#or we talk ABOUT LGBTQ+ people like they’re lost causes who’s actions have to be condemned but can’t be redeemed

[artist-issues]

Christians, start talking about why homosexuality is a sin. Stop avoiding the topic. If we can’t talk about it with people who disagree with us, it only says something untrue. It’s just a sin, like all the other sins. It’s just a twisted desire, just like all the other twisted desires. “Such were some of us.” It put Christ in the cross, it condemns the person who sells their soul to it to eternity without Him. Don’t make it any less or any more than that by avoiding the topic. The Bible doesn’t treat it like a taboo topic.

Honestly so many people are deconstructing or dropping away from the faith because they don’t know how to be loving and talk about how the Bible is right when it says homosexuality is a sin. So they don’t talk about it, but everyone who disagrees with the Bible does—so no truth is coming in, just lies, and no wonder that one thread unravels the silent “Christian’s” whole faith.

Because listen, listen, marriage is a picture of the Gospel, and love is Christ. So when they twist those two things, and you decide they’re right, everything else falls apart because they’re all connected.

So yes, it’s too not-special-at-all, just another twisted desire, for you to be afraid to talk about it. But it’s also too important to know the truth about it, and replace the lies about it, for you to be silent about it.

Just tell ‘em it’s like every other sin. Your desires are twisted and you can either choose to identify with them, or you can submit them to Christ and identify with Him while he untangles the desires. You can be god of your own life until it’s time to spend eternity without Him, or you can admit He’s God. That’s it. By making it “special” you’re feeding into the lie that homosexuality is some special, unique, sacred part of a person’s psyche that has to be treated as such. Even if you’re against it. No, it doesn’t. The Gospel conversation is the same, whether the sin they embrace is homosexuality or not.

You want to be with someone of the same gender romantically, sexually? Well, I want to turn my car wheel into oncoming traffic. The difference between me and you is, I agreed with reality—my life isn’t mine, so my desire to end it isn’t right, and I won’t live by it. I’ll give it to the God who made me. You, on the other hand, aren’t there—yet. You’re still living out the lie that you were made for you, and every passing twisted desire that doesn’t line up with reality is your governing authority.

But the answer is the same. Jesus took the punishment for me, and you, committing cosmic treason against the loving God who made us to be god, ourselves, and twist up the love He invented us for. He took the punishment for all that, and He can straighten out the scoliosis of your soul. The answer’s the same. So why’s the conversation taboo? Because Barnes & Noble put a whole celebratory bookshelf out? Because Instagram shows you reels of people wailing when it’s brought up? Get over it. Stop treating people who celebrate their sin like their sin is more powerful than whatever sin Christ saved you from.

#didn’t mean to preach #but I’m very over it #it’s like we all decided this is a losing battle #we either won’t have a loving conversation out of fear #or we talk ABOUT LGBTQ+ people like they’re lost causes who’s actions have to be condemned but can’t be redeemed #and it’s shipwrecking faith #it’s not a sacred topic #truth in love #Corinthians #that’s all it is #Bible #homosexuality #Christianity

[sasquapossum]

One of my favorite ideological hobby horses is the idea of proportionate response to situations. A lot of people seem to have only two modes: acquiescence and all-out attack. Unfortunately, those are usually not the only options that should be considered, and only rarely the best. Here are some examples.

In the law of war, risk of civilian casualties should be proportional to the importance of a military objective. To violate this rule of proportionality is a war crime. One could argue that war is always evil, or that a different kind of proportionality should be applied (see next example), but in a world where war exists this is still an important limiter on the amount of suffering that gets created.

In criminal law, actions taken in self defense must be proportional to the level of threat. To exceed that level of force is to commit an assault of one’s own. Again, it would be better if nobody ever attacked anybody else, but a slap doesn’t always merit a bullet to the head either.

Swearing. There’s a lot of territory between “polite” expletive-free speech and F-bombs every other word. If you can’t go five minutes without swearing, you’ve lost the “dynamic range” that true expressiveness requires. Your swears no longer have any punch. They’re just unimaginative noise.

Elections. A party that gets X% of the vote should get approximately X% of the seats. Countries that fail to adopt proportional representation inevitably end up locked in two-party madness.

NIMBYism. Preserving local environment and habitat (not talking about global stuff here) is important. Preserving history and local character is - perhaps a bit more arguably - also important. But higher-density housing also supports important goals - global environment, social justice, etc. If these concerns are given equal weight, then approximately half of such development proposals would succeed but in fact almost none do. Why? Because we have abandoned proportionality in favor of rules that systematically favor the blockers over the builders.

Online discourse. We’ve all seen people who will spend more time attacking their near allies (e.g. the “true left” attacking mere liberals, or people with strong opinions on LGBTQ/fandom/race issues attacking those with weaker but still similar opinions) than even acknowledging the existence of their actual polar opposites. Don’t say you haven’t seen it because it’s all over this site.

What these all have in common is a lack of proportionality or dynamic range. It’s all binary “if you’re not 100% with me then you’re my absolute enemy” thinking. How reductive. How simplistic. Consider this: escalation of conflict is as bad as - nay, the same as - initiation of conflict, but inevitable when you only have two settings. One could argue that a primary sign of maturity is an ability to match a degree of offense to a degree of reaction, and the language in which that reaction is expressed. Such “fine tuning” is worth learning and practicing. As I mentioned in the swearing example, consistent overreaction isn’t even effective. Instead of producing the clearly desired effect, it’s just as likely to be ignored (or blocked) as just another tantrum. If you go through the examples above, you’ll see that in every case over-reaction ends up harming the over-reactor as well. Why do that to yourself or your own cause?

[sohotthateveryonedied]

No Matter What

Read here on AO3!!

Summary: 

Bruce figures out that his son isn't straight from an early age.

That doesn't make him love him any less.

- Eight Years Old -

Bruce is finally starting to get a hang of this parenting thing.

The first few months were rough, there’s no disputing that. Bruce lost track of how many times he panicked and called Leslie Thompkins whenever Dick burst into tears over something and Alfred wasn’t home. Not to mention all the times when Alfred would leave Bruce on his own for dinner, insisting that one must learn how to raise a child without a butler to help. Bruce fed the kid burnt chicken nuggets and garlic bread for two nights straight. Now, though? Bruce is immensely proud of how far he and Dick have come. He’s even taken to attending PTA meetings, if only for the free coffee and doughnuts. He hears the front door open right on time, then wet boots hitting the floor. Dick had a half day today to make room for meet-the-teacher night later. Bruce isn’t looking forward to spending two hours sitting in a chair made for eight-year-olds, listening to a teacher in plastic pearls talk about an elementary schooler’s oh-so challenging curriculum. At least he’s only got the one; he has no intention of having more kids after Dick. Bruce busies himself with his mostly unburnt slice of toast, one ear trained on the footsteps through the foyer accompanied by unceasing chatter that Bruce has grown quite fond of over the months. “—and then they let us outside for recess even though it was raining, and I went on the swings and my hair got all wet and it was so cool.” “That explains the muddy clothes,” Alfred says. “Sorry, Alf. I’m not immune to mud puddles.” “It would appear so, Master Dick.”

The two of them enter the kitchen, Dick working his elbows out of his yellow rain slicker to reveal the school uniform beneath. His cheeks are rosy, his eyes bright. “Hiya, Bruce!”

“Hey, champ. How was school?” “It was awesome. It was raining all day and at recess there were a ton of puddles all over the playground and a million worms. I didn’t touch them though, ‘cause the teacher said not to.” “What snack would you like, Master Dick?” Alfred asks, taking Dick’s discarded raincoat and folding it over his arm. “Can you do ants on a log?” “Coming right up, sir.” Dick heaves himself up on the bar stool beside Bruce, his sock feet kicking against the lower cupboard. Bruce spreads marmalade over his toast. “Tell me more about school. Any fights today?” “Nope,” Dick says proudly, flashing his gapped teeth. Dick and another boy got into a scuffle on the first day over a comment about whether Dick’s parents being from the circus meant they were part monkey. It’s a miracle Dick only gave the kid a nosebleed and didn’t break anything. The principal let Dick off with a warning since it was his first time at a normal school, but Bruce has a feeling the only reason he wasn’t expelled was because his guardian is the most powerful man in Gotham City. Bruce had a stern talk with Dick when they got home about the importance of controlling one’s actions. Traveling the world in a circus train car doesn’t do much to help one’s impulse control. He also banned Dick from watching television for the rest of the night, but Dick’s crocodile tears swayed him to balance it out by letting him have ice cream before dinner. That’s good parenting, right? “I even made a friend,” Dick says. “Oh? What are they like?” “His name is Caleb and his desk is right next to mine, so we talked during reading time. Then he gave me some of his chocolate during lunch and we played on the swings together at recess.” “Ah, the wonders of childhood friendship,” Alfred says from where he’s slicing up a celery stalk at the other end of the counter. He sounds relieved, and Bruce finds himself matching it. Dick has been at Gotham Elementary for almost a week and hasn’t made a single friend until now. Bruce can’t tell if that is more because of Dick’s circus background or because he is a tan-skinned boy with the barest of Romani accents attending a predominantly white private school. Sometimes (all the time) Bruce loathes being associated with Gotham’s high society. If you’re not white, straight, and rich, you are automatically shunned in their minds. “He sounds great, Dick.” “Yeah! And he’s got really pretty eyes too. I can’t tell if they’re brown or green, but they’re sparkly like glitter.” Bruce arches an eyebrow. “You must like him a lot.” He takes a bite of his toast, making eye contact with Alfred over the boy’s head. Alfred doesn’t react but for a twitch of his mustache. Dick nods, focus switched over to the plate Alfred slides in front of him. Dick takes a celery stick and picks off the first raisin coated in peanut butter, licking it off his thumb. “I hope he talks to me again tomorrow. Alfred, can I bring an extra snack to lunch tomorrow so I can share it with him?” Alfred smiles. “Of course. I will pack a second cupcake in your lunchbox tomorrow morning just for him.” “Thanks, Alf.” Dick goes right back to eating his ants on a log, cheerful as ever, completely unaware of the swarm of question marks buzzing around in Bruce’s head. Huh. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Eleven Years Old - Bruce gets home from a three-hour business meeting, his sandpapery eyes aching to close and stay shut for...let’s go with ten years? That should be enough. He loosens his tie and prepares to go upstairs to his bedroom where he’ll spend the next decade of his life hibernating, until he sees his ward on the living room sofa. Dick is lying on his stomach with his face buried in a throw pillow, as if he’s waiting for the sofa to swallow him whole. Must have been a bad day if he’s not sliding down banisters and flipping over chairs like usual. Sighing, Bruce goes over. “Dick? You alive over there?” “Mmph.” At least he’s conscious. Bruce sits on the arm of the couch, shaking Dick’s thin shoulder. “Come on, kiddo. Use your words.” “Mmph.” “Bad day, then?” Dick nods. “Do you want to tell me what happened?” Dick shakes his head. Bruce sits back with a frown. “Alfred?” he calls. Alfred pokes his head in. “Yes, Master Bruce?” Bruce gestures to their anguished preteen. “It would seem that our lad had a rough day at school. He wouldn’t tell me what, but I’m making his favorite casserole for dinner. Hopefully that will perk him up.” Bruce turns back to Dick, who hasn’t moved. “C’mon, Dickie. Sit up so I can see your face.” Reluctantly, Dick forces himself upright with one last groan into his pillow. His hair is mussed, standing up on one side. There’s a pillow crease on his cheek. He sits back against the sofa, miserable. “Better.” Bruce prods Dick’s ribs which earns him a giggle, goading the kid into sliding over a few inches so Bruce can sit beside him. Dick leans into his side immediately and Bruce puts his arm around him. “Now, tell me what’s got you down.” “I want to transfer schools.” “How come?” As far as he’s known until now, Dick has loved middle school. His childhood took a bad turn when his parents’ ropes snapped, but preteen life is at a good start. Until now. Dick’s gaze is trained on his sneakers, kicking them where they hang over the edge of the couch. “Some kids in my science class were talking crap about me.” “Don’t say crap.” “Can I go to a new school? Please?” “What did those kids say about you?” Dick picks at a dime-size hole in his jeans. “They called me gay,” he says quietly. Bruce tightens his arm around the boy, his heart panging. Of course someone had to bully Bruce’s kid. As if his life hasn’t already been hard enough without stupid teenagers making it worse. “I wasn’t even doing anything wrong. I was just talking to my lab partner, and the guys at the next table over started whispering about us. Then they started throwing papers.” “Did you tell the teacher?” “No. But I know she noticed. Everyone did. She just didn’t do anything about it.” That sets Bruce’s blood to a boil. Teachers have a responsibility to protect their students, no matter what. What gives her the right to turn a blind eye to bullying, just because a couple of students might not fit the agreed-upon standards of “perfect” upper class society? “I’ll set up an appointment with the principal,” Bruce decides. Dick’s eyes get wide. “Bruce, no. Please. It’s fine, really. I don’t want this to turn into a big deal.” “What did you do when it happened?” Dick shrugs. “Nothing. My lab partner stopped talking to me, so I just asked to go to the bathroom and didn’t come back until the bell rang.” Bruce sighs. Middle schoolers are the worst, every last one of them. (Except for Dick, of course; he is perfect.) “I’m sorry, sweetheart. Kids can be cruel—especially at your age, when they start learning new words that they don’t understand the way they should. They think some words are insults or something to be ashamed of when they’re not. Most kids grow out of this. Too many don’t.” “People suck,” Dick mutters. “I don’t even know why they were saying all that stuff. I’m not...I’m not like that” Bruce bites his cheek. He’s going to have to be careful about this. “Dick, do you know what being gay means?” “Duh. It’s when two guys date each other. I’m not stupid.” “I know you’re not stupid. But gay can mean a lot of things. Men can like other men, just as women can love other women. Like Kate, for instance. Then there are bisexual and pansexual people who love all genders, and asexuals who don’t like either.” Thank god Bruce thought ahead and read some LGBTQ+ research books all those years ago when he first began to suspect that Dick wasn’t heterosexual. “And transgender is when someone doesn’t identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. Sometimes people feel more like a man, a woman, neither, or both.” “...Okay?” “I just want to make sure you understand these things, because part of being a respectful person means respecting others for who they are. And if you don’t completely understand the label they identify as, then it’s your job to try and understand it the best you can.” “Why?” “Because too many people in this world judge others for things they can’t control, and that’s not right. No one should have to feel like they were born wrong. And I want to make sure you know this, that way you can be better than those who choose to hurt others for things they can’t control.” “Does that mean the guys who made fun of me are bad people?” “I’m sure they aren’t. They might just be confused because they don’t understand that being gay isn’t anything bad or dirty. The people in this part of Gotham...they don’t accept a lot of things. They think that being queer or a person of color means you don’t deserve respect, and that’s wrong. It was wrong of those kids to tease you and your lab partner the way they did.” Dick nods slowly. “I’m not gay.” “I know. I just want you to be aware of these things. And if you ever have questions or need to talk, you can always come to me.” He ruffles Dick’s hair. “Even when other people are nasty, remember that I love you no matter what, got it?” Dick shoves Bruce’s hand away and smoothes his hair back out, grinning. “Yeah, yeah. I got it.” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Thirteen Years Old -

What’s the difference between a growth spurt and a shark? 

Dick doesn’t have any sharks. “We’re home!” Dick announces. He and Alfred stumble into the house, their arms filled with all kinds of shopping bags. With Dick shooting up half an inch nightly these days, he’s growing out of his clothes at a rate even Bane would gawk at. Bruce and Alfred can barely keep up with the kid. “Want to see what I got?” “Show me, pal.” Bruce sets aside his tablet and pushes his reading glasses up on his head. (He does not have poor vision, thank you very much. Leslie just made him get a prescription as a precaution, that’s all. He’s still young by anyone’s standards, just ask Selina.) Dick starts pulling clothing out of the boutique bags, showing off every one of his new sweaters and pairs of Alfred-approved jeans. After ten minutes that Bruce desperately tries to look interested during, Dick pulls out what looks like a t-shirt that’s been sliced in half horizontally. The fabric is bright pink with a chibi whale on the front. “This one is my favorite,” Dicks says. His grin is blinding. Bruce stares for a long moment, his brain a lagging computer drive. “What is it?” “It’s a crop top. You know, like a belly shirt?” Memories from Dick’s Kim Possible phase flash in front of Bruce’s eyes. “Alfred let you buy that?” “Yeah?” Dick’s smile flags. He lowers the crop top, suddenly self-conscious. “Do you not...like it?” “You were supposed to get winter clothes, Dick. For cold weather.” “So?” “That’s clearly something you’re supposed to wear during the summer.” Dick pouts. “But I like it.” He holds it up against himself, twisting this way and that like an amateur model. “Sorry, kiddo. You’re not leaving the house in that until springtime.” “Oh, so Robin can wear tiny shorts in the winter, but Dick Grayson can’t wear a harmless crop top? I smell hypocrisy.” “Yes, because Robin has thermal leggings and a built-in heater in his uniform.” He looks back at the pink monstrosity, at Dick’s pleading eyes. “I would be open to negotiations if you’re willing to wear a sweater under it.” “That’s not how fashion works, B.” “I don’t care. You can wait until it gets warmer out to wear it.” “You’re such a drag,” Dick whines. He lifts his dozens of shopping bags and goes to leave, then turns right back around. “What if I wear a jacket over it and promise to keep it closed whenever I’m outside?” Bruce considers that. “Fine. But not below fifteen degrees, got it? And if I see you outside for even five seconds without the jacket, I’m confiscating the Xbox. Deal?” “Deal.” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Fourteen Years Old -

Something is different about Dick today. You’d think his boots were made of helium with the way he floats through patrol, and then smiles into his late-night milkshake like it did his homework for him. Bruce sits beside his Robin on the roof of Wayne Tower, silent for as long as he can bear before he can’t hold it back any longer. “Did anything interesting happen today?” “Huh?” Dick looks up as if Bruce pried him and his thoughts apart with a crowbar. “You’ve been...different. Happy.” “Am I not usually happy?” “No, you are. Just seems like you’re...extra happy, for whatever reason.” A blush dusts the kid’s cheeks. He sips his chocolate shake and shrugs. “Dunno. It was just a good day. Nothing special.” Yeah, and Bruce is a goddamn unicorn. Still, he knows better than to pry where Dick doesn’t want him. It’s a delicate thing. “If you say so.” “I got a hundred on my English essay,” Dick offers. It’s a start. “Was that the one on Grapes of Wrath?” “That was last month. We’re on Animal Farm now. It’s not my favorite.” “Yeah, I wasn’t a fan of Orwell either. Shakespeare was okay, but I preferred his tragedies over his comedies.” “Of course you did.” That makes Bruce laugh. He’s not worried; the two of them are high enough that no one can hear it. Bruce even has his cowl down, his face exposed to the cool air. “They had quinoa burgers at the cafeteria today.” “Mm-hm.” Dick is dodging something, beating around whatever bush he wants to talk about. Bruce can be patient while he figures it out. “And I spent some time with Barbara after school.” “Oh?” “Yeah. We walked home together and we took this old path through the park. Then we kissed.” Bruce chokes on his milkshake. He coughs, his sinuses burning and eyes watering. When he recovers, he says, “That’s...that’s great, chum.” “Yeah.” Dick can’t stop smiling, a true schoolboy in love. “And she asked if I wanted to patrol with her tomorrow night, but I said I needed to check in with you first.” “I don’t see why not.” It’s not like Bruce hasn’t patrolled without Dick before. Sure, he misses the company on the few days a week he’s alone, but he’s not about to deny Dick the thing he clearly wants. “You sure? You look...freaked out.” “No, no. That’s...great, that you kissed. Congratulations.” Awkward. He’s so fucking awkward. Stop being awkward right now. He doesn’t know why this is messing with his head so drastically. Bruce has listened to Dick moon over girls for the entirety of his pubescence, talking about them like they’re goddesses he’s forbidden to look upon, Barbara included. And Bruce has seen the way Dick and Barbara interact with each other in between muggings, always talking with their heads bent close like they’re the only two people in the world. Who would have thought Batman could be a third wheel? “I’ve liked her for a while now, but I didn’t know if she liked me back and I was too nervous to ask.” Dick’s face goes even pinker. “Kissing her was cool.” Part of Bruce’s brain jumps at the realization that, holy shit, Dick just had his first kiss, my little boy is growing up, what a milestone. The other part is far less happy about this new development. Yes, Bruce has seen Dick win brawls with men three times his size. He can fly the Bat-jet on his own, knows six languages, and is even leading his own superhero team. And yet, all Bruce can think is, no, not my little boy, he’s just a baby, Batgirl is corrupting his innocence and She Must Be Stopped. With great effort, Bruce holds it all back. He’s read the parenting books, he knows that it’s important to be supportive when they’re at this age. “Good to hear. I’m happy for you.” He pats Dick on the shoulder. “Thanks, B.” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Sixteen Years Old - “Hey, Bruce? Can I talk to you?” Bruce doesn’t look up from the metal flakes he’s testing. “What is it?” “I can come back later if you’re busy.” “No, I’m just analyzing some samples. I’m looking for residue from one of Zsasz’s blades.” Dick steps forward, tentative for once. “Need any help?” “I would like for you to come out with whatever it is you clearly need to tell me.” Dick snorts quietly. “Nice phrasing.” “What?” “I think I’m bisexual.” Bruce turns around, forgetting about the samples entirely. Dick’s arms are crossed over his chest, his eyes skipping between everything that isn’t Bruce’s face. At sixteen years old he’s finally tall enough that he doesn’t have to crane his neck to look at Bruce anymore. “You...think?” “I am. I’m bisexual.” “Okay.” “Is that cool with you?” The question shocks Bruce. “Of course it is.” Did Dick honestly think this would change anything? Has Bruce done something wrong, made Dick think that he wasn’t loved unconditionally? Dick squints, appraises Bruce’s reaction. “You knew, didn’t you.” “No.” “Bruce.” “I knew a little bit.” Dick rolls his eyes. The tension slips from his shoulders. His arms uncross. “Of course you did.” “Well, you weren’t exactly subtle about it.” “What the hell does that mean?” “Language,” Bruce chides, more out of habit than anything. “And do you realize how often you would come home after elementary school complaining about stupid pretty boys?” “That was just me being dramatic.” “I’m not disputing that. But they were still crushes, pal.” “I figured you thought it was just a phase.” Bruce shrugs. “Maybe for the first few days. But trust me, I have known you liked boys since you were a kid.” “Then why didn’t you just say so? It took me years to figure this all out, and you’re telling me you’ve been sitting on this info the whole time?” “Because this is your truth, not mine. I knew that you would tell me about it when you were ready. And you have.” Dick is clearly fighting a smile. He bites his lip instead, runs a hand through his mop of black hair that not even Alfred can wheedle him into combing anymore. “Well, I’m heading to the tower for the night, so don’t wait up, ‘kay? Kay. Good talk.” He goes to leave, but Bruce stops him. “Hang on. Why choose now to tell me?” Dick stuffs his hands in his pockets—an obvious tell. “No reason. I just...wanted you to know. Just in case.” “In case of what?” “Oh, you know.” Dick waves his hand in a gesture that clarifies absolutely nothing. “Life happens. People meet each other. You know how it is.” Bruce’s soul implodes. “You have a date?” “I never said that.” “You implied it.” “Real detectives rely on evidence, not theories.” Dick winks. “Tell me who it is. Are they a civilian? A hero? Do they come from a respectable family?” If it’s Roy Harper, Bruce might have to bury a body tonight. Especially after learning about Harper’s drug problem. Dick is too pure for someone like that. Or—heaven forbid—that Wally West kid. Dick is already walking away. “See ya, Bruce!” “You come back here, Richard John Grayson! Do I know him? Does he know your father is Batman?” Dick’s cackle echoes around the cave. “It had better not be a speedster!”

#soho speaks #batfamily #batfam #batman #bruce wayne #dick grayson #robin #nightwing #fanfiction #fanfic #fluff #this is so fluffy my teeth fell out in the first two paragraphs #bi dick grayson #bisexual dick grayson #bisexuality #gay #lgbtq

[life-rewritten]

Tharn and Type 7 Years: The marriage disagreement

When I think about Tharn and Type, I think about their love, their passion for each other, and their growth to get to the place that they are in, in Tharn and Type 7 years of love. The sequel for the show. Whilst on the surface it may look like Tharn and Type have remained the same; argumentative, non-communicative and everybody's favourite word to use toxic. I think they are so much more different, so much more in love and happy and healthy. One issue though that comes about for their new show is the marriage disagreement. Tharn wants to propose to Type, but Type for some reason keeps on avoiding and rejecting the proposal. It's a weird disagreement to me, but then when I look at the characters and how they have been shaped and view the world, it becomes quite clear no one is right or wrong when it comes to this matter. Let's look at the marriage disagreement from both of our guys' point of view.

THARN: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL, EXTERNAL, AND INTERNAL NEED TO BE LOVED

Let's look at our Tharn. When we first meet him he's you know; sly, sexy, confident in who he is. He's been out for a long time since he was 14 and so he is proud of who he is. And why shouldn't he be, he's rich and spoilt, successful and talented, and he's also sweet, kind, selfless and possessive to those he loves. He's the perfect guy, and Type knows that and Type falls for that. The thing is when you actually look at Tharn and try to bring out his flaws you see the same reasons he's perfect is the exact reasons for why he isn't perfect: he's spoilt; so he always gets his way, and because of this he's manipulative, he's possessive; so he's always jealous and explosive when it comes to whats his being taken away, he's kind but selfless; so he always lets things build under the surface, he avoids conflict not to lose what he cares about so he's a pushover. This is all because of one thing, in particular, that's his biggest flaw, he's terrified of being unlovable. 

Tharn’s Psychological Scars

Let's dive into that deeper because it's interesting. First of all, when we watch Tharn and Type season 1, we only think Type is the person who has suffered psychological and mental damages/trauma that has shaped him into the flawed person he is at the start. It's understandable why Type is the way he is, but we fail to do the same for Tharn. Tharn is also a victim of some psychological/mental hurt. He's always been deserted each time he got to close; he was always secretly manipulated by his best friend who continued to maim him and convince him that there was something wrong with him and he didn't deserve to be loved. This is why his biggest fear/hated word is break up.

Tharn has been turned into someone who is clingy and possessive of the people he loves because for a very long time he didn't understand why everyone he got close to, left and blamed it harshly on him. In fact Long has caused many painful scars to Tharn: he got physically punched and hurt by Tum his best friend for something he didn't do but also the mental strain that had on him when he lost his best friend and being accused as an awful person, he lost all the people he kept falling in love with. And even though he and Type get back together after he realises the truth, it still hunts him that he was the cause of all that happened to the people who dated him for example, Tar. He's terrified at the realisation that everyone who falls in love with him gets hurt, and it makes him think he deserves to be unlovable. 

Thus Tharn is overly protective,  possessive and clingy of his relationship despite the fact that it should seem stable because of it lasting seven years, but no his mind automatically finds loopholes and places for where it could be weakened. He goes into overdrive to ensure that Type is his and won't leave him again. So he obsesses over something that will ensure that nothing will separate him and Type for example something where they have the law and pieces of evidence that they're tied together for life. Marriage.

The origin of his and Type’s relationship

But Type automatically rejects, and this is why he's scared, he's worried about Type not wanting them to be married: 

You have to remember that Type started of this relationship very differently, he was homophobic excessively due to his own scars, and he kept Tharn on a loop for a while before they got together. First of all, for Tharn, he can't help but question if Type is still feeling this way if he still sees their relationship as something unnatural and unacceptable. It scares him because it's something that could cause their relationship to fall apart at any time if Type reverts back to his old self.

Also in episode he over hears Type talking about the future saying that if they break up then it’ll cause an issue, but the thing is Tharn only heard his trigger word break up, Type shouldn’t be thinking that they could break up, could they break up, could he end up changing mind on their promise to each other? It seems like he’s already making prevention plans for when they do, what could cause it and how can he prevent it? These are the thoughts probably running in his head And for him the way to stop that is marriage. 

It's irrational but if you're someone like Tharn who's become obsessive with the protection of his relationship then its understandable that he's finding irrational reasons in his head why Type could leave him. He's overthinking everything, and he hates that.

The jealousy of Phu and Cir

This hate is further exacerbated with jealousy for Phugun and Cir. We've seen Tharn now meet with Phugun and Cir in both episodes, in both episodes we've seen him marvel at Cirs possessiveness and their overly affectionate manner. These two are a device to shadow what's going on in Tharn's mind: they are the antithesis of Tharn and Type, they're softer, and they don't seem like they argue, or fight, they're overly affectionate to each other in public, and Phugun is gentler/sweeter when it comes to showing his love for Cir. I'm not saying Tharn wants someone like Phu as his; he loves Type. Still, he's being forced to see another couple act the way he wants, he wants to be possessive, and call Type his in public the way Cir tells him to back off from Phu, he wants to hold hands and have Type lean his head on his shoulder in public and have Type call him his in front of people. Again because of his mindset, being in public, showing their affection to other people, makes it more evidential that they have something real, having people know that they are dating/married prevents home wreckers/ others from questioning if they are making up their partner and hiding the fact they're single; Both in episode 1, have to hear people question their relationship, the authenticity and genuineness of it because they've hidden who they're seeing for seven years. It's another trigger for Tharn, hearing people question the authenticity makes him also see another loophole/question if Type is really his. That's why he says he wants Type to be only his in episode 2.

TYPE: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL, EXTERNAL, AND INTERNAL NEED TO BE PROTECTED

Let's look at Type. On the other hand, we have our problematic but lovable Type. Type is very adamant about not seeing the importance of marriage. Like I said before, I don't blame him, Type focuses on protection, or should I say prevention for their relationship. He's all about preventing outside sources from bothering them; he's all about ensuring that they keep on being the way they are because it's not an issue to him, he's okay with the people who know, so he's not ashamed of Tharn, he's willing to show their relationship to his parents, so he isn't going to revert back to thinking what they have is not natural.

But for Type he's focused on reputation, people's opinions and loopholes that cause a break down in their relationship (funny same as Tharn). Type's own is more logical and rational. He's focused on how the world perceives gay people. Let's look at Type's mindset first.

His family and society

First, his father is still against him and Tharn being together. That's already proof to him why telling people or involving world isn't useful for their relationship, it just causes bothersome noise and anger, and it becomes an unwarranted issue for them to deal with. Type has spent most of his life being homophobic because of his past trauma, for him he's spent time looking at it from someone who is against their relationship, so he knows what people can do in anger, (ruin Tharns family reputation or hurt him or Tharn ) if angry or irrational.  For Type, society isn't as lenient to LGBTQ as it should be, so he's focused on protecting what he has with Tharn. He saw how his father reacted to them, what if others do the same, what if their environment hate them and life is more challenging for them.

Also because of his past Type has a very negative reaction to people being involved in his life like that. One because after his trauma happened it was all over the news and he was a victim of people invading his space for that very reason. He had all his information, reputation, and self exposed to people who were cruel to him and so yes hates being public because of this as well. 

The nature of his and Tharn’s relationship

Secondly for Type getting married isn't a necessity, not when he knows and is confident that he and Tharn will last. Tharn has other reasons why he can't think like that, but for Type one thing he's sure about is their love for each other, they don't need physical evidence for that, they already are the physical evidence that they're forever. Because Type and Tharn have chosen each other as life partners, they tell each other that every day, they show each other every day, they've demonstrated their relationship to the people that matter to them, and they already live like a married couple for seven years.

As much as I understand Tharn's need for evidence/action to prove that they won't be separated, it is still stupid, because home wreckers will always try to break them even when married, Type still isn't going to be as affectionate in public because he's not that kind of person in public, and nothing will change their dynamic after they're married because they already live together, see each other and spend most of their time together like a married couple.

THARN AND TYPE 7 YEARS OF LOVE

But like I said, I get it. The only issue now that pushes this as a plot is how Tharn reacts to this issue when he's not getting his way. We know he can be sometimes manipulative, (he likes to guilt Type into doing his bidding/ forgiving him when they fight like putting his hand on the pan to get him to feel sorry for him), we know he can be hotheaded and just as explosive since we saw his reaction to being jealous and possessive in season 1 so mix this issue and fear with Fiat (walking in and choosing to fight for Type because they're not married). It means Tharn will make mistakes when he reacts to that.

One thing for certain though is Tharn loves Type, Type is all he cares about and wants, he's willing sometimes to be patient and hold back for Type, he tries to be understanding and communicative in episode 2, but also he still has this issue in his mind, it's going to keep on building and building, and soon it'll cause an explosion. That's why him being a pushover isn't a good thing for this.

The one thing that remains above all this is that Tharn and Type love each other, even despite having different opinions, they can't bear the thought of losing each other, they decided from episode 1 that it was them against the world, together. So no matter what happens, they will keep fighting to be together, they will keep trying to understand each other. Like I said they have matured, their relationship has changed and becomes healthier, (fighting does not mean toxicity, it just means they're realistic), and they have loved each other so far for seven years. They haven't lost that passion and attraction they have for each other. This season its time for Tharn to mature and deal with his own fears, flaws and scars last season we watched Type deal with his as he fell in love with Tharn, so let's see what happens next.

#tharntype #tharn and type #tharntype 7 years of love #thai bl #bl series #november #cwg #mewgulf #tharntype 2: 7 years of love

[agiar2000]

Resistance to Violence

I just saw this video, and I found it very intriguing and impactful, intellectually. It actually did get me thinking differently about the main issue therein. https://youtu.be/YJSehRlU34w

When this video was published, I was probably already quite convinced of the virtue of non-violent resistance.

In recent years, however, I have seen more and more of how non-violent protesters have not only been subjected to oppressive violence in retaliation, but have also been publicly blamed for the violence being done to and around them, so that the corrupt media has successfully managed to redirect the sympathy that ought to be conferred on those who are bravely and peacefully standing in the face of violence and oppression, and twist it into even more support for the oppressive system. I have seen how violent regimes are perfectly willing to brutalize peaceful people just to assert and demonstrate their dominance, and then I see them getting praise from large swaths of the population who support that oppression.

On the other hand, I have also been thinking more about situations where violence was the catalyst to finally make progress for equality and justice. The Confederate States of America, the Nazis of Germany, and the various unconscionable horrors they wrought were not stopped by people protesting peacefully, by seeking common ground, by seeking to understand them better and make them comfortable. They were stopped by a sufficient opposing army slaughtering them until they ceased to be willing and able to pose a continuing threat to humanity.

It's also helpful, I think to contrast the end of the Confederacy with the end of the Nazis. Starting with the Confederacy: While slavery and white supremacy were certainly overtly stated goals of the Confederacy's rebellion, the Union was (and still is) hardly an anti-racist country, and it has been noted that their goal in fighting the Confederacy was more about retaining the Union than about ending slavery. In the end, when the Confederacy surrendered, there was an attempt by the victors to ease the feelings of the erstwhile rebels, to allow them to retain a great deal of "Southern pride". For that, we get the Daughters of the Confederacy whitewashing and rewriting history, the Ku Klux Klan continuing to wage terror across the country, and many of the various monuments and other dedications to honor Confederate leaders. The meaning of these symbols is clearly white supremacy, and not merely "Southern pride", as evidenced by how they're used. Many of these monuments were erected in the former Confederacy as part of the backlash against the civil rights movement in the 20th century, and some people even outside of America proudly wave the Confederacy's navy jack flag. Why would non-Americans wave that flag? Because they want to wave a flag for white supremacy, and they can't legally wave the flag of the Nazis.

The Nazis, by contrast, were obliterated. They were not allowed to retain "Nazi pride" after the fall of their heinous regime. The symbols of their monstrosity were banned. A standard of basic human decency was granted greater priority than the "freedom" of terrible people to do horrible things. Nazism was destroyed, not simply because it opposed other powers that wanted to control them, but because they were evil, and they needed to be stopped for the good of the world. The result is that now, less than 8 decades after the fall of the Nazis, Germany is a far more decent, pro-social democracy than the former Confederate states, which continue to stand for right-wing oppression, even over 15 decades after the surrender of the Confederacy.

Another example, though less of a dramatic one, is that of the Stonewall riot. The LGBTQ community did not start gaining rights and freedom from a horrifically oppressive regime because they were kind, nice, and peaceful, gently appealing to the better angels of their murderers and oppressors, making the effort to try to understand them and to meet them in the middle. What kicked off their victories at this time was Black trans women of color throwing bricks at police.

Considering all that, I found Chenoweth's presentation difficult to reconcile. When the oppressive regime has control over the media, when they make every peaceful protester look like a violent, dangerous terrorist, and they convince large portions of the population to be willing to fight for fascism, convincing them that it is actually "freedom", and that efforts for justice are actually an attack on their very identity, how can one possibly proceed? When those in power do murder peaceful protesters, do you keep showing up to protest peacefully? If you see someone going around shooting people left and right, do you stand there and demand verbally that the shooter stop?

So, what to do? We live in a violent society that has normalized routine violence against the poor, minorities, people of color, and all of the most marginalized and vulnerable in society. We only need 3.5% of the population to actively resist? Already 5.8% of the American population is in deep poverty, with 9.2% in poverty, generally. Globally, these numbers are even more horrifying, with 9.2% in deep poverty and nearly 17% in a state of being "multidimensionally poor", and nearly half living on less than the equivalent of US$5.50 per day. Couldn't we count on those people, at the very least, to oppose their own oppression? No, we cannot, partly because part of being so oppressed is being kept so weak and powerless that you don't have the energy to resist and being provided just enough that you're terrified to lose what little you have by daring to stand up, but also because so many of them have been brainwashed and corrupted into voting against their own interests and being willing to fight against the people who are trying to help them, and blame the even more marginalized among them or phantoms of foreign powers for all of their problems. Maybe if they knew what was really going on, we would have won long before now.

Now, regarding the topic of the video, the success of non-violent resistance, I very much appreciate that Chenoweth's presentation relied on statistical data from studies of hundreds of events rather than the mere anecdotes that were foremost in my mind when I started watching, and I also appreciate that she started by talking about the mindset from which she started, which closely resembled my own, including good examples of violent revolutions that ended corrupt regimes. I don't know exactly how the data she used to reach her conclusion were gathered and classified, and I retain some skepticism, but I would very much like to believe that her data are, in fact, representative, accurate, and actionable. I would very much like to believe that we can, in fact, win freedom and justice through peaceful means, though I have a hard time really being confident in it. I want to believe that she's right because otherwise, I see very little hope at all. We are very close to a point at which total environmental collapse is inevitable, with the majority of global power still putting the pedal to the metal to drive us off that cliff as fast as possible. The most aggressive policy proposals to save the planet involve easing up on the gas slightly, far too little far too late, and even those are being defeated by the regressive death cult of neoliberals, conservatives, and fascists. At this point, it is hard to see how any future can exist that does not involve tremendous destruction. Either the forces of evil win outright and destroy everything, or the forces that oppose them are forced to wreak so much destruction in order to stop them that they might as well have lost anyway. It's hard to imagine sometimes that we have not already completely lost, that the world is not already completely doomed, and all that is left is to watch as the monsters responsible for it just keep making things worse until the very end.

I guess the answer is just to have faith and to do whatever we can to give humanity the best possible chance, and that means two main strategic goals: 1. Motivate and influence enough people to reach that 3.5% threshold to actually resist for the change that we all need. 2. Determine an actual action plan for those people to carry out that will have the desired effect with a minimum of collateral damage and harmful side effects.

Sadly, I have no idea how to do either of those things, and anything I can think of still feels either depressingly small and insufficient or worrying for its potential to cause unintended harm.

[joyofcrime-elinorhigh]

 Hello everybody, my name is JoyofCrimeArt, and legacy can be an fascinating thing in regard to animation. Since cartoons are made with the intent of being seen years or even decades after they're created, it can be interesting to see how the general consensus people have about a series can change over time. One day you can be on top of the world, and your series is loved by critics and audiences alike. But then, something happens. Sometimes it's a specific episode. Other times a season. Maybe it's a controversy within the fandom. But whatever it is, something happens that causes peoples opinions to turn. And suddenly your show has gone from being universally praised to becoming much more divisive. And when something like that happens, it can be hard to recover. It happened to Steven Universe.  It happened to Rick and Morty. And it happened to Star vs. the Forces of Evil.

 Created by Daron Nefcy,  Star vs. The Forces of Evil  premiered on the Disney Channel and Disney XD in 2015,  and quickly became one of the hot cartoons that everybody was talking about. It makes sense, as it came outright around the time where more continuity based fantasy series were really starting to take off, so it's natural that it became a hit. While the series was generally well regarded upon its debut, as time went on the series became much more of a "love it or hate it" type of show. And while that's not too uncommon for any show that amounts a large flowing, what makes Star vs. so interesting is that it seems like nobody can seemingly agree when the show got bad, if it did at all. Some people say the quality dipped after the first season. Others say the third. Some say the fourth. Others say that the show was good until the finale. And some say that the show was solid throughout. This divide among fans is why I feel confident calling Star vs. The Forces of Evil one of the most divisive shows of the 2010's, even if the debate around it isn't nearly volatile as other series. But now that the series has ran its course I have to ask, does it hold up? Did the show really go down hill, or is the hate undeserved? That's what I'm here to find out.

 I feel like I'm in an interesting place to talk about this series because, while I tend to try to keep up with all the big name animated show coming out, I actually didn't watch most of Star as it was running. I watched the first season until my family cut cable right before the finale of season one (You know, around the time people started to care about the show.) And only caught up with the show in the last year or so while doing research for my "Top 30 Cartoons of the Decade" list. So I went into the series mostly blind with the exception of a few spoilers. I just felt like this was important to point out as I feel it may have an effect on my view of the show.

 Also, while I usually try to go spoiler free when I do a general overview of a series, for this review I may have to go into some spoiler territory. Since this series features an ever changing status quo, as well as a lot of major characters who aren't introduced until late in the series' run, doing this review completely spoiler free would be difficult. So I'm going to be doing this review under the assumption that anybody reading this has already seen the show, and are just curious to hear my take on it, or don't care about being spoiled.  So if you wanna go in blind I suggest you sign out now.

 But to everyone else, let's dive in and talk about Star vs. the Forces of Evil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hJ5ecrpp8k

 Star vs. The Forces of Evil stars (He, get it. I'm funny.) Star Butterfly. A princess from the dimension of Mewni who, upon her fourteenth birthday is given a wand of unbelievable magical power. However, after causing nothing but trouble with her new found powers in her world her parents decide to ship her off to Earth, where she can be somebody else's problem. There she befriends a human boy named Marco Diaz and the series mainly follow these two as they go on all sorts of magical adventures as they battle all sorts of evil monsters and ne'er-do-well who want to take the wand and use its power for themselves. Or at least that's how the series goes at first. As the series goes on it begins to focus more on the world building, as Star and Marco discover that the kingdom of Mewni isn't as great as they first believed, and are forced to battle political corruption, conspiracy within the royal family, and the generation spanning systemic racism against monster kind.  

 The best place to start when talking about the show are the characters. Lets start with the main leads.

 We got Star, your typical fun-loving, ditzy, hyperactive action girl. Which seems to be a common trend in Disney Channel cartoons now that I think about it. But she does enough to stand on her own. She's a fun character, and an overall good lead for the series. I admit that her bratty nature and general stupidity could turn some people off, and there are times  where it can get a little annoying, but I never minded it all that much. I think that's kinda suppose to be the point of her character. She's a royal, and spent her whole life with a silver spoon in her mouth. So it makes sense she would be a bit selfish and be unaware of the world around her. And she does improve over the course of the series, as she begins to take her job as a princess more seriously and spends much of the series actively fighting against monster prejudice. Though I'd be lying if some of these less desirable elements of her character don't continue to pop up every now and again, even later in the series and especially in the last couple of episodes. Also she's kinda a sociopath. Like especially early on in the show there are like...a lot of casualties to Star's antics. I'm kinda surprised Disney let them get away with that.

 Also, can I just say that I am sick and tired of people asking "When is Disney going to include their first LGBTQ+ princess, completely ignoring the fact that Star is bisexual as fu*k. Like, come on now!

 Marco is also a good lead. He's a neurotic, responsible, karate student who often acts as the straight man to Star's antics. However, I like the fact that he's not a total stick in the mud. Sure he's more cautious than Star is but he's still capable of getting in on the adventures as well. He comes across as a realistic teen with his own set of flaws. Namely his insecure nature and general social awkwardness. I also like that due to his expertise with karate he's able to hold his own in a fight even without magic. He always feels like Star's equal and never like a sidekick. He and Star have a great dynamic in general, and the two play off each other well. They contrast with each other and It feels like the two really cover each other's flaws. And it's kinda refreshing seeing two characters who are so different manage to genuinely get along with each other.  

 But of course, we also have the forces of evil that the shows title so clearly mentioned. Each season focuses on a different villain, and something that I really like is how all four major villains are introduced relatively early on. So the show doesn't suffer from that "Dragon Ball Z" type thing where it's like "Haha! I know you just defeated the villain, but now's there's an even BIGGER villain who we just haven't happened to mention until now!" They've always around in the world, and many of them even start out as joke villains only to become more serious later down the line. And they manage to do that in a way that feels very believable.

 The best example of this is the shows first villain, Ludo. Who upon introduction is portrayed as a completely comedic villain who Star could easily take in a fight. But things change when a new more serious villain, Toffee, usurps him as the season one antagonist. Stealing his castle and army in the process. Come season two and Ludo is left alone, having lost everything, and is forced to toughen up in order to get back what he once had. He builds a new army, stronger than his first. He finds a new castle to form his base in, and becomes a genuine threat to our cast. Scrappy underdogs villains who lost everything might be one of my favorite tropes in fiction. Other examples of this trope used effectively would be Peridot in Steven Universe and Jamack in Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeast. However, while those shows use this trope as an opportunity to have these villains go through a redemption arc, Star goes the other way and uses it as an opportunity to make a character become more of a threat. That said, he never loses the comedic charm that made his fun to watch in the first place. Part of me honestly kinda wish that Ludo stayed the main villain of season two, instead of being usurped Toffee yet again. That said, the episode "Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell" does a good job giving his arc a satisfying conclusion.

 Speaking of antagonist, let's talk about Tom Lucitor. Star's demon ex-boyfriend. While not a season spanning villain like Ludo or Toffee, he has several appearances early on as a recurring antagonist only to go down the more traditional "redemption arc" route later on. And I just want to say upfront, Tom is one of my favorite characters. Not in the show, but in fiction in general. It would of been so easy to make Tom your generic "toxic boyfriend" arch-type but even early on it's made clear that even though he's an antagonist, he isn't pure evil. His love for Star is genuine, but the problem is that he hasn't earned it. He tries to improve himself and become a better person but his own anger issues and jealousy keeps getting in the way. Specifically jealousy of Marco because he seems him as a romantic threat. But as time goes on, he does become better. He learns that he and Marco have a lot in common and eventually accepts that he can't make Star love him, and lets her have her space. And that, ironically, causes Star to becoming willing to open up to him again. They become friends and eventually get back together. But what I like is that while he has gone through efforts to improve and work through his problems, they still persist throughout the series. He's still very insecure and is looking for constant approval from Star. He still is jealous of how close Star and Marco are even though he has become friends with both of them. And it's shown several time that Tom tends to put his own problems above the problems of others. It shows that even though he wants to change and is willing to change, that doesn't mean that change come easy. It takes time and can be a long process. These are realistic character flaws that make Tom such a more complex and relatable character in my eyes. I relate a lot to Tom with his desire and constant struggle to improve as a person, and I feel like it's a struggle that's easy for a lot of people to relate to. Also...he's just such an edgy dork. He's...he is good boi.

 Another fantastic character is Eclipsa. Introduced about halfway into the series, Eclipsa was a former Queen of Mewni who was imprisoned in crystal due to dabbling in dark magic and for running away from her arranged marriage and marring the King of the Monster, Globgor. The show builds up mentions of Eclipsa early on, with characters talking about how evil and dangerous she was. Eventually she becomes free from her prison (cause lets be real, whenever there's a villain sealed away somewhere you KNOW they're going to get out.) But surprisingly, when we see her she actually doesn't seem that evil. She's polite, kind, and is even willing to go through the proper legal channels to prove that she isn't as bad as people say she is. She is an excellent example of a morally ambiguous character cause for the first several episodes we the audience don't really know if she is actually a good person who's just been judged too harshly by society or if she is actually evil and this is all an act. As even as the show goes on and it becomes clear that Eclipsa is a good person at heart they still manage to keep the audience guessing. Much like Star, Eclipsa can be kinda selfish and impulsive, making her a bit of a loose cannon.  Despite the shows title "Star vs. The Forces of Evil" Eclipsa goes to emulate one of the shows major themes. That life isn't that black and white.

 The show deals a lot with shades of gray when it comes to its characters, as all characters have there own motives and backstories and relations with each other that can make them either allies or enemies depending on the circumstances. An example of this is the Magical High Commission, a group that monitors magic across all the dimensions. throughout the series it is shown that they stand on the side of Mewni. So in season two when Mewni is being conquered by  Ludo and Toffee they're good guys. But just like most most people in Mewni they hate monsters and believe that Eclipsa is evil. Making them antagonist in seasons three and four. Their motives stay the same, but their role in the series changes.

 However despite my praise not all the characters are  great. In fact the show can be kinda hit or miss with their cast. The characters that are great are really great, but then you get characters like...

(Art by JelloApocolypse)

 You know what, I have to be honest. I kinda like Pony Head. I know a lot of people say she's annoying and selfish and contributes next to nothing to the plot...and they're right. But I also just kinda like her. I think what makes her more bearable to me is that she's kinda disliked in-universe. Even Star, who is Pony Head's best friend, often times get sick of her crap. Real talk though, can we all agree that Pony Head is basically just a discount Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time?  Like, they're nearly the exact same character.  

 A character who I don't like as much though is Glossaryck, the magical spirit guide that lives in Star's spell book. I never really got his deal. Sometimes it seems like he likes Star and genuinely wants to help her become a better magic user, while other times it doesn't seem like he really cares. He dies in the beginning of season three only to come back a few episodes later acting like a wild animal and yelling "Globgor" over and over again without any explanation as to how or why. Than at the end of season three it's revealed that it was all an act and he was fine the whole time. Like...why? We later learn that is a highly recognized historical figure in Mewni. Why is he yelling his name? And why does nobody question why he's doing this? I can buy that Star and Marco might not know who Globgor is but most everybody else seems to. I keep expecting that moment for his motivations to click. Where it's revealed how everything he's done was all an elaborate ploy to help Star or something, but it never really happens. Though my opinion of him does slightly increase in season four, but that's just because Keith David took over the role of voice actor. And adding Keith David can make anything better.

 Some characters can even change in quality between seasons. Janna is this edgy punk girl who joins the main cast in season two as a new friend to Star and Marco. I liked her well enough in season two even if some of her more abrasive elements could be somewhat obnoxious. She's more or less absent for most of season three. Then come season four she returns and I found her more annoying. I don't know if her character got worse or if it was just the fact that her character didn't work as well in later episodes after the show had become more dramatic. But near the end of the season, they give her some long overdue character growth. Not a lot, but some. And I found myself liking her more.  

 There are other characters in the series as well, and they tend to vary. Star's mom, Moon is a BAMF and I like Buff Frog a lot. Jacki and Kelly are fine characters, though I admit there's not that much to them outside of being love interests for Marco, though they still have there own personalities. King River's kinda annoying but I've seen worse examples of the "dumb dad" trope and Alan Tudyk gives a great performance.

 And since I don't have time to go over my thoughts on EVER character in this series, I'll do what ever online review does when they don't have time for nuance. Create a tier list!

 If It's not apparent by now, the characters in this show run the gambit. With the best ones being some of my favorite characters of all time, and the worse one's just being generally annoying. However, if there's one thing that this show excels at is not painting things as black and white. No character is evil without a reason and all the heroic characters have un-heroic flaws to their characters with unique motivations that make sense for their characters. (For the most part anyway.)

 The shows animation is also really good. Featuring thick outlines and a lot of nice coloring on the characters. (Even if some of the background colors can be a bit drab at times.) Most of the first season is done in flash, but it's good flash, which does well to accentuate the character expressions and the fluid action scenes. Part way through season one though the show's animation changes to more traditional animation. I think there is a bit of a divide on which style people consider to be better, but I personally prefer the look of the later seasons. The bouncy look of the early season one episodes look good, but I don't know how well that would of worked in the more dramatic and somber moments that happen later on.

 I also appreciate the world building. The first two seasons are set mostly on Earth in the town of Echo Creek, but the last two seasons changes things up and focus much more on Mewni, allowing us to explore both settings. I know some people don't like the change as it resulted in several of the characters introduced earlier being written out of the show but I never really minded that. I think Mewni and the cast of characters who inhabit it are on the whole more interesting than the people of Echo Creek. (I mean does anybody really miss Sensei Brantley?) Plus the change in setting allows us to get a bit of a role reversal with Marco being the fish out of water, and Star having to show him how her world operates. And even if you do prefer the Earth setting we still cut back to it on occasion. And when you add it all up the total series runtime between the two setting is fairly evenly.

 I like how characters can kinda come and go in this series, as it shows that the world doesn't revolve around Star and Marco. And it allows the writers to see which characters people gravitate to and focus on them while keeping less interesting characters out of the way. It also allows for character arcs to actually have conclusions, without the need for them to be drawn out just for the sake of keeping characters around longer.

 Let's talk about themes for a moment. Specifically the main theme of prejudice and  systemic racism in the show. It's handled...okay. It's kinda standard stuff and it doesn't go super complex on the issue, but for what it is it works though. That being said the show can be a bit confusing in terms of what counts as "monsters" and what are just regular races in this world. Which can make the metaphor a little muddled. I get that the idea is that there is no difference, and that monsters are only deemed as bad as an excuse for mewmans to justify their mistreatment of them, but it can still be confusing as to who's oppressed and who isn't and to what extent. I feel it would be even more confusing for a younger children watching who might not understand all the nuances of this stuff. However, the way the show tackles this isn't bad either. And the fact that the show tackles this element at all is admirable.

 But who cares about systemic racism! That's not the real reason people are watching this show! We all know that everybody is really here for the shipping!

 Yeah, as the series went on the shipping seems to become a much more major element within the series. So much so that to many the increased focus on the shipping is often cited as one of the main elements that caused the show to go down hill. However I never really minded it. I mean Star vs. has always been a bit of a love letter to the shojo/magical girl genre and romance is a very important element to those types of shows. So it makes sense that it would be used here. And I think it's used pretty well here overall. These are just kids struggling through these types of feelings for the first time, So it makes a lot of the stupid decisions that they make feel a lot more believable. But if this kind of thing isn't your cup of tea, it might end up bothering you. Because they do devote a good amount of time on it.

 But you're probably wondering, who do I ship? Am I team Starco or team TomStar? And honestly, while shipping has never been something I've ever gotten too invested in, if I had to pick I would probably have to say team Starco. Which may be surprising as I previously went on and on about how Tom was one of my favorite characters of all time. But this is the way I see it. Tom's whole arc is about learning how to get over his jealousy and controlling nature regarding his relationship with Star. And it's shown that even after he's dating Star, and has everything he thought he wanted, he still couldn't fully get over his hangups. Even though he loves Star and Star loves him, it's clear that the relationship still isn't exactly the most healthy. And it's clear that they are going in different directions in their lives. Tom knows what he wants. To be with Star. But Star doesn't know what she wants. Not all relationships have to end because one person does something wrong or because one of the parties involved is a bad person. Sometimes two people just aren't compatible in that kind of way. And seeing Tom be the one to break up with Star shows just how far he's come as a character. Plus, like I said earlier, Star and Marco have great chemistry. And I do genuinely see them working as a romantic couple, beyond the fact that there the two main leads.

 Besides, StarTom is technically incest so....

 *record scratch!*

 Oh wait, you didn't know about that.? Yeah, according to the official "Star vs. the Forces of Evil Magic Book of Spells" Star's Great Great Great Grandmother Rhina Butterfly was in a relationship with John Roachley, a second cousin to the Lucitor's. Now granted that would mean that Star and Tom aren't THAT related. But still. Incest none the less. Not that it even matters anyway since all of the Mewmans are descended from like five random people!  

Seriously, this is some Ishigami Village levels of incest we got going on here.

 But despite how heated the flames wars can be, I think we can all agree that Tomco is the best ship anyway. Like come on now.

 So yeah, even the shipping elements didn't bother me. To be completely honest, while the show did have some problems here or there, I found myself enjoying the show well into the fourth season. But I knew it was coming. Since I was watching the show months after the series had concluded, I had heard things about the finale. A finale that figuratively "cleaved" the fan base. But in order to talk about the finale we have to go a few episodes back and talk about the episodes leading up to it. Obviously spoilers ahead.

 To briefly recap, at this point in the series Eclipsa had become Queen of Mewni along with her husband Globgor after Star relinquished the crown to her. And many of the Mewmans are upset by Eclipsa's new "pro-monster" policies had left to live with the former Queen Moon. Meanwhile Mina Loveberry, a legendary monster fighter from generations far gone, had begun building up an army to invade Eclipsa's castle and take Mewni back from the monsters. A lot of people I hear don't like Mina as a final villain, but honestly I was surprised by how threatening they were able to make her despite how goofy she is. And her backstory about basically being a magically altered super solider driven to the point of insanity really helped to make her sympathetic. (Like I said, in this show everyone is painted with shades of gray. Even genocidal lunatics.) She invades with a Solarian Knight, a giant magic powered mech and it takes all of our heroes working together to barely defeat it. Until it is revealed that it was only one of many. It's an amazing twist that really leaves you wondering "How are or heroes going to get out of this one." Up to this point I was digging this final arc. But that's when I finally got to it.

 To me, the moment where Star vs. the Forces of Evil got bad was the moment it was revealed that Moon was working with Mina to reclaim the thrown from Eclipsa.

 It just doesn't fit Moons's character to do this. While it is shown throughout the season that Moon does not agree with Eclipsa more extreme policies, It was still shown that while Moon may be against Star's decision to give the crown to Eclipsa, she acknowledges that since Star was queen at the time and was within her right as queen to decide what was best for the kingdom. And in previous episodes she seemed generally happy not having the responsibility that comes with being queen anymore. But now she suddenly wants her kingdom back? If she wanted it back, all she had to do was say so from the start. At the start of the season most Mewmans still hate Eclipsa. It would not be that hard to stage a coup if she really wanted, especially since the magic high commission and all of Mewni would be on her side. Why would she work with Mina, who Moon knows is insane and racist even by Moons standard? Sure Moon and Eclipsa definitely don't see eye to eye on a lot of things but Moon still wouldn't want her dead, and Moon knows that Mina wants to kill her. I know she thought she could control Mina's army but that's still a big risk. It seems uncharacteristically reckless for a character as intelligent as Moon to make these choices.

 So then, after it turns out that Moon can't control Mina's army, our heroes are basically screwed and are forced to hide out in a special tavern located at the edge of the universe to wait things out while Mina begins rounding up all the monsters in Mewni. They are all trying to figure out a plan on how to possibly defeat Mina's army when Star suddenly goes on a rant about how magic is bad. And this idea had been brought up a few times in the series, but overall had never really been portrayed as a major aspect. But suddenly the show treats this as if it's all the magics fault, and that everything would be better if it was gone. And that's when Star comes up with the genius plan to use go to the magic dimension to destroy all the magic. Thus making Mina's forces useless. And while I admit that yes, they are very much been pushed to a wall here, this has to be one of the most overkill ideas they could of possibly think of!

 Now, I've seen a lot of people online saying that by doing this, Star would be committing mass murder on a multiverse scale, potentially destroying many universes. And I think that is a bit of a reach. From what we see in the series, it seems to me at least that magic is kinda a rare thing in the universe. That's why so many villains are trying to steal the magic wand away from Star. And I see very little implying that there are whole universes that are reliant on magic outside of Mewni. THAT SAID THOUGH, this would result in the deaths of a lot of innocent people. But Star really only seems concerned with the fact that once magic is destroyed, all people who come from parallel universes will return to their home universe, meaning she won't be able to stay with Marco. Which makes Star seem beyond selfish and generally pretty horrible.

 Hekapoo, one of the high commission members, despite being made of magic and knowing that she will die from this, is totally on board for this plan because plot. And our heroes travel to the magic dimension to destroy all the magic. Which they do. Defeating Mina's forces and leaving her powerless. She still manages to escape however because nobody decides to actually, you know, try to arrest the person who just committed a political coup and nearly whipped out an entire race. They just let her walk off, because she's powerless now. I mean what's the worse she could possibly do, right?

 So yeah, Mina is defeated, but everybody is sent back to their home dimensions. But somehow, through the power of love I guess, the universes of Earth and Mewni begin to merge. Thus allowing Star and Marco to be together. Happy ending, I guess? I don't know.  Like Star and Marco being together is treated as a good thing. But we also see humans screaming as there world have now been overrun by monsters. Is this suppose to be a joke? A bittersweet ending? I'm not really sure.

 In concept the idea of a universe merge is actually a pretty interesting idea. As it feels like a natural progression of the shows themes of racial tolerance and mutual understanding. Now that we've gotten semi-tolerance between monsters and mewmans we could now have an arc about trying to bridge the cultural gaps between the humans and the mewmans. Plus it would be a good way to appease both the people who enjoyed the earlier seasons focus on Echo Creek, and fans of the later seasons who preferred the stories set on Mewni. It's not a bad idea, but it needed to A.) be set up better and B.) needed more time to be fleshed out. I get that it's designed to be a sequel hook, but it's not like this is something that the series had been building up to to the point where we the audience can put together what happens next. As is, it's just weird.

 So yeah, the last couple of episodes of Star vs. where a total mess. It's fitting that the finale to Star happened to come out the same day as the finale of Game of Thrones. While I'm not going to act like there weren't some parts I liked or some good ideas sprinkled throughout, this finale was pretty bad. How do you have a show that preaches acceptance and equality and end it with a genocide?! But hey, genocidal problems call for genocidal solutions am I right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ufmrn7BCuA

My God, It's Dragon Ball Super all over again.

 And the worse part is that the series didn't have to end this way. Cause the show actually had a pretty good episode about half way through the season, "Cornonation" which would of acted as a great series finale! With the series ending with Eclipsa as Queen and ruling with Globgor by her side, with the mewmans finally accepting monster kind. You'd have to change a few things, like rap up Mina's plot and put Star and Marco together, but other than that it could of really worked. Admirably it may end up feeling more like a finale for Mewne as oppose to a finale for Star but it would thematically fit with the message of the series. Or if you really wanna keep this finale more in tack just don't have Star destroy the magic. Just have Star, Moon, and Eclipsa go off and do the one thing the three of them had never tried doing. Working together. And have them defeat Mina the old fashion way. They even allude to this idea in the tavern episode before Star goes on her whole "We gotta destroy the magic" kick.

 It is a bit ironic to think that a show that's whole message is about unity could end up being so divisive with it audience. I genuinely believe that had the show ended on a better note, people would look back on the show more fondly. Despite the flaws. To the people who don't like Star vs. The Forces of Evil, I can understand where you are coming from. Even if you ignore the finale there are things to not like. A lot of things aren't very well explained and the show has its fair bit of plot holes. The series can be repetitive with its frequent shipping and "racism is bad" episodes. And some of the characters can be a bit annoying, including our main lead at times.

 That being said though, I have to say, I can't bring myself to hate this show.

 I don't know what it is, but I just found myself getting really invested into this series. Maybe it was due to me hearing so much bad things about the later seasons that I had low expectations, and while that may be part of it I don't think that's the whole reason. When you watch as many cartoons as I have, and for as long as I have, it becomes harder for things to impress you. Sometimes it can feel like your just checking shows off of a box, which is something that I've been trying to improve upon. But watching this show, it brought me back to the way I felt back in the early 2010's when I first started getting into these types of series.  For all of Star's flaws, and trust me there are many flaws, it felt like it was doing something unique. Like it was in it's own little world that wasn't quiet Adventure Time and not quiet Steven Universe. And the series stuck with me after I finished watching it, which is surprisingly kinda rare. It's why I became interested in doing this review in the first place.

 Star vs. the Forces of Evil is a flawed show. Very flawed. But I'd rather have a flawed show that's unique than a perfect show that's something I've seen a million times. And while I may not be a fan of how it ended, I don't think that should completely take away from all the good that this show has to offer. This show isn't going to be for everybody, and If you somehow made it this far into the review without seeing the show than I hope I've said enough to help you figure out if this show is right for you. But for me, despite everything, the series still has it's magic.

 What did you think of Star vs. the Forces of Evil? I really genuinely want to know on this one.  Did it go downhill and if so than when? Leave those thoughts in the comments down bellow. Please fav, follow, and comment if you liked the review. And have a great day.

#Star vs The Forces of Evil

[nerdygaymormon]

I'm a trans person who loves the gospel and is still very active in the church. As of right now I still hold a temple recommend, even though I don't attend often because of my anxiety. I recently just started hormone replacement therapy-kinda on an impulse, and I guess I'm worried about 1/2

my future. I don't want to stop hormones but it's almost a certainty that I'll at least have my recommend revoked, which means no sealing for time and all eternity to a spouse and no way to be sealed to my future children either. Do you have any words of comfort or advice? 2/2

—————————————————————  

I reviewed Handbook 1 and hormone replacement therapy is not mentioned. Under temple recommends it says this: “A member who has undergone an elective transsexual operation may not receive a temple recommend.”

Getting a shot is not surgery, it is within the permissible actions a trans person may take and still be in good standing with the Church. Also allowed is wearing clothes that feel right and going by your chosen name and asking people to use the correct pronouns. You can ask for your member record to show your preferred name/nickname. According to the Handbook, none of those actions will cause you to have your recommend taken away (of course, some leaders go rogue and may take actions that the Handbook doesn’t call for). 

________  

I know trans people who are still in the Church. Despite how it’s presented in the media, most trans people don’t have surgery. I know life in the Church will be a challenge, but if you want to continue to be a member, then do so. 

________  

The Church won’t update its membership record to change the gender from what you were assigned at birth. And ive heard that it will not update your membership record to reflect your new name, even if you get it legally changed, but I wonder if that’s a ward-by-Ward situation.

To get married in the temple, it has to be to someone whose membership record shows a gender different from yours. The Church records have to show a male & female getting married. If that works for you, then you can be sealed to your spouse, and your children would automatically be sealed to both of you.  

________  

I want you to know that you are a unique and beautiful child of loving heavenly parents. Every once in a while they send the world someone so unique, it’s like blessing us with a rare treasure. Four-leaf clovers are considered lucky because they’re rare. The people who know you are lucky! I hope they recognize the blessing it is to have you in their lives. 

I’m sorry the Church isn’t a good space for LGBTQ people. The Church is designed for cishet people. The Church still has a long ways to go regarding its gay members. It has so much farther to go for its trans, nb and gender fluid members. 

If church becomes too much, too hard, it’s okay to take a break. The Church has a wonderful online library of videos and music and talks and on and on. Even if you don’t go to the Sunday meetings, you can still receive messages of the gospel that lift your soul and stimulate your mind. You are responsible for your own gospel learning and there’s multiple ways to learn and feed your soul. 

Remember the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:22-28. She went to Jesus and asked for His help. He declined, saying He was not sent to minister to the lost sheep of Israel, it’s not good to throw the kid’s food to the dogs.

That’s cold!

The Canaanite woman responded, “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.”

Jesus replied, “great is thy faith.” And then He cured her daughter. 

Another person who Jesus singled out as an example of great faith was the Roman centurion who wanted Jesus to heal his male lover. 

You and me, we have faith and others may scoff but Jesus recognizes our faith. It’s not easy for us, we are the outsiders that others think don’t belong. But Jesus will bless us. You are blessed. 

[miso-vicious]

RWBY Volume 7 Chapter 2 & 3

SPOILERS

Greetings. Due to me staying up for the full 24 hours for Rooster Teeth Extra Life and surviving on 5 hour energy, chocolate, and water, I got real sick. I lost the will to write an analysis of Chapter 2, especially for an episode that was fairly slow, but still full of information. Which is why I will be reviewing both Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 this week. So for like the 20 something people that will skim read this post, strap in. This was a pretty heavy week.

Same as always, this post contains several SPOILERS. Do not read unless you are completely caught up on the show.

Love Will Thaw A Frozen Heart

We had a beautiful reunion between our second favorite sister duo, which was very heart warming, but we still have to wait for the big Schnee reunion.

And now that Ironwood possesses the first Relic, the group now has the upper hand on Salem. Salem has lost her only Maiden, the Spring Maiden is in the wind, and apparently, Ironwood has the Winter Maiden secured and in “stable” condition. According to Qrow, “She’s no spring chicken.” So that must mean that she’s an elderly woman with declining health. That means we’re back to where we were in Volume 3, they have to secure a new vessel for the new Winter Maiden. Either they will take the gamble and hope that whomever the current Winter Maiden chooses to inherit the power gets the power. Or they will do the soul merger machine plan that they tried to force upon Pyrrha. If we were to take a guess as to who would be Ironwood’s Champion, it would have to be Winter. While Penny does have a soul, there’s no telling what would happen to the power if she were to die. The only other person Ironwood trusts just as much as Qrow or Ozpin is Winter. It’s unclear if the machine could transfer the Maiden power to a male host, but that would be an interesting thought.

I Have No Heart, And So I Must Be Very Careful

Now, Irondaddy has been making his own plans since we’ve last seen him. With Ozpin “gone”, Ironwood has been his own moral compass. The embargo and recall of the Atlas military was only the first step of his master plan. Now that the Relic of Knowledge and Creation and the Winter Maiden are secure, the next step is to reestablish communication between the Kingdoms.

By building a new CCT tower on top of Amity Arena, it will act as a form of satellite. It will float above the clouds, higher than any Grimm can reach, and will still provide global communication even if another tower were to be destroyed. The next step is to tell the world about Salem.

That isn’t one the best plans this show has thrown at us. Ozpin has kept Salem a secret for hundreds of years. Beyond keeping his own shameful part of her evil reign a secret, the other reason was because of the inevitable chaos that would occur if the people found out there was this all powerful Goddess out there hell bent on the destruction of the world. But that’s a gamble Ironwood is willing to take apparently! His military are supposed to run damage control once the inevitable chaos breaks out among not only Atlas and Mantle, but the whole world.

Ruby made the executive decision to keep certain truths from Ironwood. Including Ozpin’s true past with Salem, Ozpin’s disappearance, Jinn being out of questions, Salem being allegedly unbeatable, and her Silver Eyes. With good reason, we have no idea what Ironwood would do with this information. Our heroes almost quit after hearing all of this, Ironwood has the world’s strongest army at his disposal. He might have a more violent reaction, and decide to go after Salem with everything he has. Ironwood is already in a volatile state, Dr. Pietro has already testified to his current paranoia. And based on the opening alluding to Jacques Schnee adding fuel to the fire, Ironwood is being manipulated into putting the needs of Atlas above the rest of the world. Of course, he seems completely level headed now. He even gave the Relic back to Ruby, offered them safe harbor in the Academy, and has basically gave them his blessing to be unofficial Huntsmen.

Ironwood even gave Qrow a super awkward hug, like a man who has never been hugged his whole life but has always wanted to try it.

A New Plan

So the next step is to reclaim an abandoned dust mine that has been taken over Grimm. (It’s insinuated that this is the same Schnee Dust Mine cave in that killed several Faunus, including Ilia’s parents). The dust mine will serve as a launch sight for Amity Arena and the dust inside is needed by the science team, until it’s clear, the CCT tower cannot launch. Why that is, why they can’t just find a new launch sight is not made clear. But this is what we have to work with.

That’s when we get our big glow up reveal, and they all look fantastic. Like, Yang’s detachable pant legs, Weiss’ excessive belts, Ruby’s steel toe boots, Blake’s new hair, I am literally living for this.

Now our team is outfitted with new tricked out scrolls. The scrolls track their vitals and aura levels, and are synced up to one another. So everyone can check on each other on the field. And if Ironwood hasn’t outfitted their scrolls with listening devices to eavesdrop on them, I will be severely disappointed in him. In this episode alone, they have talked about literally everything they’re hiding from Ironwood. Imagine all of the recordings of them being thrown back in their face.

One of the moments is between Ruby and Oscar.

Oscar was left behind at the academy, but before they leave, Ruby entrusts the Relic to Oscar. Claiming that it isn’t a good idea to be toting around an ancient Relic on her hip like a key chain. Good point. Oscar decides to let Ruby know that he’s uncomfortable with the idea of lying to Ironwood, saying it’s just like what Ozpin did to them. While the lies will probably blow up in their face, I still feel that Ruby’s hesitation is validated. She doesn’t know Ironwood, or what he will do with the information, or if he will try to claim Jinn’s last question. Only time will tell if Ruby will come forward herself, or if someone else will do it for her.

Team Chemistry

It’s not totally relevant to the plot currently, but there was a lot of onscreen chemistry between some of our team members. I’m sure aaaaaallll the shippers are losing their minds with the Bumbleby scene. Yang gets all flustered over Blake’s new look, and Blake gets all blushy. While I personally ship Blake/Sun, it’s just nice to see some LGBTQ representation. It means a lot.

Of course, Nora is still pining after Ren, who is either completely oblivious, or just isn’t ready to see his surrogate sister as a potential romantic partner, even if he does reciprocate her feelings. Ren isn’t exactly known for being upfront with his feelings. After losing Arkos, I really hope they get together, and not five minutes before one of them dies.

I’m not crazy, right? There was definitely a vibe here. Maybe Clover is just generally a flirty person, but he was sending those flirty vibes towards Qrow.

You Have To Go Inside

The inside of the mine is full of Grimm, but the main target is a Geist. It has already claimed the lives of several Atlesian soldiers.

They follow it down to the deep depths of the mines, where the Geist merges with the surrounding terrain, which includes big chunks of Gravity Dust. Which means that they have to be weary of attacking it, or they could set off the dust in the Geist, which would have a chain reaction and set off the rest of the dust in the mine, effectively killing them.

So Team RWBY, JNR, and Qrow take a back seat and let the ACE ops take over.

It was a great action scene, the ACE ops got to flex their abilities, and the Geist was effectively dealt with. But there was a very interesting scene between Harriet Bree and Ruby Rose. Ruby notes that Harriet’s semblance is speed, just like hers. But when Harriet tries to run and catch a falling shard of dust…

Ruby beats her by an inch. Harriet makes it a point to tell her that Ruby’s semblance is not speed related, but something different. I always assumed that Ruby had two semblances, the first being her Silver Eyes, and the second is her speed, which mirrors her fast paced personality. Perhaps her speed is merely an extension of another power. Only time will tell.

The Scorpion and The Frog

It was revealed in Chapter 2 that Watts and Tyrian have rolled into town. Watts reveals that while the codes have been updated in Atlas, none of it has been updated in Mantle. He easily takes control of all of Mantle security cameras and traffic lights, which is probably only a fraction of the destruction he can cause. And of course, Tyrian is already causing his form of mayhem by killing people. Even in a place like Mantle, he’s gonna raise some red flags. But subtlety was never Tyrian’s strong suit.

Now, Tyrian has tracked down our friend Forrest, a man who was in the police vehicle when the ACE ops apprehended our team last chapter. Forrest, as we know of now, is just a regular guy caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I don’t think Tyrian is going to care very much. Killing him after finding what limited information he has is just gravy.

Yaaaaaaas, Queen

Now, onto our team’s upgrades.

Aside from Ruby’s more aerodynamic look, Crescent Rose also got an upgrade. It probably has been a long time since this fine weapon has had some fine tuning, what with Ruby always being on the road. And since Ruby makes all her upgrades herself, and it’s only been one episode, the only visual change to Crescent Rose is it is now able to rotate its scythe. Thus giving Ruby one less step to do when slaying Grimm. And the fact that the haircut is slightly reminiscent of bird feathers, much like her uncle’s hair, is so cute.

Weiss is looking like a fucking Winter Queen with her new look. If she doesn’t at some point use that ponytail braid as a weapon to slay Grimm, it would be such a waste. I don’t even care that she has so many unnecessary belts, she looks fire. Aside from her new outfit, Myrtenaster does not seem to have any visual upgrades. Since most of her fighting technique comes from her semblance, I’m looking forward to see if she develops any new skills. Especially now that Winter, her mentor, and Weiss are back together again.

Now that Blake has liberated the White Fang from Adam’s tyranny, as well as conquered some personal demons, Blake has undergone a big change. She chopped off her beautiful long hair, and now has a cute bob. It’s most likely symbolic of her being ready to stop hiding who she is and being more open with people. She also has a newly fixed Gambol Shroud, which has a very noticeable gold streak where the blade was once broken. I’m sure that the scientists could have rebuilt Gambol Shroud with no evidence that it was ever broken in the first place. Meaning that this was a cosmetic change that Blake specifically requested. Again, Bumbleby shippers have been waiting years for actual evidence of Blake and Yang’s feelings for one another. Good for them.

Of course, Yang is living her truth. She is wearing a jumpsuit with detachable pant legs and an aviator jacket. Now I feel the overwhelming urge to buy pants with detachable pant legs. Her prosthetic arm has gotten an upgrade too, now fitted with a matching Ember Celica, balancing out her whole look. But that wasn’t the only thing she got done.

Ember Celica is now capable of releasing small bombs, which Yang can activate from a safe distance. Of course, that means that Yang is toting around bombs on her wrists. Hopefully that doesn’t become a problem.

I went into what Jaune’s upgrades would be last time, but now we’ve seen him in action. His shield, Crocea Mors, now acts as a make shift para-glider, can expand to an even larger shield, and can release shock waves that can knock back large Grimm. Crocea Mors also magnetically attaches to his forearm, much like Pyrrha’s shield did. Ren’s dual pistols, Storm Flower, now has the ability to shoot the blades that are now attached cables, giving Ren the power to move more aerodynamically. There are no visual changes to Nora’s weapon, Magnhild, please leave a comment if I missed something there.

Aces Wild

Clover Ebi, he wields a sort of fishing rod that doubles as a hook sword. His semblance is Good Fortune, the exact opposite of Qrow’s semblance. Good things happen around him. Which did make me suspicious as to how his missed the Geist when he seems to have no problem aiming that fancy fish hook. Maybe it was simply a way to bring up his semblance, or he missed on purpose. Why? Maybe to allow his team an opportunity to flex their abilities and instill the fact that they’re supposed to be the good guys and can be trusted.

Harriet Bree, rocking the classic All Might bunny ear hair style, wears robotic gauntlets to fight hand to hand. But her main feature is her speed semblance. She runs so fast, she is literally charged full of electricity. She ran fast enough catch a falling piece of dust all the way on the other side of the cave, and delivered the final blow to the Geist. She is most likely based off of the Hare from the Tortoise and the Hare.

Vine Zeki, a more mysterious member of the ACE ops. He seems to be the no nonsense type, and doesn’t lay his cards on the table. He currently wields no weapons, relying on his semblance. He is able to project his aura and create elongated arms and hands. Very useful for getting around or holding onto struggling prey.

Elm Ederne, a very overzealous woman, who seems to have good intentions. She immediately befriends Ruby once the dust settles on their fight last chapter, and compliments Team JNR a few times too. She wields a giant hammer, and her semblance appears to be being able to literally plant herself like a tree. Her aura wraps around her feet and attaches to the ground beneath her, making her a somewhat immovable object. For a powerhouse like Elm, I’m sure her semblance makes her a tough opponent to fight.

Marrow Amin, a dog type Faunus who likes to put up a tough front but seems to actually be more puppy than wolf. Being the only Faunus on this elite team, I’m sure that he’s barely tolerated by the Atlas aristocrats. He is astutely aware of how his species are treated as subhuman, and are dispensable to the people in Atlas. But that doesn’t seem to affect his ability to do his duty. Marrow’s weapon is some sort of chainsaw boomerang-rifle. It does not obey the laws of physics. Nor does Marrow obey the laws of time. His semblance seems to be a form of time dilation. With a snap of his fingers, he froze two Grimm centipeetls in midair, but it only affected the Grimm. That must mean that his semblance has a certain range of effectiveness. But it’s still a really powerful semblance.

Agents Of Chaos

As the viewer, who knows just how dire the situation is, everything else seems small. When you see Whitely Schnee screwing over Weiss to get her spot as heir of the Schnee Dust Company, Jacques Schnee’s charade to be the top of the societal pyramid, and just the entirety of Atlas just seems so petty in the grand scheme of things. We are literally the brink of the end of the world. Do they really think Salem will care who has the most money, comes from the oldest family, or has the most dust if she gets all the Relics? We’re finally making some headway. They have two Relics (one in a vault), one Maiden (but still know who the Summer Maiden is), and a girl with the ability to turn Grimm into stone. Leaving us with Watts and Tyrian to worry about. The two of them will be stirring the pot in Mantle, while Atlas will probably be a big enough headache on their own.

If you made it to the end of this post, you are one very determined individual. Please leave a comment if I missed anything, got anything wrong, or if you have your own theories. I’d love to hear them.

#RWBY #Volume 7 #Chapter 2 #Chapter 3 #RWBY Spoilers #Spoilers #Ruby Rose #Weiss Schnee #Blake Belladonna #Yang Xiao Long #Jaune Arc #Nora Valkyrie #Lie Ren #Oscar Pine #Qrow Branwen #James Ironwood #Winter Schnee #Penny Polendina #Pietro Polendina #Arthur Watts #Tyrian Callows #Clover Ebi #Harriet Bree #Vine Zeki #Elm Ederne #Marrow Amin #Atlas #Mantle #Team RWBY #Team JRN

[littlecountrymouse]

So, RNM and Carina and Julie, as expected, fucked us over this season. Not only did we get queer caught, we ended up with a sloppy, rushed timeline that really needed considerably more time spent on it. We've had the most disgusting wlw 'representation', the only black person on the show got shafted and has now been turned into a plot device who will always bring a sour taste to the mouths of Malex shippers, even if Carina DOES give her much more time next year with non Michael related plots. And malex. Oh, my, malex.

See, I get where Carina was going with it all, showing that love they had before and how it's still there now, then showing that honestly they need to talk and grow up before they're ever gonna be a real, healthy couple. Cool, I get that. But for all her saying she's consulted with LGBTQ advocacy groups and queer writers on the show, she still doesn't seem to understand how badly what she just did affects us, especially if there is no s2.

If there's no season 2, she just left the gay guy sitting sadly at an empty trailer, waiting for the person he loves to come home so they can talk. And I have BEEN Alex. It sucks. The person I loved was someone I was with on and off for 8 years. Both of us had issues, but we seemed to finally be on the same page. She had had sex with my best friend and both of them told me it was nothing, don't stress. I thought we'd finally arrived at a point where with some communication, we could make it work. I was so excited to finally be moving forward with my person.

I waited and waited and waited, but unlike Alex is currently shown to do, I eventually got up and went to find my person.

I found that person screwing that same best friend of 17 years, someone I literally grew up with, who was closer than my own flesh and blood, who was the only thing I had who compared to a sibling, who KNEW I loved my person, in the house I was supposed to move into in a week.

That was just over 7 years ago. I'm crying thinking about it, because even though I moved on, met my now husband on a drunken night out (literally 2 days after I caught the 2 assholes, then it took us 5 months for me to get my head right to so we could get together,) and have so much more than I ever thought I could, I am still hurt by their actions. I haven't spoken to my "best friend" since that night, when they told me they had feelings for my person, and essentially, their combined feelings trumped mine. I haven't spoken to my ex at all, even though their parents live opposite me.

I lost my best friend that night. I also lost all my local in real life friends, the only ones I'm likely to see in person. Nobody wanted to pick sides, and when they did, they picked theirs because ... Well, happyish straight love trumps 2 queers trying to be happy I guess. Because we'd always existed in the shadows, people couldn't see what we'd have in common or what had happened, they just saw me being sad and "bringing the vibe down", that I was "hurting" the two people who'd hurt me most. I haven't socialised in this town since August 2011, too hurt and frankly ashamed that I thought these people were my friends, and in the end they just saw the pretty straight couple and how well that would work. I'm the one who didn't fit in the equation. I'm the one who was told to suck it up, ignore my feelings, be happy they're happy. I'm the one who got left behind and didn't have anyone at that time to help me ease the pain, so I spent a fair few months being a seriously drunk slut in areas far away from home, so nobody would see how badly I hurt. So nobody would accuse me yet again of being a dramatic gay who was just standing in the way of a happy couple.

Honestly, part of me still loves my person. I always will. Part of me still aches when I see them and part of me still wants to hit my ex friend with my truck for what they did to me and our friendship and my relationship. Part of me mourns the loss of all we had that was tainted by what they both did, and part of me is envious of the family they've created and the life they've made together. I will always be hurt by what they willingly chose to do for a second time, sober and aware of the consequences. They knew they'd hurt me - they just didn't care at the time.

I know intimately how Alex will feel after he inevitably finds out his best friend and cosmic love are trying something resembling a relationship, because I've been there. And no matter what she was trying to achieve, I hope Carina one day sees that by doing the love triangle thing she loves, she's irreparably damaged a long term friendship and 10 years of what counts as a relationship.

I hope she learns to do better, to see things from our point of view and understand that people feel the pain she's caused her characters intimately. I hope she learns to take criticism without becoming defensive. I hope she does better for Malex, Maria and specifically Alex Manes in the future. Because if she doesn't, I honestly see no point in watching her shows, Julie Plec's shows, or the CW network. At least not legally. Why support a creator and network who honestly, don't support us enough to give us a hopeful ending for the next year, or potentially forever?

#roswell new mexico #malex #carina adly mackenzie #michael guerin #alex manes #maria deluca

[lizzybeth1986]

#14 for all your fics! (or just your top three lolol 🤣)

Of course I'll do all my fics (except Keychains coz I already did this ask for that one haha) - I don't have that many 😅

14. Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from these fics?

With A Little Help From My Friends - I was fairly new to the fandom and most of my friends were Liam stans. I realized soon enough that not many of them knew much about Hana, so I wanted to change that with this fic.

Masks: I loved the whole history behind the Venetian masks, esp around them allowing anonymity not just in terms of identity but also class, and how that related to the Esther's first event in Cordonia being a masquerade. I really wanted to make the most of that symbolism while getting the readers curious about her relationship with her mother. It was an MC spotlight, really.

When the Sun Kisses the Sea: Pssh, no. I was in the mood for some Liam x Esther fluff, and mix it in with the delicious irony of them not completely understanding the depth of the other person's feelings 😁

Snowstorms (RCD Book 1 fanfic): I guess I wanted to talk about how coming out is a slow, gradual process, and how influential film/media could be in allowing a bi (but also many people who are LGBTQ+ experience this kind of journey in different ways) person like me, or my MC Sophie, to recognize that they are in fact normal and there's nothing wrong with them, no matter what the world might say. I was influenced by that scene they showed us of Victoria Fontaine's movie The Warmest Winter.

Nuestra Familia: Both this fic and the previous one were mostly MC spotlights, meant for MC Appreciation Week. One of the suggestions for fanfic was to do a crossover, so I tried out a crossover between RCD and The Freshman by making my other RCD MC Astrid a long lost cousin of Zig's 😄 It was fun!

Coffee and Cupcakes: So this was during a time in VoS when Naomi had just ONE diamond scene focused on her during a time that other LIs had quite a few. When she was taken off the case, I was kinda pissed off we didn't get even a single diamond scene to comfort her. So I wrote this fic in the format you would use for a diamond scene, and made it romantic.

That Old Grape Juice (Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay): Ah, I still have so much to write for this one! Two chapters, in fact. In Liam and Olivia's chapters I wanted to showcase a number of things:

- the depth of the Liam and Olivia dynamic, because most of the time within the fandom, it was simplified to just Olivia's unrequited love and there was hardly much of an effort to look at Liam's journey of it.

- how Olivia's emotions factored just as much into her actions at the Lythikos Ball, and how much that situation was weighing on her.

- how protective Liam was of Esther even in those early days (which is canon).

- that Liam could be calculating without causing harm (since that term is often used in just that context).

- I needed an excuse to write a dialogue about Luther Nevrakis turning in his grave at the sight of a Nevrakis and a Rys sharing wine, cmon. 🤣

With the Kiara and Hana sections that I hope to do later on, this is what I want to be exploring:

- Kiara's culture both from her mother's and father's side. So I'm hoping esp to feature cuisine and wines from Loire.

- I want her trauma to be noticed by someone, and acknowledged even in a small way

- To explore more of Hana's interests and things she likes.

- Basically Kiara and Hana if they're ever written as a couple, tend to be footnotes or sidelined. And they get some of the worst treatment you will find in TRR fanfic, so I'm seriously hoping to change that.

Fanfic asks here.

#choices fanfic asks #ask me #ask lizzy #keychains #masks #when the sun kisses the sea #that old grape juice #liam x mc #king liam #mc: esther dupont #snowstorms #mc: sophie bordeaux #victoria fontaine #nuestra familia #mc: astrid ortega #seth levine #zig ortega #coffee and cupcakes #mc: faith maria gomes #naomi silverhawk #nikkisha16

[thedaveandkimmershow]

He looked over at me and said 

“Your country’s too big.”

This is more than twenty years ago in Prague. The one in The Czech Republic that, on a map, you’d be looking at central Europe to the right of Germany, between Poland above it and Austria below it.

That Czech Republic.

I’m on a shoot with Small World Productions. This particular week involves a few days here in Prague and a few days in Budapest, Hungary. On the Prague leg of the shoot, we have a guide. Young man. Easy to talk to.

I’m not sure the context of his remark, that’s among a legion of memories lost to me at this distance.

But I never forgot what he said to me.

“Your country’s too big.”

I’m reminded of it most of the time. Every day, if I’m paying attention.

What’s interesting is... I have no idea what I said to him next. I just have the thing he said and only the thing he said in my memory.

But I sure do hope I had the good sense to agree with him on the spot. 

Linzy showed me a video the other day.

“Imagine”, the classic, written by John Lennon, recorded by Pentatonix last year.

It’s a beautiful, moving performance. Lush. 

Gorgeous.

About halfway through the video, each member of the group holds up a card with words that describe them personally.

LGBTQ+

Man

Jewish

American

Black

Christian

Latina

Woman

Linzy was moved to tears.

That list of identities for me, though, provides a sharp reminder of how dated are Lennon’s words.

After all, forty plus years after his appeal 

I hope some day you'll join us And the world will be as one

Forty plus years later... I’m pretty sure the world and all the people in it are further from being one than anybody at the time Lennon’s anthem captured popular imagination would’ve thought possible.

We’re moving at breakneck speed in the opposite direction of what Lennon dreamed of... some day.

Take any word from the Pentatonix video, for example. Those identities aren’t singular identities. They’re fractured even further. Along intellectual lines. Ideological lines. Metaphysical lines. Demographic lines.

And on and on and on.

They’re actually broad categories within which people still don’t see eye-to-eye.

And many would reject the idea of being as “one” even if the topic is people who share their identity.

Not everyone’s worthy. You know?

Not everyone gets to be in the club.

No matter what that club is.

The scene is from The West Wing, season 5, episode 1. It aired in September of 2003 and was the first time I gave any thought to the subject of unity and division.

PRESIDENT WALKEN: You know I’m not the enemy. The things that unite us are greater than those that divide us. We both believe in democracy, preservation of American values, protection of our citizens in a sometimes hostile world.

CJ CREGG: Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

PRESIDENT WALKEN: Exactly.

CJ CREGG: That what’s in your statement?

PRESIDENT WALKEN: Something like that.

It’s a well-known refrain:

What unites us is greater than what divides us.

It expresses a heartfelt desire for the words themselves to be true even as actually manifesting their meaning is well beyond our grasp.

Here are a few words from President Obama, speaking at the memorial service for victims of the 2011 Tucson shooting, the assassination attempt on Gabrielle Giffords, Arizona’s 8th district representative to the Congress of the United States.

“...I believe” the president said, “that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.”

To the ears of someone listening from July 4, 2018, those sentiments sound downright ironic.

In June of 1963, President Kennedy, giving the commencement address at American University in Washington, D.C., put it this way:

“For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breath the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”

A riff on ”the forces that divide us...”

And a good one, at that.

But what if, in the final analysis, such ideas of unity are outdated? What if we’ve proven conclusively enough... that the forces dividing us are, in fact, stronger than whatever it is that unites us. And to say otherwise is hugely naive in a modern age whose only use for words of this nature is in the service of rhetorical flourish and gravitas.

What if unity is simply the song of wide-eyed dreamers and nothing more?

I don’t think it’s much of a tough sell to say that kind of thing anymore.

“When in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.”

I read these words yesterday and did not think about July 4, 1776. I read these words and thought about July 4, 2018.

I read these words and realized that while the phrase “it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another”... while that phrase referred to the colonies and the King in 1776, today they could just as easily refer to each of us... and those with whom we disagree.

Tell me that’s not true.

I thought about how we’ve since learned that the high road is for suckers.

I thought about how we’ve since learned how easy it is for us to give ourselves a free pass when it comes to our lofty ideals of “Love Is All You Need”.

I thought about how we’ve since learned that not everybody matters. 

That some people aren’t worth the effort of community or fellowship.

That some people aren’t worth our time.

I thought about how natural it is to unfriend people who pontificate all the time.

What a stone cold habit it is to mute different ideas.

What little effort it takes to ignore news, opinions, and articles that come with a plea that they must be read.

How easy it is to minimize those who tell me that If I’m not shouting at the top of my lungs at all those who aren’t shouting at the top of theirs... then I’m part of the problem.

I thought about that time I read lamentations on how our country is lost... and then the next thing I read was the U.N. report on the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo detailing what the authors identified as “crimes against humanity” carried out against civilians of several ethnic groups in a generalized and systematic fashion. Mutilations. Rapes. Other forms of sexual violence, torture, and exterminations.

I thought about how easy it is to care about some things and not others.

I thought about words and actions I never would’ve imagined from, you know, adults.

I thought about our completely insufficient “better angels”.

I thought about confrontations between people I never would’ve believed could be enemies. They’re on the same side, for crying out loud. Yet they splinter and splinter... and splinter.

I thought about a Supreme Court in which some justices employ a “living document” interpretation while others employ an “original meaning” interpretation.

I thought about what the hell???

I thought about how every day someone’s declaring the causes which impel them to the separation from someone else.

I thought about whoever you are... there’s a lot of someone’s who hate you and everything you stand for. Doesn’t even matter who you are or what you believe.

I thought about how fast we are... at identifying mortal enemies. Or just people who are dumber than us.

I thought about how we’d rather not carry the baggage of certain other people. How we’d rather not be burdened by them or be subject to them. Or their friends. Or their families.

I thought about how easy it is for us to go low. And how easy it is for us to forgive ourselves for doing so.

I thought about how there’s no such thing as “We”.

I thought about how there’s no such thing as We.

 Photo by Ryan Richards on Unsplash

He looked over at me and said

“Your country’s too big.”

Twenty years ago. And I still remember it like it was yesterday.

“You’re country’s too big.”

No kidding, brother.

We can rationalize all we want. We can defend all we want. We can justify all we want. The one thing we can’t do, however, is invoke unity.

We’re too big for unity.

I don’t think it’s a real shocker to admit that. I don’t think anyone would fall over in a dead faint if I said unity isn’t important. 

And that’s fine.

Really. It’s not an actual priority nor a bona fide ambition... so why pretend? We can be honest with each other about that, surely.

I think I just don’t want to hear about it anymore. I don’t want the next president, however they identify, to implore us to “come together”, to refer to  "our great nation”, to talk about “the business of bringing the country back together again”, “national healing”, or that our divisions aren’t that big a deal.

Nope.

Just take the Oath of Office... and do what you gotta do. For whoever you’re doing it for.

And one more thing.

No need to call whatever this is The United States.

Just call it America.

Photo by Ruben Mishchuk on Unsplash

#4th of July #Independence Day #unity #division #America #United States #the things that unite us #the things that divide us

[theletterformallyknownasq]

Oluchi - September 13th, 2018

Me: How do you identify? Oluchi: So, to go down the list. I identify as a nonbinary, Ibo, Person. I use any pronouns. So with me, I understand the fluidity of gender. As it is. I actually don't care what gender pronouns people use for me. I do prefer people to switch it up just to validate all of my gender, not just an aspect that you want to see and want to gravitate towards. As far as my sexuality, I identify as Queer. Meaning, that I find love and sexual attraction to any gender or expression. I also identify romantically as a Queer romantic person. I find relationships with any type of person. My Ibo identity is obviously the culture that my parents grew up in and my ancestors are from. So I have the privilege of knowing what tribe I'm from. Which has given me a lot of validity in my identity. I like who I am as a person but [my identity] has also caused a lot of turmoil. Because of the imperialization of Africa, a lot of my ancestral religion is gone. And my parents don't even know what it is and my grandparents are now dead. Like, they wouldn't even know what it is. So that's been stripped away from me and now the only thing that I have is Christianity, which isn't what my ancestors practiced.

Me: Can you talk a little more about that feeling of 'turmoil'? I'm interested in the dynamic of how you identify with all of your identities, how they intersect, etc. Oluchi: Yeah. So are you saying when I was talking about my name or..? Me: That could fall into it, but more about your cultural identity...you know, like, no purer way of understanding that without the filtering of your family's heritage and lineage that have shaped their lives and how it's shaped you - does that make sense? Oluchi: Yeah. So, growing up, especially because I grew up in the suburbs of Minnesota, there was not a lot of diversity other than white folks. But when my parents emigrated here, they actually made a community organization, a non-profit, of all Ibo people whose specific vision and mission is to foster and uplift the Ibo culture in Minnesota. So when I was younger, I had a very very deep sense of who I was, ethnically. I knew all of our practices, I could speak the language, I was around Nigerian people and Ibo people specifically all of my life. Those are people that I would say that are "my cousins" which are not actually my cousins. But just because we grew up together in this very intentional community, I always had a sense of that piece of me. But because of the imperialization in Africa and just the widespread use of homophobia in Africa, I have had to suppress a lot of my gender and sexual identity to validate my ethnic identity as it stood in Minnesota. Also not knowing history because white people know how to erase history from different cultures. I never knew that my ancestors actually validated Queer people and Trans people and gender nonconforming folks and all I knew was just a Christian, tainted view of what my people were. How people say “African people are super homophobic" and all of these things that were brainwashed into me, made me kind of question my ethnic identity and wish I was a different ethnic identity. But then it made me question what my sexual and gender identity were because if I was Ibo, then there's no way that I could be gay or there's no way I could be gender nonconforming and nonbinary.  That caused a lot of tension. Just thinking about why aren't my ethnic identities or my sexual and gender identity matching up. But through the work that I've been doing and the people that I've met, I've been really validated in knowing that this is who I was supposed to be. This is actually magic where I come from. These are special people.  Me: What does 'Queer' mean to you? And do you think there is a mainstream definition for the term?  Oluchi: Queer is the appreciation and ability to find beauty and attraction in any human being on this planet regardless of their identity and expression. The one thing that I've learned over the years - even throughout being in the LGBTQ+ community, whatever that means - is that expression does not equate to identity. Right? So, how you express yourself, or how you behave, does not necessarily equate to who you identify as. That works for ethnic identity, but then we get into the cultural appropriation piece that can also include gender identity. So when we talk about gender expression versus gender identity, someone that expresses super masculinely, but still identifies in a feminine way, or identifies as a woman - quote, unquote - if you want to use our current society structure of what gender is. It works for sexual identity and spheres of sexual behavior. Which means that someone's sexual behavior does not actually lead to sexual attraction. And that could be for many different reasons. As far as my definition of what Queer means, Queer is actually how I define myself in respect to my gender and my sexuality. And I think that within the LGBTQ+ and the mainstream community, Queer has a couple different connotations. To the main, straight, cis, population, I think they don't really understand what Queer means. They either believe that it's a derogatory term or think that it's what the kids use nowadays. And within the LGBT community, I think what we've done - and try to do - is kind of use Queer as an umbrella term so that someone can give their own definition of what their sexuality is. Queerness is more than just a sexual and gender identity. It's also how are we talking about consent, how are we talking about gender roles, not just gender identity. There's a specific politic that comes into play when you identify as Queer.

Me: You want to talk to that? Oluchi: Yeah. How are we interacting with folks in a way that validates or confirms their autonomy? Even when we're talking about how do we speak to women or some folks that have been conditioned to just say 'hey, I can't take up the space,’ or ‘I have to be this timid or I have to be this quiet or I have to be with people that I'm talking to.' It's really embodying what feminism is. I'm specifically talking about third-wave feminism, speaking about intersectionality and what does it mean to be this specifically intersectional because of the systems of oppression that we have to face.

Oluchi: How are we are we bringing those most at the margins inside, and how are we centering people at the margins? How are we actually being about what it looks like for someone who is a Trans Black woman or someone who is a cis white women? What are the different approaches in the systems of oppression they each sit on and actively working towards dismantling? I think that, for me, it's emotion, right? It's like being Queer is the actions that you're taking to dismantle oppression as well. Me: I'm going to come back to that, Where's your family from and what brought them to Minnesota? Oluchi: My mom was born in Lagos, Nigeria. But her family and all of her side of the family is from a town in the Abia State called Umukabia. It's part of the city of Umuahia. That’s my mom's city and village. How they do it in Nigeria: they have a city, that city has tiny villages in it. The way of the land is you're supposed to marry someone from your city. It's like a King unit. It's actually really cool. It's like a village. The epitome of Ibo culture is that you marry a village girl, you all live in a village together and then it keeps everything internal. My mom's from Umuahia Umukabia, which is a city in Umuahia, which is in the state of Abia State. My dad is from Umuahia I believe, so they're from the same city. So my dad did marry a village girl. But my parents come from and originate from the Imperial State of Nigeria. I would say more so they are from Umuahia and they are Ibo. But if you want to get into colonial, imperialistic terms, they made that country into Nigeria, and Nigeria is comprised of many many many many different tribes. The top three being Housa, Yoruba and Ibo. There's Edo, which is on the Eastern part of Nigeria that's closest to Ibo people, because Ibo people also live on the East Coast. There is Calabar. Which are also on the East Coast and have the same practices as Ibo people do, but they speak a different language. There are many people that I know that are Calabar that I grew up together with and we we're close, but we don't speak the same language. My parents emigrated here in the late [19]80s, early [19]90s. It was really for giving their family a better life. This was a little after the Biafra War. Which was really radical and awesome. And I'm sad that we lost. But they emigrated after like 10 years after the war to come to Minnesota and make a better life for their family. I was born here in the [United] States. In [19]90-something.  Me: And what kept them and you here?  Oluchi: It's funny because my parents always talk about how they want to win the lottery and move back to Nigeria. And I honestly believe that people don't emigrate here because they want to live in America. It’s funny because growing up, that's how it's ingrained in your body. That's how Americans talk. I used to believe that my parents wanted to live here because it was such a great country. Where actually the more that I think about it, my parents always talked about moving back to Nigeria when they got financially stable. And I think there's a couple of things that have happened here. One is that they made a community here that was very intentional and very close knit. Their closest friends are people that live here. So honestly, if Minnesota gave all of the Nigerian people here a billion dollars to leave, they probably would do it as a collective thing. But because of their deep friendships, they’ll probably never want to leave. But my parents always talk about moving back. I've been here because being a Queer Trans person in the current state of Nigeria is not the most safe. So I haven't gone back for a while because of that reason. Yeah. But I think that my parents would move back if they were financially stable enough to.  Me: What do you do for a living?  Oluchi: So I have like 17 different jobs. My full-time paid job is community organizing at a local LBGTQ+ organization called OutFront Minnesota. I also work part-time at the Apple store as a technician. I am also part of a national organization of Queer Black Immigrants called the Black Migrant Project, or BLMP. I'm also on a national training team of movement organizers called Momentum. And I also do work with the Movement For Black Lives (BLM) through the Action Table. And I am also part of the local chapter of the BLM Network called Black Visions Collective (BLVC) where we do local Black-led organizing. Me: And what gives you joy? Oluchi: Giving people joy gives me a lot of joy. I also think making space for folks to validate their identity makes me really happy. So the work that I'm doing with BLMP, that really makes me happy. Winning campaigns for the greater good of society gives me a lot of joy as well. Just being around friends and people that I love and care about. Me: Describe the moment you recognized your true form of self. Oluchi: Yeah. I don't think I even know my true form of self right now to be honest. I think the more that I meet people that share my identities and are at my specific intersection, the more I am more validated in who I am as a person. I never met another Black Queer person until I was about 20 years old. I never met a Black Queer African person until I was 22 years old. I never met a Black Nigerian Queer person until I was like 23. I never met a Black Ibo Queer person until like 24, 25. And I just met my third or fourth Queer Trans Ibo person in my entire. So it's so crucial that representation happens, that it's a real thing that we embody because there are people that sit at so many different intersections that never feel validated in who they are because they don't see that, right? How are we actually doing the work to bring those people in and center them so that their identities can be seen and be recognized by others?

Me: What's it like to be a Queer Trans Ibo Person while working and living in Minnesota today? Oluchi: I mean, I think that I'm the only one who I know. It's interesting because I bring a specific lens to the work that I do. But also because I bring up a specific lens, I feel like I'm tokenized a lot. I think it's hard because I'm never doing work with other people for my specific person. Like, I'm doing it in regards to my person because I think that liberation is an intrinsically intertwined thing. But I'm never doing specifically Queer Trans Ibo work. Or doing work with other Queer Trans Ibo people. So I would say that it's hard to be that [identity while] working and living here. But also it's so special when I find people that share even 5 of the 90 intersections that I have.

Me: And last question. If you could address the most influential public figures and decision-makers in the state right now, what would you say about improving the standard of living for someone like you in Minnesota? Oluchi: Whenever I think about work - I know I'm a very idealistic person being a Leo-Sun/Scorpio-Moon. So for me, it's dismantling ICE, free borders. Giving people asylum from countries that white people have fucked up and are now leaving because white people have fucked up. Granting asylum for any and all Queer and Trans people, no matter where they're from or what their background is. Providing resources for folks that live here that sit at those intersections - meaning housing, food, jobs. Right now, anyone that’s seeking asylum here, it takes them 150 days. If they come to Minnesota and even get inside our borders. Like, they have to wait 150 days to get any type of public assistance as a resident or live in the fucking state for 150 days. And then they have to figure out how they’re going to eat for the next 150 days or how they plan to survive for the next 150 days. It's sad that my parents had to assimilate so much that they've had. Because I can remember that my aunt had to do that. My mom's brother lived with us, my mom's cousin lived with us. My dad's sister lived with us. My grandparents lived with us. And I just think back on it now, my parents never talked to me about things because they didn't want us to have an ill-feeling about the state or the government and held this connotation of what the government is and how much power they have and didn't want us to have to deal with that in a very resistant way. Me: That’s real. Thank you so much!

#interviews

[vox]

Why Bill Maher’s use of the n-word finally crossed the line

It was a seemingly innocuous conversation about Nebraska. Suddenly, it took an uncomfortable turn.

Real Time host Bill Maher and Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) were at first talking about Maher visiting the senator’s home state. Sasse quipped, “We’d love to have you work in the fields with us.” Maher then made his move, saying, “Work in the fields? Senator, I’m a house n*****.”

Maher immediately clarified that this was “a joke,” but the moment exploded on social media nonetheless. Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson said Maher “has got to go.” Sasse later acknowledged that he should have confronted Maher for his use of the n-word. HBO called what Maher did “completely inexcusable,” although it stopped short of firing him. And Maher himself later said, “The word was offensive and I regret saying it and am very sorry.”

This isn’t the first controversy Maher has been embroiled in. But Maher has generally gotten a pass for intolerant statements — perhaps because he’s on the left, because his shtick is in part about making offensive remarks, or because his remarks are often more subtle and come from the kinds of prejudice that many Americans are seemingly okay with. This time, it’s different.

What Maher actually said, and why it blew up in his face

Here is the full exchange between Maher and Sasse:

MAHER: Your book is so right about how we have actually kind of lost the thread of what adults are anymore in this country. Adults: They wear shorts everywhere, they have cereal for dinner, and they treat comic books like they’re literature. What is your prescription for this problem?

SASSE: More cereal for dinner. First of all, let’s not disagree about everything. So this is a constructive project, right? I’m not trying to beat up on millennials. But there’s something weird in human history if you can’t tell 10- and 15- and 20- and 25-year-olds apart, ’cause that’s new. Adolescence is a gift—

MAHER: Halloween used to be a kid thing.

SASSE: It’s not anymore?

MAHER: Not out here. No. Adults dress up for Halloween. They don’t do that in Nebraska?

SASSE: It’s frowned upon. Yeah. We don’t do that quite as much.

MAHER: I gotta get to Nebraska more.

SASSE: You’re welcome. We’d love to have you work in the fields with us.

MAHER: Work in the fields? Senator, I’m a house n*****.

Maher immediately clarified that this was supposed to be a joke — to laughs, cheers, and applause from the crowd.

That Maher immediately had to explain this was a joke shows that he, at that moment, must have known he crossed a line: After centuries of slavery, Jim Crow, and all sorts of racism in the US, white people in particular are simply not supposed to use the n-word.

As Wesley Morris wrote in the New York Times, “He didn’t commit a hate crime. He overstepped his privilege as a famous comedian. That’s all. But if he crossed a line, it’s one that, for white people, has never moved.”

Morris explained: “For a long time, black people have deployed slavery-derived hierarchies as a social and psycho-political sorting mechanism. A house assignment might have won a slave less arduous work but more suspicion and contempt from her counterparts in the fields. No one self-identifies as a house Negro — unless that person is making a joke. And even then that person probably shouldn’t be Bill Maher.”

The problem is further punctuated by Maher’s history, Morris wrote: “His track record inspires too much doubt to give any benefit.”

Maher has a long history of offensive comments

Muslim and Arab people in particular have long been the target of Maher’s ire, as shown by a video that made the rounds after former CNN host Larry King declared that “there’s not a racist bone in [Maher’s] body.”

Here is just a sampling of some of the comments Maher has made:

“Islam is the mother lode of bad ideas.”

“Just tell me two things, [former One Direction member] Zayn [Malik]. Which one in the band were you? And where were you during the Boston Marathon?”

“The most popular name in the United Kingdom, Great Britain — this was in the news this week — for babies this year was Muhammad. Am I racist to feel I’m alarmed by that? Because I am.”

“Talk to women who’ve ever dated an Arab man. The reviews are not good.”

“Most Muslim people in the world do condone violence.”

“[Islam is] the only religion that acts like the mafia.”

Earlier this year, Maher also invited former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos, who has repeatedly made Islamophobic and transphobic comments, to his show. The invitation drew criticism, since it gave Yiannopoulos a megaphone to spout his bigoted views. But Maher argued that the move was necessary to air out and challenge Yiannopoulos’s views in the free market of ideas. (Later, video surfaced of Yiannopoulos seemingly endorsing pedophilia, leading the ultra-conservative Breitbart to fire him.)

In that episode, when Yiannopoulos referred to the myth that trans women pose a danger to other women in the bathroom, Maher suggested, “That’s not unreasonable.” When he moved to another guest on the panel, Maher referred to trans people as “weirdos,” saying, “Where do you stand on weirdos peeing?” (Maher said he did it “just to fuck with him,” referring to the other guest, Republican Jack Kingston.)

The bathroom myth has been repeatedly used against trans people to push back against their civil rights. The argument, in short, is that if trans people are allowed to use the bathroom for their gender identity, either trans women or men who pose as trans women will sexually assault or harass women in bathrooms. There is literally zero evidence for this, as I have repeatedly explained. But the myth has been used to bar trans people from using the bathroom for their gender identity, with several states passing laws or considering bills to that effect.

Gavin Grimm, a trans teenager who’s sued his school for access to the right bathroom, best captured why these anti-trans policies are a big problem: “This wasn’t just about bathrooms. It was about the right to exist in public spaces for trans people,” he told me, quoting trans actress Laverne Cox. “Without the access to appropriate bathrooms, there’s so much that you’re limited in doing. If you try to imagine what your day would be like if you had absolutely no restrooms to use other than the home, it would take planning. You would probably find yourself avoiding liquids, probably avoiding eating, maybe [avoiding] going out in public for too long at a time.”

But in calling Yiannopoulos’s view reasonable and calling trans people “weirdos,” Maher perpetuated the myth, suggesting it’s okay to keep trans people out of bathrooms for their gender identity.

This is just one incident involving trans people. Maher, who identifies as a supporter of LGBTQ rights, mocked Caitlyn Jenner shortly after she came out as trans in 2015. In one segment, he called Jenner “a white man” and suggested she should go on a date with Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP official who was accused of posing as black. The “jokes” denied Jenner’s identity and suggested her identity as a woman is on equal grounds with Dolezal’s claim to blackness.

It’s not just Islamophobia and transphobia. When Hillary Clinton ran for president in 2008, Maher said, while playing clips of Clinton on the campaign trail:

I’m not trying to be sexist here, but I’m just saying that women try a lot of different tacks when they’re in arguments … I’m not being sexist, I’m just saying that men, when we argue, we’re kind of a one-trick pony — we try our thing, and then we sulk when we don’t get our way. … But look at Hillary Clinton … Because the first thing a woman does, of course, is cry … and then they go to sweet talking … and then they throw an anger fit totally unrelated to anything. … And when it doesn’t work, they bring out the sarcasm.

As a general rule of thumb, starting any statement with “I’m not trying to be sexist here, but…” is probably a sign you shouldn’t complete that sentence.

Maher’s comments exemplify why: He said he wasn’t trying to be sexist, but then he went on to make a bunch of sweeping comments about men and women by using the experiences and actions of a single woman. This is simply sexism by definition.

Some kinds of bigotry are often overlooked in the US

Maher’s shtick has long been controversy — in what he often characterizes as a battle against political correctness.

Maher, after all, lost his show on ABC, Politically Incorrect, when he characterized the US military as “cowards” and the terrorists who hijacked planes on 9/11 as brave. “We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away,” Maher said. “That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly.”

Maher went to HBO in part so he could get away with comments like this. It’s part of his brand to make over-the-top remarks for laughs, even if they contribute little to the ongoing conversation or are offensive. In his view, it’s part of an important battle against censorship.

He elaborated on his philosophy in his interview with Milo Yiannopoulos. “I think you’re colossally wrong on a number of things. But if I banned everyone from my show who I thought was colossally wrong, I would be talking to myself,” Maher told Yiannopoulos. He later added, “You are so, let’s say, helped by the fact that liberals just always take the bait.”

It took Maher literally using the n-word to finally get some media outlets to hold him accountable. Perhaps that’s because Maher is a liberal, putting him on the side of most of the people who would be quick to condemn his bigotry, particularly against Muslim, Arab, and transgender Americans.

But part of the issue here is what counts as actual bigotry in America, and whether Islamophobia, transphobia, and certain kinds of sexism and misogyny really do cross the line for a large chunk of the population.

A Pew Research Center survey measured Americans’ “warmth” toward different religious groups, with Christians and Jews ranking the highest and atheists and Muslims ranking the lowest. And in studies conducted by Northwestern University psychologist Nour Kteily, researchers had participants rank different groups based on how evolved they are; among the set of groups provided, Muslims ranked the lowest.

Similarly, many Americans don’t quite understand why trans people should be allowed to use the bathroom for their gender identity. Many Americans really do hold sexist or misogynistic views about how women debate, argue, or otherwise assert themselves.

But many Americans are told that the n-word is inexcusable; it’s the one word almost anyone who’s even a little bit woke to racism knows is not allowed.

That helps explain why Maher’s past offenses didn’t cross the line for a lot of people, while his use of the n-word got HBO and him to apologize.

#race #racism #sexism #sexist #Bill Maher #television #news #media #culture

[changesevenmagazine]

Marching Solo with a Half Million Friends by Jim Ross

Jim Ross, Contributing Writer

Why Walk?

When a friend added me to the Nasty Women’s March group three days after the election, I knew I’d be going. Soon after, Nasty Women merged into the National Women’s March. At one time, rallying and marching in solidarity played a unifying, focusing role in my life. In recent years, after reaching retirement age, I’ve been picking up parts of myself I regretted leaving behind, like writing, like demonstrating.

Bigger than Life

During the Vietnam War, for seven years I marched and demonstrated to end the war. Doing so entailed certain risks. Once, while hippy chicks placed limp daisies in the bayonet barrels of the military police, I wandered far from the line of confrontation, and members of an Army battalion blindsided me by hoisting me in the air and heaving me down a long hill, a drop of fifteen to twenty feet.   I limped home and missed the mass arrests.

There was always a strong risk someone might lose control, throw a tear gas canister, or start a stampede. I’d seen people stampeded.  I’d seen people cornered at eight-foot-high wooden fences they couldn’t scale. My final anti-war, anti-Nixon demonstration occurred on August 8, 1974 in front of the White House. Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment.   Soon after, life told me to put my head down to focus on working, raising a family, and staying out of trouble.  I stopped writing.

I joined my first demonstration of the current era in October 2010.  I was traveling solo in France during the lead-up to a planned national strike. In the medieval village of Figeac, I first watched students and teachers together, sitting in the road, intermittently blocking traffic. The second day, I blended into a large gathering dominated by railroad workers.  I talked with people about why they were demonstrating, what they hoped to accomplish, how they planned to change to accomplish those things. Demonstrators freely shared bread, cheese and wine they’d brought for the “manifestation.” One cannabis advocate offered to share.

We Shall Overcomb

After I came home from France, I attended the raucous John Stewart/Steven Colbert rally on the National Mall in Washington. As crowds rushed for the Metro afterwards, I felt intimidated and instead walked 12 miles back to the suburbs.  On August 28, 2013, I walked in the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington with a friend who’d participated in the original 1963 event.  When he heartfully sang “We Shall Overcome,” a woman walking next to us broke down in prolonged sobs. However, when my friend saw the security backup on the Mall, he turned around and went home. I stayed in the black and white crowd.   For three hours, we waited to pass through metal detectors.   As the crowd periodically surged forward, I feared the crush might knock people over and cause a pileup. Instead, the crowd merely became more densely packed, with hardly room to breathe. People began expressing anger they’d miss seeing Oprah and Obama. A red-headed security woman crossed the line and began handing out bottled water.  Eventually, they waved us all through with wands.  That’s roughly when I started writing again. The release I needed to write went hand in hand with my return to demonstrating.

Pink Pussy Hats and Inauguration Flags

My participation in environmentally focused demonstrations began when my son and I went to the “Pope rally,” that is, the demonstration planned by the Moral Action on Climate (MAC) to coincide with Pope Francis’s meeting with Congress on September 24, 2015. A permit was obtained for 300,000 attendees.  Of the 15,000 who came, two-thirds were siphoned off by the Speaker of the House to provide an audience for Pope Francis’s address to the people from the portico.  After that, I took part in multiple environmentally focused demonstrations, some including street theater.  My crowd-averse wife came with me to a smaller one.  I briefly got involved in conversations to extend MAC and ensure the topic of climate change entered the presidential debates. The MAC conversations dissipated, the presidential debates ignored climate change, and I didn’t find a useful role to play in climate change activism.

Collective Action

So why go to the women’s march?  I’ve wanted to do something. I’ve needed to figure out how to fruitfully spend the years that remain.   My walking ability has devolved into an on-again, off-again proposition over the past two years. My wife and adult children didn’t want me going because they feared I’d fall or unwittingly walk into an outbreak of violence. The violence exhibited by inauguration demonstrators the day before the Women’s March exacerbated their fears, and seeing those protesters run from tear gas resurfaced my own. Still, I assured them the Women’s March would be peaceful. I went, in part, to show I could.

From a political and social perspective, I went because it’s all connected, and I strongly believe that, as Martin Luther King said, “Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.” Protest can be private or public, shoulder-to-shoulder or virtual, and the forms it takes can morph as we age, but protest itself is essential, inescapable, and a moral responsibility. Protesting publicly and collectively fosters solidarity, makes connections, and influences decision makers. On May 9, 1970, at 5 a.m. Nixon snuck out of the White House without Secret Service escort to talk with demonstrators who came to Washington as part of the national student strike after the Kent State Massacre. He claimed he wouldn’t be influenced, but I’m convinced he was.

In anticipation of the Women’s March, a neighbor invited me to attend “intervention and active bystander training” with him. I jumped at the opportunity because I’d been concerned about what the March organizers were doing about marshals. We attended a training conducted by Swamp Revolt and learned we weren’t marshals exactly. Our job was to support anyone being verbally attacked, even a counter-protester being attacked by marchers. After training, participants said they felt they had a sacred role to play at the March. The woman with whom I was partnered for role plays said she recently had to run from police after they threw tear gas to disperse demonstrators. She and I acknowledged a mutual fear of the possibility of violence and the prospect of having to run away from tear gas.

Our neighborhood ran shuttles to the Metro on the morning of the March, starting at 5 a.m.  I knew many people who were going to the March, some solo, but I planned to go with the same neighbor who involved me with Swamp Revolt.  Still, I was concerned about my ability to keep up the pace.  We agreed to meet near the Metro in DC, but I walked too slowly and arrived too late.  So instead I marched solo, with a half million friends.

A Statement About Pink

En route to the venue, at the corner by the Native American Museum, people lost direction in droves, walked down blockaded roads, and had to retreat. The human traffic reached an almost total standstill for over an hour. The crowd began surging. People started complaining about pushing. This surfaced memories of security back-ups at the 50th Anniversary March. Marchers asked each other whether we’d ever find our way.  We concluded, even if we didn’t, it was good being there together.  As we disentangled, we waved to old-time Los Angeles activist Angela Davis walking down the other side of the street. She waved and shouted back.

The march was for all ages, all races. And there were plenty of other men. Many wore pink pussy hats like the women, but at least one wore a classy blue pussy hat. The central issue was women’s reproductive rights. LGBTQ rights were strongly represented too, at least among those behind whom I marched. “Resist” was a pervasive theme; so was, “We reject fear and hate and embrace love.” Many posters commented on Trump’s connection to Putin. Because it’s all connected, scarcely an issue was left out of the signs and chants.  A strong Red Nation presence reminded us that “Water is life.”  Humor trumped anger. “Now you’ve pissed off grandpa,” “She’s such a nasty woman,” (showing Trump dancing with the Statue of Liberty), and “We shall overcomb” were among my favorites. I was most moved by a young demonstrator whose sign read, “This transboy stands with his sisters.”

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The crowds occasionally broke into song, but merely walking together with others and observing their artful posters and varied hats sang to my soul. At moments, I found myself carried back to November 15, 1969, when the crowd swayed and sang along with Pete Seeger at the National Moratorium against the Vietnam War, “All we are asking is give peace a chance.”

The day after the Women’s March, I learned of many more friends who’d gone. I could have tagged along with any, but going it alone seems to be my way.  I also learned there’s soon to be a national march of scientists to combat the flat-earth mentality of the Trump administration. I’ve already heard from my son, who asked, “You want to go to this together?”

“Absolutely,” I said.

“You need to invite the Women’s March.  This is important,” he insisted.

“I’ll do it, but I think they’re already talking to each other,” I answered.

“It’s like the 60s are making a comeback,” he said, with welcome in his voice.

My soul smiled.

After retiring in early 2015 from a career in public health research, Jim Ross dove back into creative pursuits in hope of resuscitating his long-neglected right brain. Since then, he’s published over 20 pieces of nonfiction and over 80 photos in 25 journals, including 1966, Cactus Heart, Cargo Literary, Friends Journal, Lunch Ticket, Gravel, Chicago’s MAKE Literary Magazine, Memory House, Pif Magazine, Riverbabble, and Sheephead Review. Forthcoming: Apeiron Review, Entropy, and Palooka. New grandparents of twins, he and his wife split their time between Maryland and West Virginia.

Read More Work by this Author:

Rue des Indigents

  Holly Day is the artist whose needlepoint “After” appears on our poster

Artist and writer Holly Day has taught writing classes at the Loft Literary Center and in Minneapolis, Minnesota, since 2000. Her poetry has recently appeared in Tampa Review, SLAB, and Gargoyle, while her recently published books include Nordeast Minneapolis: A History, A Brief History of Stillwater Minnesota, and Ugly Girl.  Her needlepoints and bead work have recently appeared in QWERTY, Cardinal Sins, Grey Sparrow, and Calyx. (She is the featured artist whose needlepoint “After” appears on our poster above.)

                Marching Solo with a Half Million Friends by Jim Ross #WomensMarchOnWashington Why Walk? When a friend added me to the Nasty Women’s March group three days after the election, I knew I’d be going.

#Change Seven Magazine #Featured #Jim Ross #Women&039;s March on Washington

[amyddaniels]

Criminal Justice Advocate and Yogi Steven Medeiros is Taking Life's Challenges in Stride

Here, the above-the-knee amputee waxes on forgiveness, his yoga practice, and living life to the fullest.

On a breezy late-May afternoon in Berkeley, California, Steven Medeiros stands atop a craggy peak in Indian Rock park, a popular bouldering and hangout spot that overlooks the San Francisco Bay skyline. With a denim jacket flung across his shoulder and the wind in his face, the 42-year-old looks more like an Avenger or a GQ cover model than a UC Berkeley student. In a few weeks, Medeiros, who lost his left leg in a motorcycle accident when he was 25, will travel to Honolulu for a summer gig working on the ACLU of Hawaii’s Smart Justice Campaign, a national criminal justice initiative that aims to reduce the prison population and address prosecutorial accountability. An activist and advocate for police accountability and prison reform, Medeiros is pursuing a master’s degree at Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy (ranked one of the country’s best) so he can effect change from the inside by helping to reimagine current systems and structures.

Listen to Steven talk about healing from complex trauma on YJ's The Yoga Show podcast.

Medeiros, who identifies as Latinx and Hawaiian, has both witnessed and experienced the oppressive, detrimental effects of the American criminal justice system on people of color and impoverished populations. Growing up in Fremont, a racially diverse city in the Bay Area, he was exposed early on to police harassment of his community. His mother, a single mom who suffered from addiction, was incarcerated for a drug offense when he was only four years old. With his father out of the picture, Medeiros went to live with his paternal grandparents, who raised him. Eight years later, newly released from prison, his mother was murdered—run down by a truck while walking home from her job at a fast-food restaurant in East Oakland. The case went unsolved, but witnesses say they saw the truck chasing her, suggesting it was a targeted attack. As an adolescent, the impact on Medeiros was monumental. “For the next nine years, I engaged in a lot of toxic behavior, hanging out with troublemakers, gang members, people from broken homes who were dealing with similar things that I could relate to,” he says.

see also How Restorative Yoga Can Help Heal Racial Wounding

In that time, Medeiros’s interactions with law enforcement shaped the trajectory of his career. When he was 21, he was assaulted by a police officer with a tire iron during a routine traffic stop. At 22, he was racially profiled and arrested “for being brown downtown,” he says—booked for public intoxication although he had not been drinking. “It was the first time I had truly felt helpless and powerless,” he says.

Twenty years later, his goal is to help make sure other people never have to feel that way. As a policy student, the issues he’s most passionate about are police and prosecutorial accountability, mass incarceration, and reentry for formerly incarcerated people. To that end, before enrolling in graduate school, Medeiros worked at the ACLU of Northern California as a program coordinator in the Organizing Department and now serves as a county commissioner for Alameda County, where he’s hoping to improve the challenges surrounding prisoner reentry at a local level.

see also How The Transformation Yoga Project is Helping Prisoners Find Peace

From Troubled Child to Changemaker

Forgiveness and family have been central to Medeiros healing from his childhood traumas. Being a compassionate and loving father to his daughter, Destiny, who at 23 has marched with him in Pride parades and Black Lives Matter protests, is his utmost priority. The like-minded duo share similar political opinions and that activist spark. On weekends, they can often be found restaurant hopping in San Francisco or exploring the outdoors. Medeiros has worked hard to instill values in Destiny such as tolerance and “not subscribing to shortcomings is what finally turned his life around.

Although he can recall a time not so long ago when he was considered a bad influence among his own family, Medeiros has grown into a role model for those who orbit him today. “His ability to be unapologetic in his stances—in his beliefs and values—has given me the courage to also live my life confidently and proudly,” says his cousin Sofia Dangerfield, who credits him with helping her two daughters grow into “open-minded little beings.”

“People always tell me, ‘You’re the most balanced person I know,’” for—for people who need it the most: people of color, women, LGBTQ folks—are being rolled back,” he says. He knows being a changemaker won’t be easy, but when overwhelm threatens to slow him down, his healing practices will help him power forward. “Equanimity, my favorite word, means having composure when things are chaotic and wild around you,” he says.

Here’s what else Medeiros had to say about what fires him up and keeps him cool—including police and prison reform, accessible yoga, and healing after a life-threatening injury.

see also This Yoga Sequence Will Reduce Stress and Boost Immunity

On Finding Yoga 

Between 18 and 22, I was really low. I had tried to turn my life around many times before, but I was always just addressing the symptoms of my problems, not the root of them. I’d stop hanging out with troublemakers, maintain a job, cease drinking and partying. But I was still angry and hurt. I hadn’t addressed the trauma of my childhood. Being an avid reader, I frequented bookstores, and I came across a yoga book. I had never heard of yoga, but I was really intrigued by what I read. I started to self-teach at home. It was challenging, and I like that. I’m a very physical person. I played competitive sports and practiced karate, so yoga was another challenge for me. I had felt so numb for the longest time—I didn’t feel alive. But every time I do yoga, I feel physically better. Things that I deal with, especially with what’s happening now with current events, tend to manifest physically—in my lower body, my jaw, and my shoulders. This practice has helped me release that, and I know it’s always going to work.

On Forgiveness 

My mother’s death had a profound effect on my life. I started questioning my self-worth. Was I destined to end up like my parents? As a teenager, I had yet to fully conceptualize the idea of choice and the role it would play in my life. After my mother died, I spiraled out of control.

I lost all interest in school and sports.

I began experimenting with drugs and alcohol and ran with the local gangs. My life looked bleak. At 22, I was exhausted and desperate for change, and I started the process of looking inward for solutions.

A message came to me that I had to forgive my parents.

Just like that, I forgave them wholeheartedly, and I felt different right away—a new person. I have never looked back. I not only forgave them for the things that they did and didn’t do, but I forgave others who had caused me trauma, and that included the people who killed my mother. I had been harboring so much anger and using that as fuel for some of the behaviors I was engaging in. But when I decided to forgive, I felt this complete release, and that allowed me to focus on other things. I jumped back into books and started down this path of self-help, deep introspection, and self-discovery. I decided to set aside anything I thought could be a distraction to me and my growth as a person and a father. I rekindled my relationship with my family, because in my youth, my “family” had become the streets. And when you’re in that, you think those people are your ride-or-dies, and they’re really not.

[Today] I talk to youths, and I tell them they’re more than the sum of their mistakes. Because of past actions, we think we don’t have a viable future given the systems in place. But I decided I wasn’t going to let that hinder me—that I was still worthy of having a good life of love despite my mistakes. So I had to forgive myself as well, which allowed me to live freely in the present with a new awareness of self and others. 

see also 4 Must-Try Restorative Poses—& How to Get the Most Support from Your Props

On Losing His Leg 

I never thought I’d make it to 18. And then my accident happened when I was doing good in life. I grappled with that. Because I felt like I had done the work. I was really upset and terrified I wouldn’t see my daughter again, because I wasn’t sure if I was actually going to live. And when I realized after a few surgeries that it was hopeful that I would, I started to think about how life would be. I remember watching TV just to study the biomechanics behind walking, because I knew I would have to learn how to walk again. I had all those normal human emotions and questions: Am I going to find somebody who loves me for me now? How is sex going to be? How is it going to be to get around and to do everyday things? Am I going to be able to go to college? Finish college? But I knew I was very fortunate to be alive, and I knew I’d still be able to do things—I didn’t have brain damage. I was young.

I had a newfound perspective on life. I had this joy that emanated from me. I felt a halo around me, this glow. It was palpable. People noticed it; I didn’t even have to tell them. They were drawn to me like a magnet. Everywhere I went, people would touch me and say something kind: “You’re beautiful.” “I would marry you in a second.” Random things. I was always smiling from ear to ear just because I was breathing.

I started school a little over a year after losing my leg. I was a good student before, but I was an even better student after. It made me look at my priorities a little better in understanding that life, just like that, can be gone. In a split second things can change. So I became very intentional with how I spent my time.

On Adapting His Practice

I had reservations after losing my leg that maybe I couldn’t do yoga anymore. Of course my practice was never the same, but it morphed. I got really into restorative yoga. Early on in my practice, I thought everything had to be perfect. And it’s not about that. Today we see people of all types and shapes and abilities practicing yoga and mine might not look as graceful as yours or even remotely like yours, but it’s still OK. My practice is my practice.

see also 6 Ways to Avoid Ableism in Yoga Classes

On Working Within The Political Justice System 

I grew up in a community that was harassed by police. But yet I have to work with the guy that runs the police, right? And I’ve been able to navigate that space pretty well. Somebody has to do it. If not me, then who? It’s a constant tug of war with me. I’m an impacted person.

I actually said to one of my professors, “I turned down this role to work for a mayor in Hawaii because the city was tearing down homeless encampments. You’re trying to get us to work in government, but how do I reconcile something that’s against my values?” She said, “But if not you, then who? We need smart.” She said we need people who are passionate about these issues in those roles.

see also Try This Restorative, Hip-Opening Yoga Sequence for Ultimate Rejuvenation

On The Challenges of Re-entry After Incarceration 

The communities where I grew up were over-policed and over-incarcerated. My mother was incarcerated and my younger brother has been in and out of prison for the past 11 years. My uncle was in prison for half his life. The way society and the criminal justice system are designed is that when people break a law and are convicted of a crime, they go to jail or prison—and when they get out, they’re expected to just go back and be productive members of the community. But there are all these barriers in place that essentially don’t allow them to successfully reintegrate. For instance, it’s very difficult to get a job if someone has a felony conviction. Housing is a huge problem: When people get out, they don’t have access to housing or they can’t qualify to rent something, because they have a criminal record. That is by design. It was intentional.

On Police and Prison Reform

The system was designed to disenfranchise a particular group, and it’s doing what it was intended to do. So when people say, “Oh, we need reforms,” [I ask] reforms of what? The system is working the way it was designed. We need to burn the system down and recreate it with everybody in mind. I’m not a visionary.

I want to do some transformative work, but it’s going to take visionaries to ask what this country would look like without police or prisons. Most people can’t fathom that. But we haven’t always had these things, and societies have lived in harmony without them. Yes, ours is unique because we have many different cultures and belief systems that make change challenging, but it’s doable.

On Body Confidence

My accident happened 17 years ago, and aside from the past few years, I hadn’t worn shorts all that time. I had a lot of insecurities about showing my prosthesis. I worried about people staring—what would they say, what would they think? But when I would visit Hawaii, it was OK. I was able to wear shorts and not feel those insecurities. But here, in the Bay Area, it was a struggle. I wanted to overcome it and I didn’t really know how to. I had been talking about it with people close to me for years and playing these stories in my head of the insecurity itself.

And one day, I went on a hike here in the Bay Area in shorts. Nobody was on the trail. Afterward, we went and had lunch in downtown Berkeley. Instead of putting my sweatpants back on to go eat in the restaurant, I decided to keep my shorts on. And yes, people looked, and children made comments, but that’s natural. It ended up not being a big deal. It was something that I had built up in my head. It didn’t come quick, but after that, here and there I would wear shorts, and it got easier and easier and easier, to the point where now I actually prefer it. The thing that I felt disempowered by, I feel empowered by now.

Practice Steven's sequence for keeping hope alive.

[krisiunicornio]

Here, the above-the-knee amputee waxes on forgiveness, his yoga practice, and living life to the fullest.

On a breezy late-May afternoon in Berkeley, California, Steven Medeiros stands atop a craggy peak in Indian Rock park, a popular bouldering and hangout spot that overlooks the San Francisco Bay skyline. With a denim jacket flung across his shoulder and the wind in his face, the 42-year-old looks more like an Avenger or a GQ cover model than a UC Berkeley student. In a few weeks, Medeiros, who lost his left leg in a motorcycle accident when he was 25, will travel to Honolulu for a summer gig working on the ACLU of Hawaii’s Smart Justice Campaign, a national criminal justice initiative that aims to reduce the prison population and address prosecutorial accountability. An activist and advocate for police accountability and prison reform, Medeiros is pursuing a master’s degree at Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy (ranked one of the country’s best) so he can effect change from the inside by helping to reimagine current systems and structures.

Listen to Steven talk about healing from complex trauma on YJ's The Yoga Show podcast.

Medeiros, who identifies as Latinx and Hawaiian, has both witnessed and experienced the oppressive, detrimental effects of the American criminal justice system on people of color and impoverished populations. Growing up in Fremont, a racially diverse city in the Bay Area, he was exposed early on to police harassment of his community. His mother, a single mom who suffered from addiction, was incarcerated for a drug offense when he was only four years old. With his father out of the picture, Medeiros went to live with his paternal grandparents, who raised him. Eight years later, newly released from prison, his mother was murdered—run down by a truck while walking home from her job at a fast-food restaurant in East Oakland. The case went unsolved, but witnesses say they saw the truck chasing her, suggesting it was a targeted attack. As an adolescent, the impact on Medeiros was monumental. “For the next nine years, I engaged in a lot of toxic behavior, hanging out with troublemakers, gang members, people from broken homes who were dealing with similar things that I could relate to,” he says.

see also How Restorative Yoga Can Help Heal Racial Wounding

In that time, Medeiros’s interactions with law enforcement shaped the trajectory of his career. When he was 21, he was assaulted by a police officer with a tire iron during a routine traffic stop. At 22, he was racially profiled and arrested “for being brown downtown,” he says—booked for public intoxication although he had not been drinking. “It was the first time I had truly felt helpless and powerless,” he says.

Twenty years later, his goal is to help make sure other people never have to feel that way. As a policy student, the issues he’s most passionate about are police and prosecutorial accountability, mass incarceration, and reentry for formerly incarcerated people. To that end, before enrolling in graduate school, Medeiros worked at the ACLU of Northern California as a program coordinator in the Organizing Department and now serves as a county commissioner for Alameda County, where he’s hoping to improve the challenges surrounding prisoner reentry at a local level.

see also How The Transformation Yoga Project is Helping Prisoners Find Peace

From Troubled Child to Changemaker

Forgiveness and family have been central to Medeiros healing from his childhood traumas. Being a compassionate and loving father to his daughter, Destiny, who at 23 has marched with him in Pride parades and Black Lives Matter protests, is his utmost priority. The like-minded duo share similar political opinions and that activist spark. On weekends, they can often be found restaurant hopping in San Francisco or exploring the outdoors. Medeiros has worked hard to instill values in Destiny such as tolerance and “not subscribing to shortcomings is what finally turned his life around.

Although he can recall a time not so long ago when he was considered a bad influence among his own family, Medeiros has grown into a role model for those who orbit him today. “His ability to be unapologetic in his stances—in his beliefs and values—has given me the courage to also live my life confidently and proudly,” says his cousin Sofia Dangerfield, who credits him with helping her two daughters grow into “open-minded little beings.”

“People always tell me, ‘You’re the most balanced person I know,’” for—for people who need it the most: people of color, women, LGBTQ folks—are being rolled back,” he says. He knows being a changemaker won’t be easy, but when overwhelm threatens to slow him down, his healing practices will help him power forward. “Equanimity, my favorite word, means having composure when things are chaotic and wild around you,” he says.

Here’s what else Medeiros had to say about what fires him up and keeps him cool—including police and prison reform, accessible yoga, and healing after a life-threatening injury.

see also This Yoga Sequence Will Reduce Stress and Boost Immunity

On Finding Yoga 

Between 18 and 22, I was really low. I had tried to turn my life around many times before, but I was always just addressing the symptoms of my problems, not the root of them. I’d stop hanging out with troublemakers, maintain a job, cease drinking and partying. But I was still angry and hurt. I hadn’t addressed the trauma of my childhood. Being an avid reader, I frequented bookstores, and I came across a yoga book. I had never heard of yoga, but I was really intrigued by what I read. I started to self-teach at home. It was challenging, and I like that. I’m a very physical person. I played competitive sports and practiced karate, so yoga was another challenge for me. I had felt so numb for the longest time—I didn’t feel alive. But every time I do yoga, I feel physically better. Things that I deal with, especially with what’s happening now with current events, tend to manifest physically—in my lower body, my jaw, and my shoulders. This practice has helped me release that, and I know it’s always going to work.

On Forgiveness 

My mother’s death had a profound effect on my life. I started questioning my self-worth. Was I destined to end up like my parents? As a teenager, I had yet to fully conceptualize the idea of choice and the role it would play in my life. After my mother died, I spiraled out of control.

I lost all interest in school and sports.

I began experimenting with drugs and alcohol and ran with the local gangs. My life looked bleak. At 22, I was exhausted and desperate for change, and I started the process of looking inward for solutions.

A message came to me that I had to forgive my parents.

Just like that, I forgave them wholeheartedly, and I felt different right away—a new person. I have never looked back. I not only forgave them for the things that they did and didn’t do, but I forgave others who had caused me trauma, and that included the people who killed my mother. I had been harboring so much anger and using that as fuel for some of the behaviors I was engaging in. But when I decided to forgive, I felt this complete release, and that allowed me to focus on other things. I jumped back into books and started down this path of self-help, deep introspection, and self-discovery. I decided to set aside anything I thought could be a distraction to me and my growth as a person and a father. I rekindled my relationship with my family, because in my youth, my “family” had become the streets. And when you’re in that, you think those people are your ride-or-dies, and they’re really not.

[Today] I talk to youths, and I tell them they’re more than the sum of their mistakes. Because of past actions, we think we don’t have a viable future given the systems in place. But I decided I wasn’t going to let that hinder me—that I was still worthy of having a good life of love despite my mistakes. So I had to forgive myself as well, which allowed me to live freely in the present with a new awareness of self and others. 

see also 4 Must-Try Restorative Poses—& How to Get the Most Support from Your Props

On Losing His Leg 

I never thought I’d make it to 18. And then my accident happened when I was doing good in life. I grappled with that. Because I felt like I had done the work. I was really upset and terrified I wouldn’t see my daughter again, because I wasn’t sure if I was actually going to live. And when I realized after a few surgeries that it was hopeful that I would, I started to think about how life would be. I remember watching TV just to study the biomechanics behind walking, because I knew I would have to learn how to walk again. I had all those normal human emotions and questions: Am I going to find somebody who loves me for me now? How is sex going to be? How is it going to be to get around and to do everyday things? Am I going to be able to go to college? Finish college? But I knew I was very fortunate to be alive, and I knew I’d still be able to do things—I didn’t have brain damage. I was young.

I had a newfound perspective on life. I had this joy that emanated from me. I felt a halo around me, this glow. It was palpable. People noticed it; I didn’t even have to tell them. They were drawn to me like a magnet. Everywhere I went, people would touch me and say something kind: “You’re beautiful.” “I would marry you in a second.” Random things. I was always smiling from ear to ear just because I was breathing.

I started school a little over a year after losing my leg. I was a good student before, but I was an even better student after. It made me look at my priorities a little better in understanding that life, just like that, can be gone. In a split second things can change. So I became very intentional with how I spent my time.

On Adapting His Practice

I had reservations after losing my leg that maybe I couldn’t do yoga anymore. Of course my practice was never the same, but it morphed. I got really into restorative yoga. Early on in my practice, I thought everything had to be perfect. And it’s not about that. Today we see people of all types and shapes and abilities practicing yoga and mine might not look as graceful as yours or even remotely like yours, but it’s still OK. My practice is my practice.

see also 6 Ways to Avoid Ableism in Yoga Classes

On Working Within The Political Justice System 

I grew up in a community that was harassed by police. But yet I have to work with the guy that runs the police, right? And I’ve been able to navigate that space pretty well. Somebody has to do it. If not me, then who? It’s a constant tug of war with me. I’m an impacted person.

I actually said to one of my professors, “I turned down this role to work for a mayor in Hawaii because the city was tearing down homeless encampments. You’re trying to get us to work in government, but how do I reconcile something that’s against my values?” She said, “But if not you, then who? We need smart.” She said we need people who are passionate about these issues in those roles.

see also Try This Restorative, Hip-Opening Yoga Sequence for Ultimate Rejuvenation

On The Challenges of Re-entry After Incarceration 

The communities where I grew up were over-policed and over-incarcerated. My mother was incarcerated and my younger brother has been in and out of prison for the past 11 years. My uncle was in prison for half his life. The way society and the criminal justice system are designed is that when people break a law and are convicted of a crime, they go to jail or prison—and when they get out, they’re expected to just go back and be productive members of the community. But there are all these barriers in place that essentially don’t allow them to successfully reintegrate. For instance, it’s very difficult to get a job if someone has a felony conviction. Housing is a huge problem: When people get out, they don’t have access to housing or they can’t qualify to rent something, because they have a criminal record. That is by design. It was intentional.

On Police and Prison Reform

The system was designed to disenfranchise a particular group, and it’s doing what it was intended to do. So when people say, “Oh, we need reforms,” [I ask] reforms of what? The system is working the way it was designed. We need to burn the system down and recreate it with everybody in mind. I’m not a visionary.

I want to do some transformative work, but it’s going to take visionaries to ask what this country would look like without police or prisons. Most people can’t fathom that. But we haven’t always had these things, and societies have lived in harmony without them. Yes, ours is unique because we have many different cultures and belief systems that make change challenging, but it’s doable.

On Body Confidence

My accident happened 17 years ago, and aside from the past few years, I hadn’t worn shorts all that time. I had a lot of insecurities about showing my prosthesis. I worried about people staring—what would they say, what would they think? But when I would visit Hawaii, it was OK. I was able to wear shorts and not feel those insecurities. But here, in the Bay Area, it was a struggle. I wanted to overcome it and I didn’t really know how to. I had been talking about it with people close to me for years and playing these stories in my head of the insecurity itself.

And one day, I went on a hike here in the Bay Area in shorts. Nobody was on the trail. Afterward, we went and had lunch in downtown Berkeley. Instead of putting my sweatpants back on to go eat in the restaurant, I decided to keep my shorts on. And yes, people looked, and children made comments, but that’s natural. It ended up not being a big deal. It was something that I had built up in my head. It didn’t come quick, but after that, here and there I would wear shorts, and it got easier and easier and easier, to the point where now I actually prefer it. The thing that I felt disempowered by, I feel empowered by now.

Practice Steven's sequence for keeping hope alive.

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