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sakuraswordly · 2 years ago

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Tsubasa of Phantasia AU will follow only personalities based on their original owner but not their story canon. Example: Glitchtale is an alternate timeline of Undertale. Tsubasa of Phantasia is also an alternate timeline of many stories including the legend of King Arthur, the epic of Gilgamesh, Tsubasa chronicle, Sonic X etc.

I had to have 3 protagonists and 3 main characters(As Leaders) because.........

Syaoran was like Peter's positive side.

Danny was like Peter's negative side.

Sonic was like Punch's positive side.

Gilgamesh was like Punch's negative side.

Because From Tsubasa of Phantasia Season 1-12 protagonists:

Season 1-6 will focus on the Syaoran journey(main story) and the myth of Peter Pan's story. Until Season 7 up will change to focus on Punch's story(main story) , the legend of King Arthur and the epic of Gilgamesh

I also wrote in Some things are beautiful because they cannot be obtained 1(Tsofph Concept )

Sonic is also like my childhood personality.

Gilgamesh is also like my leadership personality.

Because from Tsofph Season 9(Final judgement) up will contain a deep story, a dark story and a very complicated and tricky story. To understand this messy story that I will create in the future. You need to understand the original owner of the character's personality even if their character is real or just fanfiction. (Even the children's books you see are nothing or just children's. Example Dianey or Tinkerbell) Another goal of mine is my comic show you guys see how good and talented people were in the past.

Another goal of mine is to my comics, preventing them from becoming a barrier for art fans and company owners but to help them, and give them hope.

Another goal of mine is this meaning. That means art and science(knowledge) can go together. Prove me that I was right by making this comic AU.

Back to my art style

When come to Syaoran, even though he wore black cloth but the colour looks bright, but with Danny with white hair and black cloth the colour looks mysterious, stressful, and sad.

This is how different between positive and negative.

Clamp also did it with their art in black and white as well. Example: C!Sakura.

Example: Danny in Tsubasa of Phantasia

Example: Gilgamesh and Punch in Danny in Tsubasa of Phantasia

Wear black doesn't mean you will always be on the evil path or dark story just like how Dana Terrace did with Luz in the animation too.

Example: Luz Noceda

Example: The Owl House some scene

The Left is serious with colour blight and peaceful, and the right is happy with dark colour in the background.

I try my best for people to understand them even if you are not an artist like me. This concept you can use in real life as well. Don't judge by just looking.

※※Note: Tsubasa of Phantasia's story will not follow the trend. Because in some countries where some story is not famous. Some countries didn't know about Sonic. Some countries didn't know about Disney. Some countries didn't know about math, science or biology. Some countries didn't know what animation is. Some countries didn't know about the Tsubasa Chronicle because not famous. Some countries didn't know about Harry Potter. etc. That's why I need to put history or even their owner because they don't know about this even other cultures. I need to be careful too. And my comic made for people who can't read the language, my comics are made for a similar meaning to the Egyptian or archeological wall paintings style. Sometimes reading art is better than reading language.

Let me clear this up. That’s right. Suppose you want to understand Gilgamesh. You need to understand Punch and Sonic first. You need to understand Sonic first if you’re going to know Punch. I based Sonic’s personality on Sonic The Hedgehog Franchise. (Japanese)Also Sonic is the third character that is hard to write. I already said in Announce. You finally know why I call him hard and both his design and everything can connect to Punch and Gilgamesh. Everything about him is perfect and complex! Not ordinary people can understand Sonic.(In my opinion, I think Sonic and the black knight is the best Sonic character that I check so far.)

I really make hard decisions about this character I mean really. Also, I did give a hint

Have you ever wanted to know knowledge, to find the key to this Tsofph main story? And you want to know Punch more?

That’s mean…If you mistake Sonic’s personality, that means you never understand Punch’s personality.

Because these three characters were hard to write. That’s why I need to gather many characters to make events and understand them much better.

Do you know why I use AU story? Because I might write a character like Sonic that might not match the owner’s idea or the owner didn’t write or have it in mind.(is like a researcher)

I also wrote this (Note: Tsubasa of Phantasia is still a setting for a work of fan fiction that departs from the canon of the fictional universe that the fan work is based on.(Not the same Sonic you knew from Sonic the Hedgehog, Japanese video game series ))

That’s what it means might not match the owner’s idea or the owner didn’t write or have it in mind.

NoT Only Sonic. Syaoran, Sakura, Kurogane and Fai. Their personality also based on Tsubasa chronicle. Danny too(Danny’s personality will be based on Dark Danny.). Gilgamesh too(Gilgamesh’s personality will be based on Fate extra ccc). Yuko’s personality based on xxxholic, Dhaos’ personality based on Tales of Phantasia, Eggman’s personality based on Sonic X Japanese, Amy, Tails, Magilou’s personality based on Tales of Berseria. Hikaru, C.C., Mokona, Maya, Sam, Luz and Amity’s personality based on The Owl House 100%(Lumity will be the same), Edward etc. Their personalities are based on the owners who wrote these characters, even Disney. Peter’s personality is based on both Peter Pan from Disney and Link from the Legend of Zelda.

Let’s just say, 90% of characters’ personalities will be based on their original owner.

Being the villain or the protagonist of the story, the protagonist doesn’t have to go through a very difficult life to be a villain. But the innocent protagonist can be the villain of the story because of his right judgment and compassion for those around him. Like in Sonic and the black knight and Punch’ story.

From Prologue: /sakuraswordly You finally understand why I told you guys to watch and read them first.

Also, If you can’t find the movie or cartoon that you can’t find. Because I haven’t finished analyzing it or it’s just made for entertainment, therefore, analysis cannot be compared to reality.

#tsubasa of phantasia #tsubasa of phantasia concept #design analysis #Some of my art has meaning and some of it doesn't.

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the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond · 3 years ago

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Star Wars Ultimate Sheet 2.0

Okay so I have rework slightly on my previous character sheet for Star Wars. Same as the previously, it have made as an help to develop your original star wars character, but also canon etc... I use it to put down all my ideas for a character, as well than picking up some ideas to develop an OC whith competence than I wasn't thinking of before (like picking up details for an unusual weapon, or crafting skill etc)... Of course the sheet isn't fully complete, there is a lot of hobbies, skills, personnality trait that I haven't put there, but please, please, feel free to add anything you wish, or MP me if you have more idea to add or anything to correct! Also of course you can use it as you wish, and don't complete all informations!

INTRODUCTION

Name - gender – race – age – sexuality – homeworld

GLOBAL Nickname – place of residence – main languages spoken - their ship/speeder/mount owning name/class – marital status – pet? – education level

BACKGROUND + ERA in which era your character is evolving – summary & main backstory info (ex: your family caste, previous work etc.)

BODY DETAIL shape – height - hair – eyes - skin - freckles – scars – birthmark – cybernetic – tattoo – prominent feature - natural hair color – accent - etc.

DISABILITIES / or chronic heal condition etc.?

RELATIONSHIP family - lover/partner - allies – enemies – friends - famous connection - mentor - student

ALIGNEMENT chaotic/neutral/lawful - good/neutral/evil - faction - religion

ACTIVITY career/ job – etc.

GOAL

PROFICIENCIES

STRENGHT stamina - athletic

DEXTERITY acrobatics - stealth/sneaky - sleight of hand/thievery - insight - piloting

INTEL investigation – perception - history: native/faction/other culture – quick learner – language – tactical (strategy making) – adaptation – cartology

WISDOM nature knowledge: animal handling/taming, fauna/floral specialist, herbalism, surviving, gardening, farming – biology mastering: emergency medicine, medicine, chirurgical, cyber-prosthesis technician, alchemy, biochemical etc. – teaching – force knowledge: jedi order, sith order, ancient red sith science and magic, planet mystics (Gungan on Naboo, Voss, Nightsister, etc.), minor cult etc. – astrology – geology – protocol - demolition

CHARISMA deception – intimidation - persuasion – debating – diplomacy – leadership – acting

TECH slicing - engineering -tech maintenance – droid/machine technician -

CRAFTING forge: armor/weapons - sewing/embroidery/colorist textile(dye)/leatherworking/ etc. – handcrafting: wood, pottery, plasteel, etc. - cooking/bakery/mixology -

ART writing: lyrics, poetry, books etc. – drawing: tagging/painting/ etc. – dancing (style?) – singing – playing instrument –

INVENTORY does they have a special object of which they are proud? – what contain the bag/ belt pouch they often carry around?

ABILITIES

FIGHT weapon: type, left/right/ambidextrous and medium/heavy/light - explosive - medical fields - night battle - Melee/mid-distance/distance/far distance - riding fight - artillery, etc.

WEAPON one/dual/two hands in one - shaft - cultural weapon - vibroblade/vibrosword/vibroaxe/ vibrostaff - flamethrower - grenade - missile/rocket - combat gloves - sniper rifle - hold-out pistol - blaster rifle - blaster pistol - gatling - energy canon - experimental weapon - laser bow/crossbow - shield, etc.

ARMOR light/medium/heavy/none - stealth and/or technologic suit - secret weapon inside suit (like Theron Shan bracelet/Mandalorian etc.) + outfit style: casual/formal/fancy/plain/comfortable/sportive/smuggler/sithy/jedi etc.

LIGHTSABER barrier - throw - Telekinetic lightsaber combat technique - sith alchemy(DS)/ force weapon ritual(LS) - jedi stance discipline (Shii-Cho, Makashi, Soresu, Ataru, Shien/Djem So, Niman, Juyo/Vaapad) - new jedi order stance (Strong, Medium, Fast) - wielding style (dual, solo, pike, double-bladed, Lightwhip) - other fighting Forms and Style (Unorthodox and Hybrid Fighting Methods, Trispzest, Tràkata, Sokan, Dun Möch, Lus-ma, Su ma)

FORCE ABILITIES

Light side: force listening (communicate with someone while not speaking their native tongue) – animal friendship - plant surge – Severe Force/Force light (jedi only user is directly attacking a Dark Side user's connection to the Force and negating their ability to communicate with it)-

‘Gray’: healing (revitalize other ppl, hibernation trance themselves, dark transfer, rez) - psychometry/retrocognition² (feeling memories of people who have touched an object) – telekinesis (force barrier, lightening: shock, lightening channeling; force push², force blast², &force burst, &force grip, &force wave, &force repulse, force destruction, force crush, deflection, whirlwind, &storm, slow, shadowstrike, stealth², &pyrokinesis, &force travel(DS) - &levitation/flight – force sense (tracking, traumatic events, physical danger to a loved one, interconnectivity to the universe) – &force illusion (conjure projections, apparitions, or even Force projections of themselves, hiding their signature from the force)- precognition – body enhancement (running, charging, jump; berserk, agility, strength, unbreakable will, ) - &metamorphosis (shape into that of another person, creature, or entity, mask: reshape an individual's appearance, altering the subject at the molecular level ) –

Dark Side: &force walk (interacting with ghosts, bind them to the user ) - &life manipulation (dark side only, force drain: life sucking from another person; Midi-chlorian Manipulation; dimmish: damage to an opponent's health and vitality) – control² (mechu-deru: mechanical structures could be bound to the will of the user and imbued with the force, creating technobeast // mind trick/control, emotions, mind probe, crushing darkness/horror/insanity, malacia: troubling opponent equilibrium, stun, stasis²,) - &Battle Meditation (mass mind control) - &Corruption (force plague) - Dathomir magic (traditional Allyan Magic//Shadow magic: force healing, bubble shield, whirlwind, teleportation, enhance physical, Nightsisters talismans crafting, mommies rez, conjure solid items, communicate with the other realm, rituals, spirit-conjuring techniques linked with Nature, heartshadow: foresee the various possible futures, scrying: peeping, Mesmerism : mind domination) – old sith sorcery (diseases such as rakghoul, rituals) – old sith alchemy (permanently alter an item or living being, nefarious toxins, crafting artefacts, creative dark side creature, enhance the strength of weapons and armor, Tsaiwinokka Hoyakut : waking dead servitor) -

PERSONALITY

INTEREST sleeping; romance; friends; one-night stand; imagination; creating; flora; fauna; photography/video; reading; food; conversation; fashion; entertainment; fighting; debating; ruling; credits; pranks; droid; spaceship; etc.

CHARM lively – confident – persuasive – charming – chatty – diplomatic – cheeky – cocky - popular – funny - friendly

NEGATIVE - cruel - mean - etc.

MOOD active - calm – dynamic - cheerful – lazy - // childish – mature // aggressive // adventurous – creative – enthusiastic – intuitive – optimistic

PERSONAL sociable – loud – quiet – reserved - unconfident – self-deprecating – humble – proud - arrogant // authentic – honest – manipulative – ambiguous – helpful – unreliable // shy – extrovert // neat - // realistic -

RELATION possessive –insecure - understanding – arrogant // Loyal – respectful - insolent – polite // affectionate – gentle // selfish – easy-going – generous - // magnanimous -

R dominating – bossy – ambitious – power-anger - submissive // careful - conscientious - focused – adaptable – determined – deliberate - impulsive – patient - stubborn - truthful – unpredictable - hard-working - meticulous// frank – bold – tactless // argumentative – circumspect – //

L lucky – unlucky - clumsy // fearless – prudent – cowardly - brave - // spoiled - // silly – crazy - wise //

OUTBURST delusion – berserk - excited - obsessed - despair – angry - belligerent - stress crisis

CODEX

- and // is to separate two ideas

italic is the main idea of something who is developping after the word

& in force abilities means that it's a very very strong technique

² in force abilities means it's a rare and moderate hard technique

DS: Dark Side force technique

LS: Light Side force technique

CREDIT & MORE

All the dividershave been made by the fantastic @firefly-graphics

An old character sheet that I have made some times ago, in a roleplay chart character style for Star Wars

Swtor era: The Alliance personal headcanon & worldbuilding

An awesome name generator for SW, based or races!

SW character generator (Race, faction, homeworld, Ship, weapon)

SW Galaxy Map + ressource for this map

The Ultimate Star Wars reference link, very useful (I don't even know why I have lost my time searching for all my link reference when this guide is just so complete fjsdjdjdjsdk)

More SW resource link because we never had enough

My alt blog SW resource tag in case you search even more references

Medic writing resource: 1 2 3 4

Togruta: * and **

Sith pureblood culture: red sith face, red sith biology, red sith global links of worldbuilding of @fluffynexu

Sith tattoo *

A big SW worldbuilding links by @badsithnocookie (jedi & sith culture, language etc)

GAR: batalion organization;

Jedi resources by GFFA and more jedi

... I will probably add more later or made a special post...

⋆ ࣪. ⁺⑅ ⋰˚ *.ﾟ .˳⁺⁎˚ ˚⁎⁺˳ . ༺ ˖࣪ ˖࣪ ∗

Thanks you'all for reading this post, again if anyone wants to add or correct something please feel free to said anything. You can freely use this "sheet" as you please! :)

#star wars #swtor #star wars reference #star wars roleplay #swtor reference #character sheet #character concept #lp sw worldbuilding #reference sheet #original character building #original character #character chart

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writingstothevoid · 3 years ago

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A Cat in a Dog’s World

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Rating: G

Relationships: Virgil and Logan (could be interpreted as romantic/queerplatonic towards the end)

AO3 link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/41411421

Summary: Logan has always been a bit different. While hanging out with Virgil, he finally comes up with the proper way to explain it.

“I think I’ve figured out what’s wrong with me,”

Virgil looked up from his phone and met Logan’s eyes for a split second before darting slightly away. His mouth was pressed into a slight frown, likely from Logan’s use of the word “wrong” – though Virgil suffered from his own self-deprecating thoughts, he didn’t want others to suffer too, especially not those he cared about – but he didn’t say anything, instead waiting for the other to continue.

After a few beats of silence, Logan finally did, his eyes locked firmly on the cat he was petting. He found that statements that beat around the bush but acknowledged the existence of a problem were some of the most effective tools in forcing himself to say things he didn’t want to say. It let the other person know there was something going on and pressured him into explaining himself while also buying himself a bit of time to think.

“I feel like a cat in a world made for dogs,” he grimaced as he spoke, wishing he had an easier way to phrase how he felt, one that didn’t use those flowery metaphors Roman loved so much. And yet, this was the way that felt the most true.

When he didn’t elaborate any further, Virgil spoke up. “What do you mean?” he asked, not unkindly (not yet).

Logan let out a sigh, trying to find the words to explain the mess inside of him. He could talk someone’s ear off about every fact he had ever learned, from ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle to his beloved biology, but he never could seem to get the hang of describing his emotions.

“People tend to dislike cats because they don’t understand them. They take the knowledge that they have of how dogs act and behave and apply that to cats, not understanding that cats feel and express themselves in very different ways. Thus, when this strategy fails, the person believes that the cat must be selfish and evil and emotionless.” Logan stated. It was easier to start on a global scale and work down to a more personal one.

“Right,” Virgil replied, looking more and more confused as Logan continued to dodge around what he really wanted to say in the masterful way only someone who had spent years perfecting the art could achieve.

The bespectacled man let out a sigh and hunched in on himself as he finally forced the words out, “People expect you to feel and express yourself in very specific ways, and when you don’t they consider you odd at best and evil at worst. I… have tried very hard for a very long time to do the things that are expected of me, believing that everyone has to force themselves to fit the mold and that I should just suck it up and push through it. Recently, however, I’ve been trying to figure myself out more and I’ve been… happier.” Finally, he looked up at Virgil.

“I like being alone. I like keeping myself to myself. It comes more naturally to me to use logic over feelings when helping others. I value my independence more than anything else. And I don’t want to believe that I am broken simply because I live in a society that pushes me to change everything about myself. I would rather be alone and happy than surrounded by people who want to change me, not understand me. Does… does that make sense?” He asked, a rare hint of hesitance creeping into his voice.

Finally, Virgil gave him a hint of a smile. “Yeah, Lo. I think it does.”

The corners of Logan’s mouth quirked up, “Thank you, Virge,” he paused one last time and the lightest hints of a blush appeared on his cheeks, “I believe that… having you as a friend has helped me realize that. You made me realize that I can have friendships that do not force me to give up pieces of myself to make the other person happy. You don’t push me to give anything that I can’t or won’t give. So… thank you, Virgil.”

It was Virgil’s turn to blush, “Yeah, of course, Lo. You, uh. You too.”

#sanders sides #virgil sanders #logan sanders #analogical #could be interpreted in just about any way #projecting so blatant it could be seen from space

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gabrielle-writes · 3 years ago

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Weekly Lore 7: The Academies and Schools - Part 1

Bravo has, in total, six grand Academies: the four Academies of Magic, and the Academies of War and of Law. Despite their name, they also have power inside the City's Council, all of the Grand-Maestros with voting power.

Beyond the Academies, there are also smaller schools, most of them focused on other subjects, directly related and supervised by the Academies. From all of them, the Academies of Healing and Necromancy are the oldest, with the Academy of Law being the youngest.

The Academies of Magic are, in general, pretty straightforward: the Academy of Healing focus on healing magic, and so on. They are responsible for the teaching of magic, mainly, but also for organizing and supervising the teaching of basic subjects like writing, reading, history and mathematics to all kids in Bravien territory under the age of thirteen, and then guide and council the non-mage children in finding and starting profession apprenticeships or into following their studies.

The schools are usually about subjects not directly connected to magic, like history, biology, farming, arts and economy, and all of them act as proxies for the basic teaching of children - mainly for a localization issue. As the Academies, they offer specializations about these subjects; since they are open to everyone, it is fairly common for children at the apprenticeship age to study in them alongside adults and elders that decided to specialize later. Some became teachers in the schools, others work in something related, others can use the new knowledge to complement their existing work.

The Vessels, Libraries and the schools of history are taken care of by the Academy of Necromancy. All schools spread throughout the outskirts are supervised and connected to the Academy of Transformation. Schools related to the natural world inside Bravo's walls, like biology and farming, are supervised by the Academy of Healing. The schools of politics and of economy are supervised by the Academy of Law, and all the others are under the wings of the Academy of Control.

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

Oooof. Hope you all have been liking the Wekly Lores. If any doubts or curiosity appear, please, feel free to send asks.

This one is the first that I had to divide in two, mainly because the other two Academies have non-teaching and non-magic responsibilities. :D

The Chapter 1 Necromancer Side has, atm, 3400 words, plus 1k more of notes regarding its pacing and necessary information and choice points and so on. These last months, working in the census, walking so much and trying to find people, really took a toll on my mental space and energy for writing, and, being sincere, some weeks I could only manage these Weekly Lores (which, made me really happy that I could write something, even if simpler).

This job is at the end now, and with the end-of-the-year holidays, I hope to have more time to actually write and expand these notes. These last two weeks I already managed some advancement. Pray with me that I manage to finish at least the non-edited one in January???? (Sure, now to find another job, but hopefully it will be one that I have more control of job-time)

Also I'll eventually make a FanIF of The Evil Within, I was unable to run faster than the idea and now as I try to sleep bits and pieces of it constantly go around my mind so I have to at least put the notes down for the future help

#walking on my grave #womg #weekly lore #if wip #twine if #twine #twine wip #academies of magic

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novainthevoid · 3 years ago

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Welcome to today’s edition of “Nova projects on their favorite characters.” Today we’re featuring my first ever Sanders Sides fic, which I will be posting and not looking back. Sorry if it’s rough.

“I think I’ve figured out what’s wrong with me,”

Virgil looked up from his phone, hand slowing to a stop as he quit absentmindedly petting the cat in his lap and eyes meeting Logan’s for a split second before darting slightly away. His mouth was pressed into a slight frown, likely from Logan’s use of the word “wrong” -- though Vrigil suffered from his own self-deprecating thoughts, he didn’t want others to suffer too, especially not those he cared about -- but he didn’t say anything, instead waiting for him to continue.

After a few beats of silence, Logan finally did, his eyes locked firmly on the cat he was petting as opposed to the man in front of him. He found that statements that beat around the bush but acknowledged the existence of a problem were some of the most effective tools in forcing himself to say things he didn’t want to say. It let the other person know there was something going on and pressured him into explaining himself while also buying a bit of time to think.

When he didn’t elaborate any further, Virgil spoke up. “What do you mean?” he asked, not unkindly (not yet).

“People tend to dislike cats because they don’t understand them. They take the knowledge that they have of how dogs act and behave and apply that to cats, not understanding that cats feel and express themselves in very different ways. Thus, when this strategy fails, the person believes that the cat must be selfish and evil and emotionless.” Logan stated. It was always easier to start on a global scale and work down to a more personal one.

“Right,” Virgil replied, looking more and more confused as Logan continued to dodge around what he really wanted to say in that masterful way only someone who had spent years perfecting the art could achieve.

The bespeckled man let out a sigh and hunched in on himself as he finally forced the words out, “People expect you to feel and express yourself in very specific ways, and when you don’t they consider you odd at best and evil at worst. I… have tried very hard for a very long time to fit into these things that are expected of me, believing that everyone has to force themselves to fit the mold and that I should just suck it up and push onwards. Recently, however, I’ve been trying to figure myself out more and I’ve been… happier.” Finally, he looked up at Virgil.

“I like being alone. I like keeping myself to myself. It comes more naturally to me to use logic over feelings to try and help others. I value my independence more than anything else. And I don’t want to believe that I am broken simply because I live in a society that pushes me to change everything about myself. I would rather be alone and happy than surrounded by people who want to change me, not understand me. Does… does that make sense?” He asked, a rare hint of hesitance creeping into his voice.

Finally, Virgil gave him a hint of a smile and resumed petting the cat. “Yeah, Lo. I think it does.”

It was Virgil’s turn to blush, “Yeah, of course, Lo. You, uh. You too.”

#sanders sides #logan sanders #virgil sanders #analogical #could be romantic platonic whatever #i technically intended platonic #but as your local neurodivergent aro-spec #i continue to fail to understand how to write relationships #anyways #technically meant to be #human au #probably #high school au #but honestly could be read however you’d like

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miskatonique · 4 years ago

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CRAWFORD TILLINGHAST CHEAT SHEET !

since my muses are not super well known in the contemporary rpc ( and i’m too lazy to do a full about page at this very moment ) i decided to put together little posts for them that give their general backgrounds, vibes, and plot possibilities !

this is a mix of canon and headcanon, and these are subject to change / adapt as i get more used to writing the characters

BACKGROUND:

Film: From Beyond, 1986

Dr. Crawford Tillinghast, 27, was working as an assistant to Dr. Edward Pretorius on a machine called “The Resonator,” which allowed the world beyond our view to be perceived by stimulating the pineal gland of the brain, which is theorized to be one of the “abandoned” sensory organs in humans.

Although The Resonator was successful in showing a world beyond ours, Crawford’s mentor Dr. Pretorius became obsessed with it and the creatures from that world. A creature comes from beyond ( title drop ayyy ) and bites off Pretorius’ head, killing his earthly body but absorbing his essence / spirit into the other world.

Because the world beyond ours is only visible when the Resonator is turned on, police aren’t able to see the creatures that killed Pretorius and Crawford is blamed for the murder and taken into psychiatric custody. When Crawford tries to tell the police the truth about the machine, he’s assumed to be a schizophrenic.

I generally don’t feel like vibing with the second half of the movie where Crawford’s pineal gland literally grows out of his head and he starts cannibalizing people ( it is a horror movie after all ) but I’m down to explore that stuff if someone wants to!

Also Pretorius is a sexual sadist which isn’t super salient to the plot but he’s fucking weird and he makes Crawford very uncomfortable even though Crawford respects him as a scientist

VIBES / PERSONALITY:

Professional soft boy. He’s very anxious around new people, tends to be very introverted, but when he gets used to someone / gets adopted by an extrovert he tends to latch onto that person

Very excitable when talking about his physics research, but also overly aware of how esoteric it can be to some people and generally assumes he’s annoying whomever he’s talking to about his work

Believes in knowledge for the sake of knowledge, and is okay with other people finding applications for his research. However, he’s very against anyone using his research to hurt people, and will do anything he can to stop that from happening

Plagued with fatigue and headaches, mostly because of how hard he works on a daily basis but also because his work with the Resonator actually stimulates parts of our brains that we don’t generally use. Anybody who spends any length of time around the Resonator at any point in its development will begin to develop headaches, as well.

I’m sure you all know my son Finn Clifton over @starslung but him and Crawford are partners working on the Resonator while Finn is in grad school for his psychics degree, so if your kids know Finn then it’ll be easy to introduce Crawford xo

PLOT POSSIBILITIES:

He’s got the vibes of the reluctant scientist that the evil doers have co-opted to be on their side in an action / superhero movie, and he will gladly betray the villains to go over to the other side and help the heroes kick ass

On the other side of that -- be evil! Seduce him into using your state of the art equipment and then trick him into doing your dirty work!

Got any physics or biology students? He’d be more than glad to take them under his wing / partner with them and give them laboratory experience helping out with the Resonator / brain experiments on the pineal gland. Hell, students of any kind are welcome to help with the clusterfuck of this experiment.

Help him break out of the psych ward and prove that he’s not a murderer! Or just help him break out and give him a place to live, he’ll do your laundry for you.

Hold him tenderly. That’s a dare.

#i don't know why i started in all lower caps and then used proper capitalization in the post itself #i don't know why i do anything these days folks #anyway i'm legitimiately in love with him #( SAVE TAG: C. TILLINGHAST. )#i'll probably post these under their about pages rn cuz i'm laaaaaaaaaaazyyyyyy

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thesublemon · 6 years ago

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songs of impotence and experience

In the last couple years, I’ve revisited a lot of the things that were meaningful to me when I was younger. I’m not exactly sure why I did that. Some nostalgia. Some curiosity about whether they held up. Some sense that maybe I could get some insight into myself. Why did I love the things I loved at a time when my id was more unfiltered? What did the younger version of myself need art about that maybe the adult version doesn’t?

A lot of the works are superficially goofy genre shit, but space ships, aliens and made-up words never really felt like it was what I loved about them. My taste was just as indiscriminate as a kid as it is now, which meant I read and watched and liked a wide variety of things. Proper literary things, even. I don’t think it’s an accident that I often connect(ed) with superficially goofy genre shit. Just like I don’t think it’s an accident that a different person might connect with musicals or period movies. But that’s an aspect of my personality to analyze another time.

No, what I realized was that all of these space-and-aliens-stories…on some level, were impotence stories. They’re stories about being manipulated by outside forces, or having shit stuck in you against your will. Stories about parasites. Stories about going insane. And while those might sound like “intense” themes for a child or teenager to be preoccupied with (as if children and teenagers don’t feel things intensely), I realized that it actually made complete and utter sense. When you’re young it feels like things are constantly just happening to you. Adults make decisions for you. Society makes demands of you. It’s hard to know what power you even have, let alone how to use it. Of course I’d relate to impotence.

I remember being obsessed with Ender’s Game. I don’t even know how many times I read it between the ages of 8 and 12. There was something in me that identified with being a pawn in an adult’s world, where your intelligence or your allegiance could be used to fight their wars and you’d have no control over it, no understanding of it. This sense that you were hurting others by proxy, fighting the wrong fights, because you didn’t understand how your power was being used. But that you had power. The feeling that if you were smart and special enough to be wanted, or to know that something was up, then you should have been smart enough to change the game.

Of course there’s arrogance in believing that you, a child, are so important that all of these adults want things from you. Arrogance in looking at a 6 year old military genius and going that speaks to me. But the truth is, adults do want things from children, even “unremarkable” children. They might want a child’s validation, obedience, affection, loyalty or even something as simple and benign as happiness. Being an unhappy child when you know your parents just want you to be all right? What a feeling of failure.

There was a sense that all of these adults—including but not limited to my parents—were invested in religion, or politics, or personal narratives, or some view of the world, and I had the power to reinforce it. I could grow up to be a good exemplar of their ideological beliefs, I could give them the feeling that I admired or needed them, I could pay them attention, I could tell them I believed them. But I couldn’t know whether doing those things was what I actually wanted. I couldn’t know if twenty years down the line I’d be yearning for an enemy’s forgiveness, and speaking for the dead.

Fast-forward to Farscape. Farscape is about a character who looks like he should be the hero. A character who knows the same hero stories we know, and thinks he should live up to them. But then the narrative makes him alien, and incompetent, and strips him of his every bit of cultural context and familiarity. In a narrative sense, it “feminizes” him. People want things from John Crichton, and it never has anything to do with him as a person (“Don’t be jealous Frau Blücher. He only loves me for my mind.”). Everyone is always hijacking his body and putting things into it. Microbes, needles, knowledge, chips. He spends most of the show with the villain literally living inside his head. An inescapable, macabre companion that aggressively dresses himself in the drag of Crichton’s psyche.

Language is a constant motif in Farscape, because language is how you communicate yourself. If you lack language, you’re impotent. You’re alien. It’s no coincidence that Crichton’s first moment of alien-ation is that he’s injected with translator microbes. It’s no coincidence that A Human Reaction flips repeatedly between how the alien characters sound to humans, and how they sound to Crichton. It’s no coincidence that the final horror of Die Me Dichotomy is that Crichton loses his power of speech. It’s no coincidence that Aeryn starts learning English, and Crichton starts quipping in Spanish. It’s no coincidence that Crichton starts the show speaking in incomprehensible human cultural references to aliens and ends up speaking in incomprehensible alien references to humans (“Fred Scarran. From the Gainesville Scarrans.”).

And not to be unbearably personal, but as a teenage girl who was going deaf, I responded to all of that. On a basic, physical level I felt like I was losing my ability to understand people, and by virtue of not understanding, becoming unable to make myself understood. A feeling of standing outside myself and watching myself become an alien. A feeling of invasion because I could no longer exist without technological augmentation. But there was also a gendered level. Being a girl and feeling like the world’s reaction to my physical form suddenly had consequences that it was up to me to either mitigate or capitalize upon. That sexuality was suddenly something I was supposed to be able to wield, and I had no idea how. This feeling that my body was betraying me both functionally and as my means of mediating between my Self and the world. In other words, a feeling that biology and social narratives were conspiring, like the universe in Farscape, to “feminize” me.

There was a cultural level too. I was aware of being in this American social moment that seemed grotesquely material and political. So are all moments in their own way, but I didn’t know that then. All I knew was that all these people cared about PT Cruisers and Super Size Me and Idiocracy and The Simple Life and Fahrenheit 911 and freedom fries and cartoons of Bush as a monkey. All these adults were begging for me to take a side about these things that felt stupid and ugly and profane. And none their interest in my side-taking had anything to do with me, anyway.

So at that time I wanted a hero’s journey that wasn’t a hero’s journey. I wanted a story about saying “fuck you” to the forces of the universe that were clutching at my hems and driving me insane, and going off to live as an alien and eking what joy I could from it. A story about saying “no” to the two equally evil sides of any evil, pointless war. I wanted a story about how maybe that made you a monster, or maybe that was a heroic thing to do. Maybe there was something horrible about it, but maybe there was something wonderful in it too.

Rewind to Animorphs. The whole concept of a Yeerk in your head using your body and speaking out your mouth. If my attraction to Ender’s Game was in part about the fear that adults and institutions were hijacking my abilities, then Animorphs was about the fear that the adults themselves were hijacked. There’s real horror in the idea that your mom isn’t your mom and your friends aren’t your friends, but prisoners trapped in their own minds, being piloted by an outside force. The fear that you’d have to re-interpret your every interaction with the people you admired or cared about, looking for ulterior motives. The feeling that say, your parent isn’t speaking their own beliefs, but rather acting as a mouthpiece for their country or their neuroses or an ad on TV.

One might rightfully observe, well isn’t that just They Live or Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Rhinoceros for kids? Yes, in part. But there’s the additional, crucial fact that these Yeerks only steal people’s bodies because they’re planet-bound slugs otherwise. The Yeerks aren’t an impersonal disease, and Controllers aren’t mindless zombies. The Yeerks are Pilots, just wanting to see the stars. Pilots that didn’t wait meekly for a Leviathan to take them or a PK to tempt them, but went and conquered an empire’s worth of sentient creatures themselves. Pilots we’re primed to see as disgusting instead of pitiable or majestic because they’re just slimy little slugs, right? The Yeerks are the antagonists because they’re the idea that powerlessness begets powerlessness. They’re the idea that you may feel impotent, but growing up to control others just makes you the villain.

It makes sense that the Animorphs are shapeshifters, and young, not just because whatever, these are technically books for children and turning into animals sounds cool. I like to imagine there’s some symbolism about flexibility there. It reminds me of His Dark Materials and the way that a child’s daemon has no settled form. An impossible circumstance? You morph. You don’t take and conquer; you change.

(I’m not reading too much into things when I say that. The books draw parallels between the Yeerks and the Animorphs from the very beginning. Marco pointing out in #1 The Invasion that Tobias wants to escape his life as badly as a voluntary Controller does. Cassie worrying in #4 The Message that they dominate the animals they morph the way the Yeerks dominate their hosts. Later in #16 The Warning they’ll debate the morality of morphing people. “Controlling” versus “morphing” is one of the most central dichotomies of Animorphs, one the Animorphs themselves do not always land on the right side of.)

Disability themes are rampant. Everyone is trapped: Tobias as a hawk, Ax on Earth, hosts in their heads, Yeerks in their pools, the Animorphs in their war. To say nothing of the times the books get explicit about it, like the Andalite taboos around vecols or that final arc when they give the ward of disabled kids the morphing power. And the question every time is, which of two non-ideal options for dealing with some limitation are you going to take? Do you live as a hawk, or do you give up? When the Animorphs give the Auxiliaries the morphing power, it isn’t a triumphant moment. They do it so the kids can fight, like the Animorphs themselves had to. They do it knowing that the kids will die.

That sort of thing was the appeal of Animorphs. They were exciting, funny, imaginative page-turners, sure. But half of the reason they were page-turners was because they centered these terrible ethical quandaries, and devastating emotional choices. That’s the kind of thing that makes you pay attention in fiction: situations where you don’t know the way out, so you don’t know what will happen. The same way you don’t know what will happen once you realize that the adults can’t be trusted, or your life isn’t entirely your own.

Here are some things I think are interesting.

I think it’s interesting that both the morphing power in Animorphs and Leviathans in Farscape are the things those works treat as something that can be profaned. Morphing may be described in gruesome, body horrific detail, but nonetheless an animal’s power is treated as something to be respected and used to fight. So David abusing morphing is profane. Visser Three morphing is profane. Similarly, forcing Moya to give birth to a gunship is profane. Cutting Pilot’s arms off is profane. The clones eating the walls of the ship in Eat Me is profane. And both of those, morphing and Moya, are symbols of transformation. Morphing in the obvious sense, and Moya in the sense of a guardian or shepherd or mother. The sacred instrument of your journey.

I think it’s interesting that the protagonists of all three stories change, but not necessarily for the better.

I think it’s interesting that all three stories involve loving and understanding the Other. Both Farscape and Animorphs are full of important interspecies relationships: Tobias and Rachel, Elfangor and Loren, Dak and Aldrea (it’s potentially relevant that Jake and Cassie are an interracial relationship too), or John and Aeryn, D’argo and Chiana (and Lolaan), Zhaan and Stark, Scorpius and Sikozu. Both Animorphs and Ender’s Game involve the protagonists—and the audience, by extension—learning “humanizing” things about the aliens that they’re fighting against. Aliens that have forms that they are not inclined to empathize with.

I think it’s interesting that Animorphs has a lot of the same parasitism versus symbiosis themes that Farscape does, but takes them in a direction that has less to do with sex and breeding (because as unbelievably dark as Animorphs gets they’re still books for kids) and more to do with authority. Where Farscape is full of half-breeds and genetic atrocities, Animorphs is full of gods and Galateas. In Farscape, parasitism versus symbiosis is about becoming alien in a positive way, or a self-directed way, versus being forced into alienation. Loving the Other versus being made Other. Birth imagery versus rape imagery. Whereas in Animorphs parasitism versus symbiosis is about control versus autonomy. How are people supposed to satisfy their competing desires without taking away other people’s agency? How much power should authorities have over the people they’re responsible for (and responsible to)?

#26 The Attack was always one of my favorite Animorphs books because of the way it drew parallels between all of these pseudo-children and their creators. The Pemalites made the Chee, Crayak made the Howlers, and Elfangor “made” the Animorphs. Then those children duke it out for the souls of the Iskoorts and the Yeerks. A literal war of symbiosis versus parasitism. The existence of the Pemalites and the Chee might lead one to think that creating children in your desired image is reasonable and ethical, because we all love dogs don’t we? And then you meet the Howlers, who are simultaneously pure innocents and terrifying killers. Creatures that think of killing as play, as a game of fetch, because that’s what they were made to be. The Howlers are dogs too. You realize that the Animorphs are their own kind of created beings. They were given powers to fight a war for someone else.

In other words, if you look at it a certain way, all of these children have been co-opted and controlled as much as Yeerks co-opt and control their hosts. Animorphs is deeply anti-war. And one of the main ways it’s anti-war is by painting war as something essentially parasitic. Something that chews people up. Something that traumatizes its protagonists from the word go. Something that forces you to make awful moral choices. Something that only happens when competing forces can’t resolve their needs in any other way. War is parasitic and parasitism leads to war.

I think it’s interesting that all of these stories involve war, and none of them are fond of it. They each question and deconstruct the genre of war story that they seem to belong to. Instead of telling a militaristic scifi story about crushing alien Others, and being led by nigh-mythological generals, Ender’s Game tells a militaristic scifi story about child soldiers, bureaucracy, misunderstanding the Other, and how although true genius and leadership exists, it can rarely outsmart the military apparatus that controls it. Instead of telling a campy Power Rangers tale about the wonders of friendship, Animorphs was intended, by the author’s own admission, to be a “grunts-eyed view” of combat that showed the “honest cost” of war. A group of guerrilla soldiers may form bonds and accomplish remarkable things, but their story will not end with medals or Ewok revelry. Instead of telling a utopic Star Trek story where humans are powerful and advanced and have near-imperial influence, Farscape tells a story about how humans are weak and clannish, and advanced imperial powers wage wars based on nothing better than conquest or mercenary interest. Crichton becomes a kind of warrior to defend himself, but he never becomes a soldier. He leads no armies or rebellions. He is nothing more than a bargaining chip in other people’s conflicts. The protagonists of all three stories wrestle with the guilt of having had to kill their enemies on a massive scale, and innocents along with them.

I think it’s interesting how embodied these stories are. There was something novel and arresting to my young brain, reading Peter’s jokes about pubic hair, or the descriptions of Ender smashing a boy’s nose. The feeling of a monitor in your neck, gravity and anti-gravity, the grappling shower fight. It feels uncomfortable and deliberate that these children are described in the “gross”, physical way that adults in boot-camp war stories normally are. There was something mesmerizing about all those descriptions of morphing. Every book there’d be paragraphs on paragraphs about teeth rearranging, legs sprouting, eyes popping, bones liquefying. Descriptions of the hunger and fear (and sometimes delight) of animals. Descriptions of horrifying battle wounds. Limbs removed, intestines spilling out, being eaten alive by ants. There was something affirming in how sexual, and how disgusting Farscape was. That even the puppets got horny, and John and Aeryn kissed like they meant it. That people ate and farted and were full of goo.

Change, symbiosis, bodies, war. I’m not going to overreach and claim that those themes necessarily go hand-in-hand with impotence, or that these three stories I happened to love indicate anything other than that they’re kind of story I happened to love. I recognize that I’ve glossed over potential interpretations or criticisms of these stories in order to draw the parallels that interest me. But I do think that war, i.e. super-personal conflict, and bodies are two of the most fundamental ways that power and selfhood get taken away. You lose yourself when you sign your will over to forces bigger than you, and you lose yourself when you die. Bodies are inextricable from mortality, and are a kind of shorthand for every natural circumstance you can’t control. Whereas change and symbiosis are the hopeful alternatives. Symbiosis means merging with something other, even bigger, than you, but in an inherently mutually beneficial way. You don’t get lost, because it wouldn’t be symbiosis if your needs weren’t being met, but you do become “more.” Change, in turn, implies agency. Nature and circumstance may transform you—transform you to the point of death—but you can also transform yourself. Change is a neutral force that anyone can potentially wield.

I don’t know that I need those stories anymore. I still love them, still find them meaningful (in fact I re-read some Animorphs to write this and I was taken aback by just how much I still honestly loved it). But I don’t recognize myself in them in quite the same way. Precisely, I think, because I do have power now. Not a lot. But I have a sense of what I’m good at, and what I can control. I dress how I like, think about what I like, talk to who I like. Having a body is a still a crock of shit, but that isn’t new information anymore. None of the ways I lack control over my life are new information anymore. And so there is less of a need to process the horror of it via fiction.

It was interesting rewatching Buffy, because Buffy was never something that I identified with when I was younger, despite the fact that it was a show about a teenage girl. Possibly because fundamentally, Buffy is a story about empowerment. Buffy has power. That’s the key thing about her. It’s true that like the characters in the other stories, she has been conscripted into a supernatural war against her will. She struggles with her agency, and is increasingly traumatized by the choices she has to make. But she wins. That is the point of her. She’s a classical hero. Her heroism is moving and satisfying because it’s never emotionally easy. It’s earned. But it’s still heroism.

So I was surprised that as an adult, I found myself relating to it. You might look at a season like season six, and think that that’s an impotence story, because a lot of it is about depression and when one is depressed one certainly feels impotent. But I see it more as a story about having agency and not knowing what the hell to do with it. The terror of “you have to make your own decisions now.” And most of the seasons are like that. They involve Buffy accepting some aspect of her power and growing up about it.

I notice a number of the stories I’ve been drawn to in my 20’s have had themes like that. I’ve found myself lingering on stories about women, and stories about confronting one’s agency. As a teenager, I loved Slings and Arrows, because Geoffrey Tennant was yet another character buffeted by outside forces (Art and Social Constraints On Art), with his own, art-related Harvey. But as an adult I was excited by Cayce Pollard instead. Someone who on the one hand is practically crippled by her responses to aesthetic stimuli, but on the other hand (a) uses this to practical effect, and (b) actually spends time examining to what extent her responses are disordered. I was similarly excited by Clarice Starling learning to pursue her taste in Hannibal.

It’s a weird shift, to realize you’re not powerless. It’s not necessarily a pleasant shift. It’s why I’ve never been compelled by empowerment stories that treat it as a triumphant, unambiguously positive thing. Stories that conflate having power with having the judgement or moral authority to use that power well. With great power comes great responsibility, but how do you know what the responsible thing to do even is? If you’re empowered by a story, all it really means is that it made you feel confident enough to make your own mistakes (or not-mistakes, of course) instead of someone else’s. Which can be quite a good and exciting thing. But it also means that if things go badly, it’s no-one’s fault but your own.

So I find that the stories about power that are most satisfying to me are actually stories about things like truth, judgment, and perseverance. Stories about solving problems. Stories about making decisions. Stories about fucking up and carrying on afterwards. Stories that treat self-possession as the hard work that it is.

I’m curious about what comes afterwards. Already I find myself itching for a new kind of story, but I’m not sure what. Maybe I’ll go back to needing the horror of powerlessness. Maybe I’ll find religion (the wonder of powerlessness). Maybe I’ll go full nihilism, or full hedonism. When I look at the next fifteen years of my life, I see work, but what stories does one need for that? Stories that explore the ideas that you want to explore yourself? It feels open-ended, in a way. For all that I’ve done all this talk about relating to stories, I’ve never actually explicitly gone looking for stories to relate to and identify with. That’s why I wrote this, really. It’s easy to see why I (or anyone) would be drawn to stories about people who looked me, or had the same experiences as me; less easy to see the deeper, more abstract concerns that speak to what one is preoccupied with. But even given that I’ve never had a very identitarian approach to art, I find myself caring less about relatability than ever. And maybe that’s a phase of development too. The phase at which you don’t so much need to process yourself as focus yourself. The phase at which your ego is secure enough that you can let your ego go, and be curious about other things.

#posts: art #posts: not-art #books: ender's game #books: animorphs #tv: farscape

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wiggly-blue-shite · 6 years ago

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Chapter 5! The Bell Doesn’t Dismiss You!

Biology! I really do love this class. Well the AP Bio teacher is super cool and everything makes sense to me. I love this class!

"Hey Henry!" Oh it's him. Chad Stevenson. Star quarterback, straight A student, ASB Vice President. Not only is he a senior, he is also tragically straight, not that he'd be into me. But oh wow those pearly whites.

"Oh hey Chad what's up!" I only see him this period. We're not close but he was my lab partner once! He's so far out of my league I don't even get nervous around him.

"Not much man. Good to see you." He is a practically perfect specimen. It's ridiculous. No human should be like that.

"I don't think I saw you a Sam's party yesterday?"

"I wouldn't be caught dead in that jack offs house." Chad chuckled a little. He fucking looks like Clark Kent it's ridiculous. I chuckle a little too.

The late bell rings and he walks over to his seat. He didn't mention the makeup... huh.

I redirect my attention to the class at hand. I take close notes. Wow I love this class.

I start walking to my next class. AP English language, also a pretty fun class. It's a lot of reading and writing, two of my best activities, other than acting, and science, and music, and probably more things.

You can clearly see those who are hungover. I have a few different species of hungover:

• The absent, which are just the students who didn't come to school today or skip certain classes.

• The basic, which tend to be the white bitch. They put on too much makeup to compensate. It also looks fucking terrible.

• The pissed off, aka Emma. Just bitchy. All the time. Enough said.

• The in denial, they act like everything is normal even though they are visibly suffering.

Etc. my studies will be continued.

I spot Ted from across the courtyard. I don't know what it is about him. Maybe it's the fact that he seems like a human being compared to Chad. I can't help but to smile a little when I see him. I have the peculiar urge to get to know him better. I don't know what it is.

He turns his head, I think he spots me staring at him. He smiles and waves at me. My heart skips a beat. He didn't look away.

I wave back. W don't stop to talk to each other. Passing period isn't long enough.

I get to English and sit down in my seat. I wave at Zoey who sits across from me. I don't hate her like some people do. She's kind of bitchy and annoying. She's also a total fucking diva. But Norah is her best friend, and Norah is my theatre club running mate. I basically only tolerate Zoey because of theatre. I don't want to think about her though.

So I grab the writing assignment we are supposed to work on today and focus on that.

He didn't look away.

Ah no. Writing assignment. Uhh symbolism in King Lear. Oh Jesus Christ. I love this class but why?

He smiled at you. His cute little crooked smile. How could I get to know him better?

No! King Lear symbolism!

Maybe Emma and I could sit at Ted and Paul's table at lunch. Since Emma and Paul are basically dating it wouldn't be weird. Right?

I pull out my phone and hide it so my teacher can't see it. I text Emma.

Henry: Lets sit with Paul today!

She responds immediately. I think she has a free period or a easy elective right now.

Emma: Why

Henry: So you don't want to hang out with Paul?

Emma: No I do but you don't

The teacher walks by and I slide my phone under my thigh. Yes I am paying full attention to the symbolism of King Lear. Jesus Christ.

He goes back to his desk and I pull my phone out.

Emma: Is it Ted? ;)

Henry: What does it matter?

Emma: We can sit with them today ;)

Smug bitch.

I slide my phone back into my pocket.

Alright King Lear symbolism! Really a riveting topic.

I meet up with Emma outside the cafeteria. The lunch line is more tolerable with a friend.

"So Ted?" I fucking knew it.

"Shut up." She already knows I consider him attractive. But I don't know. I want to get to know him I guess.

"This is the first real crush in a while." Emma grabs a tray.

"Ok who said anything about a crush." I just want to get to know him better. He seems like a cool person.

"You haven't asked to sit with a boy before. Sure there's been a few 'let's sit with Norah and Zoey' s but this is like a boy." Oh Jesus Christ.

"I just want to get to know him." We get to the lunch counter. "A yogurt." I smile at the lunch lady handing her my lunch money. She smiles back and hands me basically a parfait. I don't think they're allowed to call it a parfait because those are deserts. But what else would you call fruit in granola layered in yogurt? Well it's the only thing remotely edible that they serve here. I grab a little bag of baby carrots and an apple juice.

"A chicken sandwich." Emma hands the lunch lady her money and is returned with basically just a chicken nugget in two pieces of bread. How are they allowed to serve this? "Get to know him? Is that what the kids are calling it nowadays?"

Jesus fucking Christ.

We head away from the counter to the rest of the cafeteria. I don't see paul or Ted. Come to think of it I don't think they eat in the cafeteria.

"Where do they eat lunch?" I still scan the cafeteria.

"Outside near the English building." I didn't even know there was a place to eat over there.

Once we get there I see there isn't a play to eat. They are sitting under a tree using backpacks as tables sitting on jackets. Weird.

Paul, Bill, Ted, and Charlotte are there. Ted looks surprised to see us. Wait did they know we where coming? It's rude just to show up. I don't want to be rude. My heart rate increases.

"Hi Emma!" Paul calls out cheerfully. It's almost as if I don't exist.

Emma sits next to paul. But there's not much space between Emma and the tree so I can't sit next to her. I don't know where it's ok for me to see. I don't know these dynamics. This was a bad idea.

Bill pats the ground in between him and Ted, signaling me to sit there. So I plop down there. I didn't bring a jacket so I have nothing to sit on, but that's fun.

"Damn if I knew you were gonna be here I would have brought an extra jacket." Ted's voice is warm. I could melt. No one talks about his compassion.

"No it's fine." I really don't care that much. It's nothing.

"I love your makeup." Charlotte speaks up. To be honest I have not heard her speak in a very long time. I think she's on color guard or something like that, I have no idea. I just know she's wrapped around Sam's little finger, but that's common knowledge.

"Thanks!" I really expected more people to hate it.

"I could never rock an outfit like that." Ted leans back a little bit. I can feel his eyes on me. He's watching me. I can feel blood rush to my cheeks.

"Sure you could!" I would love to see that... I mean nothing.

"Wow I can't even imagine Ted in full makeup." Bill laughs. Everyone chuckles a little.

"I'm sure Henry would love to do your makeup." Emma had her evil little smile. I put myself in this situation.

"Sure I'm down." Ted shrugged. Oh great. Well I be would be spending time with him.

"Yeah ok." What am I going to say no?

"Yay!" Emma claps a little. She's more excited for this than me and ted are.

"Hey any word on the school play?" This is the first time I've seen Paul show any interest in our schools theatre program. Emma says he doesn't really like musicals which is preposterous.

"Nope. I think we're just going to be left in the dark until the week of the audition." I'm 80% sure only Emma knows what I'm talking about, but that's fine. "It's not going to be a Shakespeare show, because we did Shakespeare in the fall."

"Does that mean it's going to be a musical? There is distain in Paul's voice.

"Probably." I shrug. I love musicals but it's not like we're going to get the rights to any really cool shows. We don't have the budget.

Paul groans. No one is forcing him to see the show. I don't want him there anyways. He won't appreciate it.

"Well I'm excited for it." Bill pats me on the shoulder. I've seen him in the audience of a couple shows. I'm convinced he just goes to every school function.

"Thanks!" I smile at him.

"Those shows always look like so much fun." Ted stares off retrospectively at the tree. He's correct, they always are super fun. Even if you have diva bitch Zoey there. I didn't know that Ted went to the shows. Oh wow that means he has seen me in some... interesting roles. Oh Jesus Christ he's seen me play Mrs. Bumbrake.

"You should audition." Why did I say that? Bad idea. No no no. "I mean you don't have to, we don't even know what the show is yet. But it is really a fun experience regardless of show. Though it is baseball season, and I know you're on the baseball team. Splitting time between the show and sports might be stressful." I can feel myself rambling, so I shut up.

"Oh shit I totally forgot about baseball." He takes a deep breath, "if I'm being honest I might quit baseball." Everyone sits in quiet for a second, paul looks stunned. "The coach is a dick, he-who-shall-not-be-named is on the team now, and I don't even enjoy it that much."

The silence is unbearable. I prompted this. Well I need to fix it somehow.

"Well there's alway seats open in theatre club." Jesus Christ I am a fucking dumbass.

"I do not belong on stage." Ted chuckles a little breaking some of the tension, "Charlotte knows what I'm talking about, my singing voice is awful." Charlotte giggles a little. I didn't realize they spent time together. I thought she was always at Sam's side.

"You don't have to sing. There's other aspects of theatre, y'know." He probably doesn't know if I'm being completely honest. I don't blame him though. They do not focus on arts education at this school.

"You could be a techie!" Emma gasps. That's actually a good idea. We could use people with more upper body strength on curtains or spot. I would do it, but the spot is on me.

"I don't even know what that is." Ted chuckles again. He has an adorable laugh. Oh and if he was techie I would get to see him all the time.

"You basically work backstage." It's more complicated than that but he doesn't need the whole spiel yet. "The show hasn't even been announced yet so there's not really any desperate need for techies. But I- We'd be so happy to have you!" I caught myself just in time. I see the gleam in Emma's eye. She knows what I almost said.

"I mean if I end up quitting, I'll have nothing better to do." Ted shrugs. Did that work? Is he actually considering it. Am I fucking dreaming? what's happening?

Then the bell rings. Paul and Emma walk off without so much as a goodbye. Charlotte and Bill at least wave goodbye. And I'm left there with Ted. My next class is theatre. I could bring up Ted teching to Mrs. Murray.

"Hey, if you'd like I can talk to Mrs. Murray about it." I try to be nonchalant, even though the thought of Ted being around the theater all the time freaks me out.

"Well I need to quit baseball first." Ted pats my shoulder, I can't help but to tense up. "I'm looking forward to the makeover, see you later." And with that he walks away.

"Bye!" I call out after him. Did that sound desperate? It felt kind of clingy. God damnit I'm pathetic.

Oh shit. I'm going to be late to theatre.

#tgwdlm #tedgens #the bell doesnt dismiss you #fanfic

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raccoonskoodilypoopdungeon · 6 years ago

Text

“The Firebird Trilogy” by Claudia Gray: A Review from an Eighteen Year-Old Teenager Doing a Bachelor’s in Biology

"So does destiny create the math, or does math create our destiny?" "Insufficient data," Paul said.

How did I get here?

So, my friend and I were talking, as friends do, and we went through this rabbit hole involving Powerpuff Girls Z and Zenith. And we came to the topic of A Thousand Pieces of You.

In short, we don’t like it. She stopped at this book. I continued because I was interested enough. That was a mistake. An generous 2/5.

And this isn’t like a thing where all of my friends disliked it. Only the two of us disliked it. Everyone else liked it.

I know I’m not the demographic. I’m not a white girl doing a Bachelor of Fine Arts. I’m asian doing a Bachelor of Science. But whatever.

Imma go into a full review.

Spoilers under the cut.

Good Things:

1. Dimensional Travel. It was the only thing that kept me reading.

2. A sort of exploration of Jean Paul Sartre’s Existence vs Essence

3. The cover art is really nice. It so good. Its like home decoration to me it’s so good.

4. Says “Capitalism is bad.” I like that.

Bad Things:

1. The Characters: Paul and Theo really like Margarita

- Marguerite Caine: I’m not like other girls

Margarita is our protagonist. She’s not like other girls.

We’re pretty different, for sisters—she’s average height while I’m tall; she’s athletic while I’m anything but. She inherited our parent’s love of science and is following in Dad’s footsteps by becoming an oceanographer; I’m the odd duck in the family, the artsy one. Josie’s laid-back while I freak out about every little thing.

She has no interest in science. In a household... where everyone is a scientist. As someone who’s lived in a household where everyone’s a doctor, all of my siblings and I are in some sort of science background. My sister’s a medical doctor, my brother’s a Master in Psychology, and I’m doing a Bachelor’s in Biology. I have no doubt it can happen. But it happens a lot in young adult. I’m tired of humanities main characters. I love the humanities. I don’t know why but everyone I know in science has some sort of humanities background. Everyone in my family can play instruments and paints and does photography.

And can I just say how pretentious that ending was? Here’s my painting its a unique perspective from seeing my alternate dimension selves. She plagiarised herself. She basically plagiarised her alternate dimension selves. I’ll save those in later

- Paul Markov: Nerdy Love Interest

Love interest. Also Russian. Don’t know who he is.

- Theo Beck: Nerdy Love Interest 2: Bad Boy Boogaloo

Love interest. French(?). Does drugs to stay in bodies because idk.

- Henry Caine: Dad

Like the Beatles.

- Sophia Kovalenka: Mom

Depressed without dad.

- Josie Caine: The pretty one

The pretty one. Died in an alternate universe.

- Wyatt Conley: I see why you like Josie

Rich. Villain. Oh... but he’s in love with Josie. Oh no.

As you can see. The characters are well fleshed out. I have headcanons for all of them. Margarita hates sciences because her sister is good at it and she has to be good at something in her family so she pursues the arts. Paul and Theo have no reason to like Margarita. She’s whiny and really unlikeable. But here we are.

2. The Science: So that science huh?

This is a science fiction novel with a murder mystery element. It should something I should be gushing and loving it.

But the science is, uh, meh?

So, there’s this thing called a Firebird. And this miracle baby lets you travel between dimensions. I’m no physicist. The best of my physics knowledge involves how organisms abuse the universe’s physics engine.

The most unrealistic thing about the science here is... the fact that these people got funding. The firebird’s supposed to revolutionise modern science. And I can see how, steal info from other dimensions. But no one with enough funding would be interested. And I get that Wyatt would be interested because he could be funding from Capitalist Dimension. I get that. Okay. Fine.

But the explanation. The Firebird is made of materials that easily move between dimensions, can grab onto consciousness, and leaves a dimensional trace. What material? How does it grab onto the consciousness? What is the dimensional trace? We don’t know because Margarita doesn’t know because ALL THE SCIENTISTS WON’T TELL HER BECAUSE SHE WON’T UNDERSTAND?!?! Anyone with a PhD in science is a nerd that will jump at any opportunity to tell you how something works. You might not understand but they will try their damned hardest. AT LEAST GIVE US PHLEBOTINUM!!

There’s this whole thing where Paul explains how universes are formed because of an asymmetry and that sort of let’s us travel between dimensions and that lets us save dimensions being destroyed. Oh yeah, there’s a plot where the Capitalist Dimension wants to destroy universes to get all the fragments of Josie because that’s how consciousness works. I don’t know how it works. These people do. Whatever. But it feels like... how do you get enough energy to create enough antimatter to destroy entire universes? I don’t know but they’ve probably done enough research and experiments. Fine. How did they invent the solution though? They didn’t have the time to do any experiments or research. Oh well.

Also consciousnesses apparently show up in CT scans. Which means they’re altering the brains of these people. That’s a human rights violation. Never mind the highjacking free will thing. This would never, and I mean never, be approved. I had a research proposal where I would feed Tilapia feed that had little bits of microplastics to see how microplastics affect growth and everything. That was not approved due to ethical reasons. They’re even stricter on humans. Shocking.

3. Existence vs Essence: Does that mean I fell in love with every Paul, everywhere?

Now Claudia Gray has the idea there. But it really falls flat and the potential it had made it worse. If you want a young adult series that handles this idea well go read The Monogatari Series by Nisioisin. Its not in the entire series but in one of the books, Kabukimonogatari.

The entire series is filled with fauxlosophy on this whole thing from Jean Paul Sartre. Admittedly I’m no philosophy major. I took a college philosophy 101 class. That’s my whole thing. I got an A in that class. Those are my credentials.

But Margarita keeps asking if she falls in love with one Paul is it all the Pauls? And if someone in an alternate universe is a murderer does that make her a murderer. But, and this is important, we learn that Firebirds don’t actually find alternate versions of you but a genetically identical version of you that isn’t already in that universe. You see where I’m getting at. They even have a conversation with all the Margaritas she’s ruined in the Sextuplet Universe where she’s sextuplets Osomatsu-san style.

Her questioning was pointless especially since it continues after this point. And she tries so hard to be like, “but if my circumstances were different I’d be Murderer!Margarita.” And Mob Psycho 100 by One deals with this concept really well. Mob gets transported into an alternate world, with no memories, and spends six months there being bullied with no friends or anyone to confine to. He ends up evil. And the villain goes on to say like, “see, you’re only good because of your circumstances!” when Mob gets his memories back. And Mob goes, “that’s right. i’ve been shaped by the people around me and my circumstances. I should be grateful!”

Claudia Gray’s solution is basically Paul goes like “don’t worry because you guys are mathematically close but different so you guys are fundamentally different.” Which is like, no. They’re arguing that essence comes before existence. Which is kinda supported by the fact that every incarnation of her is an artist. Like, not a single Margarita likes science in the multiverse. That makes zero sense. Like what?

In conclusion please do not read this. Or do. Lots of people like this.

#a thousand pieces of you #ten thousand skies above you #a million worlds with you #the fire bird series #claudia gray #review #rant kinda

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blackdragon-selfships · 6 years ago

Note

❤️+any since I can't see your f/os sorry!! (@fictionalharem)

(It’s ok. I need to make an F/O list page...^^’

Also I can’t tell if I should tag each Asker through Anon...but I’ll do that to be safe.

@fictionalharem

—————

I’ll do this one on the Parental and Platonic F/Os

Platonic: Flug, Demencia, 5.0.5

Flug (Nerd Friend ✈️)

-I have several angles I write for how they met and why they’re friends...but the one that seems most fitting is in my story “Missing Pieces”

-Me/g was pulled through from “our” world into theirs via one of Flug’s ray gun inventions (that totally isn’t based on another dimension-travel device from another show I’ve never watched... lol)

-Because of this he’s very curious about her. Specifically what makes her different from the humans in their world.

-If not for Black Hat’s order not to do anything to it (the girl that just passed out on the lab floor) he would have dissected her for science.

-He still wants to do so...but she quells his curiosity a bit by voluntarily answering questions about her world.

-Though she’s more of a biologist (animal-focused), being a biology student before all this, and he’s more of an engineer...they can talk science on a competent level. Though he’s obviously much more knowledgeable than she is on it.

-They also both agree coffee is a godsend.

(That’s all I’ve got for now on him)

Demencia (Lizard Friend 🦎)

-First off, I know Demencia is mostly feral...but I wrote my notes for “Missing Pieces” before I knew this. So keep that in mind.

-I use the term ‘friend’ loosely...

-She is not a friend for quite a while, mostly because she is basically a yandere...and Meg is her (self-proclaimed by Demencia) rival.

-Even before Meg gains the (mostly unwanted at first) attention of Black Hat, Demencia disliked her.

-It isn’t until she accepts the painful truth that she and Meg have any chance of forming a friendship. Or at least a tolerance.

-To clarify, Meg likes Demencia. Demencia does not like Meg.

-They could bond over their love of monsters and reptiles if they become friends.

5.0.5 (Safest friend)

-Honestly he is her stress relief/comfort friend

-Sometimes the cartoony evil of the others can be overwhelming and she needs some semblance of gentle and caring.

-She’s a simple girl with simple needs. She didn’t ask for any of this.

-They draw together

-She bakes and he helps if he’s allowed

-Best hugs

-Her friendship with 5.0.5 helps her friendship with Flug

-It does not help her...whatever it is...with Black Hat

Eclipsa (Goth Butterfly Mom 🦋)

-I don’t know when she started feeling like a third mom to Me/g...but it happened. (To clarify, I’m adopted. I have a birth mom, an adoptive mom, and apparently now a sort-of fictional mom)

-Maybe because they have a lot in common (like dark, creepy things, monster lovers, kind of socially awkward)

-She’s there to give advice or just someone to talk to if Me/g can’t talk to anyone else.

-Would probably get along well with Aaravos... (hint at future art post)

-How Me/g met her: It only works for Universe Traveling version’s of my S/I story...but the one I think about most for this relationship development is BlackDragon-Me/g. She can Universe jump at will So visits the worlds of MY favorite shows, books, and games. That includes “Star vs”.

(That’s all I have for now)

#selfship community #selfship headcanon challenge #selfship #selfshipping #self shipping #self ship #parental f/o #platonic f/os #nerd friend ✈️#lizard friend 🦎#safest friend 🐻#self-insert #me/g #meg #blackdragon #headcanons #selfship story headcanons

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dailynewswebsite · 5 years ago

Text

Three scientists on what we learned from the Arecibo radio telescope

Massive radio telescope dish in Arecibo nationwide observatory. Shutterstock/photospirit

Astronomers are mourning the lack of the world’s second largest radio telescope in Puerto Rico. The US Nationwide Science Basis stated the Arecibo telescope’s 900-tonne instrument platform fell onto a reflector dish some 450ft (137 metres) beneath – simply weeks after it was introduced that the telescope can be dismantled as a result of security fears.

It was a tragic and dramatic finish for this magnificent telescope (as soon as famously scaled by James Bond) which was the most important on this planet till 2019. It has given a lot to humanity from the beginning of its observations in 1963 and all of us have causes to be grateful and to have a good time.

We’re three scientists from completely different fields. However all of us had the great fortune of working with Arecibo in a method or one other. Listed here are our private views and a quick listing of a few of its most vital discoveries.

Philippe Blondel – ‘the message’ and Venus

Stunning as it might appear, I found Arecibo due to a French journal for curious youngsters. In a 1974 challenge of Okapi, it was defined how radio telescopes had been used to take heed to stars, to picture planets and even to ship interstellar radio messages. It was the yr the Arecibo message was broadcast into area.

The message was made up of fundamental numbers, chemistry, biology and the Earth’s location in 1,679 bits (lower than a tweet). It can attain its goal star system in 25,000 years – proving, if proof had been wanted, that Arecibo’s work will stay on lengthy after its bodily demise.

Arecibo was additionally the telescope that gave us the primary high-resolution radar pictures of Venus. It managed to pierce by the heavy clouds that had all the time restricted the view of conventional optical telescopes. In 1970, it took footage of the extremely reflective Alpha and Beta areas and big Maxwell Montes mountain chains, 11km excessive. Then in 1988, by measuring gentle throughout a number of polarisations, Arecibo confirmed how advanced the floor of Earth’s “evil twin” (nearly the identical measurement however plagued with a toxic environment of carbon dioxide and a sweltering 470ºC floor) actually was. The completely different terrains had been seen in superb element and helped put together and lengthen the outcomes of the Magellan mission.

Radar picture of Venus taken by Arecibo. Many options, together with mountain ranges, volcanic domes and craters could be seen. Campbell et al., (NRAO/AUI/NSF); NAIC, CC BY

Arecibo revealed how the intricate patterns of geological buildings criss-cross to type tesserae (which look much like parquet flooring) which might be distinctive to Venus and will not be seen anyplace else within the photo voltaic system.

Karen Masters – hydrogen

A brand new, state-of-the-art seven pixel digital camera was put in at Arecibo in 2004 whereas I used to be finishing my PhD in extragalactic radio astronomy. Radio pixels are very large and that digital camera is the dimensions of a big fridge (it positively gained’t slot in your pocket). It was used to, amongst different issues, detect hydrogen. Hydrogen is essentially the most considerable factor within the universe and it emits a attribute radio sign, often called the “21cm line”.

Karen Masters together with her child daughter on the Arecibo radio telescope in 2008. Karen Masters, Creator offered

Many galaxies have greater than sufficient hydrogen to be detected this manner. And a detection means we are able to additionally measure how briskly these galaxies are rotating and the way distant they’re. Arecibo’s observations of galaxies within the Pisces-Perseus supercluster gained Martha Haynes and Riccardo Giovanelli the 1989 Henry Draper medal for the primary three dimensional map of this large string like construction of galaxies.

As a result of Arecibo was so large it might detect the faintest traces of hydrogen in galaxies – the file for essentially the most distant detections was damaged by Arecibo and the Arecibo digital camera was used to finish a survey which found quite a few, tiny hydrogen-rich galaxies. These discoveries challenged our understanding of how galaxies type.

Carole Mundell – The dynamic universe

Though I started my profession as a radio astronomer mapping hydrogen in close by galaxies, my analysis pursuits now give attention to excessive power, time-variable and transient phenomena within the dynamic universe. For me, Arecibo will stay a pioneering and enduring icon in time-domain astrophysics (the research of how astronomical objects change with time).

From its early work on pulsars to current breakthroughs within the research of mysterious radio flashes, the telescope has probed basic legal guidelines of physics and motivated new discoveries with different services all over the world.

A composite picture of the Crab Nebula displaying the X-ray (blue) and optical (crimson) pictures superimposed. NASA/CXC/ASU/J. Hester et al

Highlights embrace the 1968 discovery of clear proof of a pulsar with a rotation interval of 33 milliseconds within the Crab Nebula (this confirmed earlier solutions by pulsar pioneer Joceyln Bell Burnell that the nebula seemed to be flashing). And the 1974 discovery of the primary binary pulsar (pulsars locked in orbit round a standard centre of mass).

The measurements, taken by Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor, confirmed the lack of power as a result of gravitational radiation predicted in Einstein’s Normal Idea of Relativity. They’d used the telescope to discover a new kind of pulsar which opened up new potentialities for the research of gravitation and led to their 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics.

A long time of Arecibo pulsar monitoring knowledge proceed to be mined by astronomers and in 1992 the primary exoplanet was found round a pulsar.

In 2016, Arecibo found the primary repeating Quick Radio Burst (very short-lived flashes of intense cosmic radio waves). The origin of those bursts continues to be unknown however is probably going lie at cosmic distances past our Milky Means galaxy. The Arecibo discovery heralded a brand new worldwide race to unravel this thriller.

At the moment, generations of astronomers all over the world are grateful to the engineers who realised the dream of the world’s largest radio telescope and ensured it remained a world-leading facility. Arecibo’s discoveries nonetheless stand out and its lengthy scientific legacy is safe.

Karen Masters is a member of the Committee on Radio Frequencies of the Nationwide Academy of Sciences, and on the advisory board for the Inexperienced Financial institution Radio Observatory.

Carole Mundell et Philippe Blondel ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de components, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer revenue de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur poste universitaire.

from Growth News https://growthnews.in/three-scientists-on-what-we-learned-from-the-arecibo-radio-telescope/ via https://growthnews.in

#Growth News

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anonymoustalks · 5 years ago

Text

We thought we were defeating political islam, but after 10 years of the current regime, it's now clear that Islamist have won the social engineering game

(6-18-20) You both like history.

Stranger: Hi

You: hi

You: I should really remove this tag

Stranger: ha ha

Stranger: why

You: idk I'm not very knowledgeable about history

You: what do you like about history?

Stranger: well, we have internet for it

Stranger: war and it's impact on building new civilization

You: I feel like many people on this tag are fond of military history

Stranger: Military history can be boring

You: I'm not very interested in military history

Stranger: me neither, but middle edge politics are good to start with

You: middle age?

Stranger: Religion and politics especially

Stranger: yap

You: mhm

You: I like thinking about what life was like

You: idk what it was like to be a peasant

Stranger: or middle eastern librarian or greek philosopher's assistant

You: mhm right

Stranger: looks like I had longest chat for today

You: I feel like we don't learn enough about the middle east in school

Stranger: school curriculum is biased these days

You: mhm biased towards?

You: like in our school we learned all about the greeks and romans and stuff

You: athens democracy

Stranger: biased towards the dominant followers of religion in that that country

You: mhm

You: I think it's important to study the history of people you're very different from

Stranger: Athens democracy is a safe topic, that's why it is so popular in curriculum.

You: yup

Stranger: Agreed

Stranger: I am not sure where you are from, but I am from a muslim majority country.

You: ohh I'm from the US

You: which country?

Stranger: Muslims are almost sidelined by the Islamists

Stranger: tragedy

You: can you explain the difference for me?

Stranger: give 30 sec

You: this is a really pleasant surprise because I'm used to lots of people from north america at this time on omegle ^^

Stranger: I am from Bangladesh

You: cool

Stranger: Capital Dhaka

You: that's cool

Stranger: was studying the influence of Political Islam in different centuries

Stranger: controversial subject for westerners

Stranger: but not for me

Stranger: it's more of a risky one

You: mhm I think it's important to study

Stranger: being a Muslim in a growing sentimental Islamist dominant society is no longer easy

Stranger: world has changed :(

You: I'm not sure if I"m understanding why it's hard to be muslim in an islamist society?

Stranger: Open discussion about religion, god, science, philosophy was quite prevalent in middle age middle east

You: right

You: golden age

Stranger: but now it's safe to avoid it

Stranger: even within your friend circle

Stranger: looks like I am typing most of the time

You: hm?

You: I'm really interested in hearing what you have to say

You: in your country, is there only one branch of islam that is in power?

You: or are there multiple branches that are tolerated?

You: like in the US, we have catholics, protestants, methodists... a lot of branches of christianity

Stranger: We are democratic country of around 180 million population, led by a female Muslim Prime Minister

Stranger: But after her death, Islamist will reign. Mostly .... :(

You: ohh I see

Stranger: Sunnis are majority here

Stranger: which state are you from?

You: one of the New England ones ^^

You: so right now Bangladesh doesn't have political islam?

You: but you think it it will once the next party takes power?

Stranger: BD has political islam, it just subsided for a while

You: I see

You: what do you think of political islam?

You: like why is it good or bad?

Stranger: but they are active in social engineering

You: mhm

Stranger: Any religion practiced for sake of political dominance, it evil

Stranger: period

Stranger: *is evil

You: oh wow that's a strong opinion ^^

Stranger: We thought we were defeating political islam, but after 10 years of the current regime, it's now clear that Islamist have won the social engineering game

You: mhm what kind of social engineering did they do?

Stranger: just google Turkey before/after Erdogan

Stranger: same thing happened here

You: ah okay

Stranger: So, I believe you would find my stance a bit aggressive, being from one of those New England states

You: hm?

Stranger: I probably branded Islamophobe, if I were in one of those states.

You: ahh

You: I don't think you are an islamophobe

Stranger: definitely I am not, as you already know that I am a Muslim myself

You: I think most americans are broadly supportive of secularism

You: right it's hard for me to imagine any american calling you an islamophobe haha

You: since you are muslim

You: I was just surprised that you called it "evil" since the language sounds very strong

Stranger: you should call it what it is

Stranger: no sugarcoating, when comes to the practice of religious supremacy

You: mhm is that what happens in a religious state?

You: I'm just curious because israel is kind of a religious state? (are they?)

Stranger: it's happening

You: ^^ I'm just trying to understand

Stranger: Israel is progressive, but they are also hurting themselves a bit since the rise of Likud

Stranger: their religious schools and leaders are not dominant.

You: ahh okay

You: thanks for explaining

You: are religious schools bad?

Stranger: not always

Stranger: but in current world, it's definitely not contributing towards peace and progress

Stranger: at least Islamic schools

You: mhm and you are progressive, it sounds like

Stranger: I am disappointed, that people in my country have learned nothing from what happened in Afghanistan, or what's happening in Pakistan everyday.

You: mhm

You: (what happened in Afghanistan?)

Stranger: we all know

You: taliban?

Stranger: Hmm . . .

Stranger: your election is near

You: mh eventually

Stranger: how much influence does religion have in 2020

Stranger: ?

You: (sorry, many of us americans are fairly ignorant about international politics)

You: mhm, maybe a little less than 2016 I think

You: 2016 was a big year because there were many vacant supreme court seats

You: and religious conservatives wanted to appointed justices who were sympathetic to religious values

You: I think trump is more closely aligned with nationalism than religion

You: although the republican party has always been the side for religious conservatives

Stranger: Yes, Trump is definitely not into religion, but need to acknowledge for sake his supporters in Midwest and other red states

You: yup

You: I think economy, coronavirus, and race will play the biggest role n 2020

Stranger: political move, same things happen

Stranger: Bangladesh is in a very interesting position the geopolitical situation in southeast asia

You: because?

Stranger: bordered by India (2nd biggest economy by 2050), nearby China (biggest economy), and US interest to establish military base at Bay of Bengal (since 90s)

You: oh I didn't know the US wanted to establish a military base

Stranger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Garcia

Stranger: lots of Southeast Asian leaders were eliminated to establish one here

Stranger: *alleged

You: oh interesting

Stranger: 20th Century history can be harmful for your sould

Stranger: *soul

You: aww :c

Stranger: International politics is not a gentleman's game anymore

Stranger: before 20th century few good instances were there

You: mhm

Stranger: are you still student?

You: yup!

You: you?

Stranger: I am back in academia again

Stranger: after a while

Stranger: are you in School or University?

You: university

You: "again"?

Stranger: Yes had Engineering, then job then again doing my MSc. Probably higher degrees abroad in next, hopefully

You: oh wow that's a lot of degrees

You: what is it like living in a muslim majority country?

Stranger: in our country, we can't even speak arabic, let alone understand it

Stranger: but political islam and intolerance is growing

You: um... are they adding arabic to your school curriculum?

Stranger: We had one arabic in our school

Stranger: but if you want learn it well, then you need to go to madrasa

Stranger: it's a religious school

You: right

Stranger: not so many tolerant/rationale people come out of this system

You: yeah...

Stranger: we are not the traditional muslim majority country even though it's almost 90% muslim (150 million)

Stranger: you need to go to middle east to experience it

You: mhm are you similar to indonesia?

Stranger: Islamization has taken over traditional culture

Stranger: but it's still quite cosmopolitan in big cities

You: mhm, so islamization is more in rural areas?

Stranger: mostly

Stranger: just study about the Saudi software and it's influence in Indonesia in recent years

Stranger: you will understand how it works

You: ah I don't know anything about it

You: saudi software or anything

Stranger: Saudi software has great influence in Muslim countries. Local culture cannot compete with their budget.

You: oh I didn't know

Stranger: with few billions they can transform society thousand miles away

Stranger: and if US want for their own political gain, then the process become much faster

You: mhm...

Stranger: are you science or humanities?

You: science

You: biology

You: although I also like the humanities

Stranger: but not good for career

Stranger: :(

You: haha ^^ did you want to do humanities?

Stranger: I was good at painting/drawing, but never went to fine arts; you know why.

You: mhm right

Stranger: Wish we could discuss much about the the middle age history

Stranger: but chat is not good for long discussion

You: mhm fair enough

Stranger: just trying the omegle for the first time, didn't expect to get such long conversation.

You: oh really?

You: um, yeah I think this is unusual

You: there are also many mean people here

You: and horny people

Stranger: it has always been like this

Stranger: I was feeling nostalgic about the good old yahoo chatroom

Stranger: so a friend told me to try Omegle

You: oh wow, I never used that

Stranger: they were great when I started using internet on slow broadband

Stranger: mean people were there too

You: mhm

Stranger: but some focused chatroom was also created

You: which chatrooms did you like?

Stranger: movies, football, book discussion

Stranger: it was back in 2004-2008

You: mhm a while ago

Stranger: I think you were much younger back then

Stranger: ha ha

You: how are you?

You: *how old

Stranger: I am in my early 30s

You: ahh cool

You: I'm 26

Stranger: so do you like sports?

You: mhm, not very much

You: I'm a little boring haha

Stranger: it's okay

Stranger: have you ever been to Asia?

You: yup, I have!

You: I'm Chinese American actually

Stranger: are you born in China then moved to USA?

You: nope, born in the US

You: my parents immigrated here for graduate school

Stranger: I see

Stranger: It's 9:45AM here

You: mhm I guess you have to go?

Stranger: what time at your place?

You: nearly midnight

Stranger: I think it's about time to sleep. I haven't slept last night. was doing some work.

You: ohhh

You: go to bed!

You: that's so late!

You: it was nice talking to you

Stranger: Yeah . . . .

Stranger: Yes it was good

You: I thought you just woke up

Stranger: we all in lockdown and it's weekend here

Stranger: Friday, Saturday our weekend

You: ahh

You: I didn't even know that

Stranger: So watched Netflix all night

You: haha

Stranger: It's good to chat with you

Stranger: well the best with your studies

You: yup, you too

You: good luck!

Stranger: you too . . . . :)

You have disconnected.

#omegle #history #bangladesh #islam #political islam #religion #politics #secularism

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jam2289 · 5 years ago

Text

On the Subjects of Education

The subject of education is large. It technically covers all of the information ever known, or at least currently known. It's hard to face something that enormous and determine which direction to go. Nevertheless, we must wrest some semblance of order from the clutches of this giant known as education and determine a path forward.

I was recently teaching a young actress who is focused on her career to the exclusion of most other things. She's currently in a play, and because they have had intensive rehearsals for the last few weeks she has missed school.

This is a normal cycle for her. She has a job that consumes most of her time and energy for a few months. Her mother and father work with her during that time on some subjects. And obviously she still has private English lessons with me. Then, after the job is done, she goes back to school. But, as her career grows that's becoming harder to do, and it seems like a normal high school experience may not be the path for her.

That's all fine. You can learn just as well, or better, at home. I skipped quite a lot of school. My mother would ask me why I was skipping school and I would tell her I could learn more by staying home and reading. Which is true. But, she assured me that I still had to go to school.

Learning is almost impossible without inner motivation. With some people, usually certain kids, that's a huge part of my real work. It's finding out what they want to learn so that they will be motivated and engage in the material. This actress and I have been working on this exact problem. She's very specific about what she doesn't think she needs to know, so she doesn't want to study certain things.

I decided to start over, to have a discussion about what she thought would be valuable to her.

There are many ways to think about the structure of education. It was in medieval universities where subjects were divided up in the way that we recognize today. (Yes, I'm going to ignore ancient Greece, ancient Rome, and the rest of the world for now.)

First, there was the trivium, which consisted of: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Next, there was the quadrivium, which consisted of: music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. That's a total of seven subjects, which seems like a decent number to me.

One of the problems with education now is that there are too many directions to go. Just look at the lists of majors at universities. There are hundreds of them. Do you need to study hundreds of subjects to have an idea of how the world fits together? Yes, you do. That's a problem.

One reaction to this problem is to overreact. To decide that there is so much to learn that it doesn't matter. That you just have to choose. I think that might be a natural tendency for someone that is as career focused as this young woman, and it was the direction she was headed in.

The first thing I wanted to do was find a base, to establish common ground. It's hard to beat the concept of the 3 Rs: reading, writing, and arithmetic. She agreed that all of those were important, and she's already doing pretty well at all of those in both English and Russian.

It's hard to beat the 3 Rs, but I can, with what I have termed the 4 Rs: reading, writing, arithmetic, and rhetoric. In this case, by rhetoric I mean the various forms of public speaking. It's a skill that can be learned with steady practice. I did it primarily through Toastmasters. And it's immensely valuable in so many ways. Luckily, as an actress, my student is already doing a lot of training in that direction.

After that we run into the same problem, there are too many directions to go. Here's a way to solve that. Study a subject that covers all of the rest. There is one subject that covers every other subject, and I'm not talking about philosophy, although that's a good guess. I'm talking about history.

Everything that has ever happened is a part of history. Every subject is a part of history. Here's the problem with history, it's boring. But that's because of the normal way in which it is taught in schools. "Here's a date and a place, and here's some stuff that happened then and there. Remember it for the test." Completely boring! There is a better way.

Because everything in history is connected you can pick up a thread almost anywhere and it will lead you to places that are astounding.

If the student just happens to be interested in the American Civil War, as a for instance, that's going to connect with why there was a cultural division, how it came about, how it resolved, the history of slavery, religions impact on all of this, the history of laws in both the United States and Europe, international trade and politics, military operations, different economic systems, technology improvements in arms, spying and codes, shipping, land transportation, and so much more. More than you could study in a lifetime, or two.

So, just start with something or someone your interested in. And the someone is important. People are interested in people, and people are what make history. Read the original sources if you can, instead of what someone says about what someone says. Commentaries and interpretations can be great, but you'll often find that the truth is different from what's in the textbook. Read the speeches, read the letters, read the official reports, the diaries, the journals, etc. You'll be amazed how much history continually changes, and it will be interesting the entire time.

You'll need to zoom in and zoom out continually to understand what you're learning. In our example, to understand the American Civil War you need to know what the Corwin Amendment is, and what the Minie Ball is. Those are specific things from that specific time. You also need to know the debates about states rights that the American Founding Fathers were having a century before the Civil War when they made the Articles of Confederation, and then replaced them with the American Constitution. To understand those, you need to understand English political history for the 700 years before 1800, Roman law, the Viking political system, Athenian democracy, and more. And none of that even touches on the Minie Ball.

I think I made my point. I convinced my student too, history is a great subject that is an inexhaustible source of valuable and useful knowledge.

The other most important subject for understanding how the world fits together is literature. Humans think in stories. And they are more than that, much more than that. Stories communicate things that we can't communicate in any other way. They transmit culture, worldviews, morals, and unconscious insights. They help show us more than what has been, they help to show us what can be, and what should be. They allow us to work out behavioral patterns in a separate reality and come to conclusions about right and wrong, good and evil. Without stories, we would not be human.

Of course, as an actress she was already sold on the importance of stories and literature.

With these six things as a foundation you are equipped to explore and decide on other areas of exploration. There are so many. I like the rest of the humanities, especially things like psychology, anthropology, politics, economics, religion, and philosophy.

The major criticism that I probably deserve up to this point is that I haven't mentioned science. It's good to have a general overview, but for all of the focus on science in our society, most people don't know that much, and don't need to know that much about it. Touching on biology, chemistry, and physics often seems to let kids know when and if they're interested in these things. Learn some of the history. Then, you can explore as much and as deep as you want, just like all of the subjects in the humanities that I mentioned.

I have a student right now that's highly interested in biology. She's eleven. That's great. We're specifically working on writing because her and her mother want her to improve in that area, but I still think it's useful to incorporate other subjects that she's interested in. I do that in an odd way. For instance, we talked about how Michael Crichton had an M.D. from Harvard University, and now we're writing some science fiction while also talking about genetic modification. In this case biology becomes literature.

There are so many other choices that have to be made. What about music, languages, sports, trades, fine arts, performance arts, law, medicine, business, finance, accounting, theology, engineering, electronics, and programming? Yeah, I say do them all, or do all of the ones you're interested in, or all of the ones that you're interested in that you can also manage as far as your time, energy, money, and attention are concerned. These are choices that have to be made based on interest and context.

These are often the areas where people will do a little bit of something and then switch. Do one thing for a couple of years, and then move on. I think it's perfectly fine, and even good, to explore like this. At least get some exposure so that you know what you don't like. And it's probably good advice to then dive deep somewhere and really drill into something. Parents can have a major influence over that, but in the end the student will ultimately decide if they are going to engage and give something their attention and dedication.

If you focus on the first two layers of education that I propose you will have laid a solid foundation that is a benefit to everyone. Start with the 4 Rs: reading, writing, arithmetic, and rhetoric. Expand on that by reading, writing, and talking about literature and history. The rest we can never be as sure about, for life in the end is always an exploration, and education is no different.

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Read more of Jeff's thoughts at: http://www.jeffreyalexandermartin.com/

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