#thank you ngozi for my life

[insectfem]

your rs with your bf sounds awesome but as a radfem I don't know how to overcome the shame of being bi/attracted to men/wanting a rs with a man. how did you?

hi thank you! now, honestly, i do still feel a sense of shame, but im in love, and im not gonna hide a huge part of my life over the fear of being called a Fake Feminist. the biggest thing for me to remember is that.... a lot of feminist 'icons' or whatever were/are het partnered. jk rowling has been married for 23 years and loves her husband, and she's very popular on radblr. andrea dworkin (despite being a polilez) called a man the love of her life. norma mccorvey (jane roe) was bisexual and raised 2 children with a man. chimamanda ngozi adichie has a husband and a daughter with him. a huge part of feminism is helping heterosexual women live life while partnering with men (abortion, divorce, separate bank accounts, etc), considering the fact hetero and hetpartnered women make up the vast majortiy of female humans on this planet. hetero and bi women have done so much for feminism while being partnered with men, it's literally stupid to try and ignore it

there is no shame in being in love. if you have a safe, warm, loving partner that you share views with, and treats you with the utmost respect, there's no reason to have shame. most women on here who shame hetpartnered women are lonely, hateful, and misogynistic. they're not familiar with human relationships, and that is THEIR problem😭 it isn't our responsibility as bisexual women to defend our male partners and explain why we love them and all that. if they don't understand that people who are different can love and respect each other, then they're pretty much a lost cause

[kacievvbbbb]

Who are your top 5 favorite ships ever (can be canon or non canon) from any media? Why love them?

I found your blog because of your One Piece posts (love them). Can I ask, is OP in your top 7 favorite media ever (until now)? What made those 7 media (can be anime/manga, books, movies, tv series, etc) special to you? Thanks if you want to answer.....🌻

Hello!

My top five ships currently, in no particular order, are;

Mishanks

Eruri

Erasermic

Akiangel

kuroken

I don't really have canon ship cause I don't really like to see full on romance in the media I consume 🫣. I actually only actively engage with the romance genre in fanfics or fandom. I like to watch people I ship interact and for them to have deep ties to each other but I have no interest in actually seeing them become canon. I mainly like ships because I think they have a really fun or interesting dynamic.

as for my favorite media across board thats a little tricky caus eI have a hard time conflating things like that and so I'm just gonna give my top 2 in the categories you listed.

Books:

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - It's just a great look into what it means to be middle-class Nigerian in a time of great country-wide and personal upheaval and it's such an interesting look at christianity in Nigeria and out a lot of things I didn't even realize I was feeling into words. It also has one of my favorite mentor characters of all time so yeah. I seriously recommend to anybody. It deals with a lot of heavy stuff so keep that in mind tho.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe - This was the book that got me into reading and so therefore will always hold a special place in my heart, because reading; books and fanfiction is such a huge part of my life it's hard to imagine who I'd be without it. I recommend to anyone whos interested in learning about one of the main cultures in Nigeria, Igbo its fascinating and tragic.

Anime/Manga:

Mob Psycho 100 - My feeling on Mob Psycho are best explained in this post. But long story short I love it so much.

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood - God what's not to love? This has some of the best written female characters I have seen in any piece of media period not to talk of shonen anime. It's just so good and I'd seriously recommend.

TV Show:

Reservation dogs - I love this show so much and would stake my life on it. As someone aspiring to be a filmmaker this is the kind of stuff I pray to make. It's soooo good and it's technically a comedy but it's not held back by genre. The cast is great the show is great I recommend watching

Breaking bad - Every single good thing you've ever heard about breaking bad is true. I truly understand why this show is regarded as one of the best of all time.

Movie:

Into the Spiderverse - It makes me want to believe in something bigger than myself. You do truly leave feeling like you could be spiderman and no superhero movie has ever made me feel that way. Also, I love animation and this is about as animation as it gets.

Everything Everywhere All At Once - Hands down the best multiverse movie to ever exist and I don't care. Amazing

Bonus: Your Name - My favorite anime film. The twist literally blew my mind. Its so warm and cozy and fun, and then shit really goes down.

As for music I generally will listen to anything as long as I like it but I gravitate to Folk music and my favorite artist is Hozier.

As for One Piece it's actually not one of my favorite animes. It's definitely my favorite of the big three and classic shonen but yeah. It has and will always have a really special place in my heart cause it was my introduction to anything anime or manga. But yeah I don't keep up with it in what anyone could call a normal way. I just have a little to many problems with how the female characters are treated to really consistently keep up with it. It's kinda better now with Bonny but yeah. I appreciate the story and as anyone on my blog can tell I love the characters. but yeah, ironically, not one of my favorites. Will forever be in my heart though.

[haitilegends]

ANDRÉ PIERRE ROMAIN | OBITUARY by Regine Romain

Sunday, January 28, 1940 – Sunday, June 9, 2024

By Régine Roumain (daughter)

André Pierre Romain was born on Sunday, January 28, 1940, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti to the late Fannie Privert and Turenne Romain. He has one surviving brother– Camile Romain. He is preceded in death by siblings: Renée, Marthe, Solanges, Emmanuel, Viviane and Junique.

André spent his youth in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and emigrated to the United States as a young man in his twenties. He was a brilliant artist who in his lifetime made groundbreaking Kompa jazz music with "Ibo Combo" in Haiti and abroad. He was a vocalist, guitarist, pianist, conga player, and dedicated band member. From his extensive 8 track tapes, albums, cassettes, CDs, and video collection, anyone who knew him would get to know his love of music and would invariably be introduced to new sounds of talented artists from around the world. André’s interests and talent in the arts also led him to learn photography and wood sculpting. André’s home became his art studio and his family was gifted with learning the importance of regular practice as an important tool in striving for excellence.

Affectionately known as “Papi,” André was a man in a constant state of evolution and growth. He clearly understood his human limitations and still strived toward greatness each day. He was kind, loving, intellectually curious, and simultaneously a prolific student and sage teacher. He was a self-taught man and positively influenced so many with his wisdom, ingenuity, and humor.

He was a man who smiled often and devotedly uplifted the tenets of his Christian faith as a Jehovah’s Witness. He believed above all things, that we should have "intense love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8). Brother Romain will be greatly missed by members of the Laurel and Bryans Road congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

André was a man greatly in love with his wife Gladys and remained devoted to her for 55 years until his untimely passing. Together they were entrepreneurs and supported themselves and their family through independent and creative means.

In the later years of his life, André became a strong advocate for healthy lifestyles and would promote daily walking and grounding as restorative healing to everyone that he met. At the time of his passing at 84 years of age, he was walking over 17,000 steps (7.7 miles) regularly. His commitment to well-being, and holistic healing through plant-based, whole foods was an inspiration to all who knew and loved him.

André is survived by his children - Dudchen Romain, Patrick Edouard, Iman Shabazz (née Ingrid Regis), Régine Romain, and Natacha Romain. He was blessed to have 10 grandchildren: Stephanie, Yekini, Rachide, Tanika, Tiffani, Julien, Prince Aziz, Rahman, Aishah and Ngozi. He was further blessed to have 3 great-grandchildren: Alexa, Anika and Yonathan. He also had a sweet connection with Maximus, his canine “grandpup.”

André is loved and will be greatly missed by members of the Naar, Pierre, Bruno, Dumorné, Critchlow, Anderson, Paul, Pratt, and Wedderburn families, his daughter-in-law Ketzia Edouard and lifetime friends Alix Pascal and Antoine Bruno.

The voice of André Romain is immortalized through his music, which is still played in Haiti today. He leaves his family a tremendous legacy of his goodwill, artistry and faith.

THANK YOU – **The Family of André Romain**

We wish to express genuine, heartfelt gratitude for the many kind and beautiful expressions of sympathy, support and love during our time of bereavement. We sincerely appreciate each act of kindness, thoughtfulness and generosity shared during this time.

***A special thank you to Milton Leblanc ML Leblanc and family of haitiprogres.com for publishing my father's obituary in Kreyòl. Mesi anpil to Vikings Merceron and Atibon Legba for the translation.***

__________

🎥 "Andre Romain _Fleur D'amour" on YouTube

🎥 Andre Romain_ Baisers pour Haiti" on YouTube

🎥 Ibo Combo - La vie musicien (Haïti)"

________

Dear Régine and Family,

On behalf of Haiti Legends, I extend our heartfelt condolences on the passing of André Pierre Romain. His contributions to Haitian music and the arts have profoundly impacted our culture. We hope you find solace in your cherished memories and the legacy he leaves behind. Our thoughts are with you during this difficult time. 🕊🙏🏾🕊

Sincerely,

Sandra Gabriel Lmt

#HaitiLegends

________

#AndréPierreRomain

#IboCombo

#HaitilegendsIcons

#COMPASDIRECT #HaitianMusic

#HaitianJazz

#Bolero

#HaitilegendsRestinPeace

[wishingforatypewriter]

25, 27, 45

Hi! Thanks for the ask!

25. What's your favorite decade?

My favorite decade that I've lived through is the 2010s. It was the most fun that I've had in my life so far. I got to travel, spend a lot of time with my friends, and take random classes just because they sounded interesting. Take me back!

In terms of decades I haven't lived through, I'm kind of iffy about romanticizing the past, but I just know I would have vibed with this disco scene in the 70s.

27. What's your favorite book? Or just one you've read a few times?

I usually say my favorite book is All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, but right now I'm leaning towards The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende and Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

45. Is there anyone you would die for?

Hmm...I've never really thought about it, but maybe my best friend.

Heart Asks!

[thelonecalzone]

At long last, here is the official reading list for There'll Be Some Changes Made, and a few recommendations from some of the readers! It's long, so hopefully there's a little something for everyone.

Thank you again to the wonderful readers, both for your encouragement, and for helping me compile this list <3

Recommendations (Named Throughout TBSCM)

The Pearl - John Steinbeck The House in the Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune The Great Alone - Kristin Hannah The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde Upon the Blue Couch - Laurie Kolp In the Dream House - Carmen Maria Machado The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith Paradise Rot - Jenny Hval Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters Fingersmith - Sarah Waters Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit - Jeanette Winterson Rubyfruit Jungle - Rita Mae Brown Under the Udala Trees - Chinelo Okparanta In at the Deep End - Kate Davies Some Girls Do - Jennifer Dugan This is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone  The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid Lavender House - Lev AC Rosen My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe - Fannie Flagg Straight Jacket Winter - Esther DuQuette and Gilles Poulin-Denis

Source Books (Referenced, but not named)

The Odyssey - Homer The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman The Glass Menagerie - Tennessee Williams Hamlet - William Shakespeare The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald Come Along with Me - Shirley Jackson (unfinished novel) We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson A Certain Hunger - Chelsea G. Summers The Poison Garden - AJ Banner

Honorable Mentions:

The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson Different Class - Joanne Harris The Lost Girls of Ireland (Book 1) - Susanne O’Leary The Girl Next Door - Jack Ketchum The Broken Girls - Simone St. James Dear Fahrenheit 451 - Annie Spence The Canterville Ghost - Oscar Wilde One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston Ash - Malinda Lo Everything Leads to You - Nina LaCour Camp Slaughter - Sergio Gomez The Silence of the Girls - Pat Barker The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka A Slow Fire Burning - Paula Hawkins The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory The Miseducation of Cameron Post - Emily M. Danforth Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

Banished (Under the Coffee Table) Books - DO NOT READ:

Ulysses - James Joyce Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara The Hunting Party - Lucy Foley My Sister’s Keeper - Jodi Picoult The Book Thief - Markus Zusak In the Darkroom - Susan Faludi Marley & Me - John Grogan

Recs from Fellow Readers

Things We Lost in the Fire - Marina Enriquez Her Body and Other Parties - Carmen Maria Machado The Well of Loneliness - Radclyffe Hall Stone Butch Blues - Leslie Feinberg Mouthful of Birds - Samantha Schweblin  The Safety of Objects - A.M. Homes Crush - Richard Siken The Taming of the Shrew - Shakespeare I’ve Got a Time Bomb - Sybil Lamb The Thing Around Your Neck - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Last Night at the Telegraph Club - Malinda Lo Sadie - Courtney Summers The Messy Lives of Book People - Phaedra Patrick The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires - Grady Hendrix The Final Girl Support Group - Grady Hendrix The Lying Lives of Adults - Elena Ferrante They Were Here Before Us - Eric LaRocca The Patience Stone - Atiq Rahimi Agamemnon - Aeschylus Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - Tom Stoppard Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz's poetry - (start with "You Foolish Men") The poems of Sappho - (“Anactoria”, the book of fragments, and “Goatherd” specifically)

[desnas]

△ Taro, if you could bring back your moms and tell them one thing each, what would it be?

from this ask prompt!

invasiveness: 7/10. taro really is an open book about most things, though this is just... difficult for them to talk about!

The commander's bright eyes are on you for a moment before they fall to the floor immediately. "Oh... ah, well..." A smile plays on their lips, but it melts away, replaced by a quiet kind of melancholy.

The grief has never been easy, but there is a difference, Taro thinks, to offering memorial and respects, to cling to the fond and beautiful memories before their two mothers were taken from them. It is less... complex and more instinctive.

He doesn't have to linger on all the why's and the what's. He wants them back in his life, and he knows that like he knows the Mwangi Expanse-- truly and deeply. But... this... "One thing each," He parrots your words, hunching over in thought. "What would I tell them?"

Well, it's clear by Taro's deflating disposition that traversing into this territory of thought is... especially painful. "So many things. You expect me to decide? Tch." A laugh, to break their own tension. "Very well, then."

They resolve, their face softening with joy. Perhaps it would be wise start with their Bonuwat mother. "My human mama-- her name is Ngozi. She was a very serious woman." They giggle. "I suppose I would tell her thank you-- for balancing a life of adventure and excitement with ... stability."

Taro straightens a bit. She seems to have found the words she was looking for. "My upbringing was all the right kinds of chaotic, but... she always knew when it was too much for me." The commander nods at you, as if to provide affirmation to herself. "She always knew how to ground me. Taught me patience and self-control. I have carried it with me, the entire way. When the world around me becomes too loud, I think of her words. Her presence... calming me."

Blinking slowly, the half-elf looks up, now speaking to someone else-- someone incorporeal and far away. "Thank you for being my rock in such a wild world."

There's a long pause, Taro's posture tightening as they lower their head. "Imana." They say it with finality, and though the ease they once possessed has dimmed, there is still a fondness in their words. "I want to forgive her someday, for not telling mama and I.... about..."

A sharp inhale.

"About the curse. I wish I could ask her why she'd lied to us, but a part of me already knows. I know because I am more like her than I am my mama, in many ways." They swallow dryly, smile fading. "It's still hard to forgive her, but never for a moment have I stopped fiercely loving my elven mother. Such a vibrant woman full of life. That's all she wanted, at the end of the day-- to make the world a bit more colorful and beautiful."

Taro chews at their lip, tears springing to their eyes. "I miss them both ardently. I hope they are proud of me."

[bubblesandgutz]

Hey Brian! Massive fan of Botch, Russian Circles and Sumac!

I was just curious to find out what are some of your favourite books?

Hope to see Russian Circles and Sumac over the pond again in Scotland!

Cheers!

Oh hey! Thanks!

I love Scotland. My genealogy-obsessed aunt insists our family is descended from Robert the Bruce. Who knows if that's true, but got Bruce as my middle name.

Favorite books? Oh man, this is gonna make me look so uncool.

For pure entertainment, I'd have to go with Stephen King's The Stand. I've read it four or five times over the course of my life. It's just a great epic good-vs-evil story, with some good social commentary sprinkled throughout.

As a teenager who discovered the joys of "classics" in the '90s, I have a soft spot for a lot of the 20th century writers that folks on Twitter love to dunk on these days. But fuck it... Kerouac's Duluoz Legend series made me realize that sometimes the way you write about something can be more interesting than what you're actually writing about.

And yeah, Hemingway was definitely saddled with some unfortunate prejudices, but The Sun Also Rises struck upon a very specific kind of melancholy that I haven't found anywhere else. I was talking about it with a couple of friends and there seemed to be a clear division between people who loved the book and people who were unimpressed: all the people who loved it were folks in touring bands. I think there's just something about that experience of parting ways with someone after being in close companionship in unfamiliar territories for a brief period of time that Hemingway captured perfectly.

As long as we're talking about melancholy and classic authors that folks love to hate on: J.D. Salinger's Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters completely floored me. You can skip the Seymour novella that comes bundled with it. But holy shit, I don't understand why Catcher in the Rye gets all the attention when Raise High is right there next to it on the book shelf.

And fuck it. I loved Infinite Jest and I think about passages from the book all the time. I am a walking stereotype of a Gen X male. Sorry.

More recently? I love Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I love Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle series (granted, part six was a bit of a slog). I love Jorge Luis Borges' Collected Fictions. Patti Smith's Just Kids and M Train. Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five. Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Every once in a blue moon I'll decide to tackle something "difficult" and the experience is always rewarding: Tolstoy's War & Peace (not actually difficult, just long), James Joyce's Ulysses (get a reader's guide and treat it like a puzzle), Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow (the cashier who sold it to me gave the best advice: at some point you'll have no idea what is goin on... just accept that you're lost and enjoy the ride). While these books are a struggle, they definitely imprint something on the brain. They stay with you.

In the last couple of years, I've really gotten into Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's work, particularly Half of a Yellow Sun, though Americanah and Notes on Grief also bowled me over too. Finally got around to reading Roberto Bolaño's The Savage Detectives and loved it... currently have 2666 in the queue. And I've really been enjoying the stuff put out by a small publisher from the UK called Broodcomb Press that all seems to be in a creepy rustic folk-horror tradition, and I suspect that it's really just one writer working under a series of aliases.

So there ya have it. Kinda basic; nothing crazy. But the classics are classics for a reason, I guess.

[shallow-wordsalad]

"Welcome Aboard" (Modern Fantasy/Sci-Fi short story, Superhero setting)

Ten years at Harvard, slaving over myriad databases and pages on the physical sciences - burning my brain down to the stem to answer questions and ask a few myself. Thesis paper after thesis paper, and finally I get my Masters in Applied Physics. It was hard work, but I'd never been so satisfied as when I was certified with a doctorate years later - having a real, actual "Dr." before my name gave me such a rush of satisfaction I was worried it'd go straight to my head. I was only 35, and I'd realized a dream I had just twenty years ago. I'd found a job with a government organization - DARVO, the Department of Allocation and Regulation of Vigilante Operations - something having to do with crimefighting on a global scale, and I was accepted after my first interview. My resume spoke for itself, I suppose.

I sat down at a table much like the ones I had back in Harvard, a long and wooden countertop dotted with seats to take along its unbroken surface. It was polished and shined so well I could see my own reflection, and I was left to enjoy the room's accommodations for a few stark minutes. Sleek décor and fresh paint on the walls spoke of a modern government office that took great care in appearing orderly. The single, boldly-placed logo they had above the podium at the sloped room's lowest end was somewhat humble, since I'd almost expected to see it printed on every door and floor tile. Around my seat were several encyclopedias - on physics, medical sciences, thermodynamics, astronomy, theology, history, the occult…As I wait in the well-lit room, I worry - am I expected to read all of these? I'm a physicist - I spent my entire adult life up until now becoming a physicist, what kind of untouchable polyglots do they hire here?

Finally, a man with a tired smile on his face enters the room, wrinkles across his brow and mouth betraying an age he tries to conceal with class and professionalism. He's older than me by about ten or twenty years, hair greying at his sides in a salt-and-pepper look he's combed and cut to maintain that air of someone absolutely in control of himself and all he surveys. His glasses sit on his nose and hang around the back of his neck by a gold-colored chain, and his suit fits his frame nicely - the marks of a man well off, but not too proud. Except that watch, which looks like it cost as much as my car.

"Good morning," He speaks to the room empty but for me and him, his voice echoing rasp before he clears his throat. "Nice to have you here. I'm Hirohito Sato, the director of this division of DARVO. Dr. Ngozi Musa, correct?"

"Yes, sir," I nod, happy to be recognized by name. "Great. I read your paper on the effects gravity has on time - a fascinating hypothesis you formed, and one I'd love to explore further. We're excited to have you here." "Thank you," I nod again, a practiced habit, but I look to the books all around my seat and on the table. "Can I ask what these other books are for?" "Oh, absolutely. Let's get right to it," He clears his throat again.

"So, Dr. Musa. Let's start off with a question - can you name a metahuman?" "A…metahuman," I'd hummed. I've heard of these - basically mutants, or super-people. The stuff you see in comic books and movies. More and more of them had been appearing since the 70s, and in the modern age it's almost impossible to live even a humble life without knowing at least one, and seeing a great deal more everywhere you go. Supposedly, about 1 in 20 people are now being born with some strange quirk of biology or talent, and it's become its own field of research, evolving rapidly with advances in technology. So, outside my field of expertise as much as it was, I spoke the name of the first one I knew of - the 'super-man' who'd turned the tide of second World War in favor of the Allied forces. A name everyone knew as much as they knew Albert Einstein, Bruce Wayne, or Tom Hanks. "Pinnacle Man. Let's start there."

"Let's…Not," He hesitates to say as much, grimacing in a way he's trying to hide. "Try something more local." "…A-alright," I think again, this time to people I knew. I'd met a few metahumans in my life - at this point who hadn't - so the name of one of my classmates in my senior year rises in my mind. "I knew a man named Benjamin Carlyle. He could grow or shrink his fingernails." "Ah, perfect. Please open that book on physics. Let's examine the part about conservation of mass." I do, of course. The book cracks open, its heavy cover thumping against the hard wooden desk. Crisp and fresh pages make their first creases and crinkles as I find the index and the page needed. "Alright. What about it?"

"Tear those pages out." "What?" "Rip them out. In fact, grab that medical textbook, too, and rip out everything having to do with the production of keratin."

I presume this is a joke, so a laugh escapes me and disappears in the uneasy quiet left behind in the air. Dr. Sato doesn't so much as crack a smile, telling me he's utterly, entirely, grimly serious about this strange request. With no other choice, I do it. The tearing sound sends painful pangs through my heart - these books were pristine and more in-depth than the thick encyclopedias I used at school.

"…Why did we do that, Dr. Sato?" The still air in the room makes me ask it just to break the pall of silence that'd settled in so strongly.

"We know about Mr. Carlyle. His ability simply creates matter at the ends of his fingernails, seemingly from nothing. It comes at no cost to his body or his metabolism, and the extensions can be clipped away safely without any lasting damage. If he were so inclined, ol' Ben could burn fingernail clippings to power a generator and provide endless energy." "Wh--but, that doesn't make any sense-" "Name another please," He doesn't humor my objection, moving right along - parrying a point he's seen and heard many times before. I try to think, my brain still wracked with questions. "What about the hero of Hong Kong? Zu…Sh--Zhu Que, that's it!"

"Perfect. Now, let's talk about her. What superhuman abilities does she have?" I struggle to recall, exactly, so direct is this questioning. "Uhm…Flight-" "Rip out everything about propulsion in atmosphere." "In-indestructibility…" "Bone density, material composition, and distribution of force." "She could…make fire…?" "Just rip up that entire thermodynamics book." I could feel my face falling. The pages are ripped out of books, and gently set aside in the vain hope I could perhaps put them back in after this madness had passed.

Dr. Sato kept asking for names, and I kept ripping pages out of brand-new texts. It started as nervousness, and I'd ask if he was sure. I'd give examples and possible theories, and he'd state empirical, researched evidence that defied those theories. It soon became anger, and with building rage I began ripping the pages to shreds. This was ridiculous, how could so many people exist that simply defy the basic laws of physics?! Why do we even have physical laws if they were just going to be torn up and thrown away by 5% of the population of the planet?! I begged him, surely there must be some examples of metahuman abilities that worked within our understanding of the universe, at least one! But he'd just tell me to name another metahuman, and more words - days' worth of experimentation - were ripped from the spines of extensively researched data. I felt despondence setting in as I wondered if the degree on my wall would be next, since all peer-reviewed science appeared to be worth less than the paper they were printed on. Then it became a dull acceptance. 'Oh, right, Velocitazer runs faster than the speed of sound, but never experiences friction,' I think, and another page is torn.

When all was said and done, I was sitting before a mass of scientific confetti. Decades, centuries of human achievement and knowledge reduced to the pitiful shreds of academia, better used for papier-mâché. Is this what the world has come to in light of superhumans proliferating across nations - this senseless dirth of intellectualism, this rejection of the sciences? Was a world of metahumans and superheroes this devoid of the basic functions of reality?

"So that's where we're starting," Dr. Sato's voice lifts my head out of my hands and untwines my fingers from my hair. "From square one. But before you get too disheartened, remember that your knowledge of physical laws - as we once understood them - will be key to researching this new evidence and redefining the field of physics. Your name will be among the pioneers who came to understand the world we live in, and the first to put logic to these illogical conundrums. This is one of DARVO's most valuable duties, Dr. Musa. Welcome aboard."

"Dr. Sato!" I called, the last bit of my defiance of this new world screaming to say something, hands slamming on the table. "Has it always been this way?! H-how long have you been studying this?! How long have you worked here?!"

"…" He does not have to ponder his answer, but simply gazes to a wall with the distant look of someone who still vividly remembers those days. "About three years." "What?! When did…how old were you when you started?!" "…I started when I was your age," He speaks like an old man talking to his grandson, and walks to the door he'd used to come in. "See you at work on Monday."

[galacticrambler]

I used to follow somebody on Twitter (I don’t know if they left Twitter or if I unfollowed them at some point?) who was a big fan of Big Barda. So, when I saw that this book was available for me to check out, I decided to dive in head first.

If you haven’t been able to tell, I was never a huge DC Comics reader. Sure, I read a handful of the Batman graphic novels around the time when The Dark Knight was coming and I was in college, but otherwise, I’m kind of a blank slate.

Barda is a fun, young adult graphic novel from Ngozi Ukazu. It features The Female Futures where our very own Big Barda is a member. They’re training under Granny Goodness to serve Darkseid on Apokolips.

There’s only one thing that they didn’t speak about in Apokolips, and that is ‘love’.

After Barda and Granny have a falling out over Barda becoming “too soft”, Granny sends in Barda to try and break the unbreakable Scott Free otherwise known as Mister Miracle.

I thought the artwork in the book was a lot of fun. I liked the simplicity of the character designs. Still, each character was unique in their design and easy to recognize

And, what I’ve realized is that Big Barda is cool. I need more Big Barda in my life.

Thank you Netgalley and DC Comics for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

[bi-buckrights]

14, 20 and 24 🖤🖤🖤

Hey bestie 💕 thanks for the ask 🥰

14. Favorite book you read this year?

Omg I haven't decided yet 😭 looking at my goodreads like "wait I only read that this year??" I think I'm going to have to go with Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, or This is How You Lose the Time War

20. What's something you learned this year?

Not to be too mushy but I learned that I'm braver than I thought and I'm very proud of myself for not letting fear of the unknown stop me from these big changes in my life the past few months 🥺

24. Did you keep any New Year's Resolutions?

I don't make specific New Year's Resolutions, but I guess I had a goal to be able to do pull-ups and I can do like 10 at a time now 😃

End of Year Asks

[gmaybe666]

2, 3, 4, 11, + 21 :)

THANK UUUUU :,3333

2. megamind, hunger games trilogy and coraline all very good films in their own right

3. not gonna bore you with WHY they mean so much to me but ‘beach-life-in death’ by car seat headrest, ‘pieces of gold’ by Ziggy katz and ‘I want you to love me’ by fiona apple

4. I’d love to learn more about drawn animation, how to make comic book art and how to easily make risograph art :-) cos it’s intimidating

11. OOH this is so hard because my memory is rotted and I stopped reading books properly about 4 years ago, however some books that i remember from my tweens: ‘purple hibiscus’ by chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, ‘my name is mina’ by David almond and not to be cringe but the ‘hunger games’ trilogy by Suzanne Collins is so good. I’m listening to it as audiobook right now

21. okay!!!!!!!!! well my number one passion is drawing/ making fanart, tv shows like stranger things and succession obvs and basic ass answer but I love feeling excited about life, That Feeling is kinda nonexistent at the moment 💀 but I love feeling curious and interested about new things and places

[darksideofthemuse]

20 - 17 - 12 - 2?

20. what are things you look for in a book?

I guess I’m looking for a book to hold my attention, that’s really the main criteria. I read a lot and while I prefer some genres over others, I try to give any book a chance if it comes recommended by people whose opinions I trust.

17. top 5 children’s books?

I don’t know much about children’s books. I read them when I was a child but I don’t remember a lot of them, so I don’t think I can come up with a top 5, but my favourite childhood author was Astrid Lindgren. Her books were funny, playful, and had the best food descriptions. Pippi Longstocking also meant a lot to me because my hair is also ginger and I got bullied for it in school, so having someone like Pippi to read about and seeing how not-bothered she was about her strange hair colour always made me feel better.

12. did you enjoy any compulsory high school readings?

Yes, I enjoyed most of them. It’s been a while since I was at school, so I can’t remember everything we had to read, but I remember really enjoying Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky, The Stranger by Camus and Balta Drobule by Antanas Skema (it’s a Lithuanian book, I don’t think it’s translated into any other languages).

2. top 5 books of all time?

Left the hard one to the end. These are in no particular order, but Goldfinch is probably my favourite out of the five.

Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (I actually read this book because of Tumblr. I saw a quote from the last chapter of Goldfinch posted on Tumblr and I loved it so much that I felt I had to find this book and read it immediately. So I did and then I read it many more times. I even went to see the painting of the Goldfinch when it was briefly brought to Edinburgh.)

How to do nothing by Jenny Odell (This really made me re-think how I spend my time, what I pay my attention to. I want to re-read this soon because I feel like I’ve fallen back into my old patterns again. This book also had beautiful descriptions of various artists and their work and I like reading about that.)

Seasonal Quarter by Ali Smith (This is slightly cheating because these are four books, but they’re part of the same series and don’t really make sense separately. I loved everything about them – slight surrealism of them, how timely they were, that art and artists play a big role in them, the writing style is fantastic and it all comes together in such a beautiful way at the end.)

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson (Another book that I can thank Tumblr for. I was reading a Klaine fanfic, where Kurt was a university student and Blaine was his lecturer and they talked about another Jeanette Winterson book in such a way that it made me want to read it. So I went straight to my university library and checked out all Jeanette Winterson books they had (I think they had three or so). I liked all of them, but this one was my favourite and I’ve re-read it a few times since.)

I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O’Farrell (Just what the title says. Maggie O’Farrell had quite a life and came close to death quite a lot and then she wrote about it. This was hard to choose because almost everything I’ve read by her is stunning and I love how she writes so much, but I think this book stood out to me the most. By the time I was reading how she almost drowned for the third time, I remember thinking, why would you ever go into a big body of water ever again??)

Honourable mentions – almost anything Margaret Atwood has written, her MaddAddam trilogy in particular, anything by Sally Rooney, any book by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Know My Name by Chanel Miller and To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara.

[trans-mando]

also DEX AND NURSEY AND CHOWDER GROUP HUG

[plantboyparrish]

when,,, is late

[somethingnurseywoulddo]

started crying in art class over this...

[deepend-swimmer]

seriously this whole final episodes is so bittersweet, I can never truly put in words how much I adore check please. First year of high school was absolutely hell, I used to be so depressed I couldn't function, then my friend introduced me to the comic and I fell in love immediately, my life then became only waiting for the next update and all the joy it brought me made it possible to get out of that situation. I literally love all these characters and this story so much it hurts