#utopia of classification

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"The Progressives’ design for the penitentiary did alter the system of incarceration. Their ideas on normalization, classification, education, labor, and discipline had an important effect upon prison administration. But in this field, perhaps above all others, innovation must not be confused with reform. Once again, rhetoric and reality diverged substantially. Progressive programs were adopted more readily in some states than in others, more often in industrialized and urban areas, less often in southern, border, and mountain regions. Nowhere, however, were they adopted consistently. One finds a part of the program in one prison, another part in a second or in a third. Change was piecemeal, not consistent, and procedures were almost nowhere implemented to the degree that reformers wished. One should think not of a Progressive prison, but of prisons with more or less Progressive features.

The change that would have first struck a visitor to a twentieth-century institution who was familiar with traditional practices, was the new style of prisoners’ dress. The day of the stripes passed, outlandish designs gave way to more ordinary dress. It was a small shift, but officials enthusiastically linked it to a new orientation for incarceration. In 1896 the warden of Illinois’s Joliet prison commented that inmates “should be treated in a manner that would tend to cultivate in them, spirit of self-respect, manhood and self-denial. . . , We are certainly making rapid headway, as is shown by the recently adopted Parole Law and the abolishment of prison stripes.” In 1906, the directors of the New Hampshire prison, eager to follow the dictates of the “science of criminology” and “the laws of modern prisons,” complained that “the old unsightly black and red convict suit is still used. . . . This prison garb is degrading to the prisoner and in modern prisons is no longer worn.” The uniform should be grey: “Modern prisons have almost without exception adopted this color.” The next year they proudly announced that the legislature had approved an appropriation of $700 to cover the costs of the turnover. By the mid-1930’s the Attorney General’s survey of prison conditions reported that only four states (all southern) still used striped uniforms. The rest had abandoned “the ridiculous costumes of earlier days.”

To the same ends, most penitentiaries abolished the lock step and the rules of silence. Sing-Sing, which had invented that curious shuffle, substituted a simple march. Pennsylvania’s Eastern State Penitentiary, world famous for creating and enforcing the silent system, now allowed prisoners to talk in dining rooms, in shops, and in the yard. Odd variations on these practices also ended. “It had been the custom for years,” noted the New Hampshire prison directors, “not to allow prisoners to look in any direction except downward,” so that “when a man is released from prison he will carry with him as a result of this rule a furtive and hang-dog expression.” In keeping with the new ethos, they abolished the regulation.

Concomitantly, prisons allowed inmates “freedom of the yard,” to mingle, converse, and exercise for an hour or two daily. Some institutions built baseball fields and basketbaIl courts and organized prison teams. “An important phase in the care of the prisoner,” declared the warden of California’s Folsom prison, “is the provisions made for proper recreation. Without something to look forward to, the men would become disheartened. . . . Baseball is the chief means of recreation and it is extremely popular.” The new premium on exercise and recreation was the penitentiary’s counterpart to the Progressive playground movement and settlement house athletic clubs.

This same orientation led prisons to introduce movies. Sing Sing showed films two nights a week, others settled for once a week, and the warden or the chaplain usually made the choice. Folsom’s warden, for example, like to keep them light: “Good wholesome comedy with its laugh provoking qualities seems to be the most beneficial.” Radio soon appeared as well. The prisons generally established a central system, providing inmates with earphones in their cells to listen to the programs that the administration selected. The Virginia State Penitentiary allowed inmates to use their own sets, with the result that, as a visitor remarked “the institution looks like a large cob-web with hundreds of antennas, leads and groundwires strung about the roofs and around the cell block.”

Given a commitment to sociability, prisons liberalized rules of correspondence and visits. Sing-Sing placed no restrictions on the number of letters, San Quentin allowed one a day, the New Jersey penitentiary at Trenton permitted six a month. Visitors could now come to most prisons twice a month and some institutions, like Sing-Sing, allowed visits five times a month. Newspapers and magazines also enjoyed freer circulation. As New Hampshire’s warden observed in 1916: “The new privileges include newspapers, that the men may keep up with the events of the day, more frequent writing of letters and receiving of letters from friends, more frequent visits from relatives . . . all of which tend to contentment and the reestablishment of self-respect.’? All of this would make the prisoners’ “life as nearly normal as circumstances will permit, so that when they are finally given their liberty they will not have so great a gap to bridge between the life they have led here . . . and the life that we hope they are to lead.”

These innovations may well have eased the burden of incarceration. Under conditions of total deprivation of liberty, amenities are not to be taken lightly. But whether they could normalize the prison environment and breed self-respect among inmates is quite another matter. For all these changes, the prison community remained abnormal. Inmates simply did not look like civilians; no one would mistake a group of convicts for a gathering of ordinary citizens. The baggy grey pants and the formless grey jacket, each item marked prominently with a stenciled identification number, became the typical prison garb. And the fact that many prisons allowed the purchase of bits of clothing, such as a sweater or more commonly a cap, hardly gave inmates a better appearance. The new dress substituted one kind of uniform for another. Stripes gave way to numbers.

So too, prisoners undoubtedly welcomed the right to march or walk as opposed to shuffle, and the right to talk to each other without fear of penalty. But freedom of the yard was limited to an hour or two a day and it was usually spent in “aimless milling about.” Recreational facilities were generally primitive, and organized athletic programs included only a handful of men. More disturbing, prisoners still spent the bulk of non-working time in their cells. Even liberal prisons locked their men in by 5:30 in the afternoon and kept them shut up until the next morning. Administrators continued to censor mail, reading materials, movies, and radio programs; their favorite prohibitions involved all matter dealing with sex or communism. Inmates preferred eating together to eating alone in a cell. But wardens, concerned about the possibility of riots with so many inmates congregated together, often added a catwalk above the mess hall and put armed guards on patrol.

Prisoners may well have welcomed liberalized visiting regulations, but the encounters took place under trying conditions. Some prisons permitted an initial embrace, more prohibited all physical contact. The rooms were dingy and gloomy. Most institutions had the prisoner and his visitor talk across a table, generally separated by a glass or wire mesh. The more security-minded went to greater pains. At Trenton, for example, bullet-proof glass divided inmate from visitor; they talked through a perforated metal opening in the glass. Almost everywhere guards sat at the ends of the tables and conversations had to be carried on in a normal voice; anyone caught whispering would be returned to his cell. The whole experience was undoubtedly more frustrating than satisfying.

The one reform that might have fundamentally altered the internal organization of the prison, Osborne’s Mutual Welfare League, was not implemented to any degree at all. The League persisted for a few years at Sing-Sing, but a riot in 1929 gave guards and other critics the occasion to eliminate it. One couId argue that inmate self-rule under Osborne was little more than a skillful exercise in manipulation, allowing Osborne to cloak his own authority in a more benevolent guise. It is unnecessary, however, to dwell on so fine a point. Wardens were simply not prepared to give over any degree of power to inmates. After all, how could men who had already abused their freedom on the outside be trusted to exercise it on the inside? Administrators also feared, not unreasonably, that inmate rule would empower inmate gangs to abuse fellow prisoners. In brief, the concept of a Mutual Welfare League made little impact on prison systems throughout this period.

If prisons could not approximate a normal community, they fared no better in attempting to approximate a therapeutic community. Again, reform programs frequently did alter inherited practices but they inevitably fell far short of fulfilling expectations. Prisons did not warrant the label of hospital or school.

Starting in the 1910’s and even more commonly through the 1920's, state penitentiaries established a period of isolation and classification for entering inmates. New prisoners were confined to a separate building or cell block (or occasionally, to one institution in a complex of state institutions); they remained there for a two- to four-week period, took tests and underwent interviews, and then were placed in the general prison population. In the Attorney General’s Survey of Release Procedures: Prisons forty-five institutions in a sample of sixty followed such practices. Eastern State Penitentiary, for example, isolated newcomers for thirty days under the supervision of a classification committee made up of two deputy wardens, the parole officer, a physician, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, the educational director, the social service director, and two chaplains. The federal government’s new prison at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, opened in 1932 and, eager to employ the most modern principles, also followed this routine. All new prisoners were on “quarantine status,” and over the course of a month each received a medical examination, psychometric tests to measure his intelligence, and an interview with the Supervisor of Education. The Supervisor then decided on a program, subject to the approval of its Classification Board. All of this was to insure “that an integrated program . . . may lead to the most effective adjustment, both within the Institution and after discharge.”

It was within the framework of these procedures that psychiatrists and psychologists took up posts inside the prisons for the first time. The change can be dated precisely. By 1926, sixty-seven institutions employed psychiatrists: thirty-five of them made their appointments between 1920 and 1926. Of forty-five institutions having psychologists, twenty-seven hired them between 1920 and 1926. The innovation was quite popular among prison officials. “The only rational method of caring for prisoners,” one Connecticut administrator declared, “is by classifying and treating them according to scientific knowledge . . . [that] can only be obtained by the employment of the psychologist, the psychiatrist, and the physician.” In fact, one New York official believed it “very unfair to the inmate as well as to the institution to try and manage an institution of this type without the aid of a psychiatrist.”

Over this same period several states also implemented greater institutional specialization. Most noteworthy was their frequent isolation of the criminal insane from the general population. In 1904, only five states maintained prisons for the criminally insane; by 1930, twenty-four did. At the same time, reformatories for young first offenders, those between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five or sixteen and thirty, became increasingly popular. In 1904, eleven states operated such facilities; in 1930, eighteen did. Several states which constructed new prisons between 1900 and 1935 attempted to give each facility a specific assignment. No state pursued this policy more diligently than New York. It added Great Meadow (Comstock), and Attica to its chain of institutions, the first two to service minor offenders, the latter, for the toughest cases. New York‘s only rival was Pennsylvania. By the early 1930’s it ran a prison farm on a minimum security basis; it had a new Eastern State Penitentiary at Grateford and the older Western State Penitentiary at Pittsburgh for medium security; and it made the parent of all prisons, the Eastern State Penitentiary at Philadelphia, the maximum security institution. Some states with two penitentiaries which traditionally had served different geographic regions, now tried to distinguish them by class of criminals. In California, for instance, San Quentin was to hold the more hopeful cases, Folsom the hard core.

But invariably, these would-be therapeutic innovations had little effect on prison routines. They never managed to penetrate the system in any depth. Only a distinct minority of institutions attempted to implement such programs and even their efforts produced thin results. Change never moved beyond the superficial."

- David J. Rothman, Conscience and Convenience: The Asylum and Its Alternatives in Progressive America. Revised Edition. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 2002 (1980), p. 128-134

#penal reform #progressive penology #progressive politics #rehabilitation #penal modernism #american prison system #penology #prison sports #prison community #prison discipline #convict uniforms #prison routine #classification and segregation #history of crime and punishment #mutual welfare league #utopia of classification #academic quote #reading 2023 #david rothman

[littlegreekhero]

Lonnie Machin (a.k.a. Anarky/Moneyspider) headcanons

Thank you again for inspiring me to think more of him @megaaceofspades <3 (i also have a lot of timlonnie ones but the post would be too long, i have it queued up)

I think in the current timeline Lonnie is still stuck to machines(AND HE'S BALD), only having bodily autonomy over in the Ünternet, and boy has he been there for a decade now, i think he's already founded the anarchist utopia whose sparks we were shown at the end of Red Robin(2009).

Ünternet can be an escapade for Tim and anyone aware of it when life is too much, Gotham is too much, when there is no hope left etc. They go over there and have a picnic with a few books aside, eat snacks produced 100% ethically and regain faith in humanity again. Lonnie is like a never extinguishing candle of hope and in every situation he can bring a hopeful smile to his visitor's face.

When Leslie Thompkins, having read Moneyspider's conversations from the monitor, comes to the conclusion that Lonnie shows strong signs of autism, he absolutely rejects the label. He thinks psychiatric associations are no authority in naming behaviours for the sake of classification.

He isn't actually bald. His poor health condition has surely affected the number of hair follicles, but it's the doctors that keep it shaved to facilitate access to all those equipment around his head. He still has the cool asf mullet in the simulation.

His body is still a child's, around 15, but his eyes do not seem to belong to one. His gaze tells you he's seen so much. It's almost as if he is watching every corner of the world with the same attention and seeing everything from a unique universal perspective not many can achieve. If they had been alive, their parents would confirm it's been that way since his perception of the American Dream (TM) has first shattered.

He's still a anarchocommunist, and those canon ancap tendencies then neotech propaganda never happened (there is no anarcho corp in ba sing se ^-^) (why did he say "eat the rich" then took the money to himself in comics i will never understand)

He continues to publish after his book, it's little booklets, articles, forum posts, whatever reaches to the people.

Newer modern devices and softwares no longer support acces to Ünternet. When Tim claimed no responsibility over this (it's singlehandedly his doing, as much as HE trusts Anarky, several forces around the world including Batman dont want the threat of worldwide madness resurface again), Lonnie laughed at his face and started a global technological device preservation movement. He could not risk losing an entire civilisation to consumerist propaganda.

Somewhere around the world, an ecology movement constantly recieves donations from some guy named Lonnie.

Anarky's bots indirectly control the Bats' communications and systems. If there's a problem Babs is first to know, then she decides if its worth sharing to Tim, who shoots it over to Moneyspider, who has quite a few AIs and bots to work on it and ensure ethicality in every step. (This is also how i legitimize his acess to 3D models of Batman's gadgets in Urban Legends) (there's no urban legends#22 in ba sing se)

One time Lonnie requested Tim to collect some memorabilia from the remains of his old bases. Once arrived, Tim found a dog wandering around the same place over and over again. It was Yap!!!! Lonnie's old friends had kept it in good care and it was thrilled to go back to snuggle on its companion's lap in the hospital.

His caregivers and doctors suspect he might have started to reject rehabilitation to stay forever in the simulation because his condition seems to stay stable in one state no matter what they do. It's not the case. With every single thing from his old life gathering around him slowly, he is more than thrilled to regain mobility and participate in everyday life. He's also working on transporting audio files that technically don't exist outside of the Ünternet to create a voice box for himself. He already has the plans for a wheelchair suited just for his needs ready.

I think he's extra sensitive about earthquakes and helping those who survived in the aftermath since he lost his parents under rubble. He's there to support every rescue team after every earthquake no matter how small scale the destruction is, wherever in the world it is.

#lonnie machin #anarky #anarky dc #moneyspider #headcanon #red robin 2009 #anarky 1997 #anarky 1999 #dc comics

[littlegirlwiththeblueribbon]

MY SPECIAL INTERESTS:

✸ Cryptids, Cryptozoology

✸ Aliens, Abduction Phenomena, UFOlogy

✸ Ghosts, Paranormal Phenomena

✸ Fortune Telling, Psychic Readings, Tarot

✸ Astrology, Zodiac, Horoscopes

✸ Alchemy, Past & Present Chemistry

✸ Astronomy, Space, NASA

✸ Oceanography, Marine Biology

✸ Dinosaurs, Fossils, Paleontology

✸ Speculative Evolution & Biology

✸ Lost Civilizations, Cultural Extinction

✸ Animal Classification (Taxonomy)

✸ Taxidermy, Animal Death Studies

✸ Birds, Especially Corvids & Birds of Prey

✸ Passenger Trains, American Railroads

✸ Passenger Ships, RMS Titanic, Queen Mary

✸ Nuclear Power, Radiation, Radioactivity

✸ Radios, Radio Waves, Radio Towers

✸ Conspiracy Theories, Denialism

✸ Government Scandals, FBI Cover-Ups

✸ Urban Legends, Folklore, Internet Hoaxes

✸ Religion, Catholicism, Cults, Scientology

✸ Doomsday, Apocalpyse, Pandemics

✸ Meteorology, Weather Patterns, Predictions

✸ Petrology, Mineralogy, Faceting Gemstones

✸ Botany, Herbalism, Horticulture

✸ Mycology, Mold, Penicillin

✸ Toxicology, Poisons, Neurotoxins

✸ Historical Crimes & Unusual Punishment

✸ Elizabethan Era History, Fashion, Culture

✸ Shakespeare, Plays, Musical Theatre

✸ Theatre Design, Stage Management

✸ Filmmaking, Cinematography, Sound Design

✸ Composing, Soundtracks & Scores, Lyrics

✸ Theremins, Synthesizers, Electronic Sound

✸ Figure Skating, Artistic Roller Skating

✸ Fonts, Typefaces, Typography

✸ Graphic Design, Advertisements

✸ Defunct Amusement Parks

✸ Antiques, Appraising, Restoration

✸ Clocks, Watches, Pocket Watches

✸ Puppetry, Muppets, Vintage Puppets

✸ Stage Magic, Escapology, Mentalism

✸ Dime Novels, Pulps, Westerns & Sci-Fi

✸ Postmodernist Literature, Dystopias, Utopias

✸ Hellenism, Greek Mythology, Greek Classics

✸ Portuguese, Basque, French, Latin, Greek

✸ Secret Codes, Ciphers, Shorthand

✸ World War I, World War II

✸ Horses, War Horses, Lusitano, Friesian

✸ Cowboys, American Wild West

✸ Pirates, Golden Age of Piracy

✸ Vexillology, World Flags, LGBTQ+ Flags

✸ Sapphic, Lesbian, Queer Women History

✸ Fado Music, Women’s History in Portugal

✸ Book Translations, Translators

✸ The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas

And, apparently, organizing things nicely in list.

Ask me about any of these, I love to share!

Of course, I have many other interests that I don’t consider my special interests; just these are the ones I study religiously and devote the most of my time to.

UPDATED 12/9/23.

#wrenward #special interest #audhd #actually autistic

[moshi-roulette]

T-02-152 (Drowning Memory)

Title: Drowning Memory

Subject Classification: T-02-152

Attack Type: Pale

Risk Level: Zayin

Description: The abnormality takes the form of what appears to be a young humanoid sea butterfly, around 17 years old. She is constantly sitting in front of a small lake, gazing upon the waters sadly. When spoken to, she will reminisce about some of their friends and the memories they shared together. Some can’t help but feel the abnormality’s sadness, feeling a sense of sorrow swallow them as well. The abnormality tends to sing, the song being very sad yet almost nostalgic. However, this song will lead anyone who listens into a trance. It is theorized that these people live out an impactful part of their childhood, whether it be good or bad. Symptoms of this include glazed-over eyes, a constant stream of tears, and a blank expression on the face.

Quote: “A longing memory of a time forgotten, cursed to try an recall it”

Extra:

Based on the song “Vocaloid Utopia”

Flavor Text:

- “…I miss them…”

- “Drowning Memory stared off into the lake, reminiscing on old memories.”

- “<name> could feel tears prick at their eyes”

- “We would do so much together… then I was separated from them…” she looked to the ground “What I loved most about our time was when we sang together…”

- “<name> started to remember their childhood”

- “What will I be singing in 100 years?”

- “Thank you. Thank you for everything until now”

#lobotomy corporation #fan abnormality #lobotomy corporation oc #limbus company #library of ruina

[aloe-vega]

It seems that nobody has ever really been able to agree on what genre Faction Paradox is - it could arguably fit into fantasy, sci-fi, weird fiction, magical realism, or a billion other categories. I think the closest I've ever seen someone get was classifying it as historical fiction. However, with its emphasis on differing perspectives - for example, chapter 2 of the first part of Warring States shows an account of an expedition into a Chinese tomb by the British archaeologist who lead the expedition while chapter 2 of the second part shows an account of the same expedition by a Chinese worker, and Warlords of Utopia is told in the first person to show the mindset of a citizen of Roma I - and on history as a structure - history being imposed on the Spiral Politic by the Homeworld maps fairly nicely to the fact that, in real life, history isn't just the past, it's the narrative around the past, and the primary view of history can be seen as being imposed on the rest of the world by Europe - I think the best genre classification for FP is historiographical fiction.

#faction paradox #fp

[konkonvt]

So you're brand new to Tumblr: A primer for former Twitter users.

Note: This guide is aimed at users who have little to no experience with Tumblr, it was originally envisioned to help my vtuber friends but was written to be a general help for all users. It is not a comprehensive guide or tutorial, rather a tool to help familiarize yourself with the core features of tumblr, as well as the terms you’ll be encountering.

First and foremost let's get something out of the way, do not treat Tumblr like it's Twitter. It's not. Tricks you learned on Twitter may or may not work here but the audience and flow of your dashboard are going to be very different. Tumblr is primarily a slower site than Twitter. I don't necessarily mean that literally though that can be true, but in that posts get disseminated in a much slower way here, the average long term Tumblr user will not see your posts until someone they follow reblogs them, that's because while Tumblr does promote posts the user base has developed many a tool to curate the site to make their browsing experience better. We'll get to that later, but the point I'm trying to get at here is not to lose heart if your content doesn't get much engagement early on. That said sustainable growth is still possible here, but it's going to require some tweaks to how you do things.

Two real quick terms I will be using throughout this post, I will include more terms towards the end of this post but these two will be used throughout so we’ll define them here:  Dashboard: Sometimes referred to as your Dash is the term for the front page of your tumblr. Basically your timeline, it is where all the content you receive will end up. Your dash is heavily influenced by who you follow, how many people you follow and how often they post. Most people’s dashes are in chronological order and when they follow new blogs the new blog’s posts will be added in order to their dash, meaning they may not see content from new blogs right away but they will be sprinkled into their dashboard as they scroll. Most people will have recommended, promoted etc. posts turned off and it’s honestly the recommended way to use tumblr at this point.  Blogs: Each user’s page. In order to join tumblr you make a blog. How much each user treats their blog like an actual blog will depend on the user but it is the term used. 

Alright let's start with the basics:  

What is Tumblr's primary audience?

While like any site there will be people of all stripes here Tumblr largely functions as a gathering hub for Fandom and politics, in my experience the user base tends to skew left but it's certainly not just for leftists... Alas there is no utopia of that kind online. In general content that feeds into those broad demographics will have a higher chance of doing decently and due to Tumblr's tagging system acting more as a classification system you can get quite insular in the communities you make content for.

What type of content will do well here?

So aside from the above mentioned broad categories, due to the way content is shared on this site you want your content to, as much as possible, avoid being time sensitive. While it's absolutely possible to have time sensitive announcements and the like do decently on Tumblr, for long term sustainable growth you want at least some of your original content to be something that can be reblogged at a users leisure. Additionally I highly recommend reblogging other's works, embrace the Fandom nature of the site, users are more likely to follow someone who's interests align with theirs in what they're already using this site for. The more users following you directly the less steps it'll take to get eyes on your content since it'll show up on their dashboards from you directly, additionally they may reblog it from you disseminating it further. Find some shit you enjoy and follow some people who share it!

Any big fauxpas?

Reposting. That and art theft. If you were a good person on Twitter who hated those things already then you'll be good, but due to the nature of Tumblr's reblog system it's often seen as bad form to screenshot posts from around Tumblr to post them on your own blog. Due to the nature of replies being part of reblogs you can easily share an amusing exchange just by reblogging the last reply you want to share and the whole conversation will be boosted to your dash.

Note: Some blogs may post Screencaps of old no longer visible Tumblr posts for archival reasons, additionally there are some blogs that share art from outside sources with permission, these are generally viewed as totally fine so use context clues.

What about networking?

This is going to be the biggest difference between Twitter and Tumblr. While I will never claim Twitter was the perfect networking tool it is admittedly much better than Tumblr. Tumblr doesn't explicitly harm networking but frankly it just doesn't have the same audience for it as Twitter does and the tools for connecting with others are more rigid. That said you absolutely can network on Tumblr, just expect it'll probably be more awkward.

Okay let's get more granular and start breaking down several of the systems you'll want to familiarize yourself with here:

Reblogs:

Like retweets but with the ability to include your own commentary or not built into the same button. This is your primary way of sharing content already on tumblr. Use it at your leisure, be aware there is a daily post limit but unless you're retweeting everything that crosses your dash you likely won't hit it most days. It's considered bad form to remove the original posters commentary, which is possible with certain tools I'll recommend later. Don't do that, especially on art. You may also directly comment on something while sharing it using this system. 

Blaze:

Blazing is a feature implemented after my initial time here that said it's basically paid promotional posts, you pay to have a post "blazed" onto people's dashboards and then they harass you about it. Based off of the culture on Tumblr I cannot say if doing this will or will not cause some people to harass you but posting literally anything will make someone harass you so do you.

Likes:

Unlike likes on Twitter likes on Tumblr are for you, and really only you. While there are features that may share your likes with others most users will have that turned off and I recommend turning it off as well. Likes are a good, not great, way to save content for later. Personally I use likes to save stuff I want to reblog for later so I can add them to my queue... Speaking of which...

Queue:

There is, as far as I am aware, no Twitter feature that mimics the Tumblr queue. While you can schedule posts for specific times, you'll find many users who use Tumblr consistently are using the queue function. The Tumblr queue can be set up to reblog a certain number of posts within a certain time frame. This way you can be reblogging content throughout the day without actually having to reblog things every hour. I suggest playing around with the amount of posts and timing until you have a queue you feel you can maintain so you're providing a constant drip feed of reblogs.

Archive:

Your archive is a built in feature for your blog. It’s a grid view of all your posts by month and year. Some users use a blog’s archive as a way to judge if they want to follow a blog. The only way to control it is by deleting/adding posts. You don’t really need to think about yours too much, just be aware you have one.

Tagging:

Unlike Twitter's tagging system tags on Tumblr are more similar to a filing system than an algorithm boosting one specifically. That said personally I find tags on Tumblr help boost a post to the right audience much better than Twitter ever has and was the biggest feature I missed. While there is a limit on tags it's a very generous one and allows users to make sure their content has accurate tags to help the right communities see them. Use tags to your advantage. Tag broad categories and niche ones. Ex. A piece of Pokémon fan art can include both the “video games” tag and the “Pokémon” one to help people who follow both those tags find it. You can get even more granular and tag the Pokémon in the art. Use tags to sort your own blog as well, make sure to include important ones for your own content or branding. For instance including "my art" helps a follower know something is yours but also means they can search your blog for that tag and find everything you've posted with it, making it easy to find and share it from your blog. You can also set up a tags page for easier navigation. (We'll talk about pages in a bit.) It's easy to make sure you're using the same tags consistently as once you've posted once using a tag it'll auto suggest it when you start typing it the next time when on desktop, though old and hardly used tags may not be suggested, and this will not apply to tags on who's first post is still in your queue. Figure out what tags work best for you but please also do not spam unrelated tags, Tumblr is much less forgiving with that. Tumblr also allows users to track or hide posts using certain tags. This is the second feature I missed the most. Hiding posts with specific tags means a user can tailor their saftey on tumblr without having to block or unfollow people. As such it is considered good form to use tags to tag common Trigger or Content warnings as well as to add tags users ask you to for their own safety, within reason. (There is an infamous post of someone asking a space blog to tag space related photos because it gave them anxiety.) Also remember tags can have spaces.

Asks:

This will be the primary way your followers will interact with you directly. Asks are not DMs, they have a character limit and you can set whether or not users can send you asks anonymously. When you are notified of an ask you will be prompted to respond, most asks will be published to your blog directly once you've responded, it is possible to set it to a private response so only the original asker will see it, but only if they did not send it anonymously. Asks can be a great tool to let your followers interact with you, not quite directly. However they can also be used to harass users, consider the levels of security you wish to have, you may want to turn off anonymous asks to avoid people hiding behind a grey icon when harassing you, conversely some followers may only send asks if anon is turned on. You may switch anon asks on or off at any point if you need to. 

Chatting:

The closest thing to DMs on Tumblr. It works, I really don’t have much to say about it. 

Replies:

A feature that will be hit or miss for users, it’s not new by any stretch of the imagination at this point but wasn’t part of tumblr for a long time and so some users will use reblogs or tags for this instead. Replies are public but unlike reblogs they do not share the original post, instead the OP (and any mentioned blog) will get the notification. You can also reply to replies.

Side blogs: 

Pretty much what it says on the tin. Side blogs are additional blogs that are connected to your main blog. All side blogs share the same dashboard, they can also have multiple main blogs as admins. (Which main blog is posting/reblogging something to the side blog will be visible.) Side blogs also cannot send asks. Otherwise they can do most other things your main blog can, including being password protected, having their own themes etc. It is strictly against tumblr TOS to hoard sideblog urls. You may have many side blogs for any reason but there is a point where tumblr starts to get cranky about it so be aware. I personally use them for storing resources I do not wish to reblog to my main.

Themes: 

Please please please set up a custom theme for your blog. If you are reading this on my blog itself then you’re looking at my theme. It’s the custom look of your blog, it lets you make your blog into a space that reflect you and what you want to share. There are tons of themes out there, some are available to be installed directly onto your blog while others will require you to edit the html of your blog. Search around, look up tumblr themes on google, check out blogs and if they have a theme you like they will probably have a theme credit somewhere. Make your own if you got the know how (but please do check what tumblr’s current guidelines on custom themes are before you start coding away.) Setting up a custom theme has two-fold benefits. 1. You get a blog that more directly represents you and what you’re putting out there. 2. It means there’s an actual landing page for your blog.  It turns your blog url into a proper url. You go from your blog being visible only in a sub-par floating bubble that’s url reads as tumblr.com/[username] and turns it into it’s own web page with [username].tumblr.com. It looks better and usually people will prefer to scroll your actual blog page and not just the floating ill-formatted box. Some pre-created themes comes with built in pages, some don’t, so onto...

Pages:

Pages are extra well, pages, on your blog. They can be used to create any number of pages you want. Each page must have a unique name from other pages on your blog, as that will be used to make the url of the page. By default pages will use the same theme as your main blog but you can also edit their html to get custom page themes. This may be useful for certain page types, such as navigations or tag pages which may have a lot of information you’d rather not force people to scroll through. Similarly to themes you can find pre-made page themes through some simple searching. Be aware that the mobile app does not see pages natively you must set up a mobile nav link, if you wish to set up a mobile navigation I recommend checking out this guide. 

Search: 

This is the primary function by which most people who did not have your content posted to their Dash will find you. The search function is... Well it’s something  of a running joke among the community. Many new features have been added to this function over the years and most users don’t like them, so many a tool has been used to change it around. All of which is to say it can be inconsistent. The best way to utilize it is to search for tags related to what you want to see, the first 20 tags show up in search. You can also follow tags, this is a feature which once you’ve searched for a tag will add it to a list of tracked tags that will notify you when something new is posted there, making this feature useful for keeping on a rare pair or a community you want to be involved in. The first 5 tags show up in tracked tags. 

The Mobile App:

Pretty much what it says on the tin. There is a tumblr mobile app. It is okay at best. Up to you if you want to use it but it is not the ideal tool for posting original content. I personally mostly use it for browsing tumblr and liking things until I can get on desktop to start actually posting/reblogging content. 

Xkit: 

Xkit is an outside tool designed to make tumblr a better experience. Most users use some variation of it at this point either New Xkit or Xkit Rewritten, or both. It is recommended you use at least one as it drastically changes the tumblr expereince for the better as well as just generally adds some fun things if you wish. (Such as a dashboard version of the old neko desktop cat.) That said as it is a third party tool be aware the coders do have to update it semi-regularly whenever a core piece of an extension is broken. Be nice to these coders, they’re the biggest reason this site hasn’t collapsed under it’s own weight. 

Some general tips, etiquette and other resources!

Tips:

Firstly, take your time. Tumblr is a slower paced site than twitter and you do not want to burn yourself out on it by spamming it all the time. Tumblr has it’s own very unique history and culture and it may take some time at first to get all the references. (I will not explain the shoelaces thing, I’m sorry I just can’t handle the level of embarrassment it gives me.) 

Reblog yourself, a lot. If you’ve got work that you want to share reblog it! Since most people have built their tumblr experience to be sans algorithm you’re going to need to refresh your works on people’s dashes frequently. For a little more in depth about that and what content you should be reblogging read this.

Use tags freely but don’t spam, but do go wild with your tags. They are there for you to categorize things, and most old school tumblr users will also use them to comment on reblogs instead of adding their own comment in the reblog. There are very few rules about how to tag but please to check out this etiquette post to make sure you’re not gonna get anon hate for it. (You will anyways.) 

Etiquette:

DNIs are used pretty freely and generally accepted within reason. That said unless you put a DNI in each post people will interact with it and you’re gonna have to live with that, if you spot a DNI that applies to you, do your best to respect it within reason. (Obviously some people are gonna be racist, sexist, ablest, homophobic, transphobic, acephobic etc. Those people are twats.) 

When reblogging an ask meme you wish to participate in, it’s generally considered good form to send an ask to the blog you’re reblogging from first to insure they also get to participate in the meme. 

I already said this, but don’t repost!

Don’t censor triggers in your tags, this is because censoring them means someone using a tag blocker will likely still see the trigger post as it will not be caught by the blocker. 

Other resources: 

Setting up your dash (Highly recommend doing this early)

How to customize your theme

Even more tips I don’t cover

#Vtuber Uprising #EN Vtuber #Tumblr Tips #ENVtuber #Resources #Konnie Writes

[makeshiftsun]

The Architectural Uncanny by Anthony Vidler

Vagabond Architecture (PAGE 207 onwards)

“For Progressive Modernists, the traditional model of a house, “heavily attached to the earth by the depth of its foundations and the weight of its thick walls,” “the symbol of immutability, la maison natale, le berceau de la famille,” was obselete. Such a characterization of modernity, of course, was equally the burden of conservative social critics from Heidegger to Sedlmayr, who had no hesitation in placing the blame for “the lost center” on architects like Ledoux whose spherical design for a house seemed for the first time to uproot the domicile from its proper foundations.

We might be tempted to place Hejduk’s [John Hedjuk]  mobile “homes” in this tradition, somewhere between functionalist optimism and phenomenological  nostalgia. But Hedjuk’s strange-looking characters on wheels defy rationalist classification-the list of “victims,” for example, reads like some Borgesian elaboration of a “Chinese Encyclopedia”-even as they balk at incorporation into conservative regression. Hedjuk’s “mobility,” both in Victims and in Vladivostok, is neither the simple and functionalist invention of a mobile or quasi-mobile architecture nor an oneiric counter to modern mobilization.

Indeed, his designs stand aggressively against both past and present, acting as catalysts for critique in each of the cities they visit. Here we think of the explicit reminders, in Victims, of the Holocaust and the sociocultural construction of cruelty. The site itself, we are told, “had formerly contained torture chamber during WWII”; it was now to be occupied, among other objects, by “houses” for “The Identity Card Man” and “The Keeper of the Records” and their offices- “Identity Card Unit,” “Record Hall”-Kafkaesque figures certainly, but given unmistakable historical context by spaces such as the “Room for Those Who Looked the Other Way.” Such explicit references are confirmed by the entire population of victims-”The Disappeared,” “The Exiles,” and “The Dead.” Representations of the repressed unsaid, they act as a perpetual reminder, a kind of memory theater, of the uncomfortable past, both in the sites they occupy and the forms they assume.” PAGE 208

“Vagabonds then, were guilty of no crime but that of vagabondage; potential criminals, outside the law not for a crime committed but for what might be committed in the future as a product of a wayward life.

In thus identifying himself with the tradition of vagabondage, Hejduk seems self-consciously to activate all its potentially critical roles, roles that derive from the confrontation of a fixed context with an unfixed and roving subject. For, like the vagabonds they emulate, Hejduk’s constructions literally construct “situations” from the part-random, part-preconceived intersection of objects and subjects, insistent provocateurs of the urban unconscious. In this context, we might see them as the heirs to a long tradition of investigating the critical power of such “situations,” from poets like Baudelaire and Rimbaud to the surrealists and situationists. Opposed to late modernist visions of technological progress, Hejduk follows the surrealists as they attempted to counter the modernist utopias of the nomad; like the “nightwalker” of Aragon, peasant in the strange city, or the bohemian flaneur of Benjamin.” PAGE 210

“Citing do Chirico, who “has attacked the problems of absences and presences through time and space,” Ivain [Gilles Ivain] called for a new vision of time and space for architects of the future, embodied in symbolic buildings figuring the desires and mental powers-a kind of Fourierism in architecture-that would finally place “psychoanalysis in the service of architecture.” He outlined the specifications for a new, countermodern town:

This town could be envisaged in the form of an arbitrary grouping of chateaux, grottoes, lakes, etc. The quarters of this city could correspond to diverse catalogued feelings that one meets by chance in current life. Bizarre Quarter-Happy Quarter-particularly reserved for habitations-Noble and Tragic Quarter (for wise children)-Historic Quarter (museums, schools)-Useful Quarter (shops, shops for equipment)-Sinister Quarter, etc. Perhaps also a Quarter of Death, not to die in but to live in peace... The Sinister Quarter for example will usefully replace these holes, hell mouths that peoples once possessed in their capitals; they symbolized the evil powers of life. The Sinister Quarter will have no need to shelter real dangers, such as traps, secret dungeons, or mines. It would be approached in a complicated way, frightfully decorated (loud whistles, alarm clocks, periodic sirens with irregular cadence,  monstrous sculptures, mechanical mobiles driven by motors called Auto-Mobiles) and lit poorly at night, as well as violently during the day by an abusive use of reflections. At the center, the “Square of the Terrifying  Mobile.” The saturation of the market by a product provokes the devaluation of this product; the child and the adult will learn by exploring the Sinister Quarter no longer to fear the anguishing manifestations of life, but to be amused by them. The changing of landscape hour, by hour will be responsible for a complete “dépaysement.””

PAGE 212-213

“Here Hejduk goes beyond the situationist obsession with the spectacle and its protopanoptical implications, to explore a new type of space, that of the nomad, as it intersects with the more static space of established urban realms. We might refer to the distinction, drawn by Deleuze and Guattari in their Traité de nomadologie; La machine de guerre, between “state” space and “nomad” space. A sedentary space that is consciously parceled out, closed, and divided by the institutions of power would then be contrasted to the smooth, flowing, unbounded space of nomadism; In western contexts, the former has always attempted to bring the latter under control. In this way, Deleuze and Guattari trace the struggle between a state mathematics and geometry and a nomad science based on dynamic proportions of becoming, heterogeneity, the infinitesimal, the passage to the limit, and continuous variation (a science sketched, but not elaborated, by Husserl when he spoke of a “vague” or vagabond geometry). This is paralleled by the historical difference between nomad work and state work, where “nomad” associations, such as those of journeymen, compagnonnage, itinerant labor, guilds, “bands,” and “bodies,” have always been difficult to conquer and to bring into line with the regular order of state-controlled work. A kind of “band vagabondage” linked to a “body nomadism” has ever resisted incorporation into the divided space of capitalist development.” PAGE 214

Mark Ignatieff, the needs of strangers.

[utopiasingapore]

Categories of Cleanrooms and Basic Necessities of Cleanroom Areas

The expression cleanroom is quite symbolic and easily depicts that the room or the specific area is free from particulate materials, air borne or otherwise, and meant for specific intentions like research, manufacturing, carrying out scientific experiments of very high levels. Although by overview it sounds like all the cleanrooms are the same, they are not. Cleanrooms are of different categories. They are basically categorised in accordance to their utilities and the sectors and industries they are used in. while the cleanroom in case of medical sector is developed and made up in a different way, the non-medical sectors like the electronic industry that manufactures silicon chips and other complex electronic components need to be made up in different ways. While this is one method of classification there are other standards that are included in this process.       

Mainly these kinds of cleanrooms are classified as per the regulations and norms set in by the international organization of standardization in order to form and follow the international standards. These standards that are set by the organization are the foundational principles that are followed worldwide. According to the norms set in there are certain standards to be followed while working with chemicals, volatile materials, and sensitive instruments and similar. The standards that are employed in deciding the level of cleanness of the area is done by calculating the amount of particles that are present in one cubic foot of space. The lesser the number of particles present per cubic foot, the higher the level of cleanness. However these particles have to be controlled by different methods in order to attain the desired level of cleanness. Such rooms are classified by the number of particles present in them and are designated as class100, class 1000, class 10000, and so on. Here the particle size is measured in microns and as a common standard the size of the particle must not be bigger than 0.5 microns.     

Based on the level of cleanness the areas are confirmed and declared as most suitable for particular types of activities. In the construction of such cleanrooms, the wall materials are also selected meticulously and taken into consideration accurately. Now since the primary function of a clean room is to constantly filter air in order to avert any possible to damage highly sensitive technologies. Based on the limitations and rules there are special procedures for each of these activities that must be followed in order to prevent contamination. The art of achieving the desired level of cleanness is professionally carried out by experts in the sector. Organizations like utopia, located in Singapore are one of the top rated companies involved in the development of cleanroom , cleanroom installation, maintenance and allied services. 

#Cleanroom Construction Materials #Cleanroom Construction Materials Singapore #Airtech Equipments #Airtech Equipments Singapore #Cleanroom Teardrop Lighting

[thoumakethcoolart]

Ahoy there, how goes?

In this sideblog, 99% of what you'll find is (fan)art of stuff I like (and I like lots of stuff).

My main blog is @eeriedragone (where I post my own drawings).

Most of my reblogs are currently patiently waiting in line in a veeery long queue, with 4 being posted each day. I try to tag:

#my personal comment, #character name(s), #media name, #additional classification

Under the cut is a list of my interests:

Films/Series:

Ace Attorney (never got into the og stuff, just like the fanart)

All Saints Street

Arcane

Avatar (TLA/TLOK)

Barry

Columbo

Doctor Who (10 and 12)

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared

Ghibli Studio Films (not going to list them all)

Ghosts BBC

Good Omens

Gravity Falls

Jojo Rabbit

Jeeves and Wooster

The Last of Us

Midnight Mass

The Old Guard

Over the Garden Wall

Pacific Rim (Newmann and Kaiju)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (mainly The Wolf)

The Secret of Kells

Samurai Jack

Severance

Spiderman (in general)

The Terror

The Thick of It

Utopia (UK)

Venom

Videogames:

Cuphead

Dead by Daylight

Deltarune

Detention

Detroit: Become Human (only bc of Gavin Reed at this point)

Devotion

Disco Elysium

Elden Ring (mainly Morgott and the Black Knife Assassins)

Firewatch

God of War

Hades

Hollow Knight

Inscryption

Layers of Fear

The Last Guardian

The Last of Us

Little Nightmares

Night in the Woods

Portal

Resident Evil (only bc of Karl Heisenberg)

Scanner Sombre

Shadow of the Colossus

Soma

Spiderman PS4

Subnautica

Team Fortress 2

The Stanley Parable

The Beginner's Guide

Undertale

Until Dawn

What Remains of Edith Finch

The Witcher (but only for Emiel Regis)

Other:

Death Note

Death Parade

The Magnus Archives

My Hero Academia (not following it anymore tho)

Tintin

Unsolved/Ghost Files

Welcome Home (mainly Frank)

What Football Will Look Like in the Future/Football 17776

#blog description

[karync]

S2 Week 2 Reading Notes

Foucault Other Spaces

Great obsession of 19th century was history

Themes of development and suspension, crisis, cycle, themes of past

Found mythological resources in second principle of thermodynamics

In epoch of simultaneity, juxtaposition, near and far, side by side, dispersed

In the moment of when our experience of the world is less that of a long life developing through time than that of connecting points and intersects

Space is not an innovation

Space itself has a history in Western experience

Cannot disregard intersection of time with space

In Middle Ages there was hierarchical ensemble of places

Sacred, profane, protected, open, exposed, urban, rural places

Complete hierarchy that can be called medieval space : the space of emplacement

Space of emplacement opened by Galileo

Problem of human site or living space is relations to propinquity, storage, circulation, marking, classification of human elements

Anxiety of our era has to do with space more than time

The space we live in is a heterogeneous space

Utopias are sites with no real place

Sites that have general relation of direct or inverted analogy with real space of Society

In every culture, civilization, there are real places which are like counter-sites, an effectively enacted utopia in the real sites 

Places of this kind are outside of all places 

Because these spaces are different from all sites they reflect and speak about, they are contrast to utopias, HETEROTOPIAS

Heterotopias there might be a mixed, joint experience which would be the mirror

In mirror, you see unreal virtual space that opens up behind the surface

Mirror is a utopia since it is a placeless place 

Mirror is also a heterotopia because mirror does exit in reality, exerts counteraction on position that I occupy

Heterotopia first principle

There is not a single culture in the world that fails to constitute heterotopias 

Can class them in two main categories

In so called primitive societies, there is crisis heterotopias

They are privileged, sacred, forbidden places reserved for individuals who are in relation to society, human environment, state of crisis : adolescents, menstruating women, pregnant women, elderly, etc.

In out society, crisis heterotopias are disappearing and being replaced 

Heterotopias of deviation : those in which individuals whose behavior is deviant to the norm placed

Examples are rest homes, psychiatric hospitals, prisons, retirement homes

Borderline between heterotopia of crisis and deviation since old age is a crisis but also a deviation since in society where leisure is the rule, idleness if a deviation

Second principle of heterotopias is that a society and its history unfolds can make an existing heterotopia function in a very different fashion

Each heterotopia has precise determined function within society and the same heterotopia can have one function or another 

Example of strange heterotopia of cemetery

Cemetery is place unlike ordinary cultural spaces but it is a space connected with sites of the city, state, society, village, etc. since each family has a relative in the cemetery 

Third principle of heterotopia is that it is capable of juxtaposing in a single real place several spaces, sites that are incompatible 

Oldest example of these heterotopias that take form of contradictory sites is the garden

Fourth principle is that heterotopias are linked to slices of time which for sake of symmetry is termed heterochronies

Heterotopia begins to function at full capacity when men arrive at absolute break with their traditional time 

Heterotopias and heterochronies are structured in complex fashion 

Heterotopias are indefinitely accumulating time 

Opposite these heterotopias that are linked to accumulating time, there are those contrary linked to time in its most flowing, transitory, precarious aspect, oriented toward temporal

Fifth principle is heterotopias always presuppose a system of opening and closing that both isolates them and makes them penetrable 

Heterotopic site is not freely accessible like a public place

Sixth principle of heterotopias is that they have a function in relation to all the spaces that remain

This function unfolds between two extreme poles

Either their role is to create a space of illusion that exposes every real space or their role is to create a space that is other, another real space, as perfect as ours is messy

Brothels and colonies are two extreme type of heterotopia 

Stefano Harney and Fred Moten The Undercommons Chapter 0

Ends with love, exchange, friendship

Ends as it begins, in motion, in between various modes of being and belonging

Debt is sometimes a history of giving, taking, at all times a history of capitalism and something that cannot be paid off

Debt presumes a kind of individualized relation to a naturalized economy that is predicted upon exploitation

We cannot be satisfied with the recognition and acknowledgement generated by the system that denies a) that anything was ever broken and b) that we deserved to be the broken part

The path to the wild beyond is paved with refusal

In The Undercommons, we begin with the right to refuse what has been refused to you

Call this refusal the “first right” and game changing kind of refusal in that it signals the refusal of the choices offered

“The call to order”

To refuse to call others, to order, to refuse interpellation and the reinstantiation of the law

When we refuse, we create dissonance and allow dissonance to continue 

The undercommons is not a realm where we rebel and create critique; it is not a place where we “take arms against a sea of troubles/and by opposing end them”

Our goal and the “we” is always the right mode of address here

They tell us to listen to the noise we make and refuse the offers we receive to shape that noise into “music”

Must make common cause with those desires and non positions that seem crazy and unimaginable 

We must refuse that which was refused to us and in this refusal reshape desire, reorient hope, reimagine possibility and do so separate from the fantasies nestled into rights and respectability 

[theredheadwhoblogs]

MY UNIVERSITY EXPERIENCE

Hey there, long time no see!

It’s been AGES since I’ve last been on here; and for good reason too. At the time of writing, I’ve finished my undergraduate degree in Art Practice at the University of Suffolk, and have finished my studies with a 2:1 classification with honours!! 

So, I thought I would break down the years of the degree for anyone who is interested in the course:

YEAR 1

You are encouraged to come onto the course with an open mind as to what you want to do; and so you are given project briefs that are completely out of your comfort zone. So for me, the projects I did were:

- designing 2x 3d Christmas decorations themed to festive folklores. NO western designs aloud

- illustrating 2x 2d outcomes themed to The Red Barn Murder, which is a local story

- illustrating an editorial spread for a group collaboration book, that is themed to the past 12 decades. I chose the 1940s and was going to be made into a book but that was sadly postponed due to Covid.

YEAR 2

In this year, you are encouraged to choose your preferred art specialism and start to design projects that are unique to what you want to achieve in the future. In this case, I wanted to do more illustration projects but weren’t sure about my intended audience. So for me, the projects I did were:

- Designing a series of spot illustrations for an online magazine. The theme was on Utopia, and so I focused on the good rather the bad and the ugly on the news today.

- Under mentorship by local illustrator Joel Millerchip, I designed a series of children’s book covers for a pre-teen audience. The books were: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland, The Jungle Book and A Christmas Carol. I absolutely loved this project, and has inspired me to do more of this sort of thing in the future.

- Designing products to sell. So, because I was still experimental with my style, I decided to produce a series of illustrations on Suffolk and Norfolk, to be made into a zine. This was to be sold in person (my very first experience of selling my work in this way) but sadly this didn’t happen because of Covid. There was an opportunity to sell the work online but couldn't do so due to time restraints.

YEAR 3

In this year, you are encouraged to work on a year long project as well as help organise an end of year exhibition. You are also encouraged to start thinking about the long term goals after you finish the course, alongside working on your undergraduate dissertation. This was the hardest year for me personally. 

- Major Project: I designed and self published a wordless children’s book about the happy times of my childhood, with the book named ‘Back in the Day’. The 12 page publication featured whimsical illustrations of me as a child, with a two colour palette: yellow and blue. I also designed the front cover and endpaper design. Regarding the exhibition, this was held on campus, but was originally held at the Guildhall in Bury St Edmunds. At the Private View, the book was a hit with viewers and has really helped my confidence with showing my work to the public. Sadly after the show, the book (and my only copy) was taken, but I did manage to order another copy shortly afterwards.

- Practice-Led Dissertation: My undergraduate thesis was on Children’s books in a contemporary society, and so I explored how traditional themes of children's literature have changed over the past decade, with the inclusion of digital and interactive elements. In addition to this, I also explored how children’s media has evolved over time- spoiler alert, it’s very interesting!. I composed a series of case studies and explorations of my own, which included producing a series of rough illustrations predicting what the future of children’s media would be like with lesser-known literature, as well as producing written reviews on film adaptations of children’s books. Overall, a very interesting subject!

And there you have it, a run through of my university experience. The lecturers on this course were absolutely superb, and a highly recommend to anyone who is looking to go into the creative industries and don’t want to go in the same ‘paths’ of other university courses.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"In the way of suggesting remedies for these injurious features of the prison environment, I am afraid that I have very little to offer. One thing is certain; known homosexuals must be weeded out and segregated. Men must be given the recreation (preferably good physical exercise to be followed by bathing) and entertainment with which to make the present attractive enough so that there will be less need of escape-mechanisms like daydreams and "prison stupor." In certain parts of the world, or so I have read, after the prisoner has served a certain number of years, he is permitted to colonize in a guarded area where he may live a normal sexual life (as in Salvador, and, I believe, the Bilibid Prison Colony). I earnestly recommend this as, on the whole, the best remedy for sexually abnormal conditions and behavior in American prisons. In the meantime, only a very intelligent warden who is sufficiently a real person to win the complete confidence of the inmates, can make any headway against present conditions. For in the long run, the prisoners themselves are the only ones who can work out the solution of the problem. There is very little likelihood of their doing so at the present time, however, thanks to the type of warden and guard which predominates in our prisons. There is, therefore, very little probability that in the immediate future very much will be done, or even attempted, to improve conditions which, in nine cases out of ten, the prison officials will refuse to admit even exist."

- Victor F. Nelson, Prison Days and Nights. Second edition. With an introduction by Abraham Myerson, M.D. Garden City: Garden City Publishing Co., 1936. p. 168-169.

[Nelson, like some other ex-convict reformers in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere, places a lot of faith on settler colonialism as a solution to prison issues. He views resettlement, farming, colonization, as making men strong and whole again in a strictly heternormative manner. The redemptive frontier is a common motif in American and Canadian society at this time. And he refers to real prison colonization schemes in the Philippines and Central America that used ex-convicts as settlers, just as in Australia a century before. Less common is Nelson's belief in prisoner self-government and participation in prison administration. In Bolivia, Mexico and a few other Latin American countries, a penal colony with prisoner self-government was a common type of reform prison.]

#words from the inside #prisoner autobiography #penal reform #prison administration #released from prison #prison days and nights #victor nelson #history of crime and punishment #paroled convict #settler colonialism #penal colony #classification and segregation #american prison system #sex in prison #history of homosexuality #utopia of classification #rehabilitation #research quote #reading 2024

[fatehbaz]

The paradise myth was therefore attached to the Caribbean’s status as a cornerstone of the European “primitive accumulation” of wealth. [...] [T]he American Eden continued to be romanticized by English poets [...]. As long as the fantasy of [...] profit and accumulation of wealth persisted, paradise discourse survived, incorporating the trope of the plantation when the age of exploration, conquest and piracy came to end and the means of production were transformed. [...] “[T]hroughout the history of the New World, the dream of paradise and the noble savage has coexisted with the history of colonization and forced labour” [...].

From the 16th century onwards, rhetoric of paradise increasingly appeared outside the context of the New World in connection with other potential “treasure-lands” -- the African gold-land of Ophir, the ivory-lands of the Congo, the pearl-beds of Ceylon -- anywhere European colonizers believed they could acquire raw materials [...]. Even after the 19th-century abolition of the slave-trade, colonizers employed indentured labour to run the tea plantations and pearl-diving stations of Ceylon and hired slaves from Zanzibar to travel with them into the interior of East Africa. In the rhetoric of colonization and conquest, paradise operates on various levels, as a descriptor of “new” landscapes, a plan for colonies, or an earthly kingdom [...] into which Indigenous people should be inducted [...]. Paradise discourse is confined to neither the Caribbean nor the plantation [...].

---

The beginnings of European modernity were marked by a dawning recognition of the impossibility of returning to the Golden Age [...]. However, the Renaissance also saw the proliferation of “collective fantasies” such as the Land of Cockaigne and the Fountain of Youth, and an increasing infatuation with the complicated, anti-natural aesthetic of the botanical garden. [...] Jeffrey Knapp attributes the flowering of literary utopias such as Thomas More’s Utopia (1516) and Spenser’s Faerie Queen (1590-6) as a response to the widening global framework of trade and travel and the complexities of empire. Tropical islands and colonies were used as symbolic locations on which to project the contradictions of European expansion [...].

---

The fluctuation between paradise and anti-paradise reflects the 17th-century aesthetic transition away from the mystical or supernatural towards empirical knowledge of the negative realities of the colonies and predicts the rise of scientific knowledge [...]. In the 17th century, the axis of literary interest in foreign landscapes began to shift away from the Americas towards the East [...]. Biblical and classical language remained entrenched [...] but transformed from theological signs into metaphorical shorthand for the global variety and riches unlocked by colonial expansion: paradise did not disappear, just became secularized.

The hope of discovering fabled utopias was replaced with the intention of building new utopian settlements and plantations under their name [...].

The rise of Linnaean classification dictated a further secularization of paradise discourse within the framework of natural history, as “Edenic edifices” were forged in the writing of naturalists who moved through the world like “Adam in the primordial garden,” naming and “innocently” collecting specimens (Pratt 56-7).

---

The “planetary consciousness” produced by this systemizing of nature [...] increased the mobility of paradise discourse in application to different regions and continents. As European colonial expansion accelerated, the homogenizing transformation of people, economy and nature which it catalyzed also gave rise to a myth of lost paradise, which served as a register [...] for obliterated cultures, peoples, and environments, and as a measure of the rapid ecological changes, frequently deforestation and desiccation, generated by colonizing capital.

On one hand, this myth served to suppress dissent by submerging it in melancholy, but on the other, it promoted the emergence of an imperialist environmental critique which would motivate the later establishment of colonial botanical gardens, potential Edens in which nature could be re-made. 

However, the subversive potential of the “green” critique voiced through the myth of endangered paradise was defused by the extent to which growing environmental sensibilities enabled imperialism to function more efficiently by appropriating botanical knowledge and Indigenous conservation methods, thus continuing to serve the purposes of European capital.

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All text above by: Sharae Deckard. Paradise Discourse, Imperialism, and Globalization: Exploiting Eden. 2010. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

#4thofjuly had me thinking of this #age of revolutions in Atlantic World #abolition #imperial #colonial #caribbean #ecology #forests

[bl-garbage]

to dance is to unshackle

um, okay—how else do i express this buoyant happiness that Gaya sa Pelikula has awoken inside me? i’m in complete and utter awe. i did not expect a drop of what the sixth episode has brought us. more than satisfying, it’s utterly fascinating. this is quite a lengthy post, but if you have the time, please bear with me. and since we’re already here, let’s fucking dissect the shit out of this:

right off the bat, it’s sweet how consistently written Vlad was the entire time of the show. at the start of the episode, for one, he was concerned with Karl’s disposition, saying, “anong iniisip mo (what are you thinking)?” and, later on, as we know, he pops that question again in this episode. what are you thinking? always in limbo. true, it’s considerate, yet more than that, it’s always a sign of waiting for permission. Vlad has been like this since the beginning: observant and willing to reach out, confident on the surface, yes, but always afraid of going overboard. 

that is not to say that Karl isn’t. in fact, the whole dynamics of their relationship rest on the fact that they can lean on each other and just be honest. many moments show this: Karl’s desire to shift; Vlad not getting  into the film lab and Karl knowing something was up; the entirety of Vlad’s birthday; Karl and Vlad’s reticence to open up to Anna, in contrast with how comfortable they feel with each other. in a nutshell, they’re each other’s homes. more on this later.

the part i was most frightened at with this episode was when Karl finally told his parents his desire to shift. to be honest, personally, i wouldn’t know exactly how that pressure on Karl feels, as i was able to study the degree i wanted. yet, back then, i had already known that my parents, who wholly supported me just the same, would have wanted a degree that leaned on science or engineering. that still sucked to know. Karl’s situation is much more complicated. his desire to shift to another course is to make up for lost time, a sense of hurrying before it really becomes all too late. this was a heavy lot to take in. the disappointment and anger in his father’s face when he dropped the bomb was too much to handle. Karl had expected it, yet its impact still hurled shrapnel that he was not able to dodge, sustaining him with several wounds. it would be curious to see how his parents come to terms with his confession. i am certain that a number of people have connected with Karl here.

which brings me to another point. Gaya sa Pelikula creates these characters with their own agency. it’s touted as a BL series, yes, but our two main characters’ point is actually not to fall in love — but to live, part of which is to fall in love. they have their hopes and dreams and own burdens to carry, and while falling in love takes centerstage here, we see how they can stand alone, on their own two feet. falling in love is central to their growth, but it is evident that love is not the whole point of their existence. 

speaking of which: ate judit. ah, yes, where do i even begin to explain the exquisiteness with which ate judit was written? how, after all of five episodes, it was only now did it make sense why judit was overly, unnaturally caring and protective, a mama bear that would not let anything happen to his little Vlad. now we know why: guilt.  

imagine that. being told you were the reason why your whole family went into shambles. there is much vindication in Vlad’s line of questioning, “why would you say that to a child?” (god, i’m tearing up even as i write this.) this was a pivotal scene, with a focal point on judit, the likes of whom we cannot entirely fault for not knowing any better. the fact remains that we are still in an era that fails to understand the spectrum of gender identities and the far utopia that we seek, where gender and sex would not be a damning classification anymore. and for true allies, it is in admitting that they “didn’t know then what [they] know now” that their support gains more strength. it is in confessing where they got wrong, how harmful their actions were, and in the commitment to do more, that their promise is made good.

parenthetically, can we talk about Vlad’s mom as well? have you all noticed how her voice broke when she said, “siguraduhin mong hindi ka na itatanggi niyan, ha (just make sure he won’t deny you, okay)?” was that pain, or guilt even? i wonder if we’re ever going to see her. it would be a regret not to. for so long Vlad had thought that he was the reason his father left, and that his mother was mad at his queerness. i wouldn’t want this simple call to be the resolution that the show had for him. at any rate, we have two more episodes to await, so i am not going to strike my gavel on this judgment just yet.

but whereas Vlad found his longtime coming reconciliation with his sister, Karl had no one to turn to. his call to Vlad was a cry for help. it was heartbreaking to see him like this. Karl had always put up a fake smile against any adversity that had come his way. to him, these were trivial matters that would pass, and they did so — until now. after all he was, as we would later come to know, living a script that had been prewritten before he even came to being. that explains his nonchalant demeanor toward life, the seeming discontent behind those dead eyes, and a repeated hinting that he was always yearning for so much more. at the end of the call, Karl instinctively goes to the closet - and his proverbial closet - and sees the skeletons he had hidden inside, drop in a mess. 

that it was Karl’s brother who was in the photo shook me. that past was so well thought out. things made so much sense in this episode: why Karl tried to fit in, why everything seemed so fake. why he was so discomforting to watch, even! that made sense now.  

and what do you do when everything has become a mess? the once seamless film that had been rolling without any glitches now sprawled on the floor, entangled in a hodgepodge well beyond fixing. when that happens, what do you do? well, you dance.

i have so many things to say about faux masculinity. it is a fact undisputed that in this society, gender roles are still very much pillars that we have yet to dismantle. our genders have been geared toward performativity, and our consolation is the external validation we receive through the acts of fitting in. in the process, we lose sight of what we really want. we blur the lines between what is and what should be, in favor of what society has demanded upon us. Karl took that role and lived by it religiously. yet, those things has gone haywire in this episode. more than his parents, it was to himself that Karl has finally admitted that the act can be dropped now: the fixed posture, those rehearsed lines, that painfully faux masculinity, on guard all the fucking time. all of those things were dropped.

that is not to say that Karl was faking all of it. there is no denying that Karl has been a masculine person most of the time. but the show portrayed before us a discarded femininity that Karl had been trying to bury deep inside him — one that all people who have been and who are still in the closet know by heart. the thing is, all of us have masculine and feminine sides, the expression of which vary at different levels in different situations. sadly, we have been preconditioned to believe that male persons must be masculine, and female persons must be feminine. Gaya sa Pelikula acknowledges this hegemony, and then throws it away all the same. true, Karl may very well be comfortable in his masculine expression, but his femininity must also be allowed to grow. one cannot be complete without embracing the entirety of who they are. many have died — been killed — for simply living who they are. society has long been a vicious environment. but people have also long fought for their fundamental right to perform these things, and through them, we know that things can change. that things are changing.

it is against this context that imprints more meaning, more gravity to when we finally, finally see Karl dance. in every sense, his dance was the show’s climax for me. it is, quite emphatically, freedom incarnate.

when i say i fucking bawled at this scene, you best believe it.

quite important to note: when Karl sees Vlad, he stopped abruptly, only for Vlad to signal to him, in an OK sign, that what he was doing was perfectly fine. that Karl could be effeminate all he wants, and who the hell in this earth should care? this allowance has given Karl all the needed validation he will ever need, at least, for that one night where they could bare it all. it was only the two of them, but the house has never been more crowded, because their feelings have seemingly exploded and have been overflowing in a glorious climax for all of us to witness. in this scene, Karl has unshackled the chains with which he had been bound all that time, and it was Vlad who helped him finally break the last of those chains. in this moment, there was only pure bliss.

(that the song playing here was Ride Home by ben&ben is the perfect giveaway. for non-Filipino readers who have only listened to ben&ben now, check this band out. it’s one of the best bands to have ever come out of the Philippine music industry.)

and, of course, in this waterfall of emotions, it is only perfect to time the moment of their first kiss. they have accepted each other, haven’t they? in a meaningful act (the gravity of which we will only realize in full later when Vlad tells the story of his dad), Karl rumpled Vlad’s hair, but only after Vlad had already consented to it. then, afterward, it was Vlad’s turn to ask, what are you thinking? to which Karl had this—and i know we all expected it, nevertheless—to say: i don’t want to think anymore. then they kissed.

i swear to god. i only watched this for the 92432475781 time.

the denouement was so well put, too: now everything is put back into its own place. Karl’s brother. his death. his parents’ expectations. the substitution. Vlad’s father. his parents’ expectations. the horror of realizing one’s difference. the abandonment. in these stories, it becomes more and more permissible to believe that Karl and Vlad have easily found comfort in each other. to say that they are soulmates (as the creator, juan miguel severo, told on his twitter) is not an exaggeration.

and, make no mistake: Karl and Vlad did not find each other’s embraces out of pity. no. it would be unduly harsh to view them that way. rather, they found solace in each other’s embrace and warmth, but it is still they who will muster the courage to face their own demons. the only difference is, they now have each other to find some sort of release. they are not destructively dependent on each other; instead, they help each other grow into the versions of themselves that they can be proud of.

finally, a couple of small things: look at the way Karl was inviting Vlad to lie in bed with him. that simple gesture harks us back to the early days of their dynamics: Vlad had expressed that it was okay to share a bed, but Karl was adamant that they do not. Karl had once dreamed of Vlad joining him there, and that scared him shitless. in contrast to that, now we have this: Karl himself inviting Vlad, and Vlad accepting for Karl’s wholehearted invitation. the moment this happened, there was a consummation of the expression of their love. if they had their doubts prior to this, those could not have been more obliterated now. 

needless to say, i fucking, fucking loved this. as one who has only ever written three fanfics (2gether and History 2!), all of which seemingly related to sleeping (what the fuck, do i have a sleep fetish or something), this ending to episode 6 is just the cherry on top. 

their lines by the end particularly strike me. here we have Karl who wishes to create his own stories. on the other hand is Vlad who wishes that he be in charge of the endings, too. how do they do that? who knows? but the certainty that defines their pact is that they shall do it together, unbound and free to dance to the song they have chosen of their own accord. and that simple promise, made in each other’s tight embrace under artificially warm lights amid that early january weather, with no certainty at all of what tomorrow has to bring, has made all the difference. 

in 34 minutes, Gaya sa Pelikula has, yet again, done more than we could have ever expected.

i just checked and this reached 2k words. i’m not even gonna attempt to proofread this anymore. anyway, this is all i have to say for now. i just simply cannot let go of the best episode i’ve seen in this show without expressing my own reaction to it. 

(also: i’m thinking of writing a fanfic; that is, the morning after. just a one-shot, hopefully a cute one. as usual, an introspection of these characters, and what lies ahead. hope i actually get to write it!)

thank you so much, Gaya sa Pelikula. you are proof that things do change.

#gaya sa pelikula #ian pangilinan #paolo pangilinan #juan miguel severo #fanfic ideas have been brewing inside me #char #bl series #philippines #philippine bl series

[whitehotharlots]

Vicious impotence

A moment is inseparable from the ways in which it is discussed and understood. When people are aware of their inability to affect the material conditions of the moment itself, they become vicious in asserting the primacy of their interpretation of it. Well-compensated and facing neither encumbrance nor threat of censure, they screech before large crowds, bemoaning the fact that no one has listened to them. If only their interpretation had been accepted and agreed upon before the moment had happened, then it never would have happened, or it would have happened differently. They assure their audience that worse moments are still to come and that these, too, will be due to their perspective having received insufficient attention. The more they are listened to, the more they feel themselves ignored. Their inefficacy is proof of the urgency of their methods. 

Classification becomes the order of the day. Beneath that--never spoken too loudly, as enunciation leaves one’s beliefs open to clear examination--there lies a churning river of conspiratorial mysticism. This happened because the people who did it are this way, and no one should pay any mind to how being that way made them do those awful things--it just did. When those people are around, these things will happen. They always will. Presence is action and action is presence, which is why we face such a vital imperative to identify presence whenever an action has taken place. 

And so within hours of a few hundred psychotic dimwits breaking into the Capitol building, managing to kill a cop and several of their own in the process, our bleak commentariot had published hundreds of articles classifying the type of people who were involved. The raid was a coup, first and foremost, regardless of the fact that at no point was there any risk of the United States government being toppled. It was a coup because it was caused by whiteness, racism, masculinity, a lack of trans-positivity, gamergate, ableism, too few powerful women, too many bad ideas, too much free speech, too many jokes, not enough solemnity, not enough people listening to the things writers had said in the past and were saying now. Whatever you wanted to cause it had caused it, and it all came back to the presence of bad people who, by their nature, cause bad things. 

Of course, I am as hapless and internet-deranged as everyone else, and so I made my own classifications. Surveying the crowd, I see a fair representation of the Trump base: racist internet perverts; young libertarian men who read 3 books a year and consider themselves intellectuals; 40-something blonde women who have been ejected from multiple Styx concerts; senior citizens who demand the TV in the Pep Boys waiting area be switched from Family Feud to Fox News because it’s been 25 minutes since they last tuned in and they need to make sure Obama still wants to kill them. The gang was all there, reveling in the strange power of their impotence, moving for the sake of movement, existing for the sake of existence. They had been told, and they believed, that their mere presence affects outcomes. They figured that all they needed to do was break in to where they think power unfolds and just stand around and then, by osmosis, power would be what they wanted it to be. 

Like the liberals who despise and define them, the Trump people had confused moments with materiality. Those liberals share the same confusion, and they rushed to insert themselves and their perspectives into the moment. Yes, they said, these people actually did almost destroy Democracy. They had gotten into the building where elemental power is generated. Their particles brushed off into the magic power rays. Such an incursion cannot be allowed to happen again. These people must no longer be allowed to conceptually exist.

The moment trumps the materiality, as we can only influence the former. We are content to let these people wallow about in their homes until they OD or shoot themselves or their lungs melt--that’s their material demise, deserved and unimportant. But in the meantime we must erase their ability to influence the creation of moments. Their bodies can stay, for a while. Their mediated selves must be destroyed. 

What are the implications here? To ask an obvious question: how can the Democrats continue to blame the dispossessed working class for their own immiseration if they can no longer tell these people to learn to code, since learning to code necessarily entails enmeshing oneself into the massive electronic surveillance and control mechanism we're now declaring off-limits to anyone whose beliefs fall an inch to the left or the right of the Democrat narrative du jour? And what are the implications for everyone else? Ours is a flimsy society built upon layers and layers of obvious contradictions, sure, but what will things look like when those contradictions are enforced with the viciousness of our carceral state, even as they shift as rapidly as social media demands our perceptions to change?

When I said “Democrat narrative du jour,” I mean DU JOUR. As in, it changes by the day, and one day's narrative will very often directly contradict that of the previous day. This is how all cops are bastards and we should abolish all policing but also we need to give police more resources and leverage to brutalize the people who we don't like. This is how gender is both a meaningless social construct and an innate facet of one's being that is so inimical to their identity it should determine whether or not they receive access to basic social decency. This is why empowered women are every bit as tough and competent as their male counterparts and also they are delicate waifs who should never be exposed to scrutiny or criticism. This is how downplaying race amounts to a racist facade of "colorblindness" and also acknowledging race is a hateful act of dehumanization. This is how a cop can find himself getting beaten to death by a crowd bedecked in Blue Lives Matter regalia. 

You can't simply adhere to the rules, because there are no rules to follow. In order to avoid censure, one must stay connected. 

So what will become of the digitally dispossessed? If we achieve Democrat Utopia and nothing changes materially but the internet is restricted so only those who adhere to officially sanctioned narratives are allowed to attempt to make sense of anything, where does that leave the masses who were shunted away? Is this going to make them less disaffected? Less volatile? What are you idiots hoping to achieve, here? 

[elizabethbrownsblog]

Student Authored Blog Post 1

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/166084?classifications=6&date_begin=Pre-1850&date_end=2021&direction=fwd&page=7&q=&utf8=%E2%9C%93&with_images=1

That link depicts the work of idealism entitled “Inner Limit” by William Scott. This photo depicts seemingly a Utopia where African Americans are happy because they are escaping the “inner limits” of what I assumed to be a city in an airship. I think Scott is trying to depict a Utopia where African American’s aren’t limited by the impoverished cities that they are sometimes imprisoned in because of the structure of society. This idea of African American’s being stereotyped as people from ghetto’s or people that can’t escape something that is common in today’s society. The painting also says “inner limits limits wholesome encounters” which also goes along with the historial stereotype that African Americans are violent people. This can be seen as something believed throughout history, especially with the story of Emmet Till that we talked about in class. The stereotype of African Americans being violent was held against him when his mother tried to get justified for his unlawful murder. He was claimed to have been violent with the wife of the white man that murdered him. Overall I think the painting points out the stereotypes that African Americans are assaulted with by society, and shows the idea that in a Utopia they could escape from this constant judgement.

Here I am in including two other images that go along with the idea of a Utopia.

Utopia by Sergey Mosin

Utopia Sprawl Art by Ron Spears