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autball · 2 days

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Part 1 of a 5 part series about the ways harmful practices are being made to sound more appealing through the co-opting of language and how to spot the differences between helpful and harmful approaches.

The language of the Neurodiversity Paradigm is soooo hot right now. Everyone from ABA centers to social media creators are adopting it to sound like they’re safer and more knowledgeable than they are.

But you can’t just pop some neuro-word in place of “autism” and stop picking on a couple of Autistic traits and call yourself “Neuro-affirming.” That’s the low-hanging fruit of #neurodiversitylite.

REAL Neuro-affirming practice comes from a complete shift in mindset, unlearning all the harmful things you once thought were true, and learning about all the things you never even knew you didn’t know. It’s also an ongoing process, not just something you can learn from reading an article or taking a single training.

ABA practitioners are probably the worst offenders right now, mainly because they know they need to rebrand as more and more people learn about what ABA really does to people, but also because their practices in particular are THE furthest away from being Neuro-affirming compared to any other discipline.

They are not the only ones, though, so be wary of #neurodiversitylite in ANY resource aimed at autistic people that appears to be saying all the right things, including: OT, speech, play/talk therapy, early intervention, education, your favorite parenting expert or social media personality who just discovered the world of Neurodiversity, etc.

Look beyond someone’s use of the “right” words or symbols. Do they talk about teaching people to fit into the normative world, or how to more safely and authentically navigate a world not made for them? Do they talk about making the person easier to deal with, or making life easier for the person? Do they concentrate on external behaviors, or are they more concerned with internal experiences? Does most of what they know come from people who studied autistic people from the outside looking in, or from actual autistic people who can speak from lived experience? And are they even using the words right??

The good news is that there are SO MANY resources out there BY autistic and otherwise Neurodivergent people for anyone who wants to learn how to make their practice *actually* more Neuro-affirming. SO MANY!! Three such resources are featured in the second panel from Autism Level UP, Neurowild, and Kieran Rose-The Autistic Advocate. (Big thanks to them for letting me include their work in the cartoon!)

EXPLANATION OF WHAT’S WRONG IN THE “FAKE” PANEL:

- The phrase “individuals with neurodiversity” misuses the word “neurodiversity” and utilizes person first language. The Neuro-affirming phrase would be “neurodivergent people,” or “autistic people” if they specifically meant autistic people.

- Getting rid of puzzle piece stuff is merely a surface level first step, not an end point.

- Not forcing eye contact and allowing hand-flapping are also only surface level first steps. The fact that they still target other stims means they do not understand the importance or functions of stimming, making them incapable of being Neuro-affirming.

- Social skills training aimed at ND people usually centers NT social skills as the “right way” and frames ND social skills as the “wrong way,” making them shame inducing and not at all affirming.

- “Tolerating distress” most often means “suppressing distress.” Neuro-affirming practice would concentrate on identifying and avoiding triggers, helping the person stay regulated, and teaching the person how to accommodate and advocate for their needs so that they are not distressed in the first place.

- “Sensory desensitization” is not a thing that can be done to someone without harm. It is usually done with exposure therapy, which should not be done TO someone who cannot consent. It is also inappropriate for sensory issues, which tells us they don’t understand sensory processing differences at all.

- The posters: Whole Body Listening is based on neuronormative expectations; “They say I’m neurodiverse” is incorrect usage of the word “neurodiverse” (it should be “neurodivergent”), and “but I say I’m perfect” insinuates that being “neurodiverse” is a bad thing, while the use of the rainbow infinity symbol with such a non-affirming message adds to the dissonance; the ABC’s of Behavior is an indicator that ABA/behaviorism will be used, which is the opposite of Neuro-affirming practice.

EXPLANATION OF WHAT’S RIGHT IN THE “REAL” PANEL:

- The person accurately explains what Neuro-affirming practice looks like, without needing to use (or misuse) any Neurodiversity “buzzwords.”

- Bumper, A Whole Body Learner, is a resource created by Autism Level UP that encourages people to discover what it looks like for them to be ready to learn, acknowledging that there is no one right way to appear attentive.

- The poster by Neurowild indicates that they value difference and neurodiversity and that they know there is no one right way of being.

- They use the Advoc8 Framework, a resource created by Kieran Rose, The Autistic Advocate. Using this framework means they want to help the people they work with achieve Agency, Autonomy, (Self) Acceptance, and Authenticity.

#autism #autistic #actually autistic #adhd #audhd #neurodiversity #neuro-affirming #neurodiversity lite

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writers-potion · 1 day

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Do you have any tips for deciding whether to use first or third person and present or past tense??

1st vs. 3rd Person | Present vs. Past Tense

1st Person is Best Used When...

The antagonist is abstract/is a psychological barrier that must be overcome

It's easier to weave backstory/info with experience.

Immediacy and toppling high stakes are important for the reader to keep rooting for your MC (like in the case of many fantasy novels)

You have an unreliable narrator.

You struggle to have a consistent tone/perspective. (third person not executed well will easily get confusing)

For literary fiction

3rd Person is Best Used When...

You have multiple MCs, following them more or less equally throughout.

You have freedom to move from wide, establishing views and closed-in views - this is good for conveying the theme.

You find yourself injecting too much of yourself in your writing and wish to prevent this.

You want the reader to view the MC more objectively, sometimes the narrator even offering commentary.

You wish to make use of dramtic irony (the reader knows more than the MC)

Present Tense is Best For...

The majority of novels are written in the past tense, and would be the easier one to execute if you're a first-time writer. However, present tense is certainly not inferior.

It feels like a movie: it allows you to mimic the action and suspense found in film.

It intensifies emotions: it gives the feeling of "we're in this together", the reader experiencing things with the MC side to side.

Works well with Deep POV: Deep POV uses third person narrators like 1st person, sticking with one character's mind for closeness.

Best for short-time-frame stories with constant action.

Works well for unreliable narrators: Since the narrative is so close to the action, it is easy to have a narrator that leaves out details.

However...

Readers can feel "claustrophobic, always pressed up against the immediate" (Philip Pullman quote)

Time shifts can be awkward - you're locked in the present more or less; unless you use flashbacks/dreams (which are disruptive)

It's harder to execute because you need to capture the texture of the present while acknowledging that the past and the future still exist.

It mimics film - you cannot just jump characters, speak directly to the reader or do time skips.

Books written in present tense (and are still good!)

The Hunger Games series

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Rabbit, Run by John Updike

Ulysses by James Joyce

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque

Fight Club by Chuck Palhniuk

The White Queen by Philippa Gregroy

Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

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💎Before you ask, check out my masterpost part 1 and part 2

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tetheredfailures · 2 days

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the gangle ever... (she's wearing a curtain drape as a scarf) i'll probably dive into more lore for this au later but basically CnA discontinued the game, the code of the game began to "rot" because of it due to not being maintained, the headsets were thrown away into trash heeps from the original cast, A person with similar characterists to Gangle (irl) goes to find some old tech junk, discovers the ancient headset from the 90s and tries to fix it up the best they can. (It no longer locks you into the game / you can take the headset off whenever ) and inside the game terms, exit the game at any time. It's completely in disrepair, the skybox and landscape is broken, pieces of The Grounds floating away and back to where they were originally, faded with this white-ish blank canvas look to the whole place, the tent no different, walls ripped down, abstracted goop on the floors. NPCs and anything that Caine had created became these melted amalgamations, not exactly "abstracted" , yet, but just these creepy melted creatures. For example Gummigoo's gang melted into one congealed gummy creature, and so on. Caine is lost inside the void, his speech akin to how Spamton speaks now due to being discontinued and not upkept, Bubbles code was in complete disrepair to the point it was only Caine left in his game, waiting for participants to join his Circus. When she put on the headset though, it tried to load Gangles old model, missing some bytes of texture data and mesh data, her mask was broken, with the games filter system trying to censor it as it considered it "not suitable for kids", and then her missing texture data defaulted to the "Test Map" texture. A monitor appears infront of her, with Caine confronting them (with the headsets too, the people wearing them ((as more people will come into the circus who share similarities to the old cast)) will get these migraine/headaches, as the headset tries to put old memories inside of their heads from what character they're representing, so the person behind the Gangle model will experience memories from the OLD Gangle, without them ever having them.) Caine since then has a box with bubble drawn on it as, their code is just not viable anymore, so he talks to the box like if Bubble was still there. Gangle here shares memories of disliking Jax as they explore the circus, walking down the hallways to see these old rooms, even without knowing who "Jax" is, but with the headset trying to force these memories onto them. Caine mentions he's not in a fit enough state to be the circus' ringmaster anymore, attending adventures n whatnot, so he just tries to guide whoever may stumble across the game around the circus and explain to them what happened in the past. He mentions he cannot keep her there but, all he asks is that if she could return, he might be an old AI at this point but he enjoys the company, since he mentions Bubble "stopped talking to him" after a while (since yknow, it isn't actuallt Bubble it's just a cardboard box with bubble drawn on it), she mentions that she'll be back, as she feels some sort of remorse for Caine's situation, even IF he's just an AI.

#tadc #the bygone digital circus #tadc au #the amazing digital circus #gangle #3d model

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always-is-always · 8 hours

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As much as I/we miss the guys, I personally feel that their time in the military is a BIG gift. Time away from the public eye, cameras, media, and all of that stuff...

Especially Jimin-ah and Jungkook-ah. I would dare say that this is the longest amount of time that they have had away from the public, away from invasive cameras, and at the same time sharing the same space. Yeah, it's the military, but they are TOGETHER as companions. 18 months, together. Sleeping next to each other every night, together. Eating meals, together. Yeah. Together together.

Yes, I miss them. And, at the same time I can't put my feelings above the fact that they are getting a well needed break from us/ARMYs, and from the heavy burden of being BTS. It's like they are having the experience of being regular Human Beings, for 18 months.

I think that many of us forget just how unusual life has been for those seven men. Beginning when they were teens or in their early 20's. They have in no way had a normal experience of growing up, into adulthood. The intensity of training, the chaos of sharing living space with each other, and the exposure to CAMERAS 24/7. (Who on earth can live with cameras in every room recording you 24/7??? No privacy???) Not to mention staff being in their space, every single day. Being in the public eye when you don't even know who you are inside of yourself is hard. It can really mess you up, emotionally, mentally, and if you start numbing with alcohol and drugs then it messes you up physically as well... not to mention the Spirit and Soul levels of it all...

The expectations that they have lived with are massive. Put that on the shoulders of a 15 year old, or a 20 year old for any length of time and it has an impact. I personally think it is sad, what they have had to get through, just to be who they are as BTS. All the money in the world cannot give them back the moments of innocence, their ability to be normal guys going through puberty, and to be just regular Humans with regular challenges.

So yeah, I think that this little "sabbatical" that is their military service, is a huge gift. It was the only way that any of them would get any length of time away from the public eye. It was the only way for them to have any length of time just being Human.

While it is exciting for the coming arrival of Jin after he is discharged, I also recognize what he is stepping back into. Being the only member out until October when Hobi returns means that he will be taking on a huge energetic pressure. It will be quite an adjustment for him, like a reverse culture-shock. It will take him some time to really get used to being back out, though we will probably never hear him speak of it.

Jin is brave, to put it mildly. I hope he has all the support he needs, as he transitions out into the public, again.

Circling back to Jimin and jungkook... I do miss them and sometimes wish for some little crumb of something. And at the same time I recognize just how precious this time away is, for them. We are going to see a next-level bond between them, when they return.

In the meantime, happy 2024 FESTA, ya'll! 💜💜💜

#jikook #kookmin #bts #bangtan #festa 2024 #miss them as 7 #jeon jungkook #park jimin #kim seokjin #they are human beings

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yuriachu · 3 days

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whats ur opinion on generation loss niki? was curious because she's probably my favorite of nihachus characters,,extremely well written imo

I LOVE HER SOO MUCH OKAY . tbh i rlly rlly wish in general genloss went more into character deveklopment or was just Longer bc they had SUCH good personalities and god i want to know More..

what makes gl!niki for me is her acting- she is chillingly good at eliciting a reaction, and i think thats the goal both in and out of character. honestly i need to rewatch genloss im rusty but the way she saves the majority of her distress for when she's (mostly) off camera speaks to how she knows she needs to be what she precieves as likable, and playing up what she thinks are her 'best' qualities like kindness, and less explicitly, her ability to hide her emotions and please an audience. she needs to be good content for the audience if she has any hope of survival. she thinks no one will want her if she isn't nice and easy to digest. she doesnt percieve worth in herself if she isn't what shes assigned to be, a nice and kind person. even under extreme distress. even when she could die.

i know some people percieve her crying/fear to be fake or ingeniune but i really prefer the take (semi confirmed from cc!Niki) that she's switching it off or repressing her real emotions in a desperate attempt of survival.. it would be really suprising for someone to not be so incredibly scared in that situation. i remember when niki did a stream discussing genloss she said she pulled a lot from the reactions of how people would comment on her crying in stressful events like mcc and that it was directly kind of taken from those experiences of being a public figure (and by extention a woman in these spaces bc lets be real thats why she gets that backlash). i think thats so incredibly powerful to use those experiences to build a character it makes me sick cc!niki ilysm. gl!niki ilysm.

a direct quote from cc!niki about gl!niki: "i am literally locked up on a spinning wheel of death, and of course i will cry, but i will not show it- i will not be able to show it to the audience, i cannot show them that i'm scared. i cannot show them that i'm tired and- and sad, and fearing for my life, because that is what is expected of me. because the outcome that happens if i show how i feel is worse than the fate of death that i am fearing right now."

so in a way (to my small rabbit brain) gl!niki is an incredibly chilling take on the way fandom and the public treat women in content creation space as machines who can only express emotions that are pretty or convient for the audience.. like. even in an incredibly terrifying situation gl!niki steels herself to be more 'calm' and plays into what people percieve as the Single facet of her personaliy, being Nice.. Like, 'look at me! i'm completely rational, not overly emotional! i'm so useful and likable! i'm good content!" and ITS INSANE!!!!!!! ITS INSANE!!! HOW DO U COPE WITH THIS. I FEEL ILL. i nihachu defender lover brain so like . this is all just my own rambling idek . i love her to pieces </3

#niki.txt #ask #im so sorry for going on a rant here oh my god this is so long #i started and i couldnt stop #also i didnt proofread this sorry abt typos or grammar errors i kept going back and adding things #gl!niki

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sanya-is-me · 3 days

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Some quotes from Robin Harris's «Talleyrand - Betrayer and Saviour of France»

«The relationship between Talleyrand and Napoleon was complex. Moreover, it evolved over time. It sometimes resembled a love affair, or perhaps a marriage, even if it never amounted to a friendship. It left its marks, and in some respects scars, on both men, but particularly upon Napoleon, who was more sensitive and more vain. Before 18 Brumaire, Talleyrand’s age, experience, sophistication and connections had given him a social edge over the young general. He even exhibited a quasi-paternal affection. Bonaparte, for his part, seems on occasion to have played on it. Sick in bed and learning from Napoleon that he was departing for Egypt without any money, Charles-Maurice told him to go and take 100,000 francs from his desk drawer. Some years later, Napoleon asked him what he had hoped to gain from this generosity and his Foreign Minister answered, perhaps even truthfully, that it was just an impulse. The (now) Emperor replied brutally that, in that case, it had been the action of a dupe»

«In his memoirs, Talleyrand speaks simply and persuasively of his early attitude to Napoleon: ‘I loved Napoleon. I was even attached to him as a person, despite his faults. At the start, I felt myself drawn towards him by that irresistible attraction that a great genius brings with him. His generosity had provoked within me a sincere gratitude. Why should I be afraid to say so?… I had enjoyed his glory and the reflections of it that fell on to those who assisted him in his noble task’»

«Charles-Maurice’s own letters, by contrast, reveal much of how he kept his grip on power: by the graceful insinuation with which he cultivated the great man’s favour. Thus, departing for his annual cure to Bourbonl’Archambault in June 1801, and conscious, it must be added, of the First Consul’s own fragile health, he wrote:

‘I leave with the sole but lively regret of going far away from you. The feelings that attach me to you and my conviction that the devotion of my life to your destiny, to the large vision that inspires you, is not useless to its fulfilment, have brought an interest to the care of my health that I never previously felt… Permit me to repeat that I love you, that I am afflicted at leaving, that I have the most lively impatience to come near you again, and that my devotion will only end with my life’

The following month, having heard that a parade had been cancelled, and surmising that the First Consul was seriously ill, Talleyrand wrote:

‘I cannot entertain the idea of seeing pain approach you, first because I love you, and after that because, being the person best equipped for all happiness, you would be the most pitiable of all if you saw before you a prospect of suffering against which force of character could do nothing, and philosophy still less… I do not like your library, you spend too long there. I believe it to be damp; ground floors do not suit you; you are made for the heights’»

#napoleon #talleyrand #napoleon bonaparte #napoleonic era #napoleon/talleyrand #currently reading #love these two #robin harris

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crispyjenkins · 2 years

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Hi, I haven't watched Clone Wars in a long while but I find what you said about Ventress/the nightsisters interesting. I've seen the statement that the nightsisters are "white oppressors" of the nightbrothers who are coded as MOC. Some fans of color have remarked that the depiction of the nightbrothers/sisters was uncomfortable for this reason, which I think is valid but Im interested in your opinion on it.

hello!! can you dm me the post you're talking about? i just can’t remember what i said about it ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

otherwise though, i don’t feel like. qualified to speak on the race side of this? i could absolutely rant about ventress and the nightsisters being a weird dominatrix sex fantasy for the male writers and creators of the show, and how they're a bullshit sexist-male-with-a-repressed-dom/sub-kink take on a "matriarchal" society, but im not sure it’s my space to speak on the, indeed, heavily moc-coded nightbrothers, and how imperialism and race play into the creation of and writing of both them and the nightsisters

im white from a lower-middle class family, so i have no personal experience relevant to the topic except some anecdotes about people close to me that have experienced it, and ive unfortunately fallen pretty heavily off the wagon of research and activism, so i don’t feel caught up on current discussion, and am no longer confident in my memory of the discussion i WAS caught up on before the pandemic and the first year of this blog

i suppose a short answer to your question would be: yes, i fully believe the dichotomy and relationship of the nightsisters and nightbrothers is steeped in race and imperialism, and can’t be separated from the fetishistic and misogynist hypersexualisation of the nightsisters’ design and function in the story. i don’t think anything in star wars media is free of racism and/or imperialism and/or antisemitism and/or islamaphobia, not when it’s actual basis is built on appropriation as far back as A New Hope, and not when the clone wars is post-9/11 and very much a product of its time.

i just think i don’t have enough knowledge to have an actual discussion about it without a lot more research on my part, or without bringing in relevant voices

#i hope this answers enough of your question!#i know there are posts somewhere on my blog about this and similar topics #i think under the hastags ''racsim'' and ''anti dave filoni''#oh and ''anti george lucas''#i however HIGHLY recommend blogs like royalhandmaidens who speak a lot on the issues of race in star wars #i wish i had more resources at hand for you i just havent been very active in the sw and tcw fanspaces recently #id be willing to answer specific questions i think but this is overall not something that i think i can speak on #except to say trust the fans of color #trust the jewish and muslim fans #trust the victims #im always willing to talk about race and all its facets but can only talk on the issue as a white fan #and cannot speak to any personal experience #i guess it's just important to look at any media critically #but especially star wars which has had a very long and public history of racism islamaphobia and antisemitism #cj answers #thank you for reaching out though! im flattered you think so highly and/or lowly of my opinion /gen /pos

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corset · 20 days

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Our mental health has been in such an interestingly terrible place for the last month or so. Genuinely kind of fascinating to watch from different internal angles....like watching the ocean ebb and flow and change temperament at random sometimes based on weather or the moon or something. Like this shit is just terrible

#I can't even describe it #Like it isn't even just the basic stuff I've dealt with my whole life right #I've had some of this for well over a decade now right I've been very unwell for a long time #I'm a system so that tells you a lot already #Speaking of which that's been extremely hard on us lately too. Rapid switching and blending and worsening dissociative episodes #It makes it extremely....hard. I don't know how to put this for people reading this who don't just intuitively know what I'm talking about #Let me try though #Stress worsens the symptoms right. And we've been under a Lot of stress. When you have a system who not only experiences different levels #of emotion but also different emotional responses to certain things and then also expresses symptoms of your multiple mental illnesses to #different degrees and then on top of that your sense of time/cognition becomes nonlinear because you're blurry as hell in and out all the #time it becomes markedly more difficult to try and balance out/manage your other shit. Like I cannot even describe #It's like trying to climb a slippery incline #I feel truly. Crazy. Like a complete unstable fragmented freak lately it is So bad. And I feel like I'm becoming Worse /As A Person/ too #Like I just feel like I'm becoming so jaded and fucked up mentally our internal state right now is frankly very bad. If you think I've been #negative and difficult on this blog lately hoo boy is my posting on here not even scratching the surface #We're trying to do some things about stuff we can fix/control in our external surroundings but like #[Edit: in addition I have never been properly medicated or gotten help for Any of this since I was 14-15 and they weren't even helping us #for the right things.]

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strawbebyjam · 5 months

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so cool to see loved ones change and grow…

#this is 90% me just loving my sister DHDJDHD but 10% everyone else #but like #yall my little sister’s so cool and capable and all that #and it’s so fun now to see that she really is like #fully her own person #her not being at home for uni is bizarre and we all miss her loads #but she’s really really blossoming into a like. an individual self. which sounds weird but #idk she texts me and it’s just like. oh my gosh #our family baby. is an adult. a baby adult but an adult #weird feeling cool feeling idk sisterhood. is something #it’s sweet that even like 3 hours away she still cannot resist the ‘baji did you know-‘ at any opportunity to speak #she seems so introverted but She Is A Talker #in any case #i’m excited to see where she goes and what more she becomes #not in a like. job way exclusively. but just like #see her grow into more traits and what lessons she carries with her through her experiences and all the goodness that’s bound to come #i’ve cried to you’re gonna go far kid by noah kahan too many times since she started uni to not ve aware of this stuff #HDJDHDH #mano.mindtalk

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boiled-dennis · 1 year

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dennis finally sorta acknowledges his attraction to men and starts a relationship with this random guy using a Dennis’ Relationship Standards Checklist he created that the guy has to sign. his bpd makes him deeply attached + really vulnerable way too soon without realising it, and he starts talking about himself, but the guy is really weird and says stuff in response like “y’know, i always had an interest in psychopaths.” dennis feels uneasy about it way too late and the guy ends up ghosting him because he isnt living up to the expectations he had of being with A Crazy Person (the whole situation backed dennis into a corner and really changed his demeanour), and a month later the guy is at paddy’s and dennis yells at him to fuck off, but then dee shows up and is like “why are you yelling at my boyfriend??” fully aware that dennis had a relationship with him, but not knowing any details

#this isn't from personal experience or anything. . .#bpd dennis #i do really enjoy the idea of dennis truly thinking he wants to be seen as scary and similar to serial killers-#but the second someone else puts him in that box it makes him feel trapped and like people treat him like he's a zoo animal #i want to see more vulnerability from him but in ways where he's forced out of all the personas he has put on in order to feel safe #not in any healthy or healing kinda way. just like .#agh its hard to put into words #like how he opened up in the gang gets romantic only because the gang kept thinking an incorrect thing about him #i want to see dennis get tired of it all #i want to see the gang as a whole get kinda. tired of it eventually and theyre like. damn i want things to be slightly different #i wouldnt mind if the show ended on a weirdly low note that left everyone feeling unsatisfied and strange #people i know hate discussing media with me because i love shitty endings without closure shdjkfhsdk #(when i say shitty i dont mean an ending that was rushed or not thought through)#i think a lot about how he would feel like he cannot apply the dennis system to men and just generally be so out of his comfort zone #i want to see him be more awkward again and not know how to speak or stand because he doesn't have complete control #evil autism headcanon: the dennis system is an extension of his tendency toward scripting because he needs a preexisting path in social si #situations #and if he doesnt have an idea in his head of how he's supposed to act in each scenario he just shuts down #i'm saying that jokingly but i think it would be funny if a hypothetical person tried to fully excuse everything because His Autistic Traits #but i think dennis scripting is real #episode ideas

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ursie · 7 months

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Brennan’s statement on Palestine :

[ ID: Statement from Brennan Lee Mulligan, on Instagram. It consists of three black squares with plain white text. The text reads as follows:

"I'm calling on my government officials to immediately demand a ceasefire and de-escalation in Gaza.

I applaud anyone and everyone calling for peace, with the understanding that real peace only exists if it deeply and honestly accounts for and fully ends violence in all its forms. Real peace addresses and corrects wrong-doing in the past and guards against it in the future. It goes hand in hand with justice and requires truth, restoration, reconciliation, reparation.

Peace cannot co-exist with collective punishment, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement. It cannot co-exist with blockades, embargoes, or with 2.2 million people, half of which are children, trapped with no hope of escape or political recourse. it cannot co-exist with murdered journalists, bombed hospitals, or years of protesters being shot and killed at the border. it cannot co-exist with illegal settlements, segregated roads, and the silent, imperial chill that settles over the gaps in the violence - the unspoken geopolitical consensus that a group of people need to unflinchingly accept permanent subjugation and occupation.

My hear breaks for every Israeli person who lost loved ones during the attacks of October 7th. It breaks for every Ukrainian person who has lost their loved ones. It breaks for every Congolese person who has lost their loved ones. I do not speak on behalf of Palestinians now because some lives are worth more than others. I speak on their behalf because I, and all Americans, have a responsibility to pressure our government because we are responsible for this. Some have said that this situation is complicated. The Unites States government clearly disagrees. It has definitively, categorically, militarily chosen a side, and I do not agree with that decision.

In wiring this, I have been wrestling with what I am sure many people like me wrestle with: There is a powerful narrative surrounding violence in the Middle East that asserts and ever-moving goalpost of self-education and study in order to even be qualified to have an opinion. As someone with a love of research, I have at times in my life fallen into the trap that I am not educated enough clever enough, or aware enough to have a worthwhile perspective, and that three more articles and two more lectures and one more book will do the trick. Unfortunately, democracy doesn't work that way - we, the citizens of any democracy, cannot possibly be experts on every aspect of the policies of our governments, and yet if we do not constantly weigh in an make our voices heard, the entire experiment falls apart. Not only do people constantly doubt themselves and the things they can see with their own two eyes, but old shortcuts for political action can fall apart as well: This specific issue exists along a raw, charged and unique faultline in American Politics. Nobody I grew up with has ever challenged me on my support for abortion rights, LGBT rights, Black Lives Matter, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, none of it. The people in my country who would despise me for those positions are, for all intents and purposes, strangers to me. But there are people who I've broken bread with and shared honest affection with who will see the words I've written here and incorrectly conclude that I do not wish for the security, dignity and happiness of them and their loved ones, and that breaks my fucking heart. Full-throatedly condemning the actions of the Israeli government while battling rampant anti-semitism at home is an urgent moral necessity, and doing so is made unnecessarily challenging for the average person to navigate by the pointed obfuscations of cynical opportunists, bigots, and demagogues on all sides of the political spectrum who see some advantage in sowing that incredibly dangerous confusion.

So, I'm calling my representatives. I'm having hard conversations with friends and family. I'm here, talking to you. I should have done it sooner. If you're Israeli and hurt by this statement, know that I want freedom, dignity, security and peace for you, and that every ounce of my political awareness believes whole-heartedly that the actions of your government are not only destroying innocent lives, but doing so to the detriment of you and your loved ones' safety. If you're American and feel lost and confused - I understand and empathize. This, the whole country, only works when we get involved. I am constantly haunted by the specter that maybe I missed some crucial piece of information on this, or any, important world event. I'll just have to make my peace with that self-doubt and trust my gut by going with Jewish Voice for Peace, Amnesty International, the Geneva Conventions, the United Nations, etc. And if you're Palestinian and reading this: I unreservedly support your right to life, to freedom, to happiness and human flourishing, to full enfranchisement and equal rights, to opportunity, prosperity and abundance, to the restoration of stolen property and land, and to a Free Palestine." End ID ]

#if anyone wants to do the id I will love you forever btw #brennan lee mulligan #d20 #dropout #free palestine #dimension 20 #I babble

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stellacendia · 1 year

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Y'know, sometimes I really wish I could enjoy being feminine the way that femme trans women do. I wish I got excited about doing my hair in a different style every day and coordinating cute outfits and picking out just the right accessories to go with everything. And the thing is, it's not even that I'm doing these things (+ makeup) and hating it, it's that I don't do any of it at all, because it takes so much work and effort and time, and it just makes me so tired, that it's not worth it to me. I don't get enough joy out of doing it to do it. I'd rather get more sleep than wake up earlier to spend time on my appearance.

And I know, I know, that I don't have to do any of this, that I'm in no way obligated to do it. I don't feel any guilt or shame about not doing it. But I like my body (most of the time), I actually love my natural hair, and instead of being apathetic about my appearance I want to enjoy it! I want to have fun with it! And I just- I don't. Because I don't have the energy for it. Sometimes, I just want to find enough joy in it to actually do it.

#stella speaks #personal #this didn't start as a big thought but the more i typed the more thoughts it summoned up about the topic of appearance in general lol #and actually i don't even think this about just presenting femininely either #i think this about any aesthetic or style #(i cannot for the life of me spell aesthetic and my spellcheck was not helping at all)#my style currently is comfy and low maintenance- which is fine!#but i've wanted for so long to experiment with different styles and presentations #it just takes more effort than i can currently devote to it #whoops didn't mean to put the rest of the ramble in the tags

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horreurscopes · 1 year

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you don't have to pay overdraft fees ever

the biden administration recently cracked down on overdraft fees which means banks cannot force you to pay them as they have become opt-in -- however you do have to call the bank (for example, paypal payments overdraft you even if you have opted out, as they function like checks.)

my experience is with wellsfargo but i imagine that most major banks may operate similarly:

if you have an overdraft fee, call the bank, you will get a machine. go through the autentification process with it but do not mention your issue when it asks you to (specially not the word overdraft -- this is a conspiracy theory i cannot prove but i swear to god they rewire you to more aggressive phone people if you tipoff the machine) instead say "i'd like to speak to a representative" the machine will be like "lol didn't get that" so you may need to repeat it a couple more times before it wires you to a real person

wait! i'd recomend calling as early in the morning as possible to avoid elevator music.

be nice to the customer service person who picks up (i make a point of thanking them for their help and calling them by their name, if i don't catch it the first time i ask them again for it)

my script is something along the lines of: "hi, i noticed there's an overdraft fee in my account that posted on [date]. i am calling to see if we (WE -- you and the representative are a team against the problem) could do something about it" (<- you may decide to be more direct, i just put my innocent hat on)

most if not all of what they say to you is a script. they will be like "i will check that for you with the automated process that takes into account you previous refund activity" BLAH BLAH BLAH. more waiting. if you have had any refunds in the past 12 months, they will be like "sorry the system says no (:" THOUGH, VERY RECENTLY, they have tacked on this question: do you have any thoughts on that / how do you feel about that / etc. though even if they do not prompt you, here's the next step:

say: thank you! i appreciate the automated review, however i do not agree/approve/consent to being charged a fee. is there any way you could check again / anyone else i could talk to / would it be possible to refund it regardless? etc.

they will check again, possibly more waiting, and then you will get an immediate refund! in the rare case they refuse to, here is the link to the FDIC website that you can refer to (note, this is for overdraft fees only):

8. i cannot emphasize this enough -- be nice !!!!!!!!!!! BE NICE! be cheerful, say "thank you" and "no worries" and "take your time!". it is NOT a confrontation, it is NOT their fault, and most of the time the customer service representative wants this to be as frictionless as possible. they are helping you, use the opportunity to make a moment of their day a lot less stressful than they expect it to be.

that is ALL -- i have been using wellsfargo for over eight years, and have lost hundreds of dollars to predatory overdraft fees charged as a punishment for having no money.

during the beginning covid, when they were momentarily suspended (you had to mention covid on the phone to get them back lol), i came to the realization that all of this time they could have been giving me my money back. there was no reason not to, except corporate greed.

do not let phone social anxiety let them take your money from you, now that it is easier than EVER to get it back. and if you need motivation to pick up the phone, remember this headline from a couple of years back lol:

DEATH TO CAPITALISM !!!!!!

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thecloudsarefalling · 4 months

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Just kinda want to rant

I cannot stand what Israel is doing in the slightest. It's nothing short of a genocide. But on a more personal note, they're ruining the childhood of one of my closest childhood friends.

She would travel to Palestine every summer to visit family, I was never entirely sure of the exact place, but I definitely remember checking her location from time to time while looking over the Snapchat map to check my cousin's backpacking trip through Europe over that same summer, and I had definitely seen her within the Gaza strip many times

She has so many family members in Gaza, a handful had been caught in the US, lucky enough to evade the genocide, but not all of them. It's disheartening to see her childhood ripped apart by an overzealous army who have no idea who she is

Who any of the people in the Gaza Strip are

or those on the West Bank

When I repost the hundredth TikTok of the day about the genocide in Palestine, I mean it. I mean look at all of these people having their lives ripped away from them. I mean look at the lives of all of these children who will never get to experience the beauty of Palestine in the way my friend has. I mean look to all the people who have passed and those who continue to pass. Those committing suicide because their outlook for the future is dim. I mean look to those who could never begin to escape, killed by disease, illness, and the destruction of Gaza. I mean watch for the journalists who are being slaughtered in constant bombings and targeted sniper attacks for speaking out against Israel. I mean the family of both my childhood best friend and all of those whose lives, and land, are currently threatened by this genocide.

No one should have to be a martyr, not because of the cruelty of Israel, famine, disease, and most certainly not of greed. No parent should have to witness the death of their child, nor child witness the death of their parent. No partners, siblings, pets, or families should be torn apart because of greed.

I am outraged over this, but I feel so small because I don't have any way to help people escape Gaza. All I can do now is use my voice, and though I no longer subscribe to any religion, I pray for the freedom of those in Gaza, and for those in Palestine, that they'll be able to survive and live freely as they are meant to.

#free palestine #palestine #i stand with gaza #i stand with Palestine #free gaza #gaza #gaza strip #all eyes on rafah #rafah

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hanasnx · 28 days

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"IF YOU WANT MORE LOVE, WHY DON'T YOU SAY SO?" — anakin skywalker.

6'7!ANAKIN SKYWALKER makes the very ground shake. Vibrations reverberate throughout the floor when he storms through, warning you of his impending presence. His sheer mass cannot be explained, only experienced firsthand. As if reactivating any residual prey instincts sewn deep into your DNA from ancient times, you shy in his atmosphere as he takes up the room with not only his muscled body but his overarching personality. It's strong, potent. Arguments with him are impossible when he can intimidate you with a glance. His permanent scowl etched into his eyebrows make sure of that.

"What?" he asks, and anyone but you would mistake it for irritability, when instead he is concerned. His feathery voice soothes your ears, and you gulp as he searches your body language for signs of fatigue or discomfort.

Caught, heat rises to your cheeks and you avert your gaze. "Nothing." you respond promptly, a twinge of fear that his impatience will earn you some form of lashing. Not that you'd mind. You're hot and bothered standing next to him, and he looks down at you like you're a child to be taken care of or taught.

"You're staring again." he audibly observes, and traces of exasperation are heard within his tone. You chew your lip, punctually swallowing your rebuttal that he has the worst staring problem of anyone you've ever met, constantly observing you as if you're an animal to be studied through experiments he himself design. In a way, you are. Tested through various sorts of stimulation that he calculates, you might as well be his personal pet project. Being stared at by Anakin is an expectation of yours, and a right that he believes to own. Once it's clear you're lost in thought—or won't respond—he leads you away with a large hand grazing the small of your back. The tingles of his contact shoot straight up to glitter in your brain as pleasurable frission, so desperate for his attention that the slightest bit of it sends you into an embarrassing tizzy. "What's gotten into you?" he speaks under his breath, and you're sure a scold is on its way. You fight the disappointment that creeps up when his hand drops from your back, but returns just as swiftly when he tucks you into the atmosphere of his side, corralling you into the privacy of a dark corner.

You can't bring yourself to say anything, hopelessly peering up at him with big eyes to which he gets lost in. Batting your lashes, a tug appears at the corner of his lips as he watches your hands clasp behind your back in an innocent manner, twirling side to side as your chest sticks out from your positioning. As if he can understand your secret language, he sighs, and glances over his shoulder to check for eavesdroppers. One signal in a tilt of his head, and you giddily follow his directions as the flat ends of his fingers give your ass an encouraging pat when you pass him.

You hadn't anticipated that when he was herding you towards seclusion with his massive body behind yours—gently urging you forward with his body heat and curling his frame around you to check the cute expression on your face—that you'd end up tangled up in him again. He hadn't anticipated it either, fully intended to get you off with two thick fingers coaxing a release out of you so you'll stop ogling him like a lost puppy. Instead, you were too good to resist. Poor pussy pulsing around his knuckles, begging for something better had him undoing his pants to bury himself within you.

Grateful, you clutch onto his clothes, bunching it all up in your little hands as you gasp for air over his hulking shoulder. Folded up over yourself like a malleable doll he's molded to his whims, you feel infinitely smaller than before underneath him. Even his head next to yours dwarfs yours, his face longer, wider, more chiseled than your round and soft cheeks. You feel his gentle lips kissing onto one as he begs you to loosen up with shallow ruts into your cunt.

"Why didn't you just say so?" he questions husky and hot in your ear. You shiver, your hole spasming around him, still recovering from the overstimulation of orgasms he pulled before this. "Do I have to read your mind?"

Tears prick the corners of your eyes from how hard you squeeze them shut, willing yourself to nod as he carves out a space for his long cock inside you, able to bottom out. A long groan resounds from low in his throat as he soaks the fit it in.

A moment is spent in content silence as you bite hard into your lower lip. A clumsy thumb wedges in between you two, stroking at your prickling clit. A thankful wetness wells up within you. "Next time I'll make you use those pretty words, my love. For now, let me take care of you."

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bewarethecircles · 10 months

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After a vacation in Alpha Centauri, Gabriel and Beelzebub come back to earth and move in together. They proceed to be the worst and most baffling neighbors anyone in the neighborhood has ever experienced.

They introduced themselves as Bee and Jim, but immediately started laughing about it, so people are pretty sure those aren't their real names.

Neither of them seem to have jobs, but they must be rich, because their house is massive and they're always wearing fancy clothes, and their wallets are bursting with money. Maybe they’re in the mafia?

Speaking of fancy clothes, “Jim” is always wearing designer suits. There is an ongoing game where people attempt to take a picture of him in any other clothes. One time, an enterprising teenager went so far as to sneak over in the middle of the night to look into his bedroom (hoping he’d be in pajamas), and saw him still in a suit, Standing on Top of the Bed, eyes wide open and Smiling Brightly. (Gabriel has not gotten the hang of sleeping yet.) (The teenager refuses to go near the house ever again.)

The short one, “Bee,” is consistently trailed by flies. This is alarming to everyone. They say that they're a “fly-keeper,” but people are pretty sure that's not a thing. Do they carry rotting meat around or something?

Bee also seems to be constantly changing appearances. One day they have a buzz cut, the next day their hair goes to their mid-back. Their eyes are a different colour every time you see them. People have set up cameras to take pictures of them on different days, and upon comparing them they are Definitely almost 6 inches taller this week. Even their facial features shift.

It gets to the point where people decide Jim must just have multiple partners, and be lying about it. (“Multiple partners that all look similar and are never seen together?” the opposition will point out. When asked if they have a better theory, they can never answer.)

The two of them will have romantic moments Anywhere, including standing in the middle of the highway staring into each others eyes. By all rights they should have been run over, but in a bizarre coincidence every car in the area ran out of fuel and stopped moving at that exact moment. People want to blame Jim for it (he did make a strange hand movement, after all), but that would just be absurd.

They use the absolute worst pet names for each other. A list of overheard ones is being recorded. “My rotten cabbage?” “My hell-bringer?” “Dearest packet of crisps??”

You cannot let them notice that you're disgusted by their lovey-doveyness. They will either get exponentially more cringey, or straight up insult you until you run away crying. Or both.

“Everyday” by Buddy Holly will be audible to the whole block at all times. Do they know other songs exist? Don't they get bored of this one?? Why is it so loud???

There’s a statue of Jim in the front yard. Its 20 feet tall and definitely a HOA violation, but people are too scared to mention it. Both Bee and Jim will come out at different times and spend hours staring at it dreamily.

People would hate them, but ever since they moved in the weather has been perfect, crime is at an all time low, and there’s little trucks that go around selling hot chocolate, and those things Probably cant be because of them, but still...

Plus, Jim doesn’t understand how money works at all, so he’ll give you $300 for a bag of chips. It's endearing, even if he is sometimes a jerk.

Bee does seem to know how money works, but they’ll frequently pay even more than Jim, especially if the person seems overworked and the place is under-staffed. They say they have experience with it.

After a month of them living there, most of the neighborhood is in a group chat created to discuss the two of them. Beelzebub is secretly in the chat, and reads their favourite theories to Gabriel.

A rumour starts going around that they're an angel and a demon in disguise, but no one can agree which one is which.

Beelzebub is the one who started the rumour.

If anyone writes a fic with any of this by all means tag me I'd love to see it!!

#ineffable bureaucracy #gabriel x beelzebub #beelzebub x gabriel #good omens #good omens spoilers #good omens 2 #is all of this in character? Maybe not #but the dynamic they have in my brain is hilarious so it's what I'm going with

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