medievalraven

[medievalraven]

#me on vacation

[medievalraven]

#:O #love it

[medievalraven]

one thing about americans is that they know how to make a fucking milkshake

#this is the america content i want to see #thick milkshakes only please #i should need a fucking spoon

[medievalraven]

#reminders

[medievalraven]

KP Anniversary | Favourite Tour Moments [1/?] KinnPorsche World Tour + 🏳️‍🌈

[video cr. 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16]

#:)))))) #kinnporsche world tour

[medievalraven]

I wonder: Do Americans know about american school buses? Not their existence in general, but how they're seen overseas.

Over here, they're one of the symbols of America, on par with the Statue of Liberty, the flag, the Eagle, and well ahead of any chain restaurant you can name. People won't know any US states, but they will know these vehicles.

The thing is, here in Germany, we don't have dedicated school buses. The general idea is that kids go to school on their own. When that's not practical, they're expected to use (and given free tickets for) public transit. Public transit is designed around this requirement; there are many places where there is a bus, and anyone can get on it, but the route and timetable really only makes sense for school children. In case a dedicated school bus is really needed, that's generally subcontracted out, and the lines either use something like a Sprinter Van for smaller routes, or a normal city or interurban bus (often a used one that's a bit older). School trips are normal public transit, or a rented bus, typically a coach or regional bus.

It's not a perfect system, in the past couple of years there's been an epidemic of people bringing their kids to school in their cars instead of letting them walk, which is less than ideal. It is what it is. But building a dedicated network of public transit lines only for students, and building dedicated vehicles only for that, has never occurred to anyone here.

Of course we know about these buses, from movies and such, but they're as foreign here as cacti or pick-up trucks (actually we're seeing more and more of these here) or yellow cabs (all europeans will assume all cabs in the US are yellow until they actually visit).

You do see these buses here at times, because people still generally like the idea of the US, even if they have a lot of issues with a lot of details, and so folks bring them over, along with stretch limos and stuff (also not really a thing here). And of course, if someone goes to all that trouble, they don't do it to haul school kids, they rent it out for city tours or as a party bus or whatever.

So you see these yellow things as a symbol of faraway places, scenic vistas, some vague undefined idea of freedom that doesn't necessarily hold up to any contact with reality, and it's just a huge part of the whole US aesthetic.

And then you go to a student exchange with the US, and you finally get the chance: You yourself get to ride in one of these iconic chrome yellow buses! It looks just like in the movies! You get in, you drive in them a little…

…and you realise they're shit. Just the worst buses in the western world. Terrible suspension. Uncomfortable seats with weirdly high backs (so they don't have to put seatbelts in, they just restrict how far kids can fly in an accident). Everything made out of the cheapest materials. Turns out the reason why the US uses school buses like that instead of normal modern city buses, which the US has, is to save money and because they just hate kids.

And then it hits you why US Americans say "as American as apple pie", a dish that is made and enjoyed literally anywhere in the world, instead of "as American as yellow school buses". Of course the Americans already knew all this. They got tortured by these things forever. It would never occur to them to see this as a symbol of America, it's just a normal part of life for them. It's a symbol of school and school life and sometimes normalcy, and tells us that these actors getting out of it are supposed to be teenagers, nothing more.

But most people in Europe have, of course, never ridden on these buses. So when they see them in movies and TV, that's a giant big yellow signifier that we're not in Hessen or Wallonia or wherever anymore. A symbol of a different world, one that may be at most a once-in-a-lifetime-experience for most people, just like a picture of a tropical beach, Mayan Pyramids, the Great Wall of China, or Hildesheim (there's no reason to go there twice). And I think Americans don't know that, and that's fascinating.

#there are a lot of valid reasons to shit on america #there are #but school buses are not one of them #besides the like obvious that america significantly lacks public infrastructure for any solid transportation system #it ignores the fact that school buses are mostly meant for kids that don’t live in the immediate area and they need a way to go to school #without school buses these rural kids just wouldn’t go to school #so the country cares enough about education that it provides a free service to take kids to their free school #emphasis on free #so to say america hates kids is just dumb #i’m sorry but it is #and these buses aren’t any worse than most the city buses i’ve been on in europe #so to say they’re torture? #i think this is just tbh a bad take and if you want to shit on america pick on the fact that kids can be denied food at schools #because some places have things calls school lunch debt and that’s enough to deny them more meals #but at least america is trying with the buses and to write that off is a bad faith argument

[medievalraven]

mundane tasks like wiping down surfaces & folding the laundry can be spiritual practices and even blessings if we allow them to be

#:)

[medievalraven]

no reason for making this i just miss him more than anything

#so handsome #kinnporsche

[medievalraven]

perhaps the antidote to overconsumption is thankfulness. I am thankful for one notebook at a time and I am thankful for the coffee and tea I have at my house and I am thankful for the books I havent read yet and im thankful for these clothes I can make so many outfits with

#reminders

[medievalraven]

And who enforces this? Is it just a few bad apples, or is it all cops?

How hard is it for them to find cops willing to enforce this? Do they have to sift through hundreds of heroic cops who refuse until they find the one cop who's monstrous enough to enforce this, or do they easily find cops willing to enforce this because monstrous cops are everywhere and being a monster is part of the job?

"All cops are bad" is not a stereotype. It's literally a requirement for the job that every single one knew about.

#sigh #it’s disappointing when you see places not uplift but punish people existing or struggling

[medievalraven]

Reblog to sniff and paw at prev

#:)

[medievalraven]

Happy Pride Month!

Faust the Crow loves you even more than she did the last 2 years!

#:)

[medievalraven]

reliquary of St Valentine - pam wishbow 2021

#:)

[medievalraven]

#lol

[medievalraven]

#reminders

[medievalraven]

recently there was an article talking about people who had to end friendships with swifties because of their literal cult behaviour and i keep thinking about one quote where a swiftie told her now ex friend who suggested other female songwriters "well i just have more expensive taste than you". when you think of this phenomenon from that angle, with a new album every 6 months, all the bloated chart numbers from people buying like 8 vinyl variants of the same album every time, massively inflated tour ticket prices etc, it really all falls into place. i'm honestly shocked that person in the article so readily admitted it like that, because it backs up what i've been saying this whole time, which is that hardcore swifties' behaviour for the most part isn't about them genuinely thinking she's the songwriter of a generation or whatever, it's about status, about money, about paying to be in the "in" group, and the obsessive focus on swarming around anyone with a less-than-glowing view of her or her music is just about keeping it that way.

#there was a youtube video or another article that kinda talked about this too #just how expensive fandom has become #and it serves as a way to gate keep any source of media #it's almost like the whole stanley cup thing #where people gate keep over the ability to have a $50 reusable cup? #it's just boils down to being able to participate in what's 'trendy' and acceptable without monetary worries

[medievalraven]

Look I’m a simple woman with simple tastes. I like my villains intelligent, unhinged and obsessed with the hero to the point of homoeroticism

#:)