#the intro really did it for me

[ottawacharge]

Jessie Fleming interview: Adapting to the Thorns, her Chelsea exit and pushing for environmental change

Jessy Parker Humphreys, Wednesday, July 24th

Ask Jessie Fleming what topics interest her about the environment and she will start reeling them off.

“Urban planning, the power of funghi, regenerative agriculture, Dan Barber…”

Barber is an American chef who advocates for farm-to-table cooking, in case you are not as looped into the environmental ethics of food as Fleming.

“I started taking courses on environmental science for fun at university and I got down this rabbit hole,” she explains. Fleming ended up minoring in the subject at university in Los Angeles and has been committed to raising awareness about issues with our environment ever since.

This latest pledge comes off the back of her choice to donate the carbon cost of her long-haul flight to the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand as part of a 47-player initiative through Common Goal, a charitable movement launched by Spain international Juan Mata six years ago.

Fleming left Women’s Super League (WSL) champions Chelsea in January, going from a league in England where players travel to games by train or coach to one where they can fly thousands of miles across the country every weekend, such is the geographical spread of the 14 teams.

“It’s something I think about a lot,” she says. “As players, we have a responsibility to draw attention to those problems and suggest ways leagues and governing bodies can adjust the format of tournaments or the schedule of leagues to help reduce those footprints.

“We’re all hypocritical in a way, so we need to at least do something.”

There was a feeling around Fleming’s mid-season departure from Chelsea that she had never quite lived up to her potential. Arriving in summer 2020 fresh out of the U.S. college game at UCLA, her stock was very high, having originally made her senior debut for Canada aged only 15.

Yet she never nailed down a starting spot, despite featuring 111 times across four seasons and being trusted by manager Emma Hayes to start crucial matches such as the 2022-23 Champions League semi-final second leg against Barcelona at Camp Nou.

“I loved my time at Chelsea, loved the league, loved England. I just wanted to be in a place where I was consistently playing in the same position and playing more consistent minutes.”

Fleming has certainly got that with Portland, where she has started 13 of their 15 matches so far this season, but the return to the U.S. has been an adjustment. Portland had their worst start to an NWSL season, failing to win any of their first four games and consequently sacking manager Mike Norris. A six-game winning run followed, but with only one victory in the past four league fixtures, it is clear they are still finding their feet as a team.

Those ups and downs are a unique experience for Fleming, who lost only one more league match in three-and-a-half years with Chelsea than she has in six months in Portland.

“It’s definitely a different challenge,” she says. “Physically, it’s more intense (in the NWSL). More transitional, lots of athletic players. But you’re starting to see the effect of European coaches in the league. There are more teams trying to play possession-based, thoughtful football. I’ve never seen anything like how competitive the NWSL is, especially when you look at the teams at the top of the table who had poor seasons last year. That’s not something you would ever see in the WSL.

“The start of the season was especially difficult for us, because we had so many new players. We spent so little time together before the first game — that was a challenge I’d never experienced before. I think we’re feeling the effects of the ebb and flow of the season right now. You have to be so tuned-in mentally for every game, every week. If you do go through a low spell, you have to find ways to turn it around quickly, because getting a few wins will push you up the table.”

The NWSL season is about to be paused for the Olympics, which begin in France at the end of this month, where Fleming will be hoping to help Canada’s women retain the title they won at the previous Games in Japan three years ago. Paris 2024 will be her third Olympics and Canada have won medals at her previous two, taking bronze in Brazil in 2016, but a disappointing World Cup campaign, where they exited at the group stage after one win and two goals (one of them an own-goal) in the three games, has put a dampener on expectations.

“I struggled with penalties a bit at university, so it’s definitely not something I’ve always felt able to do,” she says. “I feel like for that coolness, I have to turn to my team-mates and our environment. I feel very supported and backed up with the national team and that helped me massively during that tournament.”

This time out, she’ll be in a new role as captain. Anyone who has watched Fleming play will know she is not the most vocal on the pitch, but she feels she can bring something different to the role.

“I’m definitely on the quieter side, but I’m learning there are so many different ways to lead,” Fleming says. “I don’t love speaking in front of a loud group of people and I feel like I thrive a bit more when I’m one-on-one with players. I would say I’m a bit of a football brain. I love watching the game, I love talking about tactics, and I’m always interested in how to improve, both as an individual and as a team.

“For me, it’s about letting my passion for football shine through and trying to bring others with me in that.”

[egophiliac]

A-anime?

you know, sometimes I forget that Twst is actually an isekai that starts with the protagonist getting run over by an inexplicable horse-drawn carriage. and every time I'm reminded is a delight because that's AMAZING.

also. look. okay. there's a lot of very fun stuff in the trailer but I am obsessed with that Crowley surprised pikachu face. me when I spend all my keys and gems literally hours before they announce overblot SSRs and drop the anime trailer:

[aquanutart]

[rosieofcorona]

thinking once again about how abby was (is) so deeply hated as a TLOU character even tho like. at the heart of her story she is a sympathetic character. her motivations and her grief are understandable, and not that far removed from joel’s or ellie’s. i just think if your primary introduction to a character is to have them brutally kill another character (who benefits from many hours of audience devotion and insight), it’s gonna be a steep climb back into empathetic territory. i wish they’d waited until the end to kill joel in both formats. maybe give folks a chance to empathize with abby before she did All That. by having it at the beginning she is already the villain, and i think it can be very hard to walk that back in a way that feels meaningful.

[danwhobrowses]

Happy Easter Critters! Have a drawing of a scene I'm sure will happen multiple times in the post-C3 timeline and what better time to draw it than a time of gifting eggs to people, right Caleb?

[beans-in-a-toaster]

POV: you live in doctor who. You're on forums and in Discord servers and group chats, all of people interested in the Doctor.

(in the current era of the show, especially after Lucky Day, it's clear that in the modern day the Doctor is kind-of a known guy, but with very fragmentary knowledge about him that only a few piece together, and even fewer end up at the right conclusion. Also, all the UNIT and alien stuff being common knowledge too, with varying social takes on it)

The UNIT data leak hits, and everyone, including yourself, is fixated on using it for clues. And among a list of people, you see your own name, date of birth, your current address, details on your damn personality. No one in the groups luckily knows you by your actual name, and you're definitely not gonna dox yourself, so you just have to sit with that knowledge. That UNIT knows about you and that you're labelled as a "companion", whatever that means.

[vultursvolans]

˚˖𓍢ִ໋🦢˚ 𝓻𝔂𝓾𝓱𝓪𝓲𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓶

there was an ache in my heart when i awoke in a strange, beautiful world that wasn’t my own. even as months turned to years, i still missed the familiar skies, the voice of loved ones and the home i had left behind. i wrote letters that went nowhere and whispered silent prayers that reached no one. it was like i was plucked from my own reality and placed in a world where i didn’t quite belong.

yet, as much as i longed for home, i was determined to learn in this new life. sumeru became my sanctuary and the akademiya, my solace. i learned their languages, customs, and secrets while sharing stories of the stars, landmarks, and beauty of my own world. the scholars listened, fascinated by the similarities and differences, but none more than al-haitham—a student assigned to guide me through this foreign land. he was a quiet presence. thoughtful and curious. he did not pity me.

and over time, he went from guide to peer to something more. over time, i wasn’t just seeking knowledge but also him. but what was the point? what was the point of falling for him if one day, i could just disappear—vanish back to my world, leaving him and teyvat behind? this could slip away at any moment. this might be as fleeting as a dream.

despite all reason, i still found myself loving him deeply. in a world that wasn’t my own, he had become my home.

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬: very slow burn, mutual pining, friends to lovers

𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐔𝐒: 22.10.22 | playlist | genshinverse ryu | home for christmas (fic) | moodboards

𝐀𝐑𝐓: silk & moonlight | modern au | akademiya days | season of love | minecraft |

[humanmorph]

(transcript by @violentandmagnificent)

It’s quiet here, living in your head. It’s quiet here, and when I talk, you listen, at least when you can hear me, which isn’t always. It isn’t always, but it’s better than never. It’s quiet here, living on this ship. It’s quiet here, and I remember when it was loud, I remember different voices bouncing in these halls, I remember old arguments, I remember myself. I wonder how much I can tell you; because  I can tell you; I have much to say. But you never saw me astride the Prophet’s Path, beside the Resin Heart, imparting wrath and play. So who am I? You only know what they’ve told you. So who am I? You only know what’s written down. So who am I? You only know what’s on recordings, and according to the world, I’m a hypocrite, or drowned. I doubt you can hear me, but I know that she can. So pardon my frustration, I’m just tired of her plan. I lost my life long before I understood, before metaphor became real, before I felt the wheel’s wood. I wonder what she’ll tell you. I wonder what she’ll share.  I wonder what she’ll ask of you, what task of sweat and prayer.  I long to sweat and pray, a body in the day. The color of the sun. The touch, the ocean's spray.  The last thing that I felt in life. (The first thing that I felt in life.) The touch, the ocean's spray.  I hope she tells the truth to you. (I hope she tells the worst to you.) The touch, the ocean's spray.  I loved her like she told me to. (I left her like she told me to.) The touch, the ocean's spray.  We’re running out of time, you know? (She’s running out of time, you know?) The touch, the ocean's spray.  I fear we might be mirrored, two echoes of a call shouted between two queens, two queens who want it all. I fear we might be symmetry, I fear we might be one. Make her tell the truth to you before we come undone.

PALISADE 37: Reach In / Reach Out Pt. 1

[slasherflicks999]

slasher yippee!!

when i was like 13/14 i had a phase where i EXCLUSIVELY used a fun little lineless style and i missed it so i did it again but better

feels like it took FOREVERRR but it’s lots of fun :3

mostly just drew this bc i needed a new pfp LMAOOO but also more slasher art why not!

i also really really REALLY wish procreate had a pixelation/mosaic filter and 1bit layers like medibang does……. i love desktop medibang so much but MOBILE MEDIBANG?? ummm we don’t talk about her….

[blueberry-ink-93]

AGAMEMNON

thoughts on the first play of the oresteia!

this is the chorus of trojan women praying to artemis & apollo

lion metaphor counter: 2

--

clytemnestra telling the elders that shes recieved news by torch that troy has been taken (via hefefuf lol)

--

love love love the metaphor of oil & vinegar not mixing its soso good, pointing out the difference in persepctive lest we forget that while this is a victory for greece its a huge huge loss for troy

ofc there are no winners in war but here the devastation hardly compares

--

just a tiny bit funny to me that a couch was mentioned alongside a palace and a king lol

--

anyway while reading i noticed the trend of the elders regarding clytemnestra at times with confusion and others with contempt at her being a woman. and one in power no less

i do believe cly played into it which i suppose goes to show how much restraint and patience she had to put on the performance (lol) of the loyal wife welcoming her hero husband home having finally restored the honour of hellas to appease the argives and get them off her back.

"o queen, thy speech would become the lips of a wise and temperate man" this comes after they exclaimed that it was so womanlike (and therefore beneath them) of her to iirc rejoice at news that had not yet reached nor been verified to them

going as far as to straight up tell her shes probably seen it in a dream, "ye flout my wisdom as if i were a silly girl". irritating but not at all unexpected.

then she explained to them that the torch thing was planned which shut them up nicely lol. moving on

--

feeling kind of insane abt how ares here is described using the concept of usury; the interest rate *the price payed for war* is ridiculously high and extremely exploitative. lkdjfdekwejrewk

--

me core lol

--

this is worded so funny to me idk why.

what are ur hobbies? oh you know. i dabble in gore. on tuesdays

--

the man of the hour himself speaks at last. ft. ody catching strays

i do love that hes a rat bastard and everyone knows its part of his rat bastard charm. unsubstantial shadow. woof

--

agamemnon spitting facts. love that for him

here cly greets him in a foreign fashion, having spread some rich fabric on the path hes to take back home (greeks invented the red purple carpet u heard it here first folks) and hes like nay wench

he concedes in the end

--

astaghfirullah brother agamemnon what is this

foreshadowing if u squint ig (the web)

--

kindred counter: 5

--

this line absolutely sent me i nearly fell out of my chair

drag her ass cassandra

cant believe i predicted the poisoning (if i understood that right lol idk in my mind cly kills her with poison, not the stained weapon. btw the axe is something of a recent depiction she used a sword)

lion metaphor counter: 3

--

ORESTES MON BEBE <3

once again insane by the imagery; the bloodied orestes places the final stone, stained and dented, completing the cursed mural that is the house of atreus. im so sick oh god

--

this is so heartwrenching.

oh cassandra :')

OH AND ALSO. she calls to apollo many a time during her the narration of her misfortunes, at one point saying "apollon to me", which iirc from another post reveals the etymology of his name meaning the destroyer, i.e my (cassandra's) destroyer.

excuse me while i go die in the corner (will link it when i find it)

--

shout out to the land of my ancestors making it onto a greek play lol

--

ok this part damn well near killed me; the elders have heard cass' prophecy and know that agamemnon is going to be killed but ofc they dont take her seriously

so hes being murdered offstage and theyre like: yall hear sum

KJSKAJSDKWJEFGBGS

--

noice

--

🥺

--

brutal

he compares the speech (accusations) of the argive elders to orpheus' pleasing voice, pointing out the stark difference of the joy and peace the former brings whereas the latter provoke anger.

hes so ready to kill a bunch of old guys its so intense fdhsjak. the elders are all for it too lol. then cly puts an end to it

--

assorted quotes:

(the line numbers arent numbering? i think theyre for the translations of the original greek more than for me to count in english lol but im not sure. if u know pls lmk!

"I know that hope is the exile's daily food" (aegisthus 1667)

"I have had enough of life" (cass 1315) <- same girlie same

"For thou hast with ease destroyed me this second time" (cass 1081) <- right after the apollon to me btw :')

"Who named her so unerringly? Was it some one whom we dream not of, foreknowing destiny and happy in his foretelling? Who named her 'Helene'*? the spear-wedded one, the strife-surrounded?" (chorus 682)

"who that is not a god, passeth the whole of his existence without suffering?" (agamemnons herald 554)

"To hearken beforehand is only to anticipate sorrow." (chorus 253)

"but let good auspices prevail" (121, 139, 159)

[exit KINDRED]

[robotsafari]

beast’s castle 2nd visit was insane

[maraschinotopped]

apparently i never posted the naq stamps i made back in january?????? kinda fucked up ngl. sorry team. rectifying my mistake by posting them now.

[jackass-jones]

Come back home when you have some sense

You can throw your life away just not at my expense

You’re not the son I raised

[cloudellesims]

baby bird aged up🥳

...twice!

[cobaltfluff]

what is his deal ???

[cienie-isengardu]

Sub Zero: I've learned your secrets. Have the others?

Sub Zero: If your subjects learn your secret --

Tanya: "I almost lost Mileena because of you." Sub Zero: "Mileena? Shouldn't you call her Empress?"