Shinjuku rulebook, as it seems like the system there focuses more on building up power and a grand government to compare with the individuality-driven system of Shibuya.

When you have to compare the new game and the original game (OG), this is an important factor to consider. Also, the OG has a serious storyline running through and through, locked with a different partner/GM creating unique atmosphere for each week and you don’t get to see your old partners again until the end. NEO’s team system does not allow such deep insight and communication between the Players. All of your teammates are always there throughout, the dynamic does change with each new addition but it is not as prominent as a partner change.

Another important factor is how the OG was built from scratch for a new platform as “something no one has ever seen before”, while Neo recycled a lot of old unused ideas from the previous development (check out this interview for more details). The development team for NEO lacks 2 key members and had a change of writer so the final product is not as strongly bound together as the last game.

The new cast is definitely inspired by today’s teenagers (from the view of creators), compared to the old cast they’re more sociable and always seem to take whatever works for them despite feeling unstable inside. They are all innocent and genuinely nice kids, avoiding to hurt each other to a degree that they end up keeping some sort of distance. They’re also unable to communicate at deeper levels, always stagnant at this half-baked stage of equilibrium without any motivation to get to the core of things. That is the cost of entering the game without an entry fee, without even dying or having a reason to be there/to fight seriously. These kids were stolen from the RG into a Game that was decidedly the worst environment for them to change or develop, just wandering around cluelessly to find a way “out” until tragedies started to unfold one by one and they ended up being charged the total sum of the price for their actions – ultimately losing everything in the end.

That is, I believe, a story arc which can resonate more to the youth of today rather than of my generation. If the message of the old game was to “listen”, enjoy life to the fullest and accept to trust others, the message of the new game is to “speak up” from the inside, trying to understand yourself and take actions instead of just going with the flow and finally, to take responsibility for such actions.

If Neku was handpicked by the Composer for being the special one with an all-dense soul to ensure victory of the game then Rindo was just a normal kid chosen out of random by Kubo to be his back-up plan, who just happened to have a high enough imagination to awaken the incredible power from his pin. Rindo was then officially chosen by the Composer as Josh picked up and handed the pin to him again, this time not as Josh’s personal Proxy – but as the Proxy to represent the normal people of Shibuya and via whom he could gamble if humans can fight for their own fate.

The underworld heroine and the hero with little of his own

Shoka is for me a refreshing and layered heroine. She’s the kind of character that took at least 3 trials of creators to form as a complete individual – that included Nomura who gave her the base design and Reaper background, Gen who gave a more cunning touch and the writers who made her English dialogues more punchy. Dishonesty equals “tsundere” is such a cliché, so the English writers tried really hard to avoid that trope in my opinion, while still letting her good intention come through.

She serves as the character who is informed of everything the players should have known, and there was almost nothing she could do about it. Almost. Until she met Rindo.

They were drawn to each other by sharing a state of “not having anything of their own”. They both started out with not being able to truly know themselves, Shoka even hated her RG life but also managed to mature from that stage before Rindo. She must have vibed with Shiki’s love and passion in the Gatto Nero threads, initiating her connection with Shibuya and understanding herself more. With Shoka as Swallow, they were able to open up to each other and offer mental support… but was still not getting to the centre of their problems because for all this time, Shoka could not tell Rindo the most important things about herself.

How did Shoka feel when she met Rindo at the UG? She probably didn’t want to hope that he would live the day until she witnessed the Twisters’ potentials. From the very beginning, they were both incredibly conscious of each other and also constantly frustrated that the person they happened to “notice” was such a condescending bitch/a clueless loser. The Shinjuku Reapers are overall quite drunk in power and uncompassionate to Players, Shoka included. She is also a master of dissociation, which results in her constant boredom, tone swings, haughtiness and subconsciously distancing herself from the friend – the boy she cares about – from false hope, as she judged from facts that it was a hopeless situation where nothing could ever be. Maybe she is naturally a bit of a chameleon just like her name suggests (Shoka 紫陽花 = hydrangea, the color-changing flower), so putting on an act and always dissociating herself from what’s important was easy, while hiding her contradiction was impossible. It was the ex-Reaper Beat who broke it out to her, that she should decide whether she really cared and wanted to do something for a change. He knew how it felt like to cross that line, and knew she wanted to too.  

Shoka is endeared by many of the Shinjuku Reapers and has shown independent acts of kindness (the Shinjuku ghost), proving that her kind and truthful side is as real as her harsh and dishonest side – which makes her a nice mirror to the previous heroine Shiki, who also embraced a dichotomy of self-complex and self-love within her character. In the end, she was the first of the new cast to ultimately accept all that is important to her and independently made the decision to help save Shibuya despite all costs.

She was jealous at Rindo’s interaction with Tsugumi and Kanon but remained silent cuz she wasn’t at a place to have any say about it. She also didn’t reveal about Swallow because that would only add an awkward irrelevance to their current situation, as she was too ready to face erasure at the end of the Game. She only wished to “play a game” with him, be it FanGo or the Reapers’ Game. The tension that the team could only feel at the end, she’s felt it the entire time. The song “DIVIDE” is applicable to not just one bond in the game, but it always makes me think of theirs. There is always a “divide” between her and Rindo throughout the course of their journey, as the living and the dead, as a Player and Reaper, as someone who has a place to return to and someone who doesn’t, someone who knows little but wields too much power and someone who knows a lot despite not being able to do much.

“If only I had the chance to connect with you on the other side

But time goes on, and without us realizing it

The battle is getting heated

Time goes on, and without us realiazing it

Divided again”

To be honest, maybe I didn’t grow any affection for the new main cast from Rindo’s perspective but from Shoka’s. Since I started to sympathize with Shoka, I started to see the boy in a more “real” way. The real Rindo, behind his peaceful façade with others, would lash out on Shoka for her unfairly harsh attitude while none of the others cared. He could also subtly feel that mantle of unspoken secrets from her, her own contradictions, the unresolved chemistry between themselves – and not knowing what to do with it rather than to feel angry with all the unfairness he could not process. (As a Libra too, he’s triggered the most by unfairness!)

It is actually a positive development as he’s at least “reacting” to something strongly now rather than to keep evading his problems. During my replay, I clearly saw the difficult situation Shoka was in, her remaining harshness after the Motoi incident was due to her internal struggle with a mission to save her own life, versus a chance to really be with the team. Her decision was to do both at the risk of losing favour from both sides. Rindo started to accept her layer by layer, as the person who resonated the most to her contradicting nature from the start and knew that via learning her resolve, he has learnt his too.

Later into the game, she even got too much of his attention. Maybe even without knowing she’s Swallow, he’s familiar with her thinking direction and Swallow had always been closer to him than any other friend. It was only after she had to betray her important ones twice that she could start being truly honest. The scene when she died a 2nd time left a strong impression in me, the little reveal let Rindo know that he is also losing Swallow as he’s losing Shoka – and that only death could drive the last secret out of her. Her final “Later, loser” echoed through Rindo as it was the final truth, with only him remaining to hear it: they had actually, already lost everything.

Rindo was the boy who never dared to face all that matters to him until he lost it all, fighting an unfair battle in the faith that they would somehow still win. Shoka was the girl who always knew what was dear to her, but never dared to think she could be together with them ever after and still threw her all into a battle she knew was losing. I think they stir each other on naturally to fill out their gaps, similar to what the Shibuya game partner systerm would have aimed for. The end reward was a little divine intervention to help close up the divide between them once and for all.  

During the game there was not enough space to process anything personal so at the ending when they officially became “friends”, it was an important affirmation of their bond. Some people complained it was friendzoning but it’s not, they just have arrived at the perfect place to start something more. “From now on, we will truly be together” – I read it as that kind of message.  

The heroine from a lost battle, with her story taken away

After reading the secret reports and playing the game to be surprised of how small a role Tsugumi had in the main game despite being the “Hype-chan” thought to be a major character of the next TWEWY installment, many fans would feel sad at a missed opportunity to see the Shinjuku arc in full depiction.

It was shown clearly that, a Shinjuku arc was very carefully planned out and is a vital part of the whole story, yet it could not be made due to various circumstances behind the development scene. I would assume, that the team were not able to make a TWEWY game that ended on a despairing note, but it already happened in their mind, thus becoming a mental burden that forced them to break away from it and started the game anew with NEO. A significant part of NEO became the healing arc for the Shinjuku characters, especially for Tsugumi though I really wished more emphasis should have been placed on her rather than Shiba. We didn’t even get to see her brother – Shinjuku’s Conductor who had a vital role and instead was given the clueless Shiba, who had absolutely no idea what’s going on all the way until the last day in NEO. It’s as if Tsugumi has had her story stolen away from her, because her own battle ended with a saddening loss.

I think every time the game creators look at Tsugumi, they would feel that sadness too. Maybe to them, she is a bigger character than what is seen by the fans, as despite their failed effort to depict her story, she’s lived in their mind for all these years through periods of destruction, healing and rebuild.  Though it is a pity we could not get to experience the full scope of the Shinjuku story, the creators was clear about the place they wished for it to arrive at.    

Individuality, connection and the social network

The team system adapted from Shinjuku rulebook does not allow much room for personal development, as the team dynamic is closer to a work relationship forced to bear results, than a spiritual bond to max out all corners of understanding as found in the partnership system. The old Shibuya system allowed only 1 winner and 1 week limit per game, while the new rule declares for a 1 winning team and only the team at last place will be erased – the other teams will enter another loop. Furthermore, whichever team to challenge the unwinnable Ruinbringers will face the risk of ending up dead last followed by erasure. As a result, the longest-standing teams are most likely not the strongest ever recorded, but the ones who have figured out a strategy to simply survive until something changes, enjoying their newly found social constructs while they are at it. Basically, it is a system to hypnotise players into the illusion that they are still “living”.

Therefore, we as players would not get to the core of each Player individually as fast and directly as we did in the last game. The Twisters were able to stand out not because they’re powerful, they only started to have a real chance after growing enough to each form a meaningful and personal connection to another teammate. It did not come as a team, nor did it intiate from the existing friendship between Rindo and Fret. In fact, I did not find much solidity or anything truly note-worthy about the main team and new characters within themselves until they started clashing with other team members, Reapers and new recruits from week 2 onwards. Rindo found his personal development with Shoka (via a clash with Motoi and pretty much a mini dating sim between them), then via the confrontation of his role with Neku; Fret found his with Kanon then Nagi, the team learned about the real Neku via Beat, Neku entered the UG via Coco’s wish to save Tsugumi… it was not the team but their personal links that empowered them to fight and solve each of their problems.

The other team leaders may have failed because they did not form such personal links, after 30+ hopeless loops Fuya’s team all fell apart to pursue their own interest even at the cost of erasure, Motoi quit his KOL façade to work like a dog for the Reapers (probably to save just his own ass not his team), while Kanon dropped her tricks to find changes via honest cooperation in acceptance of a fair loss. The despairing note in that is huge without making much of a scene because their failure didn’t happen at their best effort to “win”, but in their last attempt to find a way “out”. Even Shiba got his way “out” in the end thanked to his personal friendship with Hishima and Tsugumi.

Something has shifted in the mindset of the game creators in the last 14 years, as both games are about “connection vs individuality” but the last game focuses more on connection between just individuals and this one on the overall network that is formed out of those individual connections.

The introduction of Beat into the main cast was truly the bridge between old and new, they helped each other out in several turns before officially recruiting him. Beat is a character whom a lot of fans including myself have felt somewhat concerned about after Neku disappeared from the RG, so when the new kids welcomed Beat with warm and organic interaction and Beat seemed happy, I started to feel like I wanted to help them out too! I think the overall team chemistry is enjoyable enough for new players, but I could warm up to the new kids more from the pov of a returning character – whom I’m glad to be Beat, as the older brother figure who is genuinely kind, fun, serious and upbeat at the same time; who is needed and needs the kids in return.

The social network is a fun and refreshing feature. You can read all of the crazy tidbits about Shibuya and the links each character have formed with the town people, it’s also fun to visualize how the characters act off screen. Characters’ profiles provide extra insight into their background too, like how it reveals Tsugumi has been friend with Coco during her time in the RG. During the game when not all characters have showed up, you can sometimes guess which empty spot will belong to whom. For example there is a 1 character linking to Neky that is not linked to anyone else, so I could guess that was Joshua, and that another character linking only to Joshua was probably Hazuki, hinting that the 2 Composers are related before either of them even showed up.

Hazuki only showed up for 5 minutes, but his presence is so vital and true to the game that I think he is the most memorable out of the new cast. The two Composers have such an intriguing bond, with their yin/yang or phoenix/dragon themes, opposite color design, the sempai/kouhai tone and the way they keep some sort of distance/work relationship as if it’s mandatory between Higher beings, yet at the same time they can talk so casually because they are truly equal – and different from one another. I have written a separate meta on them here.

Some people pointed out, that all Shinjuku characters’ names and themes are based off Hanafuda cards and the Phoenix in Hanafuda belongs to the Paulownia suit – which is Joshua’s name flower. This is so interesting because it feels like the creators somehow saw it as a sign to interweave the Shibuya and Shinjuku storylines together. Though it doesn’t come out much on the surface, it’s fascinating nonetheless considering both Josh and Haz had at some point interfered with the other town’s affairs.

“Shibuya tour with Haz” was such a special scene, as it happened between 2 characters who do not/no longer have a reason to care about Shibuya, on the subject of what is worth saving about Shibuya. Hazuki carried out the purification of Shinjuku and stepped in to restore Shibuya just as part of his job and unlike Hanekoma or Joshua who both possess profound understanding of humanity, he really didn’t know humans at all. Rindo’s irrational wish invoked in him a sense of curiosity, to try gambling on something irrationally and learning a bit of what his senior have experienced. With all the pieces put together, it provides an overview on Higher beings as a whole, and that Joshua and Hanekoma are really the odd ones out with Hazuki being somewhere in between them and the rest.        

The old friends

It’s easy to have returning characters overshadow the new cast as they have already matured out of their personal story arc and stayed in our hearts for all this time. In the end, I have managed to enjoy both the old and new cast separately and altogether, and they will both find their own place in our memory of this game for the long term.

Sho is truly as crazy as ever, the game wouldn’t be the same if Sho is any less of what he is. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like Neky or Beat is younger than Nagi at all, with moments when it seems like Neky has aged 14 years instead of 3 years. His friendship with Coco surprised me pleasantly, and their interaction together with Beat was fun to watch. Rhyme’s found a new dream and her friendship with Kaie is precious too, especially considering that she can still talk to him online after the game ended. Josh and Neku’s interaction suggested that they have resolved the past and are on equal terms now, they even parted ways in good spirit and I don’t feel any worry about them like I did before.

Neku and Shiki’s reunion scene was beautiful, theirs is such a special bond that it has grown and supported them even without being able to see each other. I am so happy to see them all again and that they stay true to who they are, albeit looking more grown up, cooler and happier than ever before.  

Overall, NEO can’t become a classic on par with the OG, but is definitely a good sequel and a good game in its own rights. I’m happy with whether or not there will be a 3rd game to complete the 3 monkeys theme, but if there will be – I hope the creators can really find the time to learn from the last 2 games and start over with a fresh mindset and strong core.  

[feysooah]

HIHI ! 

I go by Fany & she/her -- it’s been a looong time since I rped so honestly pretty excited to be here and get this muse on the road :> no lie it’ll probably take me a bit to adjust and get in the groove of things so forgive my extra slowness but I’d love to plot n chat with all of you peeps like actually please lets !! do have a profile page up you’re free to check ( still being worked on shh ), and a rules page that’s really just more an info dump about rping with this mun & muse and some stuff about me in general if you’re curious ye

don’t have any plots up for grabs sadly, yet, but brainstorming is much welcome

here’s some tidbits about muse that might be helpful in the meanwhile tho ;

to start off, where she actually comes from;

From where her lineage diverged the Gwan bloodline has notoriously been known as very powerful divination magick practitioners within the Kyegeum house

alongside being super cordial with other houses and often the other genera as well, but generally aloof in matters that did not strictly concern them. this extended to the normal world and society as well

this was especially true for her grandpa, Gwan Youngchul

who ended up being turned in a surprise attack from a werewolf when the man had been out with his familiar companion -- Seok -- who despite best efforts could not save the witch from this sudden fate, could not stop their treasured bond severing

and despite managing to keep Youngchul alive through the whole ordeal, it would not take long ( if anything, suspiciously quick ) for a certain group of hunters to get whiff of the circumstance and swiftly rid off the ex-witch

Perhaps one bright side to look at was that he was able to communicate last wishes, some of which had already been written on letters hidden for the chance of an unlucky situation such as the one they were currently in arising. one of the wishes being a plea to protect his only daughter Jiyeong

At a tender age of seventeen Jiyeong took the news with surprising grace, not to say she wasn’t devastated and cried but what seemed to be request of her father to bond with his familiar was accepted after a moment of thinking it over, and bonding ritual decided to take place within the week

Jiyeong’s mother had been the one to mainly oversee her training once abilities started manifesting, a Kyegeum witch herself, with very different abilities compared to her husband

It was perhaps no surprise then that Jiyeong became very adamant not long after father’s death to focus studies and abilities on what her father had been so revered for; divination

something his older sister, Jiyeong’s aunt, was known for as well and gladly helped the girl with alongside taking the widowed family under her wing and protection

Jiyong followed after her father’s footsteps in many other things, most notably making friends and upholding favorable relations to the other houses, other genera as well

was endlessly fond of nature magic too, had an abundance of flowers and plants in every nook and cranny, a beautiful garden she tended to with care

many would even say she was touched by the sun itself, vibrant and warm soul she was, nurturing not with only plants but people themselves

eventually met a man who slowly swept Jiyeong off her feet, and not but a few years later they had a child, naming her Sooah. my muse. we’ll get to her in a bit I promise ._.

the man aka Dad is a human, just plain ole’ human. orphaned at a young age so while they wouldn’t know for certain if he has any sliver of witchy magic in him it’s unlikely

insists he fell in love with Jiyong at first sight pretty much. which is frankly understandable she was such a lovely person ;u;

was surprisingly chill about all the, well, witch stuff and whatnot, very curious too but also did want her to be careful and if possible not be that involved with that world

for about next 10 years things went on fairly normally, ya know, living the happy family life, going to work, mingling with the magical side of society

then she started getting sick every so often, out of the blue, however nothing even remotely seeming serious. though it was odd for a witch to be affected with flu so often

she didn’t think it was serious itself, and had a habit of hiding it in the beginning too when it wasn’t even noticeable

until it got to the point it simply could not be ignored, could not be just a passing small thing, could not be cured by any means she knew

and the next thing anyone else knew she was gone. almost like someone had reached and snuffed out her flame, just like that

where in the story we get to Sooah, so;

her early life wasn’t that special in honesty, if you don’t count all the stories her mother told about the secret magical world she too would be part of one day, and the lineage she was to inherit, abilities she would discover, all to be learned together

she had been a deviously curious child, daydreaming every other moment and next begging to see if even take part in what her mother was doing with her own magick

Sooah was quite interested in the guy sometimes accompanying her too, a friendly face she’d grown to know as Seok who she had learned eventually was mom’s bonded familiar, a fact she was entirely too excited about. but who also was before bonded to her grandpa that the girl never got to meet herself

would not fail to mention to him many times how she was going to one day find a familiar to bond with too, someone who was fun and kind and wanted to go on adventures and they would be the bestests of friends ever. and definitely cooler than him

she was always eager to understand and practice the power inside her in general, which she was starting to more and more by the days, before the sudden passing of her mother

it broke her :<

dad too, for a while he was nothing but basically a walking shell. she’s sure neither of them really truly recovered

backtracking just a lil because one very, very important notion was the familiar was of course bound to die soon along with the mom, Sooah was well aware of the fact by then and while she was stricken by grief at the time she was dedicated to finding him, no real plan in mind but urgent to know he was okay, like it would somehow make the situation any better

she did end up meeting him, understandably shaken himself but apparently already accepted own fate-- which at the moment did not sit well with her at all and Sooah, not even yet 14 years old, decided she was not going to let him just wither away and die alone how horrible would that be, how sad for that to be the end when her mom had exuded everything opposite, she was not going to let that happen no matter what

which meant the only thing she could actually do was to bond with Seok and by sheer force of will and maybe some tears - definitely some tears - did manage to convince for him to agree to it

a whole mess

she doesn’t regret it one bit, absolutely refuses to, yet does occasionally wonder if it was the right thing to do or even fair to him

but ultimately she’s glad he is in her life, aiding in any matter she may require, definitely now seen as a big brother she never had-- if she’s not too busy calling him grandpa bc seriously he’s old as all fuck. it still surprises her from time to time

( okay but it is hilarious to think Seok going from being as old as he was, looking about 40 to then having a 14 year old’s body lmaoo )

bless the grandma tho she was really a rock in this emotional time, even though she was dealing with the loss of her daughter, after having lost her husband so early in their lives too !

she kinda took over seeing to Sooah’s teaching and helping in any other way as well, more than welcoming to having her stay over for however long she needed or wanted to

she’s still thankfully alive and has a good relationship with both Sooah and Seok ;u;

Dad on the other hand.

they have both moved out of the house the family used to occupy with mom, into their own places

also have a somewhat strained relationship nowadays, more to do with his insistence on getting her to quit all the witch stuff cause it’s dangerous yadda yadda and she’s obviously not going to do that

not to say she’s not paranoid herself, and knowing how both her mom and grandpa died barely halfway into their lives even more so

it’s not only made her fearful of same fate but made her swear to stay away from any sort of divination magic if she can help it, somehow convinced that to be a factor in all of it

does have randomly prophetic dreams though, but nothing that has been major or necessarily that important so she’s.. okay with that. kinda. does keep a dream journal just in case

It’s coming up 10 years after the mom’s death, so I’m sure there’s been some rumors or other witches wondering if the Gwan family was just cursed or something, probably mostly from older and the more traditional types. doesn’t help Soaah’s dad being a plain human. or that she’s not sure if that might just actually be the case oof

as thus she’s definitely a lot more withdrawn when it comes to the other houses, or even Kyegeum themselves, doesn’t exactly feel like part of the community if you will

but is friendly to everyone and usually can be outwardly seen as having nothing weird or unusual going on beyond what you’d expect of a typical witch in this day and age

designs and sometimes makes jewelry for The Gem Lab actually, or if an individual knows to ask her personally Sooah does take custom work too ! and yes they all have very carefully picked gems or crystals, often imbued with enchantments of basic protection or if one wants something very specific she can probably do it

is kinda rich?? like grandpa was very up in there and left part of his inheritance to the mom, who of course left part of hers to Sooah. who doesn’t really like using that money as it is so it’s just sitting in a whole separate account. probably partly also because she’s not exactly the best when it comes to handling finances so. yeah.

uhh

this is so long already god I’m not gonna get into her personality or any of that now, yall can figure it out along the way or read up what I have on her page -- which isn’t much yet but it is something !! I’m def figuring her out myself too as I go haha

so ay if you wanna plot drop by my ims please ;; I do have a discord if you feel that’s easier too just ask for it !

also go show some love to Seok  ouo

[ssaori]

I meant to post this a long time ago, but I never got around to do it. Now, it’s @tiedtogetherwithadagger Kat’s birthday, whose prompt inspired Not Playing by the Rules. So this is the perfect opportunity to post this awfully premature episode from the sequel I might never finish at this point. :D Enjoy!

________

"So, what you do is to try to roll twenty or above, and bam! Suck it, losers!” Stiles explains as they turn into the driveway. He knows he should be more worried about the whole meeting with the parents thing. Technically, that’s not why he’s going, Isaac invited him for his birthday party the Hales are throwing him and Stiles just happens to be Derek’s boyfriend. It’s really not a big deal. Stiles met a couple of parents in his career. He can handle this. Totally.

“You’re freaking out, aren’t you?” Derek asks, ignoring Stiles’ gushing about beating a powerful warlock last week.

“No,” Stiles drawls out, holding up a finger, “but are you sure this shirt looks okay?”

“No, it’s horrible.” The ‘wolf rolls his eyes in a familiar fashion. Stiles sighs.

“I knew I could trust you to give your honest opinion. Best shirt ever.” It’s a baby werewolf blowing out candles. It’s adorable. Derek is just saying that because he has an image to uphold. Stiles gets that. Grumpy werewolves don’t melt at the sight of a baby werewolf.

“Please take it off, I brought you a button down for a reason.” Derek glances in the rearview mirror to the pressed, white button down in the back seat.

“Isaac will totally get it, you’ll see.” Stiles grins as they slowly come to a stop in front of the house. Stiles whistles. It’s three story, off-white and could be a mansion if Derek wouldn’t bite Stiles’ head off for calling it that. “How many of you will be there again?”

“The whole pack – my family, Scott, Isaac, some other betas.”

“I have no idea what that means but it sounds like a party. Let’s go!” Stiles is giddy with nervous energy as he reaches for the door handle, ready to step out of the sleek car, but Derek stops him with a hand on his arm.

“Wait. Before we go inside…” Derek takes a deep breath. “You know how you think I’m faking the whole ‘wolf thing?”

“Oh! Wait, your parents don’t know? I was under the impression they’re playing too.” He frowns. “Weird. But I get that, totally.” He grins. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“No, it’s… It’s the opposite, actually.”

“So they know!” Stiles bounces in his seat. “Cool! Awesome, no secrets, I dig it. Can we go now? I’m about to pee my pants.” Derek lets his head drop back on the headrest, closing his eyes and massaging the bridge of his nose.

“You have no shame, do you?”

“Absolutely none.” Stiles shakes his head. He takes a calming breath and puts his hand on Derek’s thigh. The other man tenses under his touch. “Look, you’re right, I’m nervous.” He sighs. “I’m meeting your parents for the first time, we’ve been together for only a few months, and we haven’t seen each other much since I went back to uni. It’s a lot, okay? Meeting you again in person is a lot in itself, now I have to get to know a bunch of new people and Isaac is having his birthday party for the first time in forever, so he’s probably freaking out, so I have to be there for him, and—”

“You’re overwhelmed.” Derek cuts him off impatiently.

“Yes, to sum it up, I am. I know you like to be all impatient and grumpy and whatever with me, just… could you tone it down a little bit today? This is a big deal. I need you to be my Wolf-man and not Grumpy McQueen.” Derek rolls his eyes taking a deep breath, then nods.

“Okay. Fine.”

“Two words.” Stiles purses his lips. “That’s awesome.” Derek sends him a flat look, which makes Stiles grin. “Are we ready, Wolf-man?”

“Sure.” Derek pushes open his door, but before he can leave, Stiles pulls him back.

“Hold up, I forgot one more thing.” Derek turns to him with his eyebrows raised. Stiles leans over the control and kisses him on the lips. Before he can pull back, Derek takes hold of the back of his head, pulling him deeper in, sneaking a little tongue into it as well. They part with equally satisfied sighs.

“Please lose the shirt?” Derek whispers in the space between their mouths.

“Keep on dreaming, Wolf-man.” Stiles whispers back, then gets out of the car with a wide grin on his face. Isaac is waiting for them at the front door with his own grin.

“Finally! I was about to drag you inside myself.” He calls, then him and Stiles meet on the bottom of the stairs, hugging each other tightly. “The whole house heard your freak out.” He whispers in Stiles’ ear.

“That’s impossible.” Stiles whispers back like he’s sharing a very important secret with a child. Isaac just shrugs, pulling away.

“Are we ready?” He asks, looking over at Derek. Stiles frowns at his boyfriend, reaching over and tugging his necklace that Stiles gave him, out of the shirt’s neck. He pats the Pietersite claw satisfied. Derek’s jaw clenches as he looks at him darkly. Stiles grins.

“Everybody gotta know who gave that to you.”

“Have you ever heard the phrase, don’t poke the sleeping bear?” Isaac wonders out loud. Stiles shrugs with his whole body. Isaac laughs, then runs up the stairs. “Come on, they’re all out back!” Stiles doesn’t get the opportunity to see the house, because Isaac is rushing them through it to get back to the party. As they step through the back door, Stiles freezes. He knew a lot of people were going to be here, but… that’s a lot of people. Like seriously.

Scott is chatting with the girl Derek first came in with, so that is where Stiles is going to go to, but just as he turns in their direction, Derek hooks a finger in the back of his shirt, pulling him back.

“Mom first.”

“Right.” Stiles adjusts the collar of his shirt, following Derek to a group of older people. They’re all beautiful. Seriously, Twilight lied. Vampires? Pfft, try werewolves. “Hi!” He grins at them when the woman in the center of the group stops chatting to look at him. She looks a bit like Derek, Stiles supposes, with her square jaw and strong nose. She smiles at Stiles, reaching out a hand.

“Hello, dear. You must be Stiles, Derek’s new friend, we’ve heard a lot about you.” Friend? He looks over at Derek, who’s rubbing the back of his neck, embarrassed. Friend?

“Yes, hi, Derek, you wanna do this, or…?” Stiles looks between the woman and Derek.

“Yeah. Mom, this is Stiles, my boyfriend, Stiles, my mom.” The woman visibly pauses at that, watching Derek. From the corner where Stiles saw Scott earlier, comes an ear-piercing shriek.

“Your what?!” As Stiles turns, startled, he sees the girl Scott had been talking to – Derek’s sister, if Stiles remembers correctly? – looking at them wide-eyed. Stiles assumes Scott, although with strange accuracy, was just telling her about Stiles as well, that’s why she had such a perfect timing at crying out.

As Stiles turns, there’s a strange, animal-like growl coming from behind him, then Derek steps in front of him. Stiles is going crazy for sure, but are Derek’s shoulder’s wider than usual?

“Enough!” Derek’s mom calls out. As Stiles turns to look at her, he immediately takes a step back, because. Her eyes. They’re… glowing red? Stiles frowns as he bumps into Derek, who reaches out to steady him. As Stiles looks down at the hand holding his elbow, he sees… claws? At the end of Derek’s fingers?

“Are you okay, Stiles?” Derek’s mom is quick to step forward with a concerned expression. As Stiles looks down, Derek’s fingers are normal, like there were never claws there. What the hell?

“Uh, I think… There might be something in the punch.”

“You didn’t have punch yet, Stiles.” Scott says. Stiles looks up at him, he’s standing to the side, looking at Stiles like always, completely normal. Oh, thank God, Stiles wouldn’t be able to handle if his best friend grew pointy ears or something. Well, he could. Actually, that would be… that would be awesome.

“I definitely saw claws at one point.” Stiles says faintly. Scott frowns at him, then looks down at his own hands.

“Claws?” Derek’s mom asks with a tight smile.

“And red eyes.” Stiles stares at her eyes.

“It must’ve been the sun.” She says.

“Or not?” Stiles glances heavenward, where the sky is heavily clouded.

“I’m sure it was just... your senses playing with you.” She nods, but Stiles doesn’t miss the look she sends towards her son. As Stiles looks back at Derek, he’s glaring back at his mother.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Stiles asks, utterly confused.

“Nothing, it must be–”

“I meant to tell you before we came in.” Derek states defiantly, still staring his own mother down. Stiles is slightly intimidated by that look, even though it’s not directed at him.

“Okay?”

“Derek, no. Not now.” His mother sounds stern and Stiles watches them like a tennis match.

“It’s okay, mom. He basically knows already, this would be just... Some extra knowledge.”

“Don’t I get a say in it?” Scott asks from the side, taking a step forward.

“Wait, don’t I?” Stiles asks as well, looking between the three of them now.

“You may not want to push it.” A female voice whispers in his ear. Stiles shrieks - very manly shriek, mind you - and steps away from Derek’s sister.

“I’m the alpha, Derek.” His mom says. “I get to decide who we tell it.”

“We’re werewolves.” Derek says, raising his chin rebelliously. Stiles raises his eyebrows.

“Yes, Wolf-man, we’ve been over this a few times I think.”

“No, dude.” Scott sighs, turning to Stiles with a sheepish expression. “It’s like, for real.”

“Yeah, for real.” Stiles nods. “You’re werewolves, I’m a level fifty warlock--”

“For fuck’s sake.” Isaac steps between the lot of them, his face changing. Stiles watches with wide eyes and open mouth as his eyebrow bones thicken, as do his cheekbones, hair spurs from his sideburns and jawline, fangs grow over his teeth and claws emerge from his fingertips.

Everybody seems to hold their breath, Stiles included. He watches Isaac’s changed face for a long time, just taking it in. Nobody comes closer and nobody’s touching Stiles. They all just... stare.

Finally, after what feels like hours, Stiles takes a deep breath, and whispers:

“Fucking awesome, man, I totally need that special effects for the shop next summer.”

“For crying out loud.” Derek grunts, stepping in front of Stiles. He takes hold of his hand, brings it to his face, and so Stiles can feel the bones changing, the hairs growing out. It’s so strange, so alien and fascinating at the same time... All Stiles can do is stare. Then, without any warning, he promptly throws up on his boyfriend.

[qqueenofhades]

i am a youngin and I have LOTS of questions for you. I became aware of you through your political posts so question number one would be how did you become so articulate? sometimes when I want for respond to arguments, I get so frustrated that i look a fool and nothing gets done. question two, how do you inform yourself and stay critical of what you watch and read? question three, how does one balance their desire to learn and their need to live their life? sometimes I want to spend days (1/?)

 youngin anon (2/?) Sometimes I want to spend days absorbing all the knowledge I can get my hands on, but I also have to go to school, I wanna spend time with my friends, i want to watch my overdramatic rom coms, so and so forth so the desires are constantly battling out in me. question four, how realistic is to want to be a professional historian? when I saw you mention you’re a professional historian, I almost screamed bc so cool! If I want to be a historian, could I succeed in the field?thanks

(3/3) youngin once more w/ her final question! how do you educate yourself on the government and what it’s doing? finding and reading through government reports is confusing and I barely understand how it works because I barely understand civics. I want to learn and be a helpful citizen in the future, but I’m only 15, and I don’t even know what I don’t know. It all feels a bit overwhelming.

Okay, first of all, you must know that telling me that you think being a historian is “so cool” means that you’re now my favourite person and I will 101% die for you, right? Right.

Second of all, I’m very impressed that you’re 15 years old and thinking about all this, which also increases my desire to invite you in for a virtual hot chocolate and chat while scrambling to look like I in any part know what I’m doing and shout at you to stay in school and get enough sleep. I will do my best to go through your questions in order.

One, I’m flattered to hear that you think I’m articulate, and there is definitely an advantage to being able to write and rewrite arguments, rather than being put on the spot and having to do it orally. It comes with practice and educating yourself on what makes a good argument and reading arguments that you find convincing, taking note of what they do well, and the kind of evidence that they marshal to support their positions. It’s similar to writing a good essay or other thesis-driven piece, where you have a position in mind and have to put together reasons for your listener to believe you or at least take your stance seriously (the noble old arts of rhetoric and logic, which were central parts of the classical liberal arts education). I am not sure that there is any easy shortcut for this, alas. Your critical sensibility will get refined with use and age and the volume of things that you read and think about. This also goes into the question of how you stay informed, aware, and critical about things that you read. Basically, the rule of thumb is the delightfully named CRAAP test:

C(urrency)/R(elevance)/A(uthority)/A(ccuracy)/P(urpose). 

Is the source recent? Is it relevant? Is it published or has it gone through peer review? Is it being used in conversations in its field? Who would have an interest in presenting this information one way or another? (I.e. a big manufacturing company concluding for itself that it is not polluting the environment with its operations would be… suspect to say the least). The corporate media in America is very often not all that reliable and/or will certainly not report everything going on, because their central interest is money and upholding the status quo. If you want a left-leaning and reputable news source, you could try The Guardian. It’s a UK-based newspaper, but focuses a lot on American and international issues. Almost nothing that you read from a tabloid or from a random Facebook or Reddit source is likely to be all that legit. Don’t agree with an opinion just because you like it, without doing research. Don’t listen just to what people on the internet would like you to think, including me (I mean, by all means, go out and research and decide for yourself if whatever the hell I’m saying has any merit to it). You don’t need to do this all the time, and you do need to prioritize your mental health and your desire to live an ordinary life. There are bad things happening in the world, but humans are not built to take in a 24/7 bombard of bad news, and it doesn’t make you a bad person if you have “empathy exhaustion.” You literally cannot care about everything everywhere, though you can do your best to stay informed and sympathetically engaged. 

Next, I really recommend you read A People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn. It is a classic, it is a pretty clear and straightforward read and doesn’t have confusing footnotes or too much academic jargon, and it sets out and explains the way in which American history has often been framed and the many problems with that approach. (There is also A Young People’s History of the United States, also by Zinn, and Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, by James W. Loewen.) All of these will offer some corrective and perspective on what passes for historical education in America (answer, pretty much bupkis) and hopefully give you some sense of the ways in which this narrative has systematically discouraged critical thinking or anything besides “America’s the best!!!1″ in generations of America First flag-waving masses. If you do want to be a historian, it’s important to familiarize yourself with what the academic practice of history looks like, decide what you’re interested in and what you might like to specialize in, what area/place/time, and other such things, as well as developing an appreciation for the subject and the work that goes into putting together a historical argument. It will also help if you like reading a large variety of things about many topics, as you will become informed and engaged that way. 

As for whether you could succeed in the field: god, I hope so. I’m in the very-not-fun post-PhD job hunt phase, and I have to warn you that it’s pretty soul crushing, and comes after the exhausting, time-intensive, and nitty-gritty process of getting all the way through the MA and PhD themselves in the first place. That’s almost ten years of school on top of an undergraduate degree, and you really do have to be committed to your subject and want to remain in it if you are going to get through all that with your will to live (barely) intact. Academia is also a weird and cliquey and sometimes depressing place with its own set of bizarre rules. None of this is meant to discourage you – I think we need historians very badly and more than ever – but to warn you that if you think you could be happy being anything other than an academic historian (not to mention make more money) you should seriously consider doing it. You still have most of high school to go before you enter college, and I honestly can’t say what the humanities job market might look like in another 10-15 years, when it’s pretty nonexistent right now. There are jobs, and you can make a career out of it, but they’re all extremely competitive, because there just are not enough of them for all the newly minted humanities PhDs with hopeful dreams of making it in the academy. You have to be fairly lucky, know the right people, network a lot, and apply for pretty much everything you can think of. And as noted, nobody gets into this because they want to be rich. It just is not happening.

I am really flattered, again, that you want to hear my advice on all this, and I would love to help you in any way that I can. You’re welcome to return if you want to chat through things. I also really do recommend Wikipedia. It gets a lot of flack for not being an “academic” source, but as a starting point, you can just go in there, look up whatever you’re interested in, and read the basics (such as civics, the American political system, and so forth). Well-written articles will also be well cited and have lists of links and references at the bottom, which you can use as a jumping-off point for more research. If you’re interested in learning, there are definitely ways to do that. I think you’re already well on the way to being a helpful and productive citizen, just by virtue of WANTING to learn and be informed and critical and compassionate. Tons of people, including lots of them who are much older and in much more important positions than you, don’t do that at all. So you’re already doing better. The information, the ability to work with it, and to form your own opinions will come with time. So don’t go too crazy about feeling like you have to learn it all immediately. You will continue to learn and you already sound like you’re going in the right direction.

I have faith in you. If you want a hug from a random stranger on the internet, consider yourself hugged. Or if that’s too creepy, here’s a high five.

[toothpastecanyon]

Belle’s Brother, Chapter 1

Huge thanks to @onlyroomforhope for betaing this chapter, she was extremely helpful! Go check out their writing, it's awesome! I highly recommend 'roses are red', it's angst as hell :D

Dipper Sterling goes to high school with his sister like a normal human boy. It's all he ever wanted in his life... and now he's going to make it stop.

See most updated version on Archive of Our Own.

________________________________________________________________

               Belle came home to a demon on her bed. Alcor - not Dipper, Alcor - was lying coiled up around his schoolbag, claws sinking into her pillow and glitchy brickworked wings spread to their fullest extent, drooping off the side of the mattress and touching the floor. A low, distorted growl emanated from him.

               At first she thought he might’ve gotten a whiff of yggdrasil, but when he looked up his pupils weren’t blown wide. No, they were small, and bright, and angry.

               He stopped growling when he locked eyes on her, but the anger kept smouldering. It would have been an intimidating glare - if it was on anybody else, she might’ve been scared - but Belle couldn’t help but recognise that as the same sulky expression he had on after their dad refused to let him drive underaged: “I’m sorry, Dipper, I know you can drive, but I really don’t think I’d be comfortable letting you behind the wheel before you can see over it.”

               (And stars, Dipper’s outraged voice going “I’m not that short!” and his face… Belle found herself snickering at the memory.)

               She set her bag down on the floor and wandered over to him now.

               “Hey, Dipper!” She gave a little wave. “Me and Oni missed you at lunch today! What happened, some kinda summons?”

               His growl rattled the pictures on the walls. Belle made a face.

               “Oof, sounds like a bad one.”

               “I̺̘̰t̢ ̨w̯̣̙̤̰̰a̸̖̩͎̯̻s͓̗͓ ̮b̥̝̣a͖͔d̳̳.” Alcor looked away. ”F̼̟͎̰̭̹̝o̧̝̫r̴̼̜ ͓ț̦͈̖͉͚̗͟he̩̬̘̘̠m̯͓͚͉̟͕͡.”

               The reverb in his voice - it shook through her chest, and she paused for a moment to grimace at how weird that felt. Then she shuffled closer, and nudged one of his wings. He lifted it up, and she crawled in next to him, smiling when a second later his wing came down again and enclosed the two of them in a comfy little cuddle.

               And for a moment, it was quiet, and despite whatever had happened to Alcor, it was nice. It was peaceful. Her brother kept sinking his claws further and further into the pillow, but he was careful to keep his grip on her gentle; his wings felt soft and warm, and whatever his brickworked body was made of, it was nice to feel leaning against her.

               She leaned in right back, and rested her head on his shoulder, and slowly, so slowly, the colours started to return to his form. He still looked like Alcor, not Dipper, but his hair was brown again and his clawed hands, now playing with a zipper on his backpack, looked less like void and more like normal, human skin.

               Belle smiled at that. They stayed like that a moment longer, then she leaned in closer, and finally broke the silence.

               “Hey, bro,” she said. “You know you’ve still got that ketchup stain from lunch on your shirt?”

               “What?” Alcor looked down, and groaned at a little red smudge. “Oh, for god’s sake, really? That means I had it during the whole summons!”

               "Hah! Don’t worry, it’s a tiny stain, I’m sure they didn’t notice.”

               “But I can’t go showing up to summons with dirty shirts! I’ve got a reputation to uphold!”

               “Says the dork who uses the washing machine once a year.”

               “Wha- no, that’s- that’s completely different!” Alcor spluttered. “Washing clothes is a waste of time, I have stuff to do! A-and besides, I can just use some quick magic to- are you holding your nose, Belle?”

               “Ewww, it smells like stinky brother in here!”

               “Seriously? I’m not even human right now! Belle, I’m not even in a body right now, I can’t… oh my god, Belle. You’re the worst.”

               “Love you too, Mr Stinkbender.”

               They both laughed at that for a little while. Alcor trailed off first; he started fiddling with his backpack again, his smile slowly fading from his face. Belle nudged him, and he tried to bring it back when he looked at her, but the happiness was gone.

               “Hey,” she murmured, quietly. “Do you, uh, wanna talk about that summons you had?” His expression darkened; quickly she added: “You don’t have to, of course you don’t have to, but I just thought-”

               “No, no, yeah, I want to talk about it! Thanks, I want to talk about it, it’s just…” He rubbed his forehead. “Frustrating. Very frustrating.”

               She made a face. “Yeah, I bet cultists are not fun to deal with.”

               “It’s not even that the cultists are annoying! They are annoying, and summons are annoying, but…usually I don’t mind them too much?” He laughed at that, but it doesn’t sound happy. “I actually…kind of like them a lot of the time. I like getting summoned, I like getting sacrificed to, I like making de̢a͝l̕s… but that’s, uh, that’s its own problem.”

               Belle watched him as he sighed, and let his hands flop down on the pillow.

               “No, right now I just wish they’d stop trying to summon me during school hours.” He curled his lip. “Like seriously, I’ve put it in my answering machine when I want to be summoned but there’s always gotta be that one cult who’s decided they don’t have to follow the rules!”

               “That’s so rude.”

               “It is! Argh, the school called Dad last week because I’ve been pulled out of so many math classes - usually by some weirdo in a robe who thinks I’ll make him king of the world for, like, some lamb chops from the supermarket. Ugh. Then they act sooo offended when I tell them no, summon me during normal hours… Stupid humans.”

               “Gross.” She wrinkled her nose. “Humans are stupid, bro. Sorry you gotta deal with them.”

               His head sank down, and he muttered, “That’s not even the worst part, though.”

               His voice was quiet. It had an edge to it, a cold hint of that anger from earlier, and Belle didn’t try to respond with some funny quip or sympathetic phrase; she hesitated, then, wordlessly, she slipped her hand into one of Alcor’s hands, and squeezed.

               He squeezed back, and a few moments later, he spoke again.

               “That’s not the worst part,” he started. “No, the worst part is…what they do to get my attention. What they offer, that I…”

               Alcor squeezed her hand, hard. Almost too hard, but she sucked in a breath and let him keep talking.

               “...that I can’t resist. Because it doesn’t matter what time school hours are, everybody knows there’s certain things that’ll get a demon to show up every time, and if I don’t answer my normal summons they’re not gonna try and see if they did anything wrong - nooo, they never do anything wrong, they’re special little humans.” He curled his lip. “No, they’re just gonna escalate, they’re gonna go find some other mortal who did nothing wrong and they’re gonna sacrifice that to me and all of a sudden someone’s died just because I wanted to play human for a couple hours and eat lunch with my sister and-”

               “Dipper, Dipper!” Belle winced as he squeezed even harder. Alcor blinked, looked down, then let go immediately.

               “Sorry, Belle! I’m so sorry!”

               “No, it’s all good.” She rubbed her hand. “Sorry for cutting you off there, bro. You keep going.”

               “Well, there’s not much more to say, I guess. It just…sucks. I don’t know what to do about it.”

               Belle didn’t know what to do, either. Her heart hurt as she watched her brother sink down into the mattress, eyes distant, deep in thought. He played with the stuffing of her pillow for a moment; with a blink he realised what he was doing and he shoved it away.

               Then, he sighed, and seemed to come to a decision.

               “Belle?”

               She tried for a sunny smile. “Y’ello, bro?”

               Alcor turned to look at her, but his eyes didn’t quite meet her own. “I think…I think I might need to stop going to school.”

               “Heh…” Belle paused as she processed what he’d just said. “Wait, what?”

               “It’s not worth it. I can’t put lives on the line just because I like going to school-”

               “But-but wait, it’s school! You can’t just not go to school!”

               “I can.” He stared past her, and suddenly he looked very, very ancient. “I can do anything I want.”

               Belle put a hand on her shoulder. “Dipper, come on. You like going to school; there’s gotta be a way to get around this! You know…what about before you found out you were- uh, before we went to Gravity Falls? You weren’t getting summoned back then!”

               “It wasn’t for lack of trying.” Alcor curled his lip at a memory. “So many souls sacrificed to my answering machine - and for what, huh.”

               “Well…” she struggled for words. Then, lamely: “You gotta tell Dad, at least.”

               “I know.”

               “You know, he’d be the one dealing with all the school stuff. You can’t, like, just stop going to school, like you and Dad’d get in trouble for that probably and-”

               “I know.” There was a rumble to Alcor’s words, but it ended in a sigh. “I’ll…I wanna think on it more, okay?” He curled up tighter. “I wanna stay in school.”

               Belle squeezed his shoulder.

               “I just…I don’t see a way to do that, I guess. Not without getting more people hurt.”

               She laid down next to him. “I’m sorry, bro. That sucks.”

               “Yeah…yeah, it does.” There was a pause, and he nestled up close to her. “It does.”

               And with that, they sat together in disquiet silence. Belle hugged her brother, and found it funny to realise her arm didn’t quite reach as far around his shoulders as it usually did. He was slightly bigger in this form, slightly older, and the claws tipping each one of his fingers were black as night and sharp as obsidian.

               She traced her own fingers down one of them, felt the pointed edges, and looked up when Alcor let out a short snort.

               “What?”

               Alcor raised an eyebrow at her. “What are you doing, Belle?”

               “I dunno. Doing whatever.” She yawned. “This bed’s making me sleepy, I wanna take a nap. Heh, what about you, bro?”

               He didn’t say anything to that. Instead, he rolled over a little, and let his wing drape over her like a comfy blanket. His face nestled into her shoulder, and she smiled at that.

               Things were weird, right now. Life was weird with a demon for a brother, and it wasn’t always the fun kind of weird - sometimes, it was this kind of weird. The kind of weird that was hard to think about, hard to solve.

               The kind of weird that made Belle want to hug her brother tight and never let go, because he didn’t deserve to deal with this…

               So, for a little while, she did. She fell asleep shielding him from the world, and it was nice.

               For a couple of short hours, it was simply nice.

[ctl-yuejie]

My thoughts on the conflict between TangYi and ShaoFei, the tone of HIStory3:Trapped  and how conflict and reveals get presented

Disclaimer: I love this show, I think the acting is great and I am very excited that the production team challenged itself with a more complex story than past HIStory seasons, upped the production quality and overall seemed to pour all the heart and hard work into this. Never forget that I love this show even though this might come off as very critical. Me nitpicking at a piece of media however doesn’t mean that I don’t like it (I seldom waste my breath on bad-mouthing something I didn’t enjoy unless it personally offended me), it only means that I enjoyed it so much that I spent hours thinking about the plot and the characters and generally had a lot of feelings.

        - spoilers up until episode 16 -

Now that the show has only 4 episodes left to air I wanted to take some time to sort my thoughts and feelings.

Overall, I really do enjoy this show, especially the acting, the chemistry between Chris and Jake is stellar (not to leave out Andy and Kenny, I just don’t think I’ve seen enough of their story to comment too much on them yet) and the  brilliantly written romance of TangYi and ShaoFei.

In the beginning the premise sounded tropey and fun and I didn’t expect them to seriously tackle the issue of a cop falling in love with a criminal because the trailer, while being action-packed, looked too light-hearted.

The show however took a surprising twist.

Sure, much of what happens is not realistic: the crime rate in Taiwan is famously low (we had one too many shootings and violent deaths on the show to match with the statistics) and I am pretty sure ShaoFei drawing his gun at TangYi every chance he gets in the beginning and not facing any backlash doesn’t comply with police protocol at all.

However, when they introduced the whole background story of TangYi I started to take the set-up more seriously. Prior to this I thought that I just had to suspend belief in order to enjoy the cop/gangster romance aspect of the show and to be able to ignore any ethical issues that might arise with such a dynamic.  But introducing him as this young adult who’d grown up into a life of crime and no choosing of his own, who tried to cut ties with the criminal world because of a promise he gave to his foster father made me rethink the tone of the show and I started to believe that they would honestly tackle the ethical issues of the relationship between ShaoFei and TangYi.

Trying to live an honest and upright life doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to stop committing crimes on your way to achieve that goal (and I am pretty sure that HongYe setting up that business is textbook money laundering) but I liked to believe that revealing TangYi’s motivation would mean exactly that. Because this promised a challenge, suspense and a struggle worth watching.

Refraining from committing crimes and dismantling his organization while upholding his front as a stone-hearted mob boss would result in much more difficulties when interacting with gang members and trying to not get overpowered by enemies. TangYi would be too powerful otherwise. Most of the problems he has encountered on this show were connected to him trying to protect people that are dear to him, a task that is much more complicated to accomplish when you cannot resort to violence. 

Additionally, I don’t think I could root for TangYi and ShaoFei as a couple if TangYi doesn’t try his best to not hurt other people. Not only because ShaoFei is a policeman, there are enough corrupt or misguided policemen around, but because ShaoFei is introduced to us as someone with strong convictions and an even stronger sense of justice and upholding the law. And to me it didn’t seem like his character arc was set-up for him to delve into a moral grey-area or even to switch sides with TangYi. I thought that his journey would be to fall for TangYi and accept that not everyone is necessarily entirely good or evil and having to grapple with his senior being not the person he thought she was. This does fit in with the latest revelations that the police chief with whom he has a kind of father-son relationship is indeed not the good person we thought he was.

I have no idea how ShaoFei could deal with the idea of TangYi being capable of hurting people when it isn’t done in self-defense and if there are other, albeit more difficult, ways in which he could’ve taken action.

Especially because in the reality this show creates the problems a cop/gangster relationship entails don’t get entirely glossed over. Yu Qi reminds ShaoFei in the hospital that him and TangYi cannot be together, not because they’re both men, but because of their professions. (To be honest the only real beef I might have with this show so far was the weird “love is love” analogy that they freely applied to a gangster/cop relationship. I don’t think it was in any way intentional but reversing that thought might lead the viewer to the conclusion that you are either born into a certain profession or you can choose your sexuality...which is definitely not what the show wants us to think, I hope.) Even earlier on ShaoFei denies that he could have developed feelings for TangYi on the basis that they’re playing on opposite teams. So we have to assume that the show acknowledges the ethical problems of this romance in general but somehow conveniently forgets about this conflict when it should have an impact on the characters behavior. This is especially bizarre because the only function of those scenes then is to act as a tool to not make as forget how cold and ruthless TangYi can be. Because he is a gangster boss.

After revealing TangYi’s backstory on the mountain top I got more excited about the show because I thought I’d understood in which direction they wanted to take the main romantic plot and what kind of tone they wanted to set. The show would be slightly more serious and solemn than I anticipated but I welcomed that approach because it would make for an interesting show while not excluding any possible humour.

However, immediately in the next episode I had to start and rethink my assumptions. By now the low respect for rules on the police’s site and dilettante approach to their job started to stand out, however I was willing to not head those details that much attention because most tv series, even mainstream crime shows, mess up the actual technicalities of the jobs they’re trying to portray. ShaoFei’s fever dream on the mountain however took the disconnect with the previous episode a little bit further. The scene overall did fit in with the humour of the show but the way it was acted out and shot didn’t make it look like an organic part of the rest of the series. However, the scene just left me with a small nagging feeling and wasn’t anything that really bugged me.

My feelings for the show however got tested a bit when TangYi beat up that henchman. I was so convinced that the main conflict of the show would be TangYi trying to maintain is image as a gangster so his gang wouldn’t find out that he is trying to dissolve the organization while having to abstain from using any violence. Something that is made even more difficult by the police getting involved and the mystery from 4 years ago looming over him.

I truly believed that TangYi being left alone in that room would turn out to be a ruse to shake up Ah De (whom, as we later find out, he was already suspicious of). It also made me hope that Wang Kun Chen might have not actually died but that his death was faked in order to go after both the criminals and any corrupt policemen (I will come back to his death later on). But afterwards in a talk with Jack it gets confirmed that TangYi indeed beat up the henchman. This course of action didn’t surprise me that much but to be honest I was just disappointed with how straight-forward and unexcitingly TangYi dealt with Ah De and possibly some other close people going behind his back.

The intention of the set-up with Old Tang’s wish was only based on my assumptions so I can’t really feel that let down by it, but TangYi beating up that henchman threw me because I thought we were supposed to read more into Old Tang’s request and conclude that TangYi would have to live through a constant internal struggle.

In general, I don’t mind when unrealistic things happen in a series, however there has to be an internal set of rules that gets followed and scenes and characters have to make sense within the reality the showrunners created.

To me it is curious that TangYi doesn’t think that he has to adjust how he acts in order to disentangle himself from a life of crime in some scenes but in other scenes suddenly cannot take action in a certain way because of the same reason (mostly when it becomes urgent to eliminate direct threats). It is always up to ShaoFei to actively stop him from committing crimes and we never see an internal struggle. Sure, the task got imposed on him by Old Tang and TangYi doesn’t seem to be propelled by intrinsic motives but due to his emotional connection to Old Tang I’d have thought that he would really have to constantly struggle mentally and physically to refrain himself from using violence.

That does, in no way, mean that I wanted this show to be less dark. I think there’s still a lot of room for even more cruelty and angst even if the main character tries his best not to use violence. The whole set-up is very sad, the element of corruption could also lead to emotional distress at how hopeless ShaoFei’s investigation is, drug trafficking in particular comes with many victims, the betrayal inside the gang and every parental figure in this show either not living up to expectations or being outright abusive are also heavy subjects they could lean into even more. Heck, ShaoFei’s whole investigation and the police’s involvement raise the stakes because there is the possibility of capital punishment for drug offenses in Taiwan. We also have to deal with the fact that TangYi most definitely committed heinous acts in the past, the same might go for Jack. All in all, there are still many options left to make this show even more grim and bleak.

In the end it is up to the writers how they want to spin TangFei’s romance but to me it seemed like they were laying the ground for a different approach to the story then what actually played out. While I am not mad at this show (as I said before this is me nitpicking at a series that I highly enjoy) at this point I don’t know whether I can trust the hints I pick up because I don’t know if it was the intention of the writers to built-up a storyline or if what they did was totally arbitrary, or if they indeed simply forgot what they established in earlier scenes (this is where I had my problems with Hong Ye’s attack on ShaoFei and Ah De’s assault of TangYi. HongYe was introduced as more intelligent than that planned attack was and Ah De’s premeditated assault didn’t fit with his goals and the way he crossed the line earlier on).

This back and forth on characterizations, storylines and tone does confuse me quite a bit and is the only thing so far that made the show fall slightly short of what they could’ve accomplished with more consistent writing.

- - - - - -- - - - - - - -- - - - -- - - - - - -- - - - - -- - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Which leads me to how the show is dealing with its reveals. So far, we have the mystery from 4 years ago that still needs solving, TangYi’s real parents’ identity which got revealed in episode 16, Ah De not only being in love with TangYi but selling drugs behind his back, Jack’s identity and real motivation, who really killed Wang Kun Chen, Ah Zi being up to no good and finally the police chief being dirty.

I enjoyed/am enjoying all of these plot-twists, some were more obvious than others but again, the writing of how these things unravel or got revealed is very inconsistent.

I will start with our mystery men. The reveal I enjoyed the most was the police chief being a dirty cop. It pretty much came out of nowhere but now a lot of his actions do make much more sense, especially how he didn’t give much support to ShaoFei and how he was mocking about with his work which I initially wrote off as missing motivation instead of passive sabotage. It also gives us enough room to guess his motivations and to whatever conclusion we might come to, it fits perfectly into the story so far. He might have needed money, or averting his eyes might have led to bigger consequences than he expected, now he is scared to lose his job because his daughter is marrying, or he worked too long in the force so he decided to side with what he felt was the most harmless kind of corruption to be able to focus on the big fish. What is important is that regardless of his motivation his past behavior fits with the reveal and added excitement to the show (to behonest at the moment I kind of lost interest in what happened 4 years ago because it is both obvious and confusing at the same time). Ah Zi was an okay reveal and the general topic of corruption in the work force and presumably good characters turning out grey or bad is pretty interesting but how his identity got revealed with those taunting shots of a man in a jacket were somewhat lackluster. They only spanned over two episodes before the reveal and were pretty on the nose. I would have loved it if they’d built-up his betrayal over more episodes with secretive shots of money and drugs exchanging hands where we couldn’t be sure if we were just shown the inner workings of TangYi’s gang or outsiders trying to get their hands on some extra cash.

Again, two similar reveals came about very differently and with a different kind of depth and detail to attention as well as being tied into the show organically and not so much.

This change in style doesn’t do much good in my opinion. Jack remains much of a mystery even though we need at least some hints in order to root for him and ZhaoZi. Instead their scenes are sweet but not that telling and they never just appear in the background to tie in their romance at all times. There were missed opportunities and many scenes that they could’ve been in finished without them and we went two whole episodes without them. Hong Ye and DaoYi had the big advantage to be present in many of the main couples’ scenes so their romance felt very well written and satisfying. I wish they’d spend even more time and attention to detail on Jack and ZhaoZi because with the added mystery element to Jack’s persona I really need more to get emotionally involved.

Again, I am confused as to how deep the show wants us to analyze its characters’ actions and how tricky the story really is. Ah De selling drugs behind TangYi’s back was mentioned only in a throw-away line and we are to believe that TangYi wouldn’t act more guarded or cautious around Ah De? Are we supposed to question that Jack killed Wang Kun Chen? If so, why was TangYi supposed to get fraimed for his death when it was a set-up by possibly the police? If it was as straight-forward as it’s presented I have my problems with rooting for TangYi/ShaoFei and ZhaoZi/Jack because it would be the first kill since the start of the show and setting up TangYi and Jack as unredeemable in ZhaoZI’s and ShaoFei’s eyes (see my huge paragraph about violence above). If we are supposed to scrutinize the show on the same intricate level as the police chief’s betrayal, some of the other reveals fall flat and are just not on the same engaging level.

The same goes for the messaging: are we to believe that Ah De’s actions were despicable? Wouldn’t we have to apply the same rules to Jack kissing ZhaoZi?

Overall I wish this series was written more tight-knitted, intricate and consistent in tone and message. Because I believe that this otherwise very entertaining story could’ve only benefitted from that.

[douxreviews]

Star Trek: Discovery - ‘Battle at the Binary Stars’ Review

By JRS

"I was raised to believe that service was my purpose."

When Commander Michael Burnham is convinced enough in her own rightness to attack Captain Phillippa Georgiou, her mutiny earns her a place in the brig – just as the Klingons attack, endangering all that Burnham holds dear.

One of the hallmarks of good writing is that you put your characters in layers of jeopardy. Everything builds and builds until the character is forced to choose something in a way that reveals the uttermost depth of that character. The dreadful algebra of necessity, Pratchett called it. What do you do when you're in such a terrible situation that no answer is good, that you have to choose something awful? What do you do when you realize this only afterwards? One of the good things about this episode is how it applies this rule well. Burnham and Georgiou are each combating the Dreadful Algebra in the second half of this two-part pilot, starting with Burnham waking up nearly-exposed to vacuum and somehow finding a way to get shot into the working part of a ship in a fantastic sequence which neatly ties into the foreshadowing of the previous episode.

Burnham is a Spock for the modern generation. Human instead of half-Human, but both raised by Vulcans – with Burnham internalizing trauma at a deep level in the course of her life, after a Klingon attack takes away her parents. Confronted with a warlike Klingon, she responded. Did she know the weapon would kill him? Was it an accident? I'm not sure Burnham knows. This episode sketches more in depth the past between Burnham and Georgiou; we learn how Georgiou tried to groom Burnham for the role of Captain and was perhaps blinded by her own affection for her charge. When Georgiou confronts Burnham about her actions, after she escapes from the brig, Burnham can't even tell if the motivation for her act is rooted in logic or emotion. It's kind of a big breakdown from the whole 'I am perfect and judging everyone else' position which Burnham held when she arrived at the ship. Does Sarek getting Burnham to act and try to help Georgiou despite Burnham's internal struggles and despair imply there's a lot more to this character than we see here? I don't know, but the connection between the two was effective.

Georgiou isn't forced to analyze her actions with the same depth as Burnham. She obviously wrestles just as much with notions of right and wrong, with imprisoning Georgiou in the brig. The fact that her ship is attacked – that Burnham is correct in her analysis of Klingon behavior – just makes her even more frustrated because Georgiou's truly trying to uphold the standards of Starfleet and continue to spread the Federation. This means the ends cannot justify the means. Redemption is definitely a part of Georgiou's worldview, however – and when the chips are totally down, Georgiou has no problem with beaming over onto the Klingon ship with Burnham to try and take T'Kuvma alive, and is actually pretty fantastic in all the action scenes, as you might expect from Michelle Yeoh.

I wasn't too enthralled with the Klingons in the last episode, but this episode, I thought they brought them along far more. Last episode they seemed about on par with the worst of TOS: cheesy, shiny monsters, often exaggerating racial stereotypes. They hated a trite phrase, "We come in peace." The subtitles were annoying, especially if you watched with closed captions and a sound effect popped on screen. This episode gave the Klingons a little bit of depth, although the Maniacal Religiousish Leader is almost a Trek stereotype in itself. I loved the scene of their invisible ship slicing through the Admiral's and then flickering back. The rescuing of the dead was fantastic, and so was the death of T'Kuvma, played by Chris Obi. Whom do we seek. Kahless. How do we find him? Together. Give us light to see. Forever. Will he hide from us always? Never. This is a far more complex warrior culture than simply Argh! We shall conquer! Still, we never find out the meaning behind their hate for "We come in peace," and while I could possibly come up with a plotsplainer, it feels wrong to have to do so for the freaking pilot.

Georgiou's death was unexpected and frustrating. I really loved the dynamic between her character and Burnham, and I loved the fact that it was two badass women who jumped into the breach and tried to bring back a giant Klingon. It's clearly going to seriously impact Burnham, though. Who, after the crew escapes in a (very cool) pod scene, winds up standing for trial.

And Burnham pleads guilty to her role in all of it, and now sees herself as the enemy. And is sentenced to imprisonment for life. This final speech was badly captioned on the CBS AllAccess app, which frustrated me for 9.99 a month and at the very final moment of the show.

Commander's Log

I'm not sure about the whole thing with Sarek as a mystical advisory Pokémon. DS9, however, also started out with a lot of mysticism.

The body-bomb sequence was really well developed and kind of set Georgiou for me in a Picard-level Starship Captain place. Cool, inventive, caring almost to a fault...

The preview for the next episode isn't captioned, but shows Burnham being shipped to prison and experiencing a lot of weird stuff – and the return of the Klingons. Judging by this, Burnham is going to become an action hero.

I really want to learn more about all of the crew. Some of them don't get named in this episode, which is sad, but they all seemed earnest and interesting. From the preview, Doug Jones will be back as Lt. Saru.

This Trek had a very strong, diverse vibe. Both Captain and Commander were non-white women, who, yay, spoke to each other often about things that were not men. This is causing crankiness on the internet. This alone makes me want to give the show more of a chance.

I know the technology has changed or upgraded or whatever, but isn't this a new timeline or something with JJ Abrams? Regardless, I feel this is a meh point for me. We're in 2017 and we can envision basic technology that people wouldn't have come up with during TOS. Plus, based on my Understanding of Humanity, I could easily see an episode where they give up the holographic technology because it's bad for you and radiation or something, so they have to go back and develop special rooms, or whatever. Connect it intelligently enough and it looks like scifi.

The captions were a big problem for many Deaf and hard of hearing people online. Look, if you want to build an audience, you can't get people to risk ten bucks then slap them in the face. The AllAccess app is the biggest obstacle to my liking this show at the moment, that and the knowledge that it's included with Netflix in Every. Other. Country. In. The. World.

Overheard by the Universal Translator

Sarek: Behave.

Sarek: No matter your shame, gather your strength. Find a way to help those who need you.

T'Kuvma: There is no honor without unity. There is no home for any of us, unless it is shared by all. [Sidenote: This quote makes me feel it's possible there might be Deaf people in Klingon worlds.]

Overall

Much more love from me than I felt at the end of the first episode.

The second episode has me hooked, as long as they can keep the writers away from the Hokey Hooch they were clearly drinking when they wrote the Klingons during the previous episode.

The best parts of this episode were Burnham and Georgiou, for me; my question is, now that half the team is killed off, how can the show continue its momentum? I was going to go with four, but the captioning issues made me go with... three out of five body-bombs.

[princesssarisa]

Weird things people say about “Wicked”

I’ve never been a huge fan of the musical Wicked, although I respect its quality and sometimes enjoy listening to its music. I’ve only seen it once onstage, and believe it or not, I found it too bleak and depressing for my taste. After all, under its sparkly diva-vehicle facade, it has just as much biting socio-political criticism as Les Misérables and twice as much cynicism, and both Elphaba and Glinda’s journeys are ultimately tragic ones, even if the ending is hopeful. I don’t care for “friends who become enemies” stories either, even if they do reconcile in the end. Still, I think I remember the show’s plot and characters reasonably well… and I think I can tell when people’s comments about it are slightly off. Or extremely off. Even though I’ve only dabbled lightly in the show’s fandom, I’ve still repeatedly heard or read comments from fans that either rely on false equivalence or seem to miss the whole point of the story. Here are my thoughts on the iffiest things I’ve heard people say about this musical.

Note: Thanks to @anghraine for the term “false equivalence.” I had never quite known what to call what I was hearing, until I read her post about Star Wars prequel fans who say “You just don’t want Anakin to have flaws!” to fans who object to his mass murder of the Tusken Raiders. This sort of thing happens in a lot of fandoms, it seems.

1. “It’s just a piece of fluff.”

This was the first response I got when I first mentioned that the show depressed me. “Don’t take it so seriously. It’s just a cute, clever perspective flip of The Wizard of Oz.”

Now I think most people will disagree with that. Just because it takes place in Oz and has a fairly light, cartoony surface doesn’t mean it can’t contain real, pointed socio-political commentary about corrupt leaders, racism, bigotry, rebellion vs. conformity, and the way public opinion creates our “heroes” and “villains.” It most certainly can and does. Its commentary is even more brutally relevant now in Trump’s America than it was in Bush’s when the show debuted.

In a similar vein is “Stop focusing on the politics. It’s all about Elphaba and Glinda’s friendship/love story.”  But that’s like looking at The King and I and saying “It’s not about East/West relations or feminism. It’s just Anna and the King’s love story.” That’s total nonsense; their whole relationship is inextricable from the bigger themes. I do think most fans realize this, but now and then you find fans who don’t.

2. “Both sides have good and bad traits, nobody’s perfect.”

This one is about Elphaba vs. the Wizard and about the show’s whole overreaching message.

“Neither Elphaba nor the Wizard is either a villain or a hero,” I’ve heard people say. “They’re both morally gray. That’s the whole point. There are two sides to every story.” If I’m remembering right, even parts of the show itself promote that view more than its actual plot supports: e.g. in the song “Wonderful” (although the Wizard is being generous to himself there). But while it’s true that they’re both morally gray, I can’t buy the implication that neither is any better or worse than the other. That’s massive false equivalence.

True, the Wizard has some sympathetic traits, but his rule over Oz is still a totalitarian regime that manipulates the masses and brutally oppresses innocent minorities. Elphaba’s rebellion against him is absolutely heroic and her vilification by the people of Oz is absolutely unfair. True, she eventually decides to be “wicked” and does the truly bad things we know from The Wizard of Oz, but only in the midst of a mental breakdown when she’s lost hope for her mission and apparently lost everything and everyone she ever loved. That still doesn’t make her as bad as the Wizard or Madame Morrible, nor does the Wizard’s better side come close to matching hers.

Some people seem to honestly think that in the Wicked universe, the original Wizard of Oz portrait of the Wizard as a harmless lovable rogue, Oz as an idyllic fantasy land and Elphaba as a monster is still basically true and valid, just “not the whole story.” I don’t understand how they can think that way. It disturbs me slightly that they can see the Wizard and co.’s persecution of the Animals and just shrug it off with “There are two sides to every story,” or worse, “Nobody’s perfect.” Would they say that about comparable real world leaders, from George W. Bush, to Donald Trump, to… others whose names don’t even need to be mentioned? I hope not!

3. “Glinda is a loyal friend.”

Now maybe I’m misremembering, or maybe my definition of “loyalty” demands too much. But doesn’t a huge part of Glinda’s character arc rest on her failure to be fully loyal to Elphaba and on the lessons she learns when her disloyalty leads to disaster? Is it loyal of her to serve and uphold the oppressive regime that Elphaba sacrifices everything to fight against? Is she loyal when she turns against Elphaba because of the love triangle with Fiyero, however temporarily? Yes, she’s sympathetic, but as is often the case with popular characters (no pun intended), some fans seem to love her so much that they forget about all her flaws and growth. Even though said flaws and growth are central to her role.

4. “All loved ones fight sometimes.”

Continuing on the above theme of idealizing Elphaba and Glinda’s relationship. When I’ve mentioned that I personally don’t ship Gelphie because of the catfight scene, I’ve gotten this response: “Haven’t you ever gotten mad at someone you love? That’s part of every relationship!” But this just reeks of false equivalence.

Yes, of course I’ve gotten mad at loved ones. But I’ve never tried to get them captured by their worst enemies, let alone taken advantage of their relative’s death to do so, or gotten into full-blown catfights with them. No matter how beautifully Elphaba and Glinda reconcile in the end or how beautifully they change each other’s lives, how can anyone view that genuinely vicious fight, or the genuine betrayals that lead to it, as just a typical spat between friends or lovers? You can like their relationship arc yet still admit that their conflict goes beyond a healthy level. Especially the physical violence. The double standard astounds me when people despise any man who slaps a woman, yet see nothing wrong with two women slapping and lunging to attack each other.

This reminds me of Padme responding to Anakin’s mass murder confession in Attack of the Clones with “To be angry is to be human.” Not nearly as bad as that example, of course, but all too similar.

5. “Glinda was right.”

“It’s not aptitude, it’s the way you’re viewed.”

I’ve seen this a few times on TVTropes, both on the show’s own YMMV page (under “Family-Unfriendly Aesop”) and elsewhere. To sum it up concisely in my own words: “Glinda is right that popularity matters more than actual good qualities. She’s right to choose outward conformity over blatant rebellion; to achieve anything in politics, you need to please the crowd. Elphaba’s rebellion fails miserably, while Glinda is the one who changes Oz by joining the Wizard, endearing herself to the masses and gaining power, then reshaping the system from the inside out. Glinda might seem shallow, but she’s ultimately wiser than Elphaba.”

Now of course this whole statement is partly true, maybe even mostly true. I agree that “Public opinion matters more than real merit or truth” is indeed a main message of the show: cynical and sad, but true. But since when does the show support that fact and not criticize it? Doesn’t the story stand up for underdogs and rebels like Elphaba? Doesn’t it encourage us to question popular narrative of “heroes” and “villains” and to resist oppressors? Hasn’t Winnie Holzman said in at least one interview (I know she has - I’ve heard it) that the show’s main theme is Elphaba and Glinda “standing up to power”? And while it’s true that Glinda uses her status and popularity to succeed where Elphaba failed, would she ever have been inspired to do so without Elphaba’s overt rebellion in the first place?

To come away from this musical with an anti-rebellion, pro-conformity mindset seems to be completely missing the point. I wonder how many people with that mindset are the same ones who see Les Mis and think Victor Hugo’s message was “Revolutions always fail and society will never change”?

Maybe if I saw the show again, I would see aspects I’ve forgotten and agree more with these statements. But I doubt it. I haven’t heard any of these remarks too often, but the people who do make them seem to have seen a different version of the show than I did.

[streetkitten]

Regulation of the Black Woman

The original purpose of this topic was to express my annoyance with how people flock to “pro-black” comments made by non-black persons, but the same people who flock to those individuals have no real intention of supporting them unless they are speaking up for pro-blackness or are black themselves.

After going through the motions of trying to figure out why humans do this, I came across an age-old problem: black women.

Black women are a problem for society. If it’s not the skin color, it’s the hair, if its not the hair it’s the attitude, if it’s not the attitude it’s the body-types. No one is more scrutinized than the black woman. Period. Black women give and give in order to find acceptance in various communities only to be met with disdain when they want to voice opinions, thoughts and fears about themselves as black women.

Before I go any further, I need to explain a few things about the black community that is not always common knowledge to non-black individuals. These issues are not often addressed (outside the black community) nor taken seriously. So based on my original purpose for making this article, let me begin with the source: Interracial dating.

Interracial-dating is not always welcomed in the black community due to various OBVIOUS social issues. Even so, black men have more free-range to date outside of the black community than black women. More-so the same men who fawn over white, Asian and hispanic/Latino women will often times degrade a black woman for doing the same. This issue has become apparent to most in the anime community (Japanese animation), which has transferred into the kpop (South Korean music) community and beyond. We even see jokes about black women dating non-black women and see it promoted in non-black communities (Hollywood), whereas the black woman is rarely seen in interracial relationships.

Regulating “blackness”.  How did it stay strong well into 2017?

1.Black people constantly regulate each other’s “blackness” based on stereotypes- hiphop, having soul, chicken, slang, Beyonce vs, hood-movies, etc. such stereotypes were enforced through the decades by non-black individuals who thought they knew what it meant to be a black person.

2. Black people come up with things like “the black card” to determine if they are “black or not” based on stereotypes imposed on them by the white community, which we have reinforced & re-imaged for centuries.

3. A lot of Black people who are willingly to give up the “black card” to enjoy their hobbies with no regret, do so hoping other black people (and society in general) will stop making fun of them for it.

4.Even after black people accept their passions (by accepting I mean doing it publicly), they are then given “new names” like “weird black girl”,  “white Korean”. Black people are believed to operate under very basic guidelines of what it is to be black. Most guidelines consist of: hiphop, poor, overly sexual beings, dangerous, only support black products and black people, uneducated, etc.  Operating outside of those guidelines result in the above mentioned.

If you didn’t know white people appear to be given free-range to like and do essentially anything b/c they are involved in and have taken over a variety of industries. The black community is involved in other industries, but it is not often promoted or praised. When they are praised, it is solely because the individual a black. Meaning they are praised for doing something that goes against the “guidelines”.

What does this have to do with black women & kpop and some tweets?

1. As stated before, black men have more power to date outside the black community and receive less scrutiny (by both sexes). It has become a societal norm. Possibly related to men being allowed more independence than women? Maybe.

2. Black women dating outside the black community is met with severe scrutiny by men and sometimes by women (who uphold what most black men believe to be true.) If you notice AMBW FB groups and IG pages, it’s not purely out of fetish like many want to believe and enforce on others. These groups and pages are created due to stereotypes, prejudice & racism they receive from their peers and total strangers. This issue of scrutiny applies to all ethnicities of interracial dating, however the black community is criticized the most for doing so.

The Asian community is seen as odd & unattractive. Another ethnicity society says is undesirable. So often times, when you have two ethnicities deemed as undesired are with another the confusion is high. People who don’t know how to process this information, their immediate reaction is generally on the lines of “What? Do you see that? Why?”

So what does any of that have to do with black women and non-black hobbies? EVERYTHING!

1. Black women are known for being the loudest in the black community when it comes to black lives. They support other black women, black men, black babies, black causes, etc. But they rarely see the same support back.

2. Black women are heavily regulated & judged essentially by everyone- black men, white women, non-black men, gay men, etc. Black women  have to uphold standards place upon their heads by even other black women. But lets face it, those women are only mimicking what they’ve been taught by those already mentioned. 

3.You would think black women’s life-long efforts of supporting the black community would transcend as black women navigate away from black-stereotyped hobbies. Black women have “proven loyalty” to the black community time and time again. Often times, black men do not reciprocate that notion, and often times it is seen publicly by non-black communities. Which generally results in a further negative image on black women that easily reinforces the above mentioned stereotypes.

What more do you want from black women??

Their bodies apparently. Black women are one of the highest sexualized groups of individuals (Asian and Hispanic/Latino’s suffer as well, but not to the same degree) so it is no surprise when black women decide to do their own thing the black community gets upset. Protecting the queens? Maybe. Regardless, black women have found their independence and it seems everyone is out to stop it from happening.

The natual-hair trend is no longer a trend. It is becoming normalized in households. Skin-bleaching (colorism in the black community) has reportedly dropped in various countries over the last few years as women of color pursue their natural journey. Which means finding beauty in their natural-born looks and moving away from flat irons, relaxers and weave. Black-african hair is one of the most scrutinized on the planet. Where afro’s mean “black pride”, corn rows are “thugs” and “hiphop”, while dreads are “weed smokers” and “unkempt” beings along with short hair being a symbol for “tribal African” and black females having the inability to grow hair which is the sole-purpose of weave. Black-African hair can’t simply exist as hair like other ethnicities.

When beauty products come out that show black women as the target market, many believe black women are trying to be special and segregate themselves from other ethnicities. This is not the case. What many find offensive, are persons who are wholly responsible for the lack of diversity and representation, have the audacity to complain when a brand emerges with a target market that does not represent them.

Brands like Rihanna’s Fenty, is doing what many black women and other women of color have been asking for for decades- a proper line that represents the diversity of melanated skin. Now that women of color have this brand, beauty corporations well-known for marketing to white and fair-skinned persons are surprised by how popular the darker tones are. How many times must women of color ask “white brands” for representation before they seek out whole new brands for their needs? Coincidentally enough these other brands seem to be releasing darker color palettes as well. It is interesting to see this all play out. It further proves the message many have been preaching for decades: black women really don’t matter. Unless of course it goes against the grain of what society has bestowed- worthless.

So with all that in mind. I would like for people to remove stereotypes and prejudice from themselves and simply allow black women (women in general, but that’s not really the point here) to do and be as they please. Black women are not created by a set of rules. Black women are not here to fit the needs of others. Black women can be educated, love anime, visit a country not in Africa, dance to kpop and more. No one needs approval from anyone, especially black men, to do as they see fit with themselves.

*This post partly unfinished due to what seems to be an unending battle between races, sexes and the uphill battle of being properly heard and respected. If you feel major points are missing that are very crucial for painting a bigger picture feel free to add on to your own post. Eventually this post will be edited. Thank you*

[classicmclennon]

Thoughts

Okay so here’s my opinion on McLennon:

–Disclaimers: I haven’t done extensive research on this and I’m too lazy to cite sources. I’m just working off of things I remember seeing and reading. –

It makes sense to me that johnandpaul were a thing from the early days. I mean. John was this cool older kid. I know they shared their love for music early on, but that doesn’t change the fact that John was a “tough guy” and paul was a baby. What makes it especially obvious is the fact that John dropped all his cool friends in the band to hang out with paul and Paul’s friend George. George was a lot younger than John, and I feel like he never would have gotten anywhere with John if it hadn’t been for paul. It’s almost like John kept George around initially just because it made paul happy. Especially with that whole Japage 3 thing. John should’ve been too cool to go along with that. And the cringey name. Unless he was making excuses to spend time with paul, I don’t think he would’ve been so enthusiastic about babysitting Georgie. Also, The whole “banging around upstairs listening to records” quote is really suspicious. Like good job being friends but if you’re as into music as you say you are, you might want to sit still and listen to all aspects. Not jump around and bang into walls. John had other friends who were okay at music. He didn’t really need paul. In all honesty, Paul was kind of an embarrassment compared to John. Kind of trying too hard to be a cool guy and top marks in school. John put in the extra effort to teach paul how to break rules (skipping class). He had plenty of other people to do that with. So yeah. I think they were a thing from the start. At least there was a chemical attraction between them that they acknowledged early on and recognized that they were more than friends to each other. It’s possible at that point that it was only a lot of hinting. Maybe they never came out and said it. This would explain Paul’s jealously over Stu in hamburg. He felt like he and John had something and he was losing it (or so he thought). By the time the Beatles reached America though, they must have finally admitted what they felt for each other. What with all the Sappy love songs being sung to each other, it’s hard to deny that those words stemmed from that thing between them. And, i read, the original lyrics to “I want to hold your hand” were “i want to hold your thing”. A joke, possibly. But this happened again with “she loves you”, which used to be “I love you” according to John. And I don’t know. Paris, the spider hand thing, sharing clothes, arms around WAISTS (a romantic gesture) doesn’t seem like a thing just “friends” would do. I know my timeline is screwy and my thoughts are incoherent so I apologize. Anyway, I think that by this point, they were definitely lovers. We all know that John was unfaithful to his wife Cynthia many times and paul was in an open relationship with Jane Asher. Paul doesn’t seem like the guy who would deliberately hurt his female partner by cheating. He had to make sure she was okay with him sleeping around. And John, well, he did what he wanted. By the time yoko came around, I think they were still together. Lovers fight, right? John never had a problem with going behind Cynthia’s back, and had no problem going behind yokos. However, I think he must’ve been so fascinated with her, he was starting to neglect paul. And paul was still in it as much as he had been, which means that he wasn’t getting out of his affair what he had been putting into it. Hence, jealousy and anger towards yoko. And John was so enthralled with her he didn’t really notice or care that paul needed him. They were still together, but suddenly paul wasn’t the priority any more and it was the Stuart problem all over again. Around the hey jude/revolution filming in September of 1968, when they wore the same shirt in different videos taken on the same day ;))))) it must’ve been their last hurrah. In the hey jude video, John looks pretty annoyed. And he loved that song. Obviously there’s other conflicts there. They certainly had feelings for each other still, but paul didn’t like feeling second fiddle to yoko. I think that’s especially when tensions got high because the songwriters of the team weren’t getting along because of unresolved feelings and sexual tension that was too painful to deal with. They had to put it off because they had deadlines and contracts to uphold. At this point, I think John and paul must’ve still been together but they were falling apart. They were never together sexually anymore because they just ended up fighting about yoko and apple and other stuff. I also think paul started dating Linda initially because it bothered John. Maybe he thought he was making John jealous. And I don’t believe he officially broke it off with John until he got serious about Linda. Obviously, he fell in love with her after a while. But, as he said so himself, she wasn’t really his type and he was surprised that he fell for her. I think she definitely changed him for the better. And since they only dated for (two months?) his wedding to her seems like it was on a whim and he got lucky that she ended up being his life partner. Just the fact that he dated Jane for like eight years and was married to Linda for like thirty proves that paul was in it to win it. He wanted to be prioritized and took hit relationships seriously. I think? Anyway. John was mad that paul dumped him (even though it was his fault) and married yoko a week later. Probably to spite paul. Or make him jealous. And that’s when the band really fell apart. I think paul was sorry that he had to give up his partnership with John and tried to let him know (oh darling, etc), but he was also unwilling to give up Linda because that was his most realistic relationship (and universally accepted by the public) as opposed to being gay with his band mate. Besides, she brought out a new side in him that he hadn’t experienced before. I guess tensions got too high and the band broke up. And John and paul never reconciled because it was too messy for them to deal with their issues without hurting their wives. After the break up, there were a lot of hostile words between themselves. John resented Linda (for stealing paul?) and showed it in that letter he sent her using a lot of nasty words. He put everything into yoko and paul into Linda. They wanted to be apart so they would just forget everything. In imagine, you can see the evolution of his thoughts towards paul. He was angry (how do you sleep) but then he was apologetic (jealous guy). It’s like he realizes this whole mess was his fault with yoko. And he doesn’t really want to hurt paul because despite everything, they still loved each other. And when paul released dear friend, it’s kind of a cry for help. He loves Linda but he also loves John. But he can’t be with John because it’s frowned upon and he’s too loyal to his wife and stepdaughter. So he’s torn between his childhood love and his family. They both matter to him. With paul showing up at John’s house unexpected, it must’ve been his awkward attempt at reconciliation that never quite panned out because John was too terrified of confrontation and too frustrated by Paul’s inability to commit to a purpose. I guess they made up and saw each other again officially. The last picture ever taken of them, in 1974, shows them sitting together on a bed. Taken by may pang I think. So here’s John, no longer loyal to yoko, and paul, still loyal to Linda. With all the old feelings festering behind the surface and just the nature of johns character, I can’t help but think of how easy it would’ve been for him, emotionally disabled and fragile, to lean over and do something stupid, like kiss paul. Which would lead to another falling out because paul still isn’t ready to give up Linda or confront his affliction. Maybe that’s why John was so gruff on the phone when paul called him afterwards. He was embarrassed to have been so vulnerable. Did paul yell at him? But on the phone, paul was apologetic and did anything he could to keep him on (baking bread! Babies!). Like he wanted to talk to John but couldn’t remember how. And I think that by the time their relationship had mended enough and they had set up some boundaries, they wanted to work together again. Both experienced roadblocks that only the other could solve. Paul wanted to help his career and reignite the flame of his childhood. But John wanted the entire relationship back, more than professionally. That would explain the tape saying “for paul” with all those songs on it. It’s like a message saying “look. I miss you and all but I can’t be just friends with you. I need you all the way with me for the long term”. Obviously, the reunion never happened because some dick gunned him down. However, when paul finally got that tape, he must’ve understood and felt bad about everything that happened. Paul of all people should understand how fragile and messed up John was. Paul was much more insecure about his sexuality than John was, but John was in no place to convince him to stay. Also, when Linda died, I feel like paul must’ve thought something along the lines of “so this wasn’t long term”. Not that their relationship was a waste, but that he could’ve saved himself all that pain of her dying if he’d just stayed with John.

Idk the whole situation is weird. Like obviously they had their problems and those never went away. I know that this whole analysis is long and stupid and factually incorrect, but thanks for taking the time to read. If it doesn’t make any sense, it’s because I didn’t have time to edit. I thought this up while watching my cousins band perform. Holes in my story? Probably. There’s definitely a lot I left out that I meant to include but ran out of time and mental capacity for. If my crappy way of thinking offends anyone, sorry in hindsight, but I would like to know your thoughts on the matter!!

*** literally took the words right outta my mouth. And yes I do think some things in your analysis are probably incorrect but honestly your whole idea you put down is something I totally agree with. Also sorry for the late response I don’t check my inbox that much 💕

[mclennunf]

Thoughts

Okay so here’s my opinion on McLennon:

–Disclaimers: I haven’t done extensive research on this and I’m too lazy to cite sources. I’m just working off of things I remember seeing and reading. –

It makes sense to me that johnandpaul were a thing from the early days. I mean. John was this cool older kid. I know they shared their love for music early on, but that doesn’t change the fact that John was a “tough guy” and paul was a baby. What makes it especially obvious is the fact that John dropped all his cool friends in the band to hang out with paul and Paul’s friend George. George was a lot younger than John, and I feel like he never would have gotten anywhere with John if it hadn’t been for paul. It’s almost like John kept George around initially just because it made paul happy. Especially with that whole Japage 3 thing. John should’ve been too cool to go along with that. And the cringey name. Unless he was making excuses to spend time with paul, I don’t think he would’ve been so enthusiastic about babysitting Georgie. Also, The whole “banging around upstairs listening to records” quote is really suspicious. Like good job being friends but if you’re as into music as you say you are, you might want to sit still and listen to all aspects. Not jump around and bang into walls. John had other friends who were okay at music. He didn’t really need paul. In all honesty, Paul was kind of an embarrassment compared to John. Kind of trying too hard to be a cool guy and top marks in school. John put in the extra effort to teach paul how to break rules (skipping class). He had plenty of other people to do that with. So yeah. I think they were a thing from the start. At least there was a chemical attraction between them that they acknowledged early on and recognized that they were more than friends to each other. It’s possible at that point that it was only a lot of hinting. Maybe they never came out and said it. This would explain Paul’s jealously over Stu in hamburg. He felt like he and John had something and he was losing it (or so he thought). By the time the Beatles reached America though, they must have finally admitted what they felt for each other. What with all the Sappy love songs being sung to each other, it’s hard to deny that those words stemmed from that thing between them. And, i read, the original lyrics to “I want to hold your hand” were “i want to hold your thing”. A joke, possibly. But this happened again with “she loves you”, which used to be “I love you” according to John. And I don’t know. Paris, the spider hand thing, sharing clothes, arms around WAISTS (a romantic gesture) doesn’t seem like a thing just “friends” would do. I know my timeline is screwy and my thoughts are incoherent so I apologize. Anyway, I think that by this point, they were definitely lovers. We all know that John was unfaithful to his wife Cynthia many times and paul was in an open relationship with Jane Asher. Paul doesn’t seem like the guy who would deliberately hurt his female partner by cheating. He had to make sure she was okay with him sleeping around. And John, well, he did what he wanted. By the time yoko came around, I think they were still together. Lovers fight, right? John never had a problem with going behind Cynthia’s back, and had no problem going behind yokos. However, I think he must’ve been so fascinated with her, he was starting to neglect paul. And paul was still in it as much as he had been, which means that he wasn’t getting out of his affair what he had been putting into it. Hence, jealousy and anger towards yoko. And John was so enthralled with her he didn’t really notice or care that paul needed him. They were still together, but suddenly paul wasn’t the priority any more and it was the Stuart problem all over again. Around the hey jude/revolution filming in September of 1968, when they wore the same shirt in different videos taken on the same day ;))))) it must’ve been their last hurrah. In the hey jude video, John looks pretty annoyed. And he loved that song. Obviously there’s other conflicts there. They certainly had feelings for each other still, but paul didn’t like feeling second fiddle to yoko. I think that’s especially when tensions got high because the songwriters of the team weren’t getting along because of unresolved feelings and sexual tension that was too painful to deal with. They had to put it off because they had deadlines and contracts to uphold. At this point, I think John and paul must’ve still been together but they were falling apart. They were never together sexually anymore because they just ended up fighting about yoko and apple and other stuff. I also think paul started dating Linda initially because it bothered John. Maybe he thought he was making John jealous. And I don’t believe he officially broke it off with John until he got serious about Linda. Obviously, he fell in love with her after a while. But, as he said so himself, she wasn’t really his type and he was surprised that he fell for her. I think she definitely changed him for the better. And since they only dated for (two months?) his wedding to her seems like it was on a whim and he got lucky that she ended up being his life partner. Just the fact that he dated Jane for like eight years and was married to Linda for like thirty proves that paul was in it to win it. He wanted to be prioritized and took hit relationships seriously. I think? Anyway. John was mad that paul dumped him (even though it was his fault) and married yoko a week later. Probably to spite paul. Or make him jealous. And that’s when the band really fell apart. I think paul was sorry that he had to give up his partnership with John and tried to let him know (oh darling, etc), but he was also unwilling to give up Linda because that was his most realistic relationship (and universally accepted by the public) as opposed to being gay with his band mate. Besides, she brought out a new side in him that he hadn’t experienced before. I guess tensions got too high and the band broke up. And John and paul never reconciled because it was too messy for them to deal with their issues without hurting their wives. After the break up, there were a lot of hostile words between themselves. John resented Linda (for stealing paul?) and showed it in that letter he sent her using a lot of nasty words. He put everything into yoko and paul into Linda. They wanted to be apart so they would just forget everything. In imagine, you can see the evolution of his thoughts towards paul. He was angry (how do you sleep) but then he was apologetic (jealous guy). It’s like he realizes this whole mess was his fault with yoko. And he doesn’t really want to hurt paul because despite everything, they still loved each other. And when paul released dear friend, it’s kind of a cry for help. He loves Linda but he also loves John. But he can’t be with John because it’s frowned upon and he’s too loyal to his wife and stepdaughter. So he’s torn between his childhood love and his family. They both matter to him. With paul showing up at John’s house unexpected, it must’ve been his awkward attempt at reconciliation that never quite panned out because John was too terrified of confrontation and too frustrated by Paul’s inability to commit to a purpose. I guess they made up and saw each other again officially. The last picture ever taken of them, in 1974, shows them sitting together on a bed. Taken by may pang I think. So here’s John, no longer loyal to yoko, and paul, still loyal to Linda. With all the old feelings festering behind the surface and just the nature of johns character, I can’t help but think of how easy it would’ve been for him, emotionally disabled and fragile, to lean over and do something stupid, like kiss paul. Which would lead to another falling out because paul still isn’t ready to give up Linda or confront his affliction. Maybe that’s why John was so gruff on the phone when paul called him afterwards. He was embarrassed to have been so vulnerable. Did paul yell at him? But on the phone, paul was apologetic and did anything he could to keep him on (baking bread! Babies!). Like he wanted to talk to John but couldn’t remember how. And I think that by the time their relationship had mended enough and they had set up some boundaries, they wanted to work together again. Both experienced roadblocks that only the other could solve. Paul wanted to help his career and reignite the flame of his childhood. But John wanted the entire relationship back, more than professionally. That would explain the tape saying “for paul” with all those songs on it. It’s like a message saying “look. I miss you and all but I can’t be just friends with you. I need you all the way with me for the long term”. Obviously, the reunion never happened because some dick gunned him down. However, when paul finally got that tape, he must’ve understood and felt bad about everything that happened. Paul of all people should understand how fragile and messed up John was. Paul was much more insecure about his sexuality than John was, but John was in no place to convince him to stay. Also, when Linda died, I feel like paul must’ve thought something along the lines of “so this wasn’t long term”. Not that their relationship was a waste, but that he could’ve saved himself all that pain of her dying if he’d just stayed with John.

Idk the whole situation is weird. Like obviously they had their problems and those never went away. I know that this whole analysis is long and stupid and factually incorrect, but thanks for taking the time to read. If it doesn’t make any sense, it’s because I didn’t have time to edit. I thought this up while watching my cousins band perform. Holes in my story? Probably. There’s definitely a lot I left out that I meant to include but ran out of time and mental capacity for. If my crappy way of thinking offends anyone, sorry in hindsight, but I would like to know your thoughts on the matter!!

[wizards-need-not-apply]

WNNA Speculates: Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica Part 1

For those of you not quite in the know, someone leaked the Table of Contents for WoTC’s upcoming book: Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica. You can find an image of it here for your convenience. As a big Magic buff and a big D&D buff, I’ve been largely excited for this upcoming book! With the leaking of this ToC, we can glean a surprising amount of information and what will be and what will not be coming when D&D and MtG collide. I am not a designer for WoTC, and therefore my speculation is exactly that: speculation. However, it’s fun to think about this sort of thing on your own, and that’s why I’m doing it.

In addition to the ToC, I'll provide a less-than official summary of several of the things about Ravnica that make the plane special and unique among planes in Magic. This is split into parts, because I realized after I had started that it was getting too damn big. So expect the other parts to come online later.

Welcome to Ravnica:

The first section of the book is a 3-5 page summary of the plane of Ravnica. In effect, the City of Ravnica is a massive cityscape shaped by the influence of ten Guilds. Bound by a magical, living document known as the Guildpact, the Guilds operated to try and keep Ravnica up and running with minimal interruption of life. Then the Guildpact got broken, a new one was made that no one took seriously, and then the guilds had a minor scuffle trying to dominate one another. Eventually, a contest was made between the Guilds to try and reestablish some semblance of balance: The Dragon’s Maze. In the end, everyone’s favorite Planeswalker, Jace Beleren becomes the new new Guildpact, forming the Living Guildpact and has been ever since.

Life inside the city is a constant struggle, held by a tenebrous peace because of the Guildpact. There is quite a lot of open fighting on the streets, with every single one of the Guilds having some beef with every single other guild in some way, shape, or form. Depending on where you end up though, you may have a better fare of life than others. 

Chapter 1: Character Creation

Now we get into the meat and potatoes of the book. The ToC implies that every single person on Ravnica belongs to a guild, and that is part of creating a Ravnican character. It even goes so far as to suggest classes that the different guilds are associated with. As for how this fits in with the fluff this is... actually pretty much true, since the Guildless of Ravnica barely get any mention at all. Pretty much everyone is part of a guild and it’s not uncommon for members of different Guilds to have love interests with each other.

The Races section seems to be mostly lifted from the Races of Ravnica UA, back in August. There is one notable difference though: The Viashino are completely absent from this release. In their stead, we get Goblins and Minotaurs. Minotaurs have three different flavors to them, one from Waterborne Adventurers UA, one from Planeshift: Amonkhet, and one from the Centaurs and Minotaurs UA. Chances are they will go with the third adaptation, with some minor tweeks. Goblins have no less than five different flavors of them (six if you count hobgoblin), three of which came from Planeshift: Zendikar. This one has no real indication for it’s future, so it could mean literally anything. Goblin lovers, keep your eyes looking towards the future.

Subclasses: 

This is what people were probably most excited for with Guildmaster’s Guide. While we are not getting 10 different subclasses for every single guild like I hoped, we are seeing two strange cases for different reasons. Guildmaster’s Guide includes two new subclasses, taken from UA of the past: the Order Domain for Clerics and the Circle of Spores Druid.

The Circle of Spores Druid was introduced in the Three Subclasses UA. Many people thought that all three of the subclasses would get the official treatment, but it looks like the Golgari win out this one. The Circle of Spores is mostly concerned with throwing spores around to deal damage. Their signature ability, Halo of Spores, lets you deal an unconditional 3 damage using your reaction, and many of the Subclass’s features revolve around throwing bigger spores and making clouds of spores. It is a very interesting concept with plenty of fluff to mull over, but it is maligned by crunch. Three free damage of the most easily resisted damage type will begin to fall off really, really hard even by the “late early game”. It does thankfully scale, but I wish that it scaled a bit harder. Hopefully, they will have tweaked it for this book.

The Order Domain for Clerics, meanwhile, is solid crunchy goodness. It’s like you rolled a Paladin, a Purple Dragon Knight, and a Cleric together into one big powderkeg of THE LAW. While Paladins uphold the law (usually), Order Domain Clerics worship THE LAW and believe that people should be obedient to THE LAW whenever possible, especially if it pushes forth their ideals. All of their crunch pertains to THE LAW, whether it’s shouting at foes to make them pause, outfitting themselves with the biggest pieces of armor THE LAW will let them have, or letting a particular individual feel the full force of THE LAW beaten into them repeatedly. The weirdness comes from a bit of Crunch/Fluff incompatibility. The Order Domain can be interpreted as either a nod to the Azorius or the Boros. Fluffwise, the Domain leans towards the Azorius, but the crunch does not fit, because the Azorius notably does not have any Clerics to speak of. In fact, they rank among the more agnostic Guilds on Ravnica. The Boros employ many Clerics in their ranks, but that comes at odds with the Fluff, which sounds weird, considering the Boros is pretty much the police force of Ravnica. However, above THE LAW, the Boros worship Justice, and are willing to bend and ignore the rules if they are not just. 

[tragicbooks]

25 things to do during the inauguration if you're afraid of the Trump presidency.

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Inauguration Day is upon us. Soon, President Barack Obama will sail off into the sunset, and Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as our new commander in chief.

Yup. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

There's no stopping this. As of Jan. 20, Trump will be your president and mine. If you're feeling lost or hopeless, it's OK. A lot of people are feeling the same. It may be too late to undo the results of the election, but it's never too late to do whatever you can to stand up for what you believe in. What better time to turn your feelings into action than than during the inauguration itself?

Here are 25 things you can do during Trump's inauguration ceremony to make the world a slightly less scary place:

1. Make donations to organizations whose work will be more important than ever in the next four years.

Lots of important and life-saving organizations are going to need your help to survive a Trump administration, and they rely heavily on donations like yours.

If you have some cash to spare, consider a one-time or recurring donation to Planned Parenthood, (which is hosting a $20 donation drive  on Jan. 20), the NRDC, the International Refugee Assistance Project, or the Trevor Project for LGBTQ Youth. There's also the NAACP, the National Network of Abortion Funds, Black Girls Code, the ACLU, National Women's Law Center, NARAL, Girls Write Now, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Purple Purse. That's just to name a few.

2. Call or write to your representatives to let them know you want them to stand against attacks on civil rights.

I know, you've probably heard that suggestion about a thousand times. Well there's a reason: It works!

It's also a lot easier than you think. Look up who your representative is and find their publicly available contact information. Then you can call or write a message to them saying that, as their constituent, you hope they will stand by the issues that make a difference to you.

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images.

Don't be silent; the government is there for you.

3. Going to one of the protests the day after the inauguration? Have a sign-making party!

If you plan to attend the Women's March on Washington or any of the other marches being planned around the country on Jan. 21, why not spend the day making a totally badass sign?

Gather your friends, get some craft supplies, and go for it! Squeeze all that frustration out of a tube of glitter glue and let your feelings be known in the form of a pithy slogan. Or feel free to download and print one of Upworthy's Women's March signs.

Who says the First Amendment can't be fun as hell?

4. Find some local organizations that need your support.

Donating to nationwide groups is great but a lot of those organizations also have local chapters that need help. Find out which ones are in your area and learn more about how you can support them directly.

Which reminds me...

5. Volunteer!  

Money is one thing, and showing up to help is another. There's no shortage of places that need actual physical help and would be thrilled to have someone donate their valuable time. While the 45th president is being sworn into office on Friday (and also not planning to actually start work until Monday), why not use that time to give back?

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.

Volunteering will also show you how easy it is to make a difference, which is a feeling that you're going to need in spades for the next four years.

6. Support real, credible journalism. With money.

I know, I know. Paying for news? Crazy concept. The thing is, journalism is in big trouble right now. In Trump's first press conference, he openly yelled at CNN anchor Jim Acosta. That's just one example of the president-elect publicly denouncing the credibility of a free press. Trump's chief adviser is Stephen Bannon, the former head of Breitbart — a platform that regularly publishes messages of hate and intolerance.

Trump has also promised to "open up the libel laws" in order to sue organizations that criticize his actions as president.

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images.

Now more than ever is the time to start financially supporting real news like The New York Times or The Washington Post or donating to ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom.

As a pro tip: The Washington Post has lifted its paywall through Saturday for the inauguration.

Don't just get your news through Facebook. Now is the time to get out of your echo chamber and learn about the world through actual reporting and fact-based journalism.

7. Shut off inauguration coverage and watch the Love-A-Thon instead.

Tune in to Upworthy's Facebook page at 12:30 p.m. EST on Friday, Jan. 20, just as the inauguration is starting, to watch the Love-A-Thon, the first ever Facebook Live telethon. Its goal is to raise $500,000 for organizations like the ACLU and Planned Parenthood that stand up for marginalized communities.

That not enough for you? Did we mention that the Love-A-Thon will feature celebrities like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jane Fonda, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and more, joining together to stand up for love? It's gonna be great.

Be sure to RSVP to the event on Facebook to let all your friends know.

8. Use the #Inauguration hashtag to make your voice heard.

As usual during big events, Twitter and Facebook will be lit up with people sharing their thoughts using an official inauguration hashtag. You can jump in on the action and share your thoughts too.

Imagine if the majority of tweets were about standing up for the rights of minorities or fighting to stop climate change. That would send a pretty clear and powerful message.

9. Check out some of the protest hashtags as well.

As Trump is being sworn in, lots of people will be using Twitter to protest and send a message.

For example, the sexual assault advocacy group Force: Upsetting Rape Culture will be starting #WeWillNotBeSilent. Sexual assault survivors will be tweeting with that hashtag to stand up to the rape culture Trump represents. They'll also be tweeting with #InThisMan — to represent the ways in which Trump reminds them of their abusers.

10. Write "This is not normal" on a note and stick it somewhere you'll see it every day.

In a year or two you might forget how weird it is that a populist demagogue surrounded by hate-mongers is the president of the United States. That might lead to complacency, and complacency is dangerous.

So make a note that this is not OK. Stick it on your fridge or above your bed or on your coffee machine. For the next four years, it will serve as a reminder of what you're fighting for.

11. Reach out to someone who's also feeling anxious.

I know, right? Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images.

If you're feeling bad, chances are you know someone else who is also feeling that way too. Now is the time to reach out to them. We're all going to need each other's help and support.

You can even start planning to take real action together. Everything's easier when you have a friend.

12. Go visit a museum.

Museums are great, aren't they? You get to learn stuff, you get to see amazing artifacts and artwork, and you get to carry around an empty water bottle all day because, seriously, is there a recycling bin anywhere in the building?

On Inauguration Day, a lot of museums are offering free admission. New York City will be opening the doors to nearly a dozen museums, and many museums in the D.C. area will be hosting events.

Find out what's around you, and soak in some culture!

13. Join an online movement and start being active in it.

If you don't live in a major city or can't travel around easily, there are lots of online social justice movements you can be a part of. Pantsuit Nation got a ton of coverage during the election, but there a lot of other smaller groups on a range of issues from body positivity to immigration reform to workers' rights that you can join.

Being active and supportive in movements is essential if you want the causes you care about to stay in the conversation.

14. Give that whole meditation thing a try.

Meditation! You've heard of it. Your one vegan friend probably does it. You have an app for it that you haven't even opened yet. Why not give it a try today?

Meditation has been shown to help ease stress and promote relaxation, and at the very least, it's nice to just take a couple minutes to breathe and be peaceful.

Photo by Niklas Halle'N/AFP/Getty Images.

15. Take the #PeoplesOath with the ACLU.

While Trump takes the oath of office, the ACLU has offered a way for citizens to take an oath of their own.

Take the #PeoplesOath & help protect the rights guaranteed to all of us by the Constitution. https://t.co/ts8qDoiuBZ http://pic.twitter.com/HxeYEZxstn

— ACLU of Texas (@ACLUTx) January 18, 2017

The People's Oath is for people who want to make a promise — to themselves and the world — to uphold the Constitution and stand up for the rights of everyone, especially including those whom Trump has directly threatened.

16. Write about how you're feeling.

Chances are that your thoughts are complicated, conflicted, and not easy to talk about. One great way to work it all out is to sit down and write about it. If you're comfortable doing so, share your writing on social media so that friends and family know where you stand. It might help someone you know process their own feelings, and that's a powerful thing.

There are no rules, really. Write what you're thinking. It'll help you process it and make it clearer in your head — which will make it easier to figure out what you want to do next.

"Dear diary. What the f***." Photo by Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty images.

17. Watch a movie or read a book about someone overcoming incredible obstacles to remind yourself that together, we can do anything.

"Remember the Titans," "Selma," "Hidden Figures," "Spice World," "Harry Potter" — there's no shortage of on-theme stories about people overcoming insurmountable odds. That's what the next four years are going to feel like.

Based on true stories or not, they might just give you the juice you need to make it through the day.

18. Listen to something better than the inauguration speech. Like the "I Have a Dream" speech, for example.

Maybe you're stuck at work during the inauguration with a bunch of people who want to watch it on the office TV. Maybe you're a groundskeeper at the National Mall and there's no option to ignore what's happening right in front of you.

No biggie! Just pop in your headphones and listen to something that makes you feel better, like your favorite album or podcast. Or you can listen to Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Hearing it might give you a glimmer of hope in the goodness of people despite what they're up against.

19. Set a reminder for the 2018 midterm elections.

Mark this date on your calendar: Nov. 6, 2018.

Everyone has their eyes set on 2020, but if you want to, you can change the government in just two short years.

On Nov. 6, 2018, at least 33 Senate seats will be up for grabs. That's a huge deal if you don't like the way the government is operating, but you can't just sit around and hope for the best. You have to spend as much time as you can learning about your candidates and their policies, and then you have to get out and vote. Try to get as many people as you can to do the same.

Photo by Darren Hauck/Getty Images.

You have two years — make the most of it.

20. Donate to a food bank.

It's easy, it'll make you feel good, and it'll help some of the millions of hungry people in the United States. Plus, it'll get you out of the house and away from social media if you want to disconnect from inauguration coverage. There's really no good reason not to.

21. Form or join a book club.

Now is the perfect time to start reading again. I know, the inauguration is at noon Eastern time on a Friday, so it's probably not the best time to hold your first book club meeting, but it is the perfect time to send an email to your friends asking them to join you in starting a book club.

Read books that will motivate you, or at least entertain you, through the next four years.

22. Consider running for office yourself or get involved in a political campaign.

If there's one thing this election has taught us, it's that literally anyone — regardless of qualifications — can become president or end up in politics.

There's lots of great information available on how to run for office. The rules tend to differ by state, district, and position, so read up on it. If you're a woman, check out Emily's List. If you're a person of color, check out LaunchProgress. We need more diversity and representation in government, and there's no reason that can't start with you.

Even if you don't decide to run, you might know someone who would make the perfect candidate. You can be their campaign manager! Sounds fun, doesn't it?

They started somewhere. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

23. Learn about how to become part of the resistance to the Trump administration's policies.

The power is in your hands to resist the hateful and harmful administration Trump has promised to lead, and there's no better time to start learning how than as he's being sworn into office. The Resistance Manual, which was put out by several prominent Black Lives Matter activists and racial justice organization Stay Woke, is a good place to start.

Once you know what your role can be in a Trump world, help spread that message to others. And after you've done that...

24. Read up on conflict resolution and how to have difficult conversations.

The 2016 election revealed a sobering truth about the American people: We disagree fundamentally on a lot of key issues. Remember how terrified you were to have Thanksgiving dinner with your conservative cousins? Yeah, well, get used to that.

There's going to be a lot of hard conversations in our future. You're pretty much guaranteed to have a run-in with someone you disagree with. Instead of going on the defensive though, why not take some time to learn about conflict resolution and how to have productive conversations?

Yelling and screaming and fighting aren't really going to get us anywhere. Instead of watching the inauguration, pick up a book that will teach you how to engage people on a human level and work out your differences with civility.

25. Take care of yourself.

It's OK to feel what you're feeling. Existential dread isn't a sign of weakness nor does it mean you're a special snowflake. It means you're paying attention.

This election did something pretty remarkable: It made people actually grieve. That means that people are experiencing the actual process of mourning, and emotions are raw and vulnerable. Yes, even two months later.

If you care about the world, you're going to need to work hard, but you're also going to need to take care of yourself. Whatever your self-care involves — bubble baths, yoga, spa days, burying yourself in your work, laying on the floor and crying — double down on it, and don't feel bad about it.

Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images.

You need to put on your own oxygen mask before you help others, if you know what I mean.

Most importantly, try to remember that this isn't the end of the world; it's the beginning of a hard and worthy challenge.

It may seem impossible to get through the next four years, but never forget that there are always things that you can do yourself to take a stand for the things you believe in and to make the world a better place in ways big and small.

<br>

[socialviralnews]

25 things to do during the inauguration if you're afraid of the Trump presidency.

<br>

Inauguration Day is upon us. Soon, President Barack Obama will sail off into the sunset, and Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as our new commander in chief.

Yup. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

There's no stopping this. As of Jan. 20, Trump will be your president and mine. If you're feeling lost or hopeless, it's OK. A lot of people are feeling the same. It may be too late to undo the results of the election, but it's never too late to do whatever you can to stand up for what you believe in. What better time to turn your feelings into action than than during the inauguration itself?

Here are 25 things you can do during Trump's inauguration ceremony to make the world a slightly less scary place:

1. Make donations to organizations whose work will be more important than ever in the next four years.

Lots of important and life-saving organizations are going to need your help to survive a Trump administration, and they rely heavily on donations like yours.

If you have some cash to spare, consider a one-time or recurring donation to Planned Parenthood, (which is hosting a $20 donation drive  on Jan. 20), the NRDC, the International Refugee Assistance Project, or the Trevor Project for LGBTQ Youth. There's also the NAACP, the National Network of Abortion Funds, Black Girls Code, the ACLU, National Women's Law Center, NARAL, Girls Write Now, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Purple Purse. That's just to name a few.

2. Call or write to your representatives to let them know you want them to stand against attacks on civil rights.

I know, you've probably heard that suggestion about a thousand times. Well there's a reason: It works!

It's also a lot easier than you think. Look up who your representative is and find their publicly available contact information. Then you can call or write a message to them saying that, as their constituent, you hope they will stand by the issues that make a difference to you.

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images.

Don't be silent; the government is there for you.

3. Going to one of the protests the day after the inauguration? Have a sign-making party!

If you plan to attend the Women's March on Washington or any of the other marches being planned around the country on Jan. 21, why not spend the day making a totally badass sign?

Gather your friends, get some craft supplies, and go for it! Squeeze all that frustration out of a tube of glitter glue and let your feelings be known in the form of a pithy slogan. Or feel free to download and print one of Upworthy's Women's March signs.

Who says the First Amendment can't be fun as hell?

4. Find some local organizations that need your support.

Donating to nationwide groups is great but a lot of those organizations also have local chapters that need help. Find out which ones are in your area and learn more about how you can support them directly.

Which reminds me...

5. Volunteer!  

Money is one thing, and showing up to help is another. There's no shortage of places that need actual physical help and would be thrilled to have someone donate their valuable time. While the 45th president is being sworn into office on Friday (and also not planning to actually start work until Monday), why not use that time to give back?

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.

Volunteering will also show you how easy it is to make a difference, which is a feeling that you're going to need in spades for the next four years.

6. Support real, credible journalism. With money.

I know, I know. Paying for news? Crazy concept. The thing is, journalism is in big trouble right now. In Trump's first press conference, he openly yelled at CNN anchor Jim Acosta. That's just one example of the president-elect publicly denouncing the credibility of a free press. Trump's chief adviser is Stephen Bannon, the former head of Breitbart — a platform that regularly publishes messages of hate and intolerance.

Trump has also promised to "open up the libel laws" in order to sue organizations that criticize his actions as president.

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images.

Now more than ever is the time to start financially supporting real news like The New York Times or The Washington Post or donating to ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom.

As a pro tip: The Washington Post has lifted its paywall through Saturday for the inauguration.

Don't just get your news through Facebook. Now is the time to get out of your echo chamber and learn about the world through actual reporting and fact-based journalism.

7. Shut off inauguration coverage and watch the Love-A-Thon instead.

Tune in to Upworthy's Facebook page at 12:30 p.m. EST on Friday, Jan. 20, just as the inauguration is starting, to watch the Love-A-Thon, the first ever Facebook Live telethon. Its goal is to raise $500,000 for organizations like the ACLU and Planned Parenthood that stand up for marginalized communities.

That not enough for you? Did we mention that the Love-A-Thon will feature celebrities like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jane Fonda, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and more, joining together to stand up for love? It's gonna be great.

Be sure to RSVP to the event on Facebook to let all your friends know.

8. Use the #Inauguration hashtag to make your voice heard.

As usual during big events, Twitter and Facebook will be lit up with people sharing their thoughts using an official inauguration hashtag. You can jump in on the action and share your thoughts too.

Imagine if the majority of tweets were about standing up for the rights of minorities or fighting to stop climate change. That would send a pretty clear and powerful message.

9. Check out some of the protest hashtags as well.

As Trump is being sworn in, lots of people will be using Twitter to protest and send a message.

For example, the sexual assault advocacy group Force: Upsetting Rape Culture will be starting #WeWillNotBeSilent. Sexual assault survivors will be tweeting with that hashtag to stand up to the rape culture Trump represents. They'll also be tweeting with #InThisMan — to represent the ways in which Trump reminds them of their abusers.

10. Write "This is not normal" on a note and stick it somewhere you'll see it every day.

In a year or two you might forget how weird it is that a populist demagogue surrounded by hate-mongers is the president of the United States. That might lead to complacency, and complacency is dangerous.

So make a note that this is not OK. Stick it on your fridge or above your bed or on your coffee machine. For the next four years, it will serve as a reminder of what you're fighting for.

11. Reach out to someone who's also feeling anxious.

I know, right? Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images.

If you're feeling bad, chances are you know someone else who is also feeling that way too. Now is the time to reach out to them. We're all going to need each other's help and support.

You can even start planning to take real action together. Everything's easier when you have a friend.

12. Go visit a museum.

Museums are great, aren't they? You get to learn stuff, you get to see amazing artifacts and artwork, and you get to carry around an empty water bottle all day because, seriously, is there a recycling bin anywhere in the building?

On Inauguration Day, a lot of museums are offering free admission. New York City will be opening the doors to nearly a dozen museums, and many museums in the D.C. area will be hosting events.

Find out what's around you, and soak in some culture!

13. Join an online movement and start being active in it.

If you don't live in a major city or can't travel around easily, there are lots of online social justice movements you can be a part of. Pantsuit Nation got a ton of coverage during the election, but there a lot of other smaller groups on a range of issues from body positivity to immigration reform to workers' rights that you can join.

Being active and supportive in movements is essential if you want the causes you care about to stay in the conversation.

14. Give that whole meditation thing a try.

Meditation! You've heard of it. Your one vegan friend probably does it. You have an app for it that you haven't even opened yet. Why not give it a try today?

Meditation has been shown to help ease stress and promote relaxation, and at the very least, it's nice to just take a couple minutes to breathe and be peaceful.

Photo by Niklas Halle'N/AFP/Getty Images.

15. Take the #PeoplesOath with the ACLU.

While Trump takes the oath of office, the ACLU has offered a way for citizens to take an oath of their own.

Take the #PeoplesOath & help protect the rights guaranteed to all of us by the Constitution. https://t.co/ts8qDoiuBZ http://pic.twitter.com/HxeYEZxstn

— ACLU of Texas (@ACLUTx) January 18, 2017

The People's Oath is for people who want to make a promise — to themselves and the world — to uphold the Constitution and stand up for the rights of everyone, especially including those whom Trump has directly threatened.

16. Write about how you're feeling.

Chances are that your thoughts are complicated, conflicted, and not easy to talk about. One great way to work it all out is to sit down and write about it. If you're comfortable doing so, share your writing on social media so that friends and family know where you stand. It might help someone you know process their own feelings, and that's a powerful thing.

There are no rules, really. Write what you're thinking. It'll help you process it and make it clearer in your head — which will make it easier to figure out what you want to do next.

"Dear diary. What the f***." Photo by Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty images.

17. Watch a movie or read a book about someone overcoming incredible obstacles to remind yourself that together, we can do anything.

"Remember the Titans," "Selma," "Hidden Figures," "Spice World," "Harry Potter" — there's no shortage of on-theme stories about people overcoming insurmountable odds. That's what the next four years are going to feel like.

Based on true stories or not, they might just give you the juice you need to make it through the day.

18. Listen to something better than the inauguration speech. Like the "I Have a Dream" speech, for example.

Maybe you're stuck at work during the inauguration with a bunch of people who want to watch it on the office TV. Maybe you're a groundskeeper at the National Mall and there's no option to ignore what's happening right in front of you.

No biggie! Just pop in your headphones and listen to something that makes you feel better, like your favorite album or podcast. Or you can listen to Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Hearing it might give you a glimmer of hope in the goodness of people despite what they're up against.

19. Set a reminder for the 2018 midterm elections.

Mark this date on your calendar: Nov. 6, 2018.

Everyone has their eyes set on 2020, but if you want to, you can change the government in just two short years.

On Nov. 6, 2018, at least 33 Senate seats will be up for grabs. That's a huge deal if you don't like the way the government is operating, but you can't just sit around and hope for the best. You have to spend as much time as you can learning about your candidates and their policies, and then you have to get out and vote. Try to get as many people as you can to do the same.

Photo by Darren Hauck/Getty Images.

You have two years — make the most of it.

20. Donate to a food bank.

It's easy, it'll make you feel good, and it'll help some of the millions of hungry people in the United States. Plus, it'll get you out of the house and away from social media if you want to disconnect from inauguration coverage. There's really no good reason not to.

21. Form or join a book club.

Now is the perfect time to start reading again. I know, the inauguration is at noon Eastern time on a Friday, so it's probably not the best time to hold your first book club meeting, but it is the perfect time to send an email to your friends asking them to join you in starting a book club.

Read books that will motivate you, or at least entertain you, through the next four years.

22. Consider running for office yourself or get involved in a political campaign.

If there's one thing this election has taught us, it's that literally anyone — regardless of qualifications — can become president or end up in politics.

There's lots of great information available on how to run for office. The rules tend to differ by state, district, and position, so read up on it. If you're a woman, check out Emily's List. If you're a person of color, check out LaunchProgress. We need more diversity and representation in government, and there's no reason that can't start with you.

Even if you don't decide to run, you might know someone who would make the perfect candidate. You can be their campaign manager! Sounds fun, doesn't it?

They started somewhere. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

23. Learn about how to become part of the resistance to the Trump administration's policies.

The power is in your hands to resist the hateful and harmful administration Trump has promised to lead, and there's no better time to start learning how than as he's being sworn into office. The Resistance Manual, which was put out by several prominent Black Lives Matter activists and racial justice organization Stay Woke, is a good place to start.

Once you know what your role can be in a Trump world, help spread that message to others. And after you've done that...

24. Read up on conflict resolution and how to have difficult conversations.

The 2016 election revealed a sobering truth about the American people: We disagree fundamentally on a lot of key issues. Remember how terrified you were to have Thanksgiving dinner with your conservative cousins? Yeah, well, get used to that.

There's going to be a lot of hard conversations in our future. You're pretty much guaranteed to have a run-in with someone you disagree with. Instead of going on the defensive though, why not take some time to learn about conflict resolution and how to have productive conversations?

Yelling and screaming and fighting aren't really going to get us anywhere. Instead of watching the inauguration, pick up a book that will teach you how to engage people on a human level and work out your differences with civility.

25. Take care of yourself.

It's OK to feel what you're feeling. Existential dread isn't a sign of weakness nor does it mean you're a special snowflake. It means you're paying attention.

This election did something pretty remarkable: It made people actually grieve. That means that people are experiencing the actual process of mourning, and emotions are raw and vulnerable. Yes, even two months later.

If you care about the world, you're going to need to work hard, but you're also going to need to take care of yourself. Whatever your self-care involves — bubble baths, yoga, spa days, burying yourself in your work, laying on the floor and crying — double down on it, and don't feel bad about it.

Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images.

You need to put on your own oxygen mask before you help others, if you know what I mean.

Most importantly, try to remember that this isn't the end of the world; it's the beginning of a hard and worthy challenge.

It may seem impossible to get through the next four years, but never forget that there are always things that you can do yourself to take a stand for the things you believe in and to make the world a better place in ways big and small.

<br> from Upworthy http://ift.tt/2jRtcbL via cheap web hosting