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cienie-isengardu · 3 years

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The Development of Law and Zoro relationship: Wano, ...and Law Is Not Happy About That

<Part I: Before Meeting>> <<Part II: Sabaody Archipelago, The First Meeting>> <<Part III: Punk Hazard: The Alliance (A)__(B)>> <<Part IV: Dressrosa, The Breaking Point (The Plan Failed)__ (Saving Law)__(Protecting Law)__ (Birdcage, Pica and Doflamingo)__ (Aftermath)>> <<Part V: Zou, The Kindred Spirits (Traveling Together)__(Searching for Nakama)__ (Reunion)__ (Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance)__(The Last Moments before War)>> Part VI: Wano, Against Emperors (The Untold Journey)__(Luffy & Zoro Means Troubles…)__(…and Law Is Not Happy About That)

The fight between Law and Hawkins was stopped; Law didn’t manage to eliminate the enemy nor prevent information leakage about alliance presence in Wano. He almost was run over by a speeding cart with stolen food (another “crime” against Orochi & Kaido, which Straw Hats committed in his absence). No wonder why Law was so pissed of at Zoro (chapter 918):

➽ Up to this point, Law never have been so openly angry at Roronoa, nor aggressive toward the other man. Now, Law vented all frustration and anger while Zoro kept silent… and maybe felt some embarrassment(?) about Trafalgar’s unusual outburst, considering bubble speech with three dots and “sweat drop” expressing Zoro’s reaction in a more visible way.

➽ Another interesting detail is how calmly Zoro endured Law’s angry rant. He simply let the other man scream at him, and even tolerated grabbing his kimono and invading his personal space. When it comes to scolding, Zoro reacts differently, depending on the seriousness of the situation and who is scolding him. He either fights back in such situations or doesn’t respond to angry rants and taunts. For example, if Sanji started screaming and pointing his faults, Zoro most likely wouldn’t be so tolerable because those two like to antagonize each other. Seems like Roronoa opted for the calm approach with Law. Maybe Zoro knew that Law was right and his anger was justified. Maybe he simply figured it will be better if Law got all the anger and stress out of him. Or maybe he was just taken by surprise by the sudden outburst?

↪ In all fairness, I think he perfectly knew what Law’s reaction will be, especially considering this ambiguous frame:

At first it seems like Zoro talked about Kinemon, what honestly would make perfect sense. He already mentioned Kinemon when repeated samurai’s warning to Luffy but couldn’t really say his name in front of just met Kiku. At the same time, he could also talk about Law, because at this point he was familiar enough with the man to predict his angry reaction. Law seems to be prone to stress and he likes planning everything ahead and Zoro not sticking to plan (letting Luffy smash enemy) would definitely earn Law’s ire. Righteous so. Then what was the point of arguing with Trafalgar? Even more, when the man, despite stress and rage, doesn't hold on such emotions for too long. Which really seems like the best way to deal with a pissed off Heart Captain was just let him scream until he cooled down and adapted to the new situation.

➽ Because Zoro did not stop Luffy as he should - as Law hoped he would - Trafalgar was blaming Zoro for the whole situation, even though Luffy was as much guilty, charging into unknown without care for consequences. Zoro not once tried to excuse himself or Luffy, did nothing to stop Law’s outburst nor remind Law he wasn’t his captain (superior) thus he wasn’t obligated to listen. He simply let Law scream and blame him for the mess.

Anime expended this moment by actually giving Zoro a chance to explain to Law why he screwed so badly. Which literally was “I met Luffy” what immediately refocused Trafalgar’s anger from Zoro to solely Luffy:

This extended scene fits well with already existing Law’s personal experience from Dressrosa - the usually stoic and reliable Zoro will throw away rational thinking in the favor of Luffy’s whim and craziness. Monkey D. Luffy has that kind of effect on Roronoa.

Also, another funny thing anime did with that scene is when Law was scolding his fellow Supernova, Zoro was maintaining eye contact.

But when he was saying “sorry”, he was clearly looking to his left, instead at Law. Which makes the apology feeling insincere. Zoro wasn’t really that sorry about the mess but he said it, most likely to placate angry (stressed??) Law. Seems like Roronoa is bad at lying; not on Luffy’s level of bad, but still not really into telling lies.

Law most likely could tell Pirate Hunter wasn’t sorry at all, which explains grabbing Zoro’s kimono and screaming more at the other man’s face.

➽ Zoro’s patience and lack of response makes an interesting contrast to Law’s unusual aggressiveness. We may only wonder if Roronoa already had some experiences with such an outburst from the other Supernova. Once again, there is little to no information how their relationship was affected by the journey and situation in Wano, nor why Zoro was so indifferent while Law’s level of stress so high.

➽ Manga and anime versions of the scene give us valuable informations. One: Law was aware that Zoro promised to not cause trouble, like not fighting with samurais and Kaido’s men. That of course was a rational thing to ask of Zoro, because the man is too bloodthirsty for his own good and is always up for a good fight. The manga translation makes it look like Law personally witnessed Pirate Hunter swearing to not cause any trouble. Yet Law’s screaming sounds a bit confusing. On one hand, he knew Zoro A) became a wanted man and B) was supposed to be in Flower Capital. So it seems Law was informed about Zoro’s mission of pretending to be ronin. Whatever Kinemon initiated him from the start or after the wanted poster was made public, Law understood the danger of drawing the enemy's attention to the alliance. Which may be the reason why he was so mad at Zoro and referred to him by surname or called in his mind an idiot. On another, asking Zoro - a wanted man - why didn’t he stay in capital sounds, well, kinda stupid (and interestingly, the additional symbol of irritation was added to this specific question / bubble). Roronoa killed in broad daylight an important person (magistrate), and either killed or injured the magistrate's samurais, so it is not like Zoro could wander through the capital or any city without causing more problems. Of course, wandering directless did not help the alliance at all but it was still the best outcome. As a wanted man, Zoro could either stay in capitol and draw enemy’s attention to himself - and in result, endanger Franky, Robin and Usopp’s missions and even alliance’s presence in the Wano or wander through the wasteland in which was easier avoid unnecessary troubles and, in case of fight, hide dead bodies without increasing the vigilance of Beast Pirates or Orochi’s samurais. As a wanted man, Roronoa wasn’t really in position to come back to Kinemon because of possible pursuit - though he managed to wander into Kuri region, but that is more lack of direction sense than anything intentional, I guess. Unless this is why Law was the most angry? That Zoro came too close to their main secret base of operation? Anyway, Trafalgar for sure did not hold back and vented all his anger and frustration at still passive Zoro.

Soon, the group made it into Okobore Town and gave the stolen food to starving locals while Luffy brought the fresh water with himself. Straw Hat told the happy people “I’m Luffytaro! If anyone asks, you tell ‘em my name!” (chapter 918). For the first time Luffy also noticed Law - now much calmer than a moment ago. Law made clear, that what Luffy and Zoro did was ultimately an act of rebellion against Wano (Orochi and Kaido) to which Luffy responded he was “repaying the favor” to Tama, who fed him, once again getting into additional trouble just because someone gave him free food. The serious note disappeared right away, when Luffy started screaming at the starving people to not eat all meat without him:

➽ The meeting between Luffy and Law is drastically different from meeting of Law and Zoro. Like was mentioned, Trafalgar didn’t show any anger or frustration, so either screaming at Zoro calmed him down or he already gave up trying to reason with Monkey D. Luffy. Taking into account all previous adventures from Punk Hazard to Zou, what in universe happened through what? One or two months at best? Law’s resignation makes sense. Luffy wouldn’t care nor bother to apologize for the pulled stunt, while Zoro, well, didn’t care much either, but at least didn’t try to argue back.

➽ Once the serious talk was done and Luffy literally jumped after the meat, Zoro and Law shared the same reaction (visualed by bubble speech with three dots, though the “sweat drop” symbolising embarrassment(?) is only on Zoro’s part). Despite the previous intense moment, both men were again on good terms and even in agreement toward Luffy’s idiotic/childish behaviour.

The next time we see Zoro, Law and Luffy, Trafalgar kept his distance from everyone else. He stood the closest to Luffy yet with back turned to him. Was that sort of ostentatious expression of dissatisfaction or did he keep watch in case of an enemy's attack, hard to tell.

Luffy loudly declared his intention about Wano to Tama (“By the time we leave this country, it’ll be a place where you can eat as much as you want, every single day!!!”). With a sigh, Zoro noted how because of Luffy’s action, the enemy will come after them for real. Law did not take such a comment from Zoro kindly, because the man ignored(?) his own part in the mess.

➽ Surprisingly, Law still was angry more at Zoro than Luffy, who was the main culprit. But it may be just Zoro’s uncaring attitude that provokes Law so much.

➽ Despite the still fresh feeling of irritation, Law decided to focus at the best course of action - moving on to safest place. In this case, to the ruins of Oden’s Castle, in which Kinemon and the rest of the alliance stayed in hiding.

The group said goodbye to Tama who was taken to home by Horselina (a former enemy-turned-into-her-loyal-servant thanks to Tama’s devil fruit powers). Like always, Law kept his distance from others (in manga on one frame, he kept close to Zoro, on another, to Luffy). In anime, between sharing food and saying goodbye to Tama, Trafalgar was shown usually close to Zoro, similar like he did on Zou:

At this point, there is something to ponder a bit about Law and his (lack of) interaction with people. Like in the scene above, does Law keep close to Zoro (or Luffy) because of their bond (trust?) alone or is that partially due to his minimal social skills? As in, he keeps close to people he at least knows and doesn’t make contact with strangers unless it’s necessary. Zoro and Law both have some asocial traits (seen especially in their tendency to isolating themselves from too large group), but in contrast, Zoro and Luffy were shown through the Wano arc to interact and even befriend the local people while Trafalgar was interacting only with his crew, Straw Hats, samurai group (extended of Shinobu person) - the people he already knew for some time. Law isn’t going out his way to meet new people (like Luffy) nor bonds with accidentally met people (like Zoro with Tonoyasu). It seems in Law’s nature to avoid interaction with strangers as much as possible. Which makes me wonder if that comes simply from his introverted nature, general distrust for people or maybe even some social awkwardness created by childhood trauma and growing up in criminal organisation (Donquixote Pirates)? Because Law’s way to interact with people he just met is either ignore them (seen above) or act in cool manners around them, like in Punk Hazard with Straw Hats… but frankly, Straw Hats freaked him there on so many levels it really makes Law looks like social interaction is not his thing.

This reflection actually comes close to another detail. Namely, Law’s general feeling about Straw Hats helping starved people. Because the locals were truly happy and expresses that just before the departure of Three Supernovas (chapter 919):

Law has strong opinions about pirates, it seems. And it comes from a man that admitted he doesn't like to kill but yeah, doing nice things for (poor) people makes him sick. Was he so annoyed by the cheering people, or did he simply didn’t know how to react to such situation so he went with a grumpy approach?

Law expressed a lot emotions; the outbursts of anger departs from the image of stoic captain but at the same it makes me think that Law must feel okay around Zoro to be so open about his frustration (and lack of control over situation?). At the same time, Zoro let him take out all anger on him without a word. But the most important thing, no matter how much Zoro’s screwed up, no matter how much Law’s screamed and accused and was unhappy about, it didn’t change their already estabilished relationship. Once the situation calmed down, Law again kept close to Zoro and shared the same opinion about Luffy’s antics and in general they were okay in each company.

Next part: Separated Again

#one piece #The development of Law’s relationship with Zoro #roronoa zoro #trafalgar law #wano arc #law & zoro #zoro & law #i loved so much this chapters #all law's frustration and anger #and zoro's calmness about the whole situation #my analysis

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harry-cadogan · 2 years

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Goodness, HENRY "HARRY" CADOGAN IV, VISCOUNT CHELSEA has arrived in London. HE is 31, of the SUFFOLK CADOGANS. Though they are NEW to the Season, we can only describe them as CHARMING and SWEETLY BRAVE, dear reader. Accompanied by HIS MOTHER AND SISTER, BEATRICE, they have settled in and are accepting social calls. But be warned: they are known for their OVERABUNDANCE OF CONFIDENCE.

"Positively capital!"

Henry (just Henry) James Cadogan III is delighted at the news of a son. His marriage is a happy one, though two girls in a row has left some underlying strain between the viscount and Lilliana, his wife. Setting his spoon down, he foists another potato onto his plate and dives in, nodding at the servant telling him the news. "Do yes -- send her roses at once, and my profound delight."

He whistles for the rest of the day.

"You don't have to act so cucumberish."

Primrose stands tall, reedily so, and her dress blows in the summer breeze as she strolls into the hatmaker's shop. Henry -- Harry, then, pouts at the window as she lazily peruses the six new ribbons stocked in from London, his hands in his pockets and his hips swaying. "I only wanted a farthing," he mutters to himself, kicking the rough edge of a cobblestone. Chipped ice is being handed out behind him to all manner of people -- adults and children. A huff.

He turns on his heel (it is a small heel, but still a heel all the same, and nothing soft-soled like the village children) and squints toward the crowd. They have gathered tightly against the chipped-ice clerk, but it is no matter, for Harry is small and has sharp elbows. He makes his way to the front, spurred only by his own ambition.

"I want a chipped ice but I do no--" "The Viscount's son!" He is recognized, and immediately follow several coos. Staring at the women, a cup is placed into his hands (exceedingly full of both ice and sugar-syrup), and he seems to delight all he passes.

He likes blueberry best, but raspberry too.

"Top-sawyer at its finest."

The voice breaks through the hum of the riding field, catching Harry's attention. He breaks away from the game for a fleeting moment to wave a hand in salute, before urging his horse forward, pitching low, and swinging. The connection is solid, his aim is true. The crowd -- even Beatrice, though she looks sour about it -- applauds. Harry is at his finest.

He rides his horse to three victories that day, before canting off the field and performing a nimble dismount. His father claps him on the back before his second foot hits the ground, though it is his mother -- doting -- who seizes the moment. Harry is golden, once again.

Beatrice can sulk, he thinks uncharitably.

And so it goes, for many years, Henry transforming to Harry, and to a man all at once. He becomes a skilled equestrian, a clever man at cards, and a friend to most in Culford. He has his pick of dance partners and indulges with practiced ease, learning the ways of the reel and the country dance, and managing to let his hands slip precariously -- but never lasciviously (unless--).

It is like this, swept up in a haze, that Harry manages to be thirty-one and unmarried. The realization dawns on him one morning like a bucket of stream-cold water doused over his head. The dance floor has cleared of familiar faces. The rousing nights with friends are scattered. One by one, they have paired up to find their own, and he is left -- still golden, but gathering tarnish.

Huh. He thinks. And then -- damn.

Admitting it is akin to starting a fire lacing through the house, for mother gasps in relieved knowing, and both Beatrice and Primrose scatter to prepare. Letters are writ. Lodging is secured. Father will be in London upon business, and there is no better time -- and no time, really -- to waste.

-----

Say hello to my new boy, Harry! He has very little damage (outside of surviving his sisters, let’s all be glad only Beatrice is in London), and a lot of confidence. Here’s hoping that lasts!

Wait, Annie, how is he a Viscount if his father is alive? His father -- Henry -- is the Earl Cadogan. As his heir presumptive, Harry is the Viscount Chelsea until his father dies. Let us hope that is a very long time from now. He has lots of growing up to do!

I want to plot with him! I want you to plot with him, too! Here are some wanted connections that I’d love to see -- or he is all set for some meet-cutes. Let’s do it.

He sounds so perfect and dreamy. What are his flaws? His cardinal sin is hubris, which spills out into several smaller flaws -- and his overconfidence can get him into all sorts of messes. I look forward to boxing matches, horse races, elbowing his way to the front of a queue, and trying to find the tallest top hat in all of London. He’s Harry, of course! Why wouldn’t he!

#harry;about

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foryouthegays · 3 years

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also if anyone wants me to transcribe a clip pls send an ask :) or find something :)

good laugh times: 00:40:10, 00:44:44, 00:54:30, 00:55:47 00:58:37

sellout timer: 00:30:40, 01:26:00

other things: (00:10:00 biiiiiig stretch!!!) (00:39:55 that was the most ‘skeppy tried to troll me but i trolled him first’ scream ive heard in a while a;lskdjfadl) (01:23:00 TECHNOSNEEZE TECHNOSNEEZE)

summary:

Technoblade starts the stream and finds an infinity room (a room covered in white item frames and backed with glowstone or sea lanterns, making it look like there is just Void and no end) covering his house. he removes the grief and continues his intro. While waiting for Tommy to join his VC, he finds a Zombie villager, cures it, and reads donations.

Techno and Tommy go to New L’manburg and fix one of Technos propaganda posters. They find Fundy and Ranboo and tell them that if Techno gets his sword back, he’ll help them fight the wither he’s going to spawn. He spawns the wither and runs around while Ranboo and Fundy try to kill it. He doesn’t get his sword back until a few minutes into the battle. Ranboo gives him both his sword and his axe after the Wither is killed by Punz and Fundy.

Fundy gets the Wither Star, and Techno decides that it’s rightfully owned by him. Tommy and Techno start torturing Fundy into giving them the Star. After Techno gets the star back, Tommy starts trying to get his disks back. Techno tells Tommy he’s going too far, and Fundy starts crying, and eventually dies.

Tommy and Techno start to move back to their house, and Tommy gets distracted with the idea of blowing up the community house. Techno convinces him otherwise, and eventually comes clean with his intentions and goals to destroy L’manburg. He asks Tommy to join him, and Tommy accepts.

They go to the wolf army and breed the dogs. While underground, they’re almost caught, but they run away before anyone can catch them.

Techno and Tommy talk about an eventual SBI meetup, make a beacon, and then end the stream.

loud startin the stream today!!!!! :D!!!!!! 10 sec in

oh hes actually loud today this is great his voice gets so nice when hes louder

00:00:30 ‘i’ve made a severe and continuous lapse in judgement” s;ladjfkald

00:00:50 diD HE MAKE AN INFINITY ROOM OR???? IS HE JUST????? WH AT???

oH MY GOD IT IS AN INFINITY ROOM AKSDFJALSDF IS THAT IN THE ACTUAL SMP OR????

aa;lskdfjasd someone mADE AN INFINITY ROOM A;LSDKFJASDF WHO????

00:03:00 i love how even minecraft g o d s cant remember fence gate/fence crafting recipes akdjhfald

00:04:45 ‘gUYS DON’T STAY IN SCHOOL!!!’ ‘n- no you should stay in school’ yeah, sure techno ‘collage dropout’ blade

00:05:17 ‘tommy, is this your credit card? let me read the numbers aloud, tommy’ -technos impression of tommys mom

zombie villager pog!

LISTEN TO HOW HE SAYS CONVENIENT AT 5:45 AHHH I LOVE HIM

00:07:35 why does,,,why does techno say disorientating instead of disorienting??? he says disorientating and i just,,,,,techno,,,,techno thats not the American way of saying it. also i didnt capitalize american bc of Being A Country i did it bc of Emphasis a;lksdfal

he stretch!!!!!! ten mins in

techno ate breakfast pog!!!! 00:10:30

13:00 a;lksdjfal

---

STOP MAKING TECHNO GOOD AT CHESS IN GAME HES SAID SEVERAL TIMES THAT HE IS NOT I AM GOING TO SCREAM more proof: 00:14:40 also he calls the chess board ‘the map’ and im akjsdfhkljasd

00:15:40 “i don’t think that dumb people become Minecraft youtubers, I think it’s that being a Minecraft youtuber makes you dumber.”

00:15:50 ‘i was a smart child, I was doing well in school--I mean I wasn’t doing my homework or anything but I was doing well on the tests,” a;lsdkfja

“it do be doing that” -technoblade 2021

WHY DOES HE JUST RANDOMLY KNOW CHESS OPENING NAMES IM SICK OF HIM WHY IS HE LIKE THIS I HATE IT HERE AALSDKFJASF 00:17:45 its so funny he just reads wikipedia for fun and also same

‘YOURE TALKING SOUNDS’ -tommyinnit, 19:40

00:20:05 ‘tommy, tommy, you’re speaking words, but the only universal language is sounds.’

00:23:24 “we’re going to go threaten....some certain government agents...in minecraft, since I know the FBI is listenin in on my phone right now [techno gets further from his mic and some thuds can be heard] let me just toss that over there...there we go, now they can only listen through my laptop”

00:32:17 mmmm technoyell

fundy n ranboo!!!! 00:33:50

god could u imagine knowing that technos doin a plot stream nd he joins ur call w tommy and they just???? start talking abt the canonical status of ants and new york????? such is the life of ranboo nd fundy a;lksdfjals

WITHER POG WITHER POG WITHER POG WITHER POG 00:39:20

00:39:55 how does he make that sound im crying

HE LAUGH!!!!!!

a;lkdsfjasd ranboo bullying time 00:44:00

god could u imagine being a fan of the dream smp, joining and ur surrounded by all these people uve looked up too, and then they start bulling you?? such is the life of ranboo

torture time!!! 00:46:15, its to get back the star :D

00:50:45 its lowkey terrifying how techno calls torturing fundy to tears ‘the good times’ and laughs while tommy interrogates him. i love it, but also im scared of him. still an apologist. he needs his stuff back!

also like,,,,,techno telling tommy he went too far? terrifying. if techno says you went too far, thats saying something

HE LAUGH!!!!

HE LAUGH AGAIN!!!

my favorite part of techno tommy interactions is how technoll say like, a metaphor or smthin nd tommy just,,,,,,,, ‘yeAHHH BITCH’ its so funny. a good example is 00:56:00:

techno: if you want to make an omlette, you’ve gotta break a few eggs

tommy: yeaaahhhh!! break eggs and bitch!

techno: ....what?

its so funny to me ak;dfjlasjf

and like, their rambles are COMPLETELY different. techno does most of his hopping around in his head and talks about it once he’s figured out what he should do, and tommy just says things out loud without thinking its hilarious

and like, in game, techno is a LOT more calculated than people think. when tommy tries to get techno to blow up the community house, techno has to rein him back in because ‘i’m all for violence, but we need a plan.’ and ‘how would blowing up the community house get your discs back??’ he’s a lot more organized than most of his teammates nd i love it

but like,,,sometimes techno just Says things and its great. 00:57:20 ‘the only dirt we have on dream is his dirt shack, amirite? [claps] gottem. he’s homeless!! eyyyy. lmao.’

00:58:20 is good. also skyblock is canon now.

01:06:50 SBI MEETUP SBI MEETUP

also ‘i dont know about smiling, but’ a;ldkfjadls;fjasf

i love tommy nd techno just kinda vibing

01:16:30 ‘mmmm audience retention rate....mmmm ants’ aldkfja this stream is so dumb i love it

dID TECHNO USE THEY/THEM FOR ERET AT 01:20:55 OR WAS THAT A GENERAL ‘EVERYONE ELSE’ THEY

1:23:00ish TECHNOSNEEZE

A;LSDKFJAS LIKE AN HOUR AFTER GETTING HIS SWORD BACK HE REALZIES HE HAS IT BACK HES SUCH A NERD 01:24:45

he sounds V tired rn a;lsdkfjkasdf

STREAM TOMORROW TOO??? P O G

#stream post

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misterbitches · 3 years

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hi @yeedak thank you so m uch for replying with what you did. YAY ADHD!!!!! ur partner sounds like she rocks >:) as do u

i found it really illuminating and i agree with all of it. and god as much as i understand reticence when black people are interracially dating (it is so hard) i also hate it when people dictate it and also to a degree that it makes it extremely uncomfortable for the person themselves. to me it really is about a sense of control particularly if you are a woman. constantly trying to pick someone’s life partner for them instead of letting them find out if it’s a) something they want or even want to do b) something they can handle and c) their experience. it can purely cultural as well. my mom is a black american but my father is nigerian and that was basically a sin. however my father’s siblings? the women who had to marry extremely quickly and had to be with nigerian men or at the very least african? divorced. because they had to clamor for love for approval, pop out babies, and look what that got them. i totally understand you and your mother. and you’re right about all of it.

the idea of a man whore is so funny to me too because it’s not about sexual liberation it’s literally about them wanting to use people as disposable which is why sexual liberation for women as well can be confusing. but all of this isn’t so we can develop our own imaginations and find out our own inhibitions. like you said in all of it and i found this part very very interesting and true, “youth is for sex and no mention of asexuality.” when you get older you are not sexual, when you are a child you are unsure about it, but there’s a time in our lives where we shouldn’t waste it, where it’s only acceptable in that window, where it’s dictated. tangentially i think it’s very funny that the people we sleep with also become a point of pride. let’s say if he is a man (as a bisexual~**~ gorl) but he’s ugly, i should be ashamed, too?

so much boxing in and pushing and dictating. they really are here to spread a message. and i know things ar ehard. i can believe people ask you that but it’s still so.....weird? i remember saying something about my sexuality once and it’s not like i knew the people but then they started asking me questions and i honestly felt embarrassed and like an outsider. i dunno.

and your analogy of a mirror was perfect woaaaaaaah that’s what im gonna say now thank you so much credit to you. gENIUS!!! as real life changes, what we see changes. but media doesnt come first.

also totally agree about watching what people consume and not falling into those patterns. and when “bad” things are shown i do not understand why shows are so scared to show them as they are or not romanticize. a real issue to introduce when it comes to age gaps would be why it is frequent in the lgbtq+ community. that is a real thing because when you have to hide yourself of course you can be stuck in a state of arrested development and trying to re-establish times you may never have. that’s a geniuine fear and concern, it’s understandable even if i don’t particularly care for it, but it’s like for these writeres there’s no reason to look deeply or put that into their story. so why are they doing it? and what is the message here? uGH. and what ur mother said makes so much sense we are just constantly absorbing all these messages and culture absolutely aids to it and you’re right about the generations. and sometimes things stop and start but i genuinely think (and know) that for us to continue forward and not have the constant backwards taht means we have to push to get there and demand and that also means we have to make an effort to end the harm we then see on screen. rape culture dictates these shows. it relies on it. it is disgusting but rape culture is the norm, the norm is the oppression so we have to attack it otherwise it sticks and htat’s exactly why we see what we see.

and the unacceptability of gender fluidity is what keeps the genre SO INFLEXIBLE sincerely. it honestly just pulls so heavily from patriarchy and the roles in which we have to follow to uphold that structure.

it’s really just not enough to show us things any more wihtout taking it into consideration. and like ive mentioned there’s soooooooooo much media that has a lot to say that embeds itself. there’s this thing my friend linked me to on re-examining queerness in korean cinema (much like my dad’s country; patriarchal, more “conservative, anti lgbtq+, reliant on capital. africa is different because of the blackness component but the structures aided by colonialism absolutely remain and continue and that’s how we see such similarities. thse countries are more “overt” in this output but still you know. america. sucks) because we are trying to re-evaluate what it means to be heard and seen. the different ways and sort of the message that a lot of us as lgbtq+ can feel. you know, how we can get a feeling on if a person has our same experience, how we kind of have to learn to identify that. not sure if this makes sense...

your mom sounds really cool. and i’m fucking sorry. so many men do that. i live with both my parents but even then i see this power imbalance i can’t stand and you know i would have believed it was normal if i wasnt able to learn aand had to build up thinking skills. there was one day that it hit me that there are parts of my parents relationship i abhor, that are imbalanced, that make me find my father disgusting and make me ashamed of my mother. i don’t want that to happen to me or my potential children. if i have a male partner for life, which i am sure i will because offffffff heteronormativity and homophobia and being half black american half nigerian, he cannot recreate that. i am optimistic on what people can do without needing such grand structures or the support of the elite etc you know? that’s how we know there’s good work that exists and people we can find that arent with the status quou!!!

and who want a better world. we have to know we can rally that together. i think part of that is constant demanding of things to do better. there’s a rage against the machine song called settle for nothing and it’s about 0 compromise. there’s a famous quote i dont remember by who that’s basically like there’s an idea that there’s a limit to asking for dignity and what you deserve because when people realize they can live better lives they want to cultivate that more and more but that means a loss of control and a sharing of power from the top. nothing is ever enough if it can be better and we are allowed to demand it (or take it.) we deserve the world, we are being told that we’re asking fo rtoo much. are we? really?

i was thinking about the children thing as well bc...lmao i was so tightly contorlled as a child and it really messed me up but at the same time, like you, i honestly do not want my children watching drivel. like even with youtube. a friend of mine said that what she thinks she will do is try and hammer home how fantastical these things are, they do not reflect reality, and to get them to understand the spectacle. at the same time i’m like does a child really need to watch these dumb tiktok stars or jake paul? but then im like i really dont want to control them. but like what if ur kid asks u to go to some like fucking BL concert or some shit like what do you say to that?!??! I DONT WANNA SAY NO BUT AT THE SAME TIME UHHHHlmao but at the same time we have to give them tools to analyze and do the right things and follow their hearts

however,

as you know

LOL

tysm for responding, lovely talking to you and hearing your thoughts!!!

oh btw so u r from kashmar? that is very cool......VERY COOL

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josefavomjaaga · 3 years

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Helfert, “Joachim Murat”, Chapter 4, Part 6

Apologies again for taking so long. I always start dragging my feet when I approach the end of a story. The end is usually bad, and I don’t want to see people suffer...

In contrast to the disintegrating Neapolitan army, with heaps of stragglers constantly troubling the population along all the streets and roads, the imperial troops formed a firm stand in closed ranks, with military severity but at the same time with military decorum, and were welcomed everywhere by the inhabitants as liberators. In his pompous appeal from Rimini, Murat had summoned deputies from all the towns and territories of the peninsula to Rome on 8 May, where a national assembly was to decide on the fate and organisation of Italy. That was long over, and instead of the members of the Italian parliament, who had never been expected, the two beautiful Bohemian regiments of Argenteau and Devaur showed up on one of the following days, kindly received by the Romans, and immediately continued their march to the south.

FML Bianchi, now already united with Neipperg's corps, together about 22,000 men strong, moved into the Neapolitan area in four columns. In Aquila on May 12, Neipperg, who had a diplomatic mission in addition to his military one, received a letter from Prince Metternich instructing him to promise Joachim Murat an annual pension of 1,000,000 fl. if he voluntarily abdicated his throne; however, Neipperg should first discuss the matter with the commander-in-chief. The two generals agreed that they would not offer anything to their opponent, for his downfall was certain. That same day, Bianchi issued an appeal to the Neapolitans, proclaiming himself not an enemy but a liberator from the rule of a son of the revolution imposed on them by peace-disturbing France; he promised strict discipline of his troops, respect for the laws and institutions of the country.

"Murat's party is seriously ill; they are trying in vain to bring it back to strength," an eyewitness in Naples wrote on 11 May. On the following day, the queen held a review of the capital's civic guard; she appeared on horseback in Amazon garb with the colours of the guard; she had a graceful word for each of the higher officers; she delighted the ranks, which burst into tumultuous cheers.

But at the same time a British squadron appeared in the Gulf of Naples, whose commander, Captain Robert Campbell, threatened to blow the city into ruins if the forts were not surrendered without delay, along with the "Joachim" and the "Capri", the two new royal ships of the line, and the royal arsenals with everything in them. Abrupt horror replaced the enthusiasm that had scarcely been exhilarated. The Regent called a Council of State, which was also attended by General Colletta, who had just arrived from camp, and Prince Cariati, who had returned from Vienna. The result was, in spite of the grandiloquent proposal of some members to simply reject Sir Campbell's request, that Caroline sent Prince Cariati on board the "Tremendous", where he yielded to all the Commodore's demands, while the latter promised to refrain from any hostility against the capital, to grant the Queen and her family refuge on one of his ships in case of extreme necessity, and moreover to send one of her ministers to Sir Bellew, now Lord Ermouth, or to London, as she wished, to negotiate in the King's name.

The imperial commander-in-chief's proclamation from Aquila had already become known in the capital. The fugitives, runaways and wounded arriving daily in Naples, who could be seen everywhere in the streets, had spread the word and caused a general commotion. Already the Lazzaroni were beginning to stir, and the civic guard was hardly equal to the task of offering them resistance. In a hurry, Jérôme and Cardinal Fesch, Madame Mère and Princess Pauline left the city to embark for France. The Queen said a poignant farewell to her children, whom she had taken to safety in Gaëta. But no one could see what was going on inside her when, on the evening of the 15th, she drove through the streets of the city in a carriage drawn by six magnificent white horses, surrounded by a detachment of mounted national guards in shining hussar uniforms, blue and silver, greeting her on all sides with friendly grace.

On the same May 15, Prince Leopold arrived in Rome and from there sent a letter to Bianchi, expressing to him "his complete impatience" to meet him "at this important moment when the King, my father, will have to thank you for his restoration to the throne of Naples".

The imperial troops advanced ever closer to the kingdom's capital. In the night from the 16th to the 17th, the imperial and royal Major d'Aspre and a small force attacked the camp of the 4th Neapolitan Legion, about 4,000 men, near Mignano and crushed it so completely that by the next morning everything was out of hand and General Macdonald was only able to reach the road three miles further on at Teano without being able to collect the ruins of his corps. When the Queen heard of this blow, she exclaimed: "Macdonald has gone on the scene to bring down the curtain. - Macdonald est allé baisser la toile". After the accident at Mignano, the royal army numbered barely 9,000 men: 1,000 men from the guard on foot, 3,000 from the first legion, 1,200 from the second, about 1,100 from the fourth; then 2,500 horsemen from the guard and line together; there was nothing left of the third division of Lecchi. Carascosa, to whom the king now handed over the supreme command, still held the Volturno line. But on the 18th his vanguard, which had been drawn up at the junction of the roads leading from Rome and Bescara, was attacked by the Austrians and thrown back into the bridgehead of Capua; a few cannon shots fell from the latter on the imperials without doing much damage.

King Joachim had arrived in his capital on the evening of the 18th, accompanied only by four lancers. "Madame", he reportedly said to his wife, "it was not granted to me to die". All his courtiers and supporters in Naples hurried to the palace to show him their devotion, which never made him feel better than at this moment, but which could not change the desperate seriousness of the situation. On the 19th a royal proclamation was issued granting the Neapolitans the long-promised constitution. It was a long document of a hundred or more articles, issued on May 12, backdated by almost a month and a half, from Rimini on March 30. We need not dwell on its provisions, the common phrases of modern constitutionalism; it never became a deed, and it had not the slightest influence on the mood of the minds. At the same time, Murat decided to enter into negotiations with the advancing enemy. On the morning of the 19th, Bianchi was about to mount his horse to inspect the ancient stone arched bridge on the banks of Solipaca, which was to be repaired for the crossing of the Volturno, when the Austrian Consul General of Naples appeared at the outposts. In a country house belonging to the Patrician family of Lanza, three miles from Capua, the imperial commander-in-chief had set up his main quarters, where Gallo soon arrived in the name of Joachim. But Bianchi, who was assisted by Generals Neipperg and Starhemberg and Lord Burghersh, declared that he was not a diplomat but a soldier; that the conquest of the kingdom was as good as complete, that he would neither cease hostilities nor grant an armistice; that there was no longer a "King Joachim", that it could at most be a question of a military convention from which "Marshal Murat" must be excluded. Gallo and the Consul General withdrew, and the military operations continued; during the night of the 19th to the 20th, Starhemberg crossed the Volturno. Then, on May 20, at 8 o'clock in the morning, the generals Carascosa and Colletta appeared at Casa Lanza, where the conclusion of a military convention was discussed, while the imperial troops continued their march across the Volturno at Cancello and Castel-Volturno without interruption. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon the agreement was concluded, signed on the Austrian side by Count Neipperg and the Commander in Chief; Lord Burghersh had taken part in the negotiations without, however, signing his name on the document. There were 13 articles with 6 additional points. According to the first, Capua was to be surrendered the next day, Naples with all its citadels on May 23, and the fortified places of Scylla, Amantea, Reggio, etc., handed over to the allies; only Pescara, Ancona and Gaëta were not included in the convention, because Carascosa and Colletta claimed to be without authority over them. In the supplementary articles, at the request of the Neapolitan negotiators, the Emperor of Austria guaranteed all the provisions which King Ferdinand IV had undertaken to observe on the repossession of his continental territory.

That same evening, after he had learned the arrangements of Casa Lanza, Joachim Murat - thus and not otherwise we may only refer to him henceforth, although no express renunciation of the throne had been made on his part - departed quietly and with few companions, among them his nephew General Bonafour, all dressed as simple private citizens, from Naples, won the beach at Miliscola, near Puzzuoli, and had himself ferried to the small island of Nisita and thence to Ischia, from where, on one of the next days, a merchant ship hired by General Manhès was to take him to France.

Can I start crying already?

#napoleon #joachim murat #caroline murat #naples #italy1815 #hundred days #bonaparte family leaving the sinking ship what a clan #metternich still trying to save murat #that's why I don't want to see soldiers in political positions

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arcticdementor · 3 years

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In September of 2020, I published a book entitled The Stakes. It was billed as a “current events” or election-year title. The election behind us, the candidate I recommended is no longer president. But the analysis which led me to that recommendation is very much still “current.”

To recap briefly (but read the whole thing!), the book explains how every prominent and powerful American institution, including the federal government, has been taken over by a hostile elite who use their vast powers to attack, despoil, and insult about half the nation. In the sixth chapter (excerpted here), I outline what I think America will look like if the present ruling class refuses to moderate, cannot be forced to share power, and has the wherewithal to keep its regime going. In the seventh chapter, I sketch several possibilities—from secession to Caesarism to collapse—that might result if it turns out that our overlords are a lot less competent than they think. And in the final chapter (excerpted here), I offer policy and other ideas that might enable America to avoid those fates.

That chapter (from which this essay is adapted) culminated with a proposal now being talked about widely, namely, to allow counties, cities, and towns unhappy with their current state government to join another. This would be a practical, and practicable, way to ease Blue and Red Americans’ present discontent and exasperation with each other.

There are precedents. The counties that became Maine split from Massachusetts in 1820, and—more famously—those that became West Virginia left Virginia during the Civil War. Fittingly, when I wrote the chapter, West Virginia had generously offered to welcome western Virginia counties unhappy with rule from newly, aggressively Blue Richmond. Today, a year later, West Virginia’s governor says the offer still stands.

There are similar movements throughout the country—most, though not all, driven by disaffected Reds. The most recent, news-making example was five Oregon counties joining two others in voting to leave the Beaver State and become part of Idaho.

So far nothing has come of any of this. But why shouldn’t these efforts be allowed to proceed if both the welcoming state and the exiting counties want it? Wouldn’t that be “democracy”?

…

Classical philosophers and historians alike condemn democracy as a bad form of government, in part because of its partiality but mostly because of the specific nature of the demos, which they contend is the polis’s least wise and least moderate part.

I would here add that it’s both sad and hilarious to see classically-trained academics and intellectuals bleat on about the sanctity of “democracy.” The worst offenders are the Straussians, who really should know better. Haven’t we all read Republic VIII and Politics VI, to say nothing of the warnings from Strauss himself on the dangers and shortcomings of democracy? Their failure as analysts is worse. The present American regime that they celebrate as “our democracy” is all but identical to classical oligarchy (discussed in those same books) while the “populism” that gives them the vapors is much closer to the democracy they claim to revere. But even more embarrassing, the Straussians’ central boast is to stand above, in Olympian detachment and even disdain, all regime pieties and see through them as self-serving rationalizations. Yet when extolling “democracy,” they sound no different than an Assistant Secretary of State, foundation president, or CNN host.

…

States such as California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, and now Virginia are utterly dominated by one party, and often one city, which amounts to the same thing. This is how Virginia—cradle of the American Revolution and home to four of our first five presidents—suddenly, just like that, became implacably hostile to the first two amendments to the United States Constitution. Five cities and counties, three adjacent to Washington, D.C., essentially dictate to the other 128.

The uncomprehending angst of people who’ve lived the same way, in the same places, for generations suddenly finding themselves harassed by a hostile government—ostensibly “theirs”—is mocked by the ruling class as a lament over “lost privilege.” After Virginia flipped from purple to Blue in 2019, the state legislature immediately enacted draconian gun restrictions that flew in the face of centuries of tradition and peaceful practice. Too bad! You lost! That’s “democracy.” As Joel Kotkin has remarked, “The worst thing in the world to be is the Red part of a Blue state.”

We should not, however, give the powers-that-be too much credit for principled consistency. If and when popular majorities produce outcomes the rulers don’t like, their devotion to “democracy” instantly evaporates. Judges, administrative state agencies, private companies—whichever is most able in the moment to overturn the will of unruly voters—will intervene to restore ruling class diktats. On the other hand, when voters can be counted on to vote the right way, then voting becomes the necessary and sufficient step for sanctifying any political outcome. It doesn’t even matter where the votes (or voters) come from, so long as they vote the right way. The fact that they vote the right way is sufficient to justify and even ennoble their participation in “our democracy.”

Blues perpetually outvoting Reds and ruling unopposed: this, and only this, is what “democracy” means today.

Bad Faith Objections

Reds, increasingly, are catching on. They know the game is rigged, that they cannot win, and the veneer of their participation and consent is a sham.

This is why the gaslighting is being dialed up to the lumen levels of blue stars. Every objection to Blue despoilation is now openly ascribed to “white supremacy.” Don’t want to be late for work because regime-favored thugs “protesters” are illegally blocking an intersection? White supremacy! Object to being beaten on the streets? White supremacy! Want to see the laws enforced equally and impartially? White supremacy!

Obviously, nothing is more susceptible to this dread charge than calls for “secession.” Hence the entirely apples-to-oranges cases of redrawing state lines better to reflect residents’ preferences and interests will be—already is being—compared to the events of 1860-61.

…

Some opponents of Red attempts to leave Blue states will disingenuously point to Lincoln’s first inaugural address, the ne plus ultra anti-secession argument. But there Lincoln was talking about replacing ballots with bullets throughout a sovereign state—overturning not merely the outcome of one election but the form of government itself. The peaceful rearrangement of political and administrative boundaries within a sovereign state is an entirely different act, with far lesser—and less grave—consequences. Indeed, in the latter case the consequences may be entirely salutary: there is ample precedent in history and around the world of countries redrawing internal lines to suit shifts in population and interests.

Others will try to muddy the waters by facilely equating the peculiarly American use of the word “state” for our 50 regional governments with the far more common meaning of state as “sovereign and independent country.” Lincoln said secession was unlawful, unconstitutional, and immoral—but this hypocrite Anton who claims to be a Lincolnite is endorsing the very practice! The argument is false and will be offered in bad faith. If you wish to waste a moment of your time, which I don’t recommend, remind such liars that the anti-secessionist Lincoln not only supported but presided over the division of Virginia. The decisive point is that this proposal is here proffered for precisely Lincolnite reasons: to save the Union and keep the current territory and population of the United States together.

…

Article IV, Section 3 states that “no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.”

In the Maine and West Virginia cases, new states were formed, hence the legislatures of the original and prospective states, plus the Congress, had to consent. (In the case of Virginia, then in rebellion against the government of the United States, two competing state governments existed. The Unionist government, recognized by the federal government, voted to allow the separation.)

The Constitution is, however, silent on the question of transferring a county from one state to another. No doubt should rural Virginia counties seek to join Charleston, Richmond wouldn’t like it—all that lost tax revenue! Look how many fewer people to boss around! Fewer Electoral votes!

But, constitutionally speaking, the state government’s power to stop it would be dubious. As would, if we want to speculate along such lines, the means. It could, and almost certainly would, take the issue to federal court where, admittedly, any outcome is possible regardless of law, and any outcome favorable to Red interests extremely unlikely. There’s little question that a Blue state capital could easily join with the federal judiciary and the Biden administration to block any such action. That may or may not be “constitutional” as you and I understand the term, but we don’t rule.

Or suppose we interpret Article IV, Section 3 to mean that moving just one county from one state to another constitutes creating a “new state.” That makes things harder, but hardly impossible. It simply means that legislative victories would have to be won. That may seem impossible now; no empire ever seeks to become smaller. But, dare I say, the election of Donald Trump seemed impossible as late as 9 p.m. on November 3rd, 2016. Public opinion is changing fast. Reds, who’ve put up with a lot only to face repeated demands that they put up with even more, are getting fed up.

Not only do they get nothing but abuse from the political system, increasingly they don’t even get to talk. Any dissent against regime ideology is swiftly and ruthlessly censored on Blue media platforms, which is to say, all of them. Reds’ elected leaders (to the extent that they have any) are declared “domestic enemies” by the Speaker of the House. Blue wise men talk of “cleansing” Reds from the political system. Nils Gilman—a man who called for my death—declaimed that “These people need to be extirpated from politics.” To have no say and no voice, forever, means that one’s only option is exit.

It would be an act of magnanimity, and even self-interest, for a sufficient number of Blues to recognize Red concerns and let the state-county reorganization proceed. Right now, at least half of Red America feels trapped in an abusive marriage, endlessly told they’re worthless, racist, and evil—but also that under no circumstances may they even broach the topic of leaving. Stay and take your deserved punishment is Blue America’s constant message to Red, the political philosophy of Judge Smails: You’ll get nothing and like it.

Besides, as Blues never tire of reminding us, aren’t we Reds poor, weak, and dumb? Who wants such dross as fellow citizens? Imagine (say) Virginia’s glorious future without all those retrograde hicks getting in the way of NoVa’s progressive utopian vision.

If Blues cannot see their way to letting such peaceful means proceed as a way of improving civic harmony and extending the life of the republic, they’re placing a giant bet that they can, through sheer brute force, rule Reds forever. Can they? They’d also be admitting that, in New America, “democracy” just means Blues outvoting Reds, effectively nullifying their franchise.

…

It’s worth pointing out, in this context, the utter hypocrisy of Blues who cry “Jeff Davis!” at the mere suggestion of some rural counties in a Blue State seeking refuge with fellow Reds, which almost certainly would not change the composition of the Senate, but who blithely demand that D.C. and Puerto Rico be made states so the Democrats can get four extra Senators and (likely) four more Electoral votes.

#michael anton #american mind #read the whole thing

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mary-tudor · 4 years

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~HENRY TUDOR: A SOCIOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION.~

Today, I'll be discussing a character who left his mark in History, fathering a dynasty whose most proeminent members were his (second) son Henry VIII and his granddaughter Elizabeth I. Often overshadowed by his descendants, Henry's own deeds as a king and as an individual of his own days have been neglected until recently, when efforts from British historians have been working hard to change that.

The reason why I decided to bring him here was not only due to personal affections, though they certainly helped it, but because there are aspects overlapped in social structures that shaped him. In other words: what's Henry Tudor as a sociological individual? Can we point him out as a constant foreigner or someone whose socialization process were strongly marked by the addition of two different societies?

Henry Tudor was born in Pembroke, located in Wales, in January 28th 1457. His mother was Margaret Beaufort, a proeminent lady whose grandfather John Beaufort was the son of John of Gaunt, son in turn of King Edward III of England. The duke of Lancaster fathered four ilegitimated children (who were legitimated in posterity) by his (third marriage to his then) lover Katheryn Swynford, amongst whom John Beaufort was the oldest. Therefore, Henry was 3x grandson. to the duke and, despite what some might argue when Henry IV became king, in great deal to inherite the throne. Well, it's not my intention to deepen the discussion as to Henry's legitimacy or the Beauforts.

Though his father's ancestry, Henry's blood led him to the royal house of Valois. His paternal grandmother, Katherine de Valois, was the sister of Isabella, who had been the second wife of the ill-fated king Richard II. She was also descended of Louis IX and his spanish wife, Blanche de Castille. Henry was also a royal man from the Welsh lands, as Owain Tudor, his grandfather, was related to several princes of Wales. By all these I said, the first thing one might think (considering 15th century and it’s nobility) Henry would receive a proper education due to his status. However, this would not happen in the strict sense of the word. Let us not forget that England was collapsing by the time of Henry Tudor's birth and his childhood. Why am I using the word 'collapse' to qualify the civil war we know named as wars of the roses?

Émile Durkheim, a french sociologist, would write several centuries later, about how a society is formed: he compared it to the working of a human body. If the head, the brain of our body does not work well, what happens? The body will not work well, certainly. Neither would the head work well if other parts hurt somehow. Although if you did break a leg, you could still make use of your brain, but as a whole how limited wouldn't you be? He'd also say that when the human body, or as he called, the society was sick, it was because of the social structures which imposed the human being to the point where there would be no individuality, no matter of choice.

Such created social facts that were completely external (althoug well internalized through means of a process we call socialization) but coercitive. If they are not working, what does this mean? That soon another social facts will be replacing the former one. But between one and another, we have a "very sickly" society. Taking this understanding back to England's 15th century, it is not difficult to see what Durkheim was talking about.

The king was the head of the English body. If we have here two kings fighting over one crown, fighting over the rule of an entire body... Well, then? We have the collapse, a civil war that lasted for the next 30 years. Here, it's less about discussing who started what but why they did what they did, and the explanation for it. Power is power. It's crystal clear, and a statement that, however simple might it sound, points to the obvious. Factions that fought for power intended to dominate others, using the concept very well developed by sociologists as Pierre Bourdieu and Norbert Elias. This domination is a large field, a concept that embrace all sorts of it. Looking back to England's latter half of the century, domination was peril. The head was about to explode. The society was ill... and dominated by it.

What were the values? What was the racionalization proccess of social action led by individuals that were not only individuals but a group? How would all of this affect Henry Tudor? It was not about merely blaming the capitalism, because such coercitive system wasn't present yet. But Henry was, directly or not, linked to the royal house of Plantagenets, whose eagerness for dominating one another and by extension the rest of the country would include him in the game.

"Game." For Durkheim, this would imply an agitation, like a wave of sea, from which no one could escape from. Let's not forget that Institutions created ideas, renewed them, shaped them to the practice whether to dominate the weaker or to defeat the stronger. Whatever the purpose, we here have the Church, not the religiosity, but the precursor of ideas would subdue individuals to share (or manipulate to their own goals anyways) values in order to keep determined mentality to it. But also, monarchy was too an institution which held control over the lives and deaths of thousands of people. A monarch, as we know, is never alone regardless of how "absolut" they could be in different times and contexts. They were not above the law, either. At least where the socialization process is concerned. For the monarch embodied the content which was the law back then. He was literally the law.

Furthermore, Henry's education would foresee this fighting, which I'm not merely referring to custody going from his mother to another, before finally staying under his uncle's responsibilities, as well as the civil war itself. (Anyone remembers Warwick executing Herbert before the boy?)

See, we all know and comprehend today what trauma are capable of doing to someone. Such experience is the main responsible for shaping ideas, values and even costumes. Now, a society which is very much sick by it's own values and moral costumes (a point here must be made: the public consciousness always preached for a warrior, strong king, but has no one thought how this "common sense", validated by a general expectation towards the head of society, was what led it to... well, for the lack of better word, suicide itself?

For it's widely accepted that weak kings do not last long. But that is when we deal with a good deal of expectations that, when turned to frustrations, bring awful results. If England's society was ill in it's very extreme sense of the word, was because the values they created turned against themselves and that would leave it's mark in a boy as Henry. And until the age of 14, he was still absorbing these concepts, these morals, values, costumes from institutions (let's not forget that a monarch shares such with the nobility that surrounds him, as was the case of House Lancaster,f.e) before he was casted out to Bretagne and, in posteriority, to France. Now, I believe you all know what was done whether in England or with our king during these 14 years spent outside his own country before he became king upon the victory settled on the battle of Bosworth field.

I am not interested in discussing historical facts. At least not now, as we are finally dealing with Henry Tudor as a social actor

----/-HENRY TUDOR: A FOREIGNER? AN EXILED? OR AN OUTCAST?--

These questions mobilized me as I came to read a text written by 19th century sociologist named Georg Simmel. He wrote an essay (pardon by any mistakes in translations done from here on) entitled "The Foreigner", in which he brings a sociological question at why foreigners are seen as strangers who are never entirely immersed in the society they attempt to be part in.

Here's an excerpt translated by me in which he explains it:

"Fixed within a determined social space, where it's constancy cross-border could be considered similar to the space, their position [the foreigner's] in it is largely determined by the fact of not belonging entirely to it, and their qualities cannot originate from it or come from it, nor even going in it." (SIMMEL, 2005: 1.)

Furthermore, he adds:

“The foreigner, however, is also an element of the group, no more different than the others and, at the same time, distincted from what we consider as the 'internal enemy'. They are an element in whose position imanent and of member comprehend, at the same time, one outsider and the other insider." (SIMMEL, 2005: 1).

Here's why Henry, as Earl of Richmond, was not well seen by the Britons and the French, in spite of being "accepted" by them. Never forget that he would still be seen as an outsider by his own fellows. As Richard III would call Henry a bastard, one could understand this accusation with sociological implications. English back then detested these foreigners and by the concept brought here by me from Simmel we can understand why. But we could also see being called a bastard as a way to point out Henry's localization. Where can the Earl of Richmond & soon-to-be king be located?

I have pointed this far the structures which were raised and caused a collapsed society to live broken in many, many ways and how this affected Henry this far. Seeing how foreigner he was, nonetheless, he did not belong neither to England (at first) nor to the Continent.

On that sense of word, says Simmel (2005: 3):

"A foreigner is seen and felt, then, from one side, as someone absolutely mobiled, a wanderer. As a subject who comes up every now and then through specific contacts and yet, singularly, does not find vinculated organically to anything or anyone, nominally, in regards to the established family, locals and profissionals”

Even though we find a dominant group of foreigners in France, as we are talking about of nobles displeased with the Yorkist cause and supporters of the Lancastrian House, they were not majority. Where can we locate Henry, then? We don't, because he was not a French and however well he could speak the language, it was not his birth language. The French culture was not passed nor naturalized by him through the teachings of a family or the church by the institutions: monarchy, church, family, parliament, etc; he would have been defeated a long time. But that he did manage to, using this popular expression, put things together and become the first king to die peacefully since Henry V, it tells us a lot. Not rarely an immigrant is accepted by a society whose demands are forced upon him, most of the times in aggressive ways. But it's not often either that we see a king occupying such place in society.

Indeed, one might say that kings as Henry II and the conquerors before him were too foreigners, but not in the sociological way I'm explaining. Because the social structures were different. Henry's government were settled in a more centralized ruling, far more just and peaceful, more economic and less concerned with waging wars than his antecessors. The need to migrate was not 'forced', neither 'imposed' and even back to the 11th and 12th centuries were motivated by different reasons. That's to accentuate how English society evolved throughout the centuries. And I used again and again Georg Simmel to prove my point about casting a sociological light towards Henry VII not as a historical character so distant of us and who remains an object of controversial discussions, but a man of his times who was forced to deal with expectations that placed him in social positions nearly opposed to one another to fulfill each role whether as king or as a man. For some reason, the broken society shaped Henry as an immigrant, but as history shows us, it was this immigrant who helped shape medieval society, directing it towards the age of Renaissance and in posteriority to Modern Age.

Finally, to close this thread I leave here another quote (translated to English by me) found in the text written by Simmel:

"The foreigner, strange to the group [he is in], is considered and seen as a non-belonging being, even if this individual is an organic member of the group whose uniform life comprehends every particular conditioning of this social [mean]. (...) [the foreigner] earns in certain groups of masses a proximity and distance that distinguishes quantities in each relationship, even in smaller portions. Where each marked relationship nduced to a mutual tension in specific relationships, strenghtening more formal relations out of respect to what's considered 'foreigner' of which are resulted." (SIMMEL, p 7).

Bibliography:

AMIN, Nathen. https://henrytudorsociety.com/

DURKHEIM, Émile. "The Division of Labor in Society”.

KANTOROWICZ, Ernst H.”The King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Medieavel Political Theology.”

PENN, Thomas. Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England.

SIMMEL, Georg. The Foreigner. In: Soziologie. Untersuchungen über die Formen der Vergesellschaftung. Berlin. 1908.

#Henry VII #King Henry VII #Henry VII of England #sociology #socio-history #historical sociology #immigration #sociology of immigration #Henry Tudor #Tudor dynasty

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itsarttome · 3 years

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Armenian Women in Visual Arts

I took a class on Armenian culture and history in university that exposed me to this beautiful country and people and opened my eyes to the undeniable tragedy of the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

I’m not Armenian, but I’m Greek on my dad’s side which I found out is very similar. We both love our dolma’s and hate the Turks. But in all seriousness, we share a lot of similarities with Armenian culture, including its political history, which has helped me to further empathize with the current struggles they are facing as a country. It's heartbreaking to see that, just five years after the 100 year anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Armenians appear to be facing a second genocide. Armenia’s neighboring country Azerbaijan has been ensuing deadly attacks against them for some time now with the aid of Turkey and the issue continues to be mostly ignored by the international community. Protests have been raging on both in the nation and diaspora. In no way do I consider myself to be an expert on this subject, but I feel responsible at least to educate myself and do my part as a citizen of the world.

There is no civilization in the world that, given it possess the resources and will, doesn’t have artists, doctors, lawyers, chefs, musicians, poets, farmers, accountants, etc... The meaning of this to me is that it is proof we are all valuable people, no matter where we come from or what we look like. Just think about how sand is made from millions of tiny parts but looks like one uniform blanket on the beach. If you were to put a handful of sand into a jar, and another handful into another jar, you’d find that each jar is made up of entirely different rocks. But somehow, both have all the elements needed to still look like a handful of sand. That’s how I view culture. Every culture is a handful of sand; they all have necessarily found their own way to explain the universe (religion), their own way to communicate (language), their own way to nourish themselves (diet), and so on... and each way is original and different. But somehow, all of the elements add up to create a civilization, a culture, and a people with a shared identity. The only thing that makes us different is that we’re arbitrarily placed into one jar and not another, but when you look at the big picture, we’re all the same.

As embarrassing as it is to admit, I think by human nature it’s much easier to care about someone else’s journey in life when they have something in common with you. What I love about art is that when you meet another artist, no matter who, you feel a sort of magical connection to that person and are bonded over your mutual appreciation of it. I am a woman and I am an artist, and because of that, I feel lucky and unworthy in saying I have something in common with these incredibly talented Armenian women that I’m about to share with you.

I. Zabelle Boyajian (1872-1957)

Zabelle C. Boyajian was a poet, painter and playwright of the Ottoman Empire, born in 1872 in Diyarbakir, one of the ancient Armenian capitals, ‘Tigranakert’. After the murder of her father during the Hamidian Massacres of 1895, she, her mother and her brother immigrated to London. She travelled extensively throughout her lifetime and learned to speak eight languages fluently, including Armenian, English, German, Italian, Greek, Turkish and Russian. Being skilled in so many languages, apart from the arts, she was a great contributor to the translation of many great Armenian works. For example, in 1948, she translated Avetik Isahakian’s epic poem “Abu Lala Mahari” and published it for the world to read. In 1938, thanks to her wide travels, she published several illustrations from her visit to Greece, entitled “In Greece with Pen and Palette”. Exhibitions of her art were held in London, Egypt, France, Italy, Belgium and Germany. She was close friends with Anna Raffi, the wife of the well-known Armenian novelist, Raffi. One of the leading female trailblazers of art, literature and translation, she published her first novel in 1901, entitled “Esther”. She is well known today for her gorgeous storybook illustrations.

II. Miriam Aslamazian (1907-2006)

Miriam Aslamazian, sometimes called the Armenian Frida Kahlo, was born on October 20th, 1907 in Alexandropol in the village of Bash-shirak. She was was a Soviet painter of Armenian descent recognized for her exquisite ceramic plates. In 1929, she graduated from the Yerevan Art-Industrial Technicum and later in 1933, from the Leningrad Academy of Art. In 1946, she became a member of the CPSU (the Communist Party of the Soviet Union). Her work is often described as decorative, flat still-life pieces as well as possessing dramatic, colorful themes. Many pieces of her artwork can be found today in the Aslamazian Sisters’ Museum in Gyumri. She was honored as People’s Artist of the Armenian SSR 1965 and People’s Artist of the Soviet Union in 1990.

III. Gayane Khachaturian (1942-2009)

Gayane Khachaturian, born May 9th, 1942 in Tbilisi, Georgia, was a Georgian-Armenian graphic artist and painter. She studied at the Nikoladze Art School and the Secondary School of Working Youth, where she graduated in 1960. Sergei Parajanov, who she was close friends with, was a major inspiration for her. Some of her works are permanently displayed and can be seen at the National Gallery of Armenia, the Yerevan Museum of Modern Art as well as the Sergei Parajanov Museum in Yerevan. Her works have also been purchased and are included in several private art collections. Her first informal solo exhibition was at Skvoznyachok Café in Yerevan in 1967.

IV. Sonia Balassanian

Sonia Balassanian is a mixed media artist, art curator, founder and Artistic Director of the Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art in Yerevan, Armenia. Born in Iran of Armenian descent on April 8th of 1942, Balassanian uses her artwork to advocate for human rights and women's emancipation issues. In 1970, she obtained a BFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the following year worked on an independent study program at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 1978, she completed her MFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. The following year, however, the 1979 events in Iran caused her to turn to “political art” as self expression. She is also a skilled writer, publishing several works, including, “There Might Have Been An Insane Heart” (1982), composed of selected poems written in the Armenian language, “Portraits” published in New York in 1983 and “Two Books” (2006), a publication of two books of poems in one combined.

V. Nora Chavashian

Nora Chavashian is an award-winning production designer, art director and set decorator, recognized for her sculptural stage sets, born in Philadelphia, PA on October 25th, 1953. OMG we have the same birthday, no wonder I like her! There, she studied sculpture at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. In 1974, Chayashian graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI). In 1984, she married Joe Morton, an American actor, director, writer, singer and songwriter, with whom she has three children, Hopi, Seta and Ara, and one grandson, Moses. In 1988, she and her family relocated to the East Coast. Her sculptures often have organic shapes and are reminiscent of nature.

VI. Anush Yeghiazaryan

Anush Yeghiazaryan is a painter, weaver and professor born on June 15th, 1965 in Yerevan, Armenia, known for her stunning tapestry creations. Hailing from the family of Karapet Yeghizaryan, patriarch of the Armenian school of art weaving, she has held up the traditional weaving techniques of her ancestors. From 1984 to 1990, she studied graphic design at the Yerevan State Fine Arts Academy. From 1991 to 1994, she worked on obtaining her PhD from the State Armenian Pedagogical University. In 1996, she became a member of the Armenian Union of Artists. In 2010, Yeghiazaryan joined the Pan-Armenian Painting Association. She has had her work presented in exhibitions around the world, from Yerevan to Paris, Moscow, Sankt Petersburg, Bouve, Plovdil, Tehran, Italy and Praha. Quoted for saying, “I have not chosen art, it’s in my blood. It’s my lifestyle and I love it up to sublimation degree”. Some of her pieces displaying masterful weaving techniques include,“If you live, create” (1998), “Once Upon a Time in Paris” (2003), and “Urbanization” (2006).

VII. Taleen Berberian

Taleen Berberian is a modern Armenian visual artist, specializing in mixed mediums, crafted fabric, clay sculptures, drawing and the use of the traditional Armenian sewing, embroidery and crochet techniques in unconventional ways. She is especially recognized for her famous sculptures of shoes. Berberian has been on the forefront of women’s issues, a theme that can be seen through her artwork. She is an active participant in both Los Angeles and New York’s art communities. In 1995, she obtained a BFA in Sculpture from the California College of the Arts in Oakland, California and in 1998 she continued on to achieve a MFA in Studio Art and Art Education from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. In 2009, she received her Initial Teachers’ Certification in Visual Art for grades K-12 and currently serves as a quilting and ceramics instructor.

VIII. Joanne Julian

Found out artist Joanne Julian and I are both CSUN alum and native Angelenos! Julian, who is of Armenian ancestry, says she has been highly influenced by her travels to Asia and thus became skilled in certain Asian techniques, such as mono printing and the “flung ink” or “Haboku” style. Her pieces possess a “Zen quality” to them, as portrayed in her “Zen Circle” series, illuminating the Yin and Yang of Taoist painting. She received her Bachelor’s of Arts and her Masters in sculpture and printmaking from California State University, Northridge. She later received her MFA from the Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design. She has participated in over sixty group exhibitions and twenty solo exhibitions nation-wide. Since 1973, Julian has served as the Chair of the Fine Arts Department and Gallery Director at the College of Canyons in Valencia, California. In 2008, from January 25th to February 23rd, she held an exhibition at CSUN’s Art Gallery entitled, “Counterpoints”.

All of the female artists I mentioned have given people a better look into what it means to be Armenian and how the community and its diaspora are trying to solidify the Armenian identity to enable its rich heritage and traditions to live on. And they are just a few of the proud Armenians who have helped raise awareness of the issues Armenians face, as well as give Armenians their due respect in the realm of International Art. And to go one step further, my deepest hope is that one day, art will overcome the war.

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babyfloors · 3 years

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Wondering Wednesdays, Baby Acres, Chapter 2: Infrastructure, with words!

July 21, 12021

books

Coop

4Freedoms

health

mywritings

PublicDomainInfrastructure

writing

This post starts the rough draft of Chapter 2 of my non-fiction WiP, Baby Acres.

This chapter will have about 2500 words, (hopefully educational words!!) 500 of which have already been written as the Introduction, but will quite likely have to be thrown out and refitted with the new evolution of the book. We shall see.

And again, by way of disclaimer, the overall goal is now to explain why we need both equ. + justice, & why in 4 phases. This chapter will transition to a chapter (2-5) for each phase, showing what Phases I-IV could look like as part of a possible roadmap for a fully inclusive society for all of us. This vision is laid out in the hope that All HumanKind will eventually have each person’s basic needs met, without taking anything from anyone, and without violence, intimidation, nor coercion of any kind.

Chapter Two:

( Chapter 2’s outline was last week…)

Chapter 2 Introduction:

The first stage of this project involves building empathy, and bringing each one of us to see each one of our fellow human beings as … a human being. Each one meriting humane treatment, and human dignity.

That empathy building phase was Phase 0 (yes, I’m a computer scientist by first training, so I start with 0…). Phase I is meant to go for fifteen years, potentially from the years 2022 to 2037, building a movement to strengthen some of our most crucial and obviously key pieces of our social infrastructure, which are in the public domain. During this period, one of the ways that we can both build conceptual support and also literally build our physical infrastructure that needs support, is by borrowing an idea from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which worked during the Great Depression to create jobs while educating young (white) men at the same time. What we want to do now, is to educate, facilitate service, and build a community-service frame of reference, while also upgrading our public infrastructure, just as FDR did in the 1930’s via his program.

Bringing back an updated version of FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), or Roosevelt’s Tree Army, as it was popularly known, could provide a stepping stone between the empathy- building work that must always be on-going, and the support-building work of bringing our society to a consensus on the needed support for the most basic of our public social infrastructure institutions, like Public Libraries, Public Transportation, Public Education (especially in the financial and legal areas, where so many consumers fall prey to financial predators, and end up in debt due to lack of knowledge), and Public Health. These four systems under gird our entire societal structure, and need support perhaps the most urgently, in return for which we potentially get the most payback for all members of society. While we do the difficult work of building the necessary consensus to get there from here, a simpler step might be to bring back some form of the CCC, updated to be far more inclusive, and used as both a means of providing employment to young people, and also to educate them, much like the Gap Year in Europe.

But instead of having our new high school graduates backpack around the country, they could be sent to work in urban public library branches, light-rail and subway/Metro stations, local urban public schools, or inner city health clinics. As they rotate from one part of the country to another, say, monthly, they learn first-hand of the conditions in places they are not from and have not lived, while serving communities they have never met, working alongside peers from different walks of life, and seeing a side of their native land that they did not grow up with. In short, learning the realities, and different perspectives, of this large and diverse nation of ours.

— (Next Wednesday: Chapter 2, section I …)

I’m considering this Rough Draft as the block of clay from which my book will eventually emerge, obviously, and some ideas for phases III and IV are still becoming more fixed in my mind as I write, so the final version will likely look pretty different from this Rough Draft, and will need updating once I get to the very end.

And once again, yeayyy( !!)with regard to audience, I may have at least a couple of comps: Walden Two meets The War on Poverty: A Civilian Perspective (by Dr.s Jean and Edgar Cahn, 1964). I know that lots of people consider Skinner’s writing to be stilted, but I like the tilt of most reviewers, in that the idea is that a community should keep trying policies that members agree upon until they find what works for all of them.

As for genre, I’m still wondering: Non-fiction, System Change, Causes, maybe even Inspirational, but I doubt it.

Last week’s installment of this series…

Action Items:

1.) Consider some ideas you may have on how our society can solve the problem infrastructure upgrades in the next 15 years,

2.) Share them with us in the comments, here, please, and

3.) Write a story, post or tweet that uses those sources and your thoughts.

Dear Readers, ideas on learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning, on-going education and empathy-building, to #EndPoverty, #EndHomelessness, #EndMoneyBail & achieve freedom for All HumanKind?

Support our key #PublicDomainInfrastructure & #StopSmoking at LEAST for CCOVID-19: 1. #PublicLibraries, 2. #ProBono legal aid and Education, 3. #UniversalHealthCare, and 4. good #publictransport Read, Write -one can add Stayed on Freedom’s Call via this GoodReads button: ,

Vote, Teach and Learn (PDF Lesson Plan Book)!

and my

Babylon 5 review posts

, if you like Science Fiction, and a proposed

Vision

on Wondering Wednesdays: for a kinder world…

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil

our year 2020 CE = 12020 HE

(Day 1 … Day 5)

Stayed on Freedom’s Call (free copies at: https://archive.org/details/StayedOnF…) includes two ‘imagination-rich’ walking tours, with songs, of Washington, DC. New interviews and research are woven into stories of old struggles shared by both the Jewish and African-American communities in the capital city.

Shared histories are explored from a new perspective of cultural parallels and parallel institution-building which brought the two communities together culturally and historically.

Please leave a review, if you can, on the GoodReads page.

Shira Destinie Jones by ShiraDest is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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vivian0520 · 3 years

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Travel on the Thailand

Thailand is the destination of my travel guide this time.

Thailand is a constitutional monarchy located in Southeast Asia. It is located in the middle of the Indo-China Peninsula, bordering Myanmar to the north and Laos to the northeast, Cambodia to the southeast, and a long and narrow peninsula connected to Malaysia to the south.

All in all it is in South Asia.

Before the epidemic, there was an important data for Thailand, that is, Thailand's tourism industry accounted for 17.7% of GDP. Therefore, Thailand is a tourist country, and the tourism economy drives the Thai economy.

If you are in a European or American country, then you need to fly at least fourteen to five hours to arrive. I have to say that this is a long journey.

Of course some people think that when you go to another country, you must first understand the history of that country.

So let me explain it briefly!

In the history of Thailand, a relatively unified country was formed in 1238 AD, which successively experienced the Sukhothai Dynasty, the Ayutthaya Dynasty, the Thonburi Dynasty and the Bangkok Dynasty, formerly known as Siam. In the 16th century, colonialists such as Portugal, Holland, Britain, and France invaded successively. In 1896, Britain and France signed a treaty that stipulated that Siam was a buffer state between British Burma and French Indochina. Therefore, Siam became the only country in Southeast Asia that did not become a colony. At the end of the 19th century, King Rama IV began to open to the outside world, and King Rama V used Western experience to carry out social reforms. In June 1932, the Democratic Party launched a coup and changed the monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. It was renamed Thailand in 1939, and after several changes, it was officially named Thailand in 1949. Currently, the king of Thailand is Rama X.

If you travel to Thailand, your local guide will definitely tell you about various scandals about the royal family. I have to say, it's really interesting. When I traveled to Thailand once, my tour guide told a lot of people’s speculations and secret history about the royal family.

For traveling to Thailand, we can often see various touted paradise narratives on social media. Its main "tourist attractions" are the beach and the sea. The reason why Thailand is called a tourist destination is that Thailand is a tropical area, which is very suitable for vacation and affordable. These factors will have a great impact on social media, markets and social politics. Because Thailand's tourism economy will drive the GDP of Thais, the Thai government is also willing to establish travel recommendations with other countries. In addition, tourism in Thailand is very cheap, and tourism companies and industrial chains can make a lot of money, so capitalists also like to spend money on social media to promote Thailand travel, which can attract more tourists to travel to Thailand. Thailand's travel market is very hot.

Thailand's tourism industry is still very mature. This is good for tourists who wish to travel to the country. Tourists are often in an attitude of acceptance and respect for Thai culture. For example, Thailand is a Buddhist country, and many Chinese tourists also believe in Buddhism. Like the Jade Buddha Temple, you must wear a skirt below the heel to enter. Chinese tourists often choose to buy cloth aprons in order to respect this cultural belief.

(This is a photo taken at the Jade Buddha Temple in 2013 by me)

In fact, Chinese tourists belong to a large part of tourists to Thailand. This is because of a well-known movie, [Lost In Thailand] (Chinese called Thai 囧.) Many Chinese decided to go to Thailand after watching this movie. Including my family. The film won a box office of 200 million U.S. dollars in China. A large degree of promotion of Thailand's tourism industry. The female prime minister of Thailand personally met with the film director to thank him for his promotion of Thailand's tourism industry.

But I really don't like travel guided by travel companies. Because tourism is often an industrial chain. The travel company behind determines all your itineraries. Most foreigners, they are forced to accept this arrangement.

Whatever you want to eat for lunch and dinner is decided by the travel plan. Your tour guide will take you to a restaurant that cooperates with their company. Therefore, you cannot eat traditional local food at all.

Like a hotel, if your personal trip price is less than $1,000. (Itinerary for four or five days) It is difficult for you to stay in a better hotel. And it was forced to share a room with two people.

（This is the hotel photo taken by me in 2013 ）

The timetable arranged by the travel company depends on the price of your personal itinerary. My father prefers a relaxed travel atmosphere, so he chooses a more expensive itinerary. That is more than 1,000 dollars per person. But many people choose 300 dollars a person to travel, but this kind of itinerary planning is very difficult to me. The daily schedule is very tight and lacks time for rest.

When it comes to shopping, Chinese tourists are often tricked into cooperating duty-free shops by travel companies. Then send them various coupons. Let them spend more. Such tourists are relatively lucky, because the duty-free shops still have quality assurance. But like some tour guides, they will trick tourists into buying fake jade gems, latex pillows, yanwo (swallow's saliva). Then get rewards from these sellers to make money. I think this kind of behavior is very immoral.

However, Thai fruits are really cheap and delicious. My family and I eat fruits happily every day. I highly recommend buying Thai fruits when traveling in Thailand!

Of course, if you are going to Thailand with your children, I have to warn! !!

Thailand is located in the Golden Triangle region, and it has serious security problems.

Thailand is a country full of the drug trade, human trafficking, organ trafficking, pornography, and violent performances.

Thailand is not suitable for female tourists to go alone! Because you might be kidnapped!

For families who go with a tour group, for example, performances such as shemale performances and Muay Thai are not conducive to the physical and mental health of children.

I will never forget the performances I saw in Thailand at the age of 12 and the pornographic jokes made by local guides about the tourism industry in Thailand.

The following description is based on my memory:

There is an important itinerary when traveling to Thailand, and that is the performance of the Oriental Princess cruise ship.

On the Oriental Princess, as long as you give money, 20 baht, you can touch the breasts of the shemale princess and take a photo with them.

（This is the photo, I don't know who she is. But I hide this women's face. I take a lot kinds of this photo......）

When I saw this scene, I was shocked.

Because no matter how old men and women are in the eyes of the public, they make such impolite behavior.

At the age of 12, I watched these actions in horror, and since then, my mind has been overshadowed. At the same time, all tour groups have the same itinerary for Europeans and Americans and their children. I don't know if these parents will accept this performance.

However, this performance is not considered to restrict children's access level in Thailand. It can only be considered normal. (Although I don’t understand...)

There is also a shemale strip show performance, which can only be watched by adults.

When you accept all these what I said, you still want to go to Thailand. Then I will recommend a location for you:

1. The Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand. The Grand Palace of Thailand in Bangkok, also known as the Forbidden City, is the palace of Kings I to VIII of the Bangkok dynasty in Thailand. Located in the center of the capital, Bangkok, nestled on the Chao Phraya River, it is the most spectacular ancient building complex in Bangkok.

2. Phuket. Thailand's largest island, the "pearl" of the Andaman Sea, Phuket is a representative tourist resort in Southeast Asia. Its charm lies above all in its beautiful sea. The west coast of the island faces the Andaman Sea. There are pristine white sandy beaches. Each beach has its own advantages and charms. Under the sun, large and small beaches shimmer. The waves hitting the shore of the Andaman Sea.

3. Pattaya. Pattaya is famous for its sunshine, beach, and seafood. It is known as the "Oriental Hawaii" and is a world-famous emerging seaside tourist resort.

4. Jade Buddha Temple. The Emerald Buddha Temple is located at the northeast corner of the Grand Palace in Bangkok. It is the most famous Buddhist temple in Thailand and one of Thailand's three national treasures. The Emerald Buddha Temple is a place where the royal family of Thailand enshrines Jade Buddha statues and holds religious ceremonies. It is named after the temple that enshrines the Jade Buddha.

5. Phi Phi Island. Phi Phi Island is located about 20 kilometers southeast of Phuket, Thailand. It is a sister island composed of two main islands (Phi Phi Island in the north and Phi Phi Island in the south). The soft and white sandy beaches, the tranquil blue waters, the magical natural caves, and the unspoiled natural features make it stand out from more than 30 outlying islands around Phuket and become one of the hottest resorts in one fell swoop.

And my suggestion is to apply more sunscreen, because Thailand is in the tropics, and the ultraviolet rays are very strong and easy to get sunburned. There are a lot of mosquitoes in Thailand, you can buy a local mosquito repellent in Thailand-grass cream. Thailand’s local delicacy Tom Yum Goong soup is very famous, you must try it!

Thank you for reading my Blog!

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jimlingss · 5 years

Text

The President’s Son [10]

Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 10.5 OR Chapter 11

➜ Words: 4.2k

➜ Genres: 100% Fluff, Slice of Life, Bodyguard!AU

➜ Summary: Kim Taehyung is the President’s son, mischievous and playful, and infamous for being a troublemaker. When everyone’s given up, they call for you to be his personal guard. There’s no other choice when your dad’s assigned you to it and surprisingly Taehyung doesn’t mind either. Maybe because you happened to grow up with that brat.

Siren wails and deafening ambulance howls — putting arms over heads and getting to your knees — handcuffs clinking as your hands are restrained. You’re bathed in blue and red lights, eyes wearily blinking as your vision is blinded. Camera clicks — microphones shoved into his cheeks — questions spewed one after another, morphing to sound like the tortured in hell. Taehyung shields himself away from the white flashes as he’s forced to stand by his father’s side. Fear runs rampant, only partially subdued with a single press conference, tabloids and media outlets gathering as they try to figure out what happened, calling upon the police chief, your father, and Taehyung’s. Those responsible are taken into custody, under investigation, while another team tries to contain public hysteria from spiraling. “I’m sorry I snitched,” Jungkook tells you. “I didn’t want to.” “It’s okay,” you murmur as you stand at the back of the room, watching the President take a stand against terrorism. “You brought me backup when I needed it.” But just because everything’s said and done and everyone’s safe doesn’t mean there aren’t any repercussions. It’s the end of the line. From across the room, you stare at Taehyung intently, how disheveled and tired he looks, the spark in his eyes lost, knowing this is unfortunately the last. And you’ll accept it. When tomorrow arrives, you’ll go looking for other jobs to take on, accept whoever might want your selected skill set. There’s nothing to do but take responsibility for your actions and the damage done. But you don’t know why it feels so hard. Your whole life has revolved around indifference, acceptance, letting things roll off your shoulder and continuously moving forward. But for the first time, your feet feel too grounded to keep moving. “Come in.” You push the door, closing it gently behind you. His office remains ever the same, except for the new piles of papers placed all over his desk. The old man sighs, taking off his reading classes and rubs two fingers at his temple while you take a seat across from him. It’s more frightening when he isn’t outright angry. He begins, words heavy with exhaustion. “Did you think about what you were going to do?” “Yes,” you answer after a beat. “I knew it was going to take a long time—” “So you ignored all the plans that were being made? You ignored standard protocol and my authority as well as everyone else’s?” He asks you calmly, composed without a bite to his words, almost like he expected this. “I wanted to scope out the environment to provide more details.” “That’s out of the scope of your job. You went above and beyond. And you did so irresponsibly. To the point where it’s outrageous. You could’ve gotten killed. You could’ve gotten the President’s son killed.” “I’m sorry.” The apology doesn’t cut it, but it’s all you can offer. “I...saw a chance and I took it.” “You’re lucky that no one got more hurt than they did.” The old man sighs, leaning back in his swivel chair as he shuffles papers in front of him. “I’ll write you a recommendation letter before you go.” “There’s no need.” He raises a brow and halts his movements completely. After a second, he glances up at you again. This time, he speaks in a softer tone, not as a chief, but as your father. “Are you planning to stay in the capital?” “I...don’t know yet.” You came for a reason and yet you’ve done nothing for that reason — it’s still too difficult to approach, too awkward. You’re not sure where to begin or what to do. Your initial intentions have washed down the drain. “Let me write you a letter,” he insists. After all, despite recent incidents, the past three months have passed by without any qualms. It was the first time there was some semblance of peace and quiet. “It’ll help you in whatever you want to do next.” “What letter?” He’s interjected by a chiming timbre. The lithe woman shuts the door behind her before sauntering up to the desk, right beside you. Her arms are crossed, dark hair draping her backside, dark circles showing her fatigue, yet she doesn’t show any weaknesses. “You’re not going to write any letter, ____.” “Hyunjung...this is a decision that’s been in the making for a long time.” Taehyung’s stepmother is outright challenged, but she stands her ground, shaking her head, not amused whatsoever. “I know I have no part in this, but it’s my job to protect my son’s protector.” Her voice moves into a higher pitched, almost like a whine of disbelief. “I came here to get on my knees to personally thank Y/N and lo and behold, I find you not only reprimanding her but firing her? I won’t have it.” Your father lightly scoffs, looking away. “She isn’t suitable for this job…” “Then who is?” The middle-aged female asks, demanding an answer he can’t give. “She risked her own life to save Taehyung. We should be honouring that bravery. I expected you to promote her, y’know! Give her a better title! Give her a raise or a vacation!” Her rambling is childish and lighthearted, dissipating the tension in the room. While she’s not biologically related to Taehyung, she shares striking similarities to him. You’re not surprised that she suits the President well. “Or even put up a statue of her in the yard! I thought I would have to fight you against naming Taehyung’s firstborn Y/N!” “I acted irresponsibly,” you speak up, looking towards her. “I’ll accept whatever punishment—” “Tch.” She clicks her tongue in annoyance, shushing you harshly. She frowns in disapproval with her reddened lips pouty. “I’m trying to defend you. Don’t make it worse, young lady.” Taehyung’s stepmother turns to face the chief. “Look at what you did to the poor girl! She should be proud of her courage, but you made her feel ashamed. Have you ever praised her before? Or do you just criticize your best employee all the time?” There’s a long silence. The tables have turned. Now he’s the one being reprimanded and scolded. But he doesn’t protest or fight her on it, perhaps giving into the woman’s judgment. “Unbelievable,” she scoffs. “You are about to fire one of the nicest people of your entire team. Absolutely unbelievable. Come on, Y/N. Follow me. You don’t have to sit here any more and listen to this ridiculousness.” You turn to your father after looking at her. His expression is impassive, but you read it well enough. There’s no real anger. At best, he feels at a loss. You deliberate what to do, but the woman doesn’t give you a chance. She urges you one last time, heavily insistent, so you take her hand and she pulls you to your feet. “If you want to fire her, you’ll have to speak to me about it first.” She struts out, tugging you along and you look back to catch your father sighing, molded into his chair, head knocked back to stare at the ceiling. He can’t get rid of you even if he wanted to. Somehow, you’re protected by everyone that has the last name Kim. “You really didn’t need to….” “Hush, child.” She spins around, hands securing on your shoulders comfortingly. “I owe you my life. Taehyung owes you his life, okay? I’ll make sure he knows that too, but I think he already does. Don’t get too bothered by your old man. He was probably just worried about how you risked yourself out there.” Somehow you doubt that. Then again, even while growing up he had an odd way of showing his affection. “Which I don’t approve of either, but what’s done is done and all I can say is thank you. Truly.” “I was….just doing my job.” “You weren’t.” She smiles softly. “And you know that.” Taehyung’s stepmother tells you how you not only saved a life, but a family and a country from being thrown into chaos. While it’s a bit much, she emphasizes that you’re a hero. Your name was never disclosed to the public, but they know an agent single-handedly saved the President’s son and the public opinion has improved in the Presidential Security Service. The recognition is overwhelming and not something you ever intended, but not something you particularly despise. “If there’s anything that you ever need, tell me, okay? Remember to take care of yourself too. I understand if you want to take a break and rest up after all that. It must’ve been traumatizing. I’ll let your father know if you want to take a vacation….” You fiddle with your fingers. “Actually, I was wondering where Taehyung was.” For the most part, you were fine and if anything, you were more curious on how he was handling it all. The woman gently smiles again. “He’s at this hospital right now.” “Can I visit him?” “You most certainly can.” // He is a prisoner. And he doesn’t understand why he’s being punished. Kim Taehyung crosses his arms and pouts like a petulant child, sitting on the edge of the bed. He would’ve personally ripped out the IVs in his arms, but he doesn’t do needles, so he had wailed painfully until the nurse came and took it out for him. “Get me out of here!” he screams at the top of his lungs. The white walls and maybe the shadow outside hears his plea. “I’m more traumatized from being in here!” He’s been under intensive questioning, assessed both physically and mentally, forced to speak to three different therapists. Taehyung’s not as scarred as they think he is. He doesn’t need any recovery when there was nothing to recover from. He was perfectly fine, especially considering when deep down he knew you’d come for him. There was nothing to be afraid of. You always end up showing up again. He just has to wait. A few minutes….a few hours….or a few years. You always come back. But at the moment he’s too impatient. Enough is enough. Taehyung jumps to his feet and marches to the door, sliding it open. Park Jimin blocks his way. “Taehyung,” he whines his name, reluctant and timid with every movement. “You’re not allowed to leave.” “Just let me go!” he demands in exasperation. The dark-haired bodyguard is at a loss, trying to get the other to sympathize with his situation. “I…..I’ll get in trouble.” “No one has to know….” The two of them are whispering as if someone can hear, lingering in between the room and the corridor. The gates to freedom are so close, yet too far. “But they’ll find out. I’m sorry, Taehyung. I was given specific duties. You know that. I’m not allowed…..I can’t go against them.” There’s a held silence. Taehyung isn’t amused whatsoever and he narrows his eyes, words full of spite. “You know….you’re unbearable sometimes.” “Yeah….” Jimin’s head slumps like he knows, lips pulling to the floor. “I’m sorry.” “What...are you doing?” You’re standing at the end of the white hallway lit by fluorescent lights. Both Jimin and Taehyung whip their heads over, the former taking a sigh of relief at the sight of you and the latter with a grin expanding into his cheeks. “Fuck! About time, dumbo! Where were you?! I’ve been trapped for five hours!” You approach with crossed arms, peeking inside the room momentarily. Of course he has his own private hospital room on the highest floor of the entire building. But you notice that the bed sheets are crumpled, chair pushed over haphazardly, tissue box on the floor — evidence that he threw one hell of a tantrum. You give him an incredulous look. He smiles, suddenly on his best behaviour. “Are you gonna come in?” Jimin looks at you like you’re his saviour. The door shuts, finally just you and him. “Are you okay?” Your eyes sweep up and down his figure. He’d make a joke about your staring, but he’s too irritated by the question. “Yes, I’m fine,” he groans. “People keep asking me that. I’m not traumatized, okay? I don’t need any sort of recovery. I wasn’t injured. I’m not shocked or anything. I’m breathing, normal, alive.” “You were kidnapped, Taehyung.” “For like...two hours,” he points outs. “And they didn’t even do anything to me. I was going to talk my way out of it anyways. You don’t have to be so worried. I’m more worried about you.” He tugs on the hem of your jacket, pulling you gently until you give in, falling into the spot by his side. The mattress dips under your weight. “Doesn’t your wrist hurt?” At the mention of it, your own hand circles your other wrist, rolling it around once without feeling any aches or pains. “It healed weeks ago.” “Yeah….well….I was just...worried.” He gazes at you through his lashes. The soft lighting makes the edges of him glow. His voice is also strangely husky around the edges. You’re uncomfortable with how intimate it is. “You shouldn’t be. I’m used to it.” He scoffs lightly. “You always like to act like you’re tough — you know it’s okay if you aren't, right? It doesn’t mean you’re weak.” It’s quiet, the words sinking in. “Even if you’ve experienced worse things, it doesn’t make this one any less dangerous or scary.” You swallow hard, tearing your eyes away from him to stare at the door instead. “I’m sorry.” The corner of his mouth curls. “What for?” “I was supposed to protect you and I let that happen to you.” “You saved me, you idiot.” “I shouldn’t have let it happen in the first place. I shouldn’t have let you out of my sight and I’m-….I’m….nervous,” you admit in a murmur and you hate it. You absolutely detest being this vulnerable when you’ve sworn to trample any signs of weakness. It goes against every cell in your body, but it’s the truth — a truth that you don’t want to shoulder alone. “I’m nervous it’s going to happen again. I keep getting startled at the smallest things. I don’t...think that’s normal.” “It’s okay.” His arm wraps around your shoulder, pulling you in for a friendly hug. You don’t jump on instinct or lean back as you usually would. You allow yourself to relax into his hold, leaning against his chest, letting him close the distance between you two. It’s nice having this sort of comfort — you’re not sure when the last time you were hugged. “It’s okay if that happens. It’s okay to be nervous or scared.” But even so, it goes against everything you’ve been taught at a young age. “Aren’t you scared?” you murmur the question and had he not been so close, he would’ve missed it entirely. “A little,” Taehyung admits too. “It kind of felt surreal when it happened….my adrenaline was pumping. I think my survival instincts kicked in — I was talking a lot to them. But I don’t remember exactly what I said or what happened….it was kind of an out-of-body experience...you know?” “Yeah. I get that.” Taehyung smiles and pats your backside once. It’s the first time he’s comforting you and it’s odd considering when that was your job when he always cried as a kid. Granted, you never did a good job — having looked down at him while telling him to get up again and that tripping wasn’t going to kill him. It always made Taehyung cry harder. “You were so cool,” he hums like it even means anything. “When you untied yourself and stole the gun….I keep thinking your talent is wasted on me. You should be a spy or something. You’d be good at it.” “I’ve already done my part,” you tell him. “I wanted to go home.” He hums another soothing note from deep inside his chest and you hear how his heart rate quickens in pace. You finally pull yourself away before it gets too weird. He’s reluctant to let go, but does so anyhow while you compose yourself with a deep breath. “Hey…” Taehyung pipes up, staring at you with those intense eyes again. “If you ever wanna talk to me about something, you should. Don’t keep it inside.” “Yeah, okay.” “Or talk to a doctor,” he suggests with a smile. “They’re probably more qualified than I am.” Taehyung hops up to his feet, stretching his arms above his head, trying to act all casual after the heart-to-heart conversation. He groans, getting the kinks out of his shoulders before spinning around with a mischievous expression. “Should we ditch?” “You’re supposed to stay here for the night.” He pouts childishly, bottom lip jutted out when he doesn’t get his way. “I don’t wanna. They already poked me with a whole bunch of stuff and asked me a million questions. It’s suffocating being in here.” “What if—” “What if nothing. Nothing’s going to happen.” He shrugs. “You and I both know that. The entire city is on high alert and the perpetrators are already caught. No one’s gonna kidnap the President’s son twice in one night. And you’re off duty, aren’t you?” Taehyung’s eyes sweep you from head to toe, brow quirked at your casual attire as he discreetly smirks. “It’s not like you’d get in trouble if we hang out after your working hours.” “Me being off duty might be permanent at this rate.” He’s alarmed at your remark. “You’re getting fired?!” “No. Your stepmom saved me from that.” “She did?” You nod, much to his surprise. “She saved me, but I’ve been thinking about things and….maybe I should resign, Taehyung. I’ve caused a lot of issues and I don’t want to give...chief a headache. I want to be treated like everyone else and if I was, I think I would’ve been removed a long time ago.” The last thing you want is to be a burden and you don’t want to be saved anymore, to cheat the system for self-preservation when you’d rather accept responsibility. “If it were anyone else, they would’ve been at the podium at the press conference,” he says. “If it were anyone else, they would’ve gotten a metal. Your dad’s just really harsh on you to a point where I don’t even understand and it upsets me.” You look up at him, exhaling. Taehyung’s tone softens, eyes saddened. “Can I make a selfish request, Y/N?” “Depends on what it is.” “I know I said you’re better off somewhere else...but still...I want you to stay. Not forever. But just a little longer,” he asks and it’s shy and earnest. Taehyung’s hand drops to his side awkwardly after brushing back the blonde strands of his hair. He musters an embarrassed laugh. “Honestly, you’re my only friend and probably the biggest reason I haven’t run off yet.” You don’t get it. You’ve done nothing for him. You don’t even openly offer him the friendship that he so desperately desires — you can’t comprehend why you’re the reason he stays. “What’s so special about me?” “I don’t know.” He shrugs. “A lot of things. It’s not because we grew up together. Maybe a little has to do with that. But you just make it a lot more….bearable for me. I look forward to seeing you. Every day.” He’s ashamed, cheeks glowing pink, looking away. It’s the first time he’s shown you something aside from outright boldness. You muse that it’s a night of firsts and you savour the glimpse of sincerity that you see. “I don’t want to make this weird, alright, dumbo? And I’m not saying I like you like that. I just know that you listen to me and that you’re loyal. This might be a job to you and you probably think I’m annoying as hell on most days or that I’m a spoiled brat, but I know you actually give a fuck about me. You care. Unlike a lot of other people. And it’s all I...wanted. I like your company. And if you’re gone, I wouldn’t know what to do.” You stare. It’s another first — the first time you’re really seeing him. Taehyung’s not just a troublemaking boy who’s caused you a lot of your childhood gripes and headaches. There’s someone deeper in front of you, someone that’s not a chore or purposely a nuisance, someone human. You stand to your feet. “So...where are we going?” Taehyung grins. “I’ll lead the way.” Jimin is surprised to see the both of you exiting, insisting that he shouldn’t leave when it goes against the rules he was specifically instructed by Seokjin. But Jimin gives in when you convince him otherwise, easily giving up when it’s two pinned against one. He follows behind, ducking away into the stairwell when the police walk past. There are more guards lingering around the halls in case something suspicious were to happen. But luckily, Jimin takes one for the team and diverts their attention while the pair of you slip away. “For the record though, I don’t think you’re an annoying, spoiled brat.” “Really?” Taehyung chirps, turning his head as you walk down the street. Without bodyguards, suits, camera flashes, you’re just normal people. No one would notice that he’s a descendant of one of the most important people in the country. “Only sometimes.” Taehyung melts into another grin, curiosity making his irises glimmer. “Like when?” “When you give the bodyguards hell when I’m gone and you demand I come back.” “It’s a great strategy that has proven to work.” He winks and you scoff. “I’m not a toy, alright? “You’re not. But if you were, you’d be my favourite.” Your eyes roll, not taking it as a compliment and certainly not impressed by the lame pick-up line. “I think you know deep down how childish you are.” Taehyung shrugs. “It’s fun. Why not? Life’s too short to take seriously. You should take that advice for yourself, dumbo. I remember when you were just a wee-child—” “I’m a year older than you—” you interject. He outright ignores you. “—and you wouldn’t even join the kids on the playground. You were reading an instruction manual your dad told you to read and he only gave you that to get you to go away when he was doing work.” You can’t recall the memory, surprised that he does. But based on what you hear, you don’t really want to remember it. “Where are we going exactly, Taehyung?” There’s a sparkle in his eye that makes you want to sigh. “Go-kart racing. Ever been?” “No. And no. Do you even have a driver’s license?” The question is answered when he pulls it out for the teenager who’s working at the center. Your worries are at least eased somewhat when you see him get strapped in with a hard helmet and a proper seat belt. You’d sit beside him just in case something goes wrong, but he told you to get your own kart and wouldn’t give it up. It’s a terribly immature and childish game, but with Taehyung’s excitement, you let loose, allowing yourself to enjoy it. Even if it’s just for a second. The music blares above you. There’s two other adults here at this ungodly hour to enjoy their own fun, but Taehyung’s the loudest and most obnoxious person in the building. He hollers, firing up the atmosphere and his energy is infectious. The boy also ignites your competitive spirit after egging you on and you end up racing against each other. Taehyung turns around often to mock you, sticking out his tongue, and he swears when you overtake him. You start to laugh when he switches strategies and tries to crash into you, doing anything possible as long as you don’t win first place. “Hey! Excuse me!” The teenager is shouting at the rails. “You’re not supposed to crash into each other! This isn’t bumper cars!” “Sorry!” Taehyung yells back, but he’s not in fact sorry when he tries it again. In the moment, you’re reminded of something that you let slip through your mind. He’s not the President. He’s the President’s son. But even then, he’s just a guy — Kim Taehyung, who enjoys simple things, who doesn’t want anything to do with the limelight, who’d rather stay out of the spotlight and in the audience, sitting next to you. “Hey, dumbo!” “What?!” You scream, the roar of the motors and noise of the music too deafening. “I can’t hear you!” “Thank you!” “What?” While you can’t hear him, he screams it again. With all the sincerity he can muster. “Thank you!” Taehyung slams the gas pedal, going as fast as he can to let the wind blow into his clouding eyes, hoping it can dry them up before he starts to cry. Truth be told, Taehyung remembers everything. He remembers every word he said, every little action they did, down to the odor of the abandoned warehouse. More importantly, he remembers you appearing in front of him, staring at him, standing in front of him, extending an arm to help him stand again when he was going out of his mind, scared beyond belief. And he can still remember how his arm wrapped around your shoulders, how you leaned into his tender touch, how his own pulse mysteriously skipped a beat. It’s all still fresh in his mind. But he wishes it lasted longer.

#bts fanfic #bts scenario #taehyung fanfic #taehyung scenario #taehyung fluff #half way through the series!#finally like goddamn

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cienie-isengardu · 3 years

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The Development of Law and Zoro relationship: Wano, Luffy & Zoro Means Troubles…

Somehow the alliance got into Wano without enemy notice. There, Kinemon separated his allies into smaller teams, all with their own task at hand. Surprising, during the little flashback of that moment (chapter 909), Law was not seen when the samurai explained situation to Straw Hats:

Kinemon warned Straw Hats they “must pass yourselves off as locals and quietly, quietly go about your duties”. He gave pirates an individual roles:

➣ Zoro, as ronin, Usopp as street salesman and Robin, as geisha, were supposed to infiltrate capital and gather either informations or allies there

➣ Franky, as an apprentice, worked under carpenter who built Kaido’s mansion, in hopes to gain plans of enemy fortress, so the alliance could learn its arrangement before the raid.

➣ Law and Heart Pirates (as far as we were shown at that moment) stayed with samurais in the ruins of the Oden Castle in Kuri region and were stealing food and water from the enemy.

Chapter 918 notes Law was aware about Zoro’s role, however when and how he was informed is not clear. The lack of one of alliance leaders during the meeting between Kinemon and Straw Hats raises questions such as why Trafalgar wasn’t present and did samurai decide to keep knowledge about Zoro, Robin, Franky and Usopp and their tasks to themselves? On one hand, it makes sense. Secrecy was important to secure their plan as best as possible - a matter that will play a bigger role in the upcoming chapters; the less people knew what Straw Hats would be doing, the better chance to avoid information leak. But at the same time, if Law was informed about at least Zoro’s job, why not let him take part in the meeting? Unless he did learn about Zoro’s task after Pirate Hunter became an infamous wanted man, but about that more in a moment.

We may only wonder why Kinemon decided to keep Heart Pirates with himself, instead of sending them straight away undercover like Straw Hats. There are few reasons that could have influenced his decision:

➣ Law’s powers were useful for stealth and stealing.

➣ The two Supernovas serving Kaido - Hawkins Basil and X-Drake - actually came from North Blue, the same as Trafalgar. How well they knew each other is up to debate, but since all three went to the Grand Line at the same time, it makes sense they at least had some basic knowledge about each other. Which may be a reason why Law stayed with Kinemon instead of playing a similar role to Zoro.

➣ Another possibility is that Straw Hats could be simply better at pretending to be locals and/or had needed skills. In case of Zoro, the little details presented in manga and SBS suggest he grew up influenced by samurai culture due to his (still not explored) connection to the Shimetsuki clan.

Unfortunately, Zoro - working under the name of Zorojuurou - couldn’t continue his mission, because he killed a corrupt magistrate and most likely other samurais present at that time, thus became an outlaw. Since the knowledge about “murderous ronin” was spread in the whole country, it may explain why (how) Law learned about Zoro’s secret mission.

Wandering through the wasteland, Zoro met Luffy who finally arrived in Wano.

Luffy barely got to Kaido’s country and he already befriended a local little girl, Tama, who due to poisoned water, fell ill. Straw Hat decided to take her to the nearest village, to seek help. On his way, he met Zoro who at the same time just saved Tsuru (another native person) from bad guys. Soon after that both got into a fight with Basil Hawkins and the Beast Pirates.

Once they managed to run away from pursuit and got into the relatively safe Okobore Town, Straw Hats were noticed by Bepo, Sachi and Penguin, who observed the area from a nearby mountain on which Oden Castle was built.The mentioned Heart Pirates were worried that Straw Hats could start some troubles (chapter 913).

In the end, Heart Pirates decided to not interfere… at least until they saw that Zoro and Luffy were heading into Bakura Town controlled by Kaido’s men and immediately notified Law (chapter 914).

↪ Law was chilling out lying on the ground. It seems he likes resting (or maybe napping?) in his free time, what was already seen before time-skip, when Trafalgar lied on Polar Tang’s deck, using Bepo as a pillow. Maybe Law has problems with irregular sleep (or lack therefore) and/or using Ope Ope no Mi exhausted him so much that, like Zoro, he needs to regenerate his energy by napping/lying down?

↪ The same as Zoro, Law was surprised by Luffy’s presence in Wano but the similarity ends there. Zoro was delighted when he met Luffy and although he passed on the Kinemon’s warning, he wasn’t much bothered by how they together caused new trouble for the alliance. In contrast, Law wasn’t happy at all. He literally switched from chilling out into full stress/angry mode in less than a few seconds.

↪ Law immediately and correctly assumed Luffy was going to wreck the havoc. It seems the previous experiences gained in Dressrosa have already borne fruit: Luffy and Zoro together, in enemy land, were bad news.

↪ The most surprising thing about Law’s reaction is how he called both Luffy and Zoro as “those idiots”. Mainly because at first he was solely angry at Luffy and the prospect of him ruining the plan and then included Zoro as the potential danger. Which in perspective wasn't an irrational reaction and again, Dressrosa proved these two can’t be trusted with following any plan or common sense. Yet at the same time this sharp reaction gives the vibe that Law was for some reason angry at Roronoa (about that more soon). What contrasts with the good relationship they had during the previous arc.

Law wanted to minimize potential damage done by Luffy and Zoro but was delayed by Bepo, who suddenly felt sick due to eating fish from a poisoned river (chapter 916).

↪ Law here was fully aware of poisoned food and water, he even warned his crew about it. Surprising, Zoro didn’t have any idea about the ecological situation of Wano and both men spent the same amount of time in this country. Either Zoro did not listen to the warning of others OR that matter comes after he left Kinemon’s hideout. In case of latter, it may suggest there was little to no contact between Zoro and other members of the alliance once he became a wanted man. To be fair, Kinemon himself got sick after eating poisoned food, so the revelation about poison could not be known before Straw Hats went undercover.

↪ Another little detail, Bepo felt sick after eating poisoned fish. Zoro, who ate poisoned meat most likely for days, got only some stomach ache, but nothing to stop him from fighting. Law’s tolerance for such poison is unknown, mainly because Ope Ope no Mi would help him remove the toxin from body and, in contrast to Zoro and Bepo, he has knowledge and common sense to not eat poisoned things.

↪ Also, apparently Law has a soft spot for Bepo, the only animal crewmember - another trait he shares with Zoro who himself has a soft spot for Chopper. Trafalgar let Bepo’s sickness delay him when the situation was dire, knowing full well leaving Luffy and Zoro unsupervised for too long was asking for big trouble.

Once his crew member noted that Basil Hawkins was heading to Bakura Town and there already was a fire, Law was pretty shocked by the disturbing change of events.

Despite the pledging of Bepo(?) to not leave him behind, Law finally rushed into town. He didn’t have a clue what was really happening there but attacked the just arrived Hawkins in order to eliminate the threat. As in, eliminate anyone who could recognize him or Straw Hats (chapter 917).

➽ Law actually tried to be sneaky and covered his head with special headgear/straw hat to hide his identity. What suggests he was aware that Basil may recognize him and Straw Hat Supernovas. At the same time, Law is, well, really bad at playing undercover. On Dressrosa he wore jacked with CORAZON on his back alluding to late Donquixote Rosinante but that fight was personal matter and most likely wanted Doffy to know what the fight was all about. In Wano, he didn’t have that excuse; the fight with Kaido wasn’t his personal quest for vendetta. And yet Law’s idea of hiding his own identity was wearing a kimono with his Jolly Roger on it. Very smart. What may support the theory why Kinemon kept him with himself rather than sending undercover. Law is just bad at this gig and thinking more about it, I don’t remember any time when Trafalgar even bothered to try speak like people of Wano - something that Zoro and Luffy actually have adopted to some extent.

To take down another Supernova, Law needed using Ope Ope no Mi. The characteristic power and tattoos very soon betrayed his true identity. Law planned to take down Basil, so the man couldn’t report to Kaido about the Heart-Straw Hat pirate alliance. At the same time, Law put faith in Roronoa who knew the plan that he “wouldn’t be stupid enough to let Holdem get crushed” (chapter 918). What implies that despite referring to Zoro as the “idiot” and general pessimistic attitude, Law still assumed Zoro’s presence would be enough to stop Luffy before the worst could happen.

➽ Once again, Law was addressing Zoro as “Roronoa”,instead by his name. Which departs from information published in SBS vol. 72 explaining what Law calls the various members of Straw Hat crew. Back then, Zoro and Nami were the only two allies he called by first name instead of surname or nickname:

In the case of Nami (whose surname was never revealed), it makes sense to use her given name yet Zoro was the only one male ally Law addressed in such a way. Even Luffy, who from a narrative standpoint is the closest person to Trafalgar, is constantly called Straw Hat-ya. Why the special approach to Zoro and why change it right now? The most likely reason for the switch of speaking pattern was Law’s anger (but about that more in next chapter). Anyway, an interesting detail, how Law’s way to call Zoro is related to his mood and/or stress level.

➽ Law proved to be good tactician, but at the same it seems he always assume the worst scenario to happen. Which I guess is one of the main reasons Trafalgar is always so stressed? In contrast, Zoro usually takes bad news calmly - he doesn’t like them, but he has a habit of leaving things to luck/fate instead of overthinking all possible solutions and outcomes. The difference in planning (or lack therefore) could make Zoro and Law clash with each other albeit so far, we saw little to nothing in that regard.

Sadly for Law, Zoro did not stop Luffy from beating Holdem. He wasn’t happy that Luffy did it, but didn’t regret it either. Law, on other hand, was angry and/or stressed by the situation, especially when Basil admitted he already met Straw Hats.

➽ Again, Law thought about Luffy and Zoro as “those idiots”. To be fair, he had a good reason to be angry because of course, Straw Hats wrecked havoc that was reported to Jack - the Beast Pirate responsible for poisoning Mink on Zou - and in result, exposed alliance presence in Wano.

The fight between Law and Basil was then unexpectedly stopped by a speeding cart of stolen food. Stolen by no one other than Zoro and befriended samurai Kiku. Roronoa was nice enough to call the fighting men to get out of their way… once again, Law was shocked by the turn of events.

About that more in next chapter: ...and Law Is Not Happy About That

#one piece #roronoa zoro #trafalgar law #monkey d. luffy #strawhats #The development of Law’s relationship with Zoro #zoro & law #law & zoro #wano arc #i was sad that zoro and law were (again) separated #but it is nice to see law thinking about zoro #even if just to call him and luffy an idiots XD #i hate tumblr limit that doesn't allow me to write a proper long chapter #oh well somehow i will manage... maybe #zoro and luffy can't be trusted with following plan #law seems to be better than them but alas he is bad at hiding his true self as well #i mean the jolly roger on kimono? really?

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pancakebutton · 4 years

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Teacher X Reader Part IV

Summary: Miss Crossland (obviously) doesn’t get off easy after being caught hitting you and you’re comforted by the one and only. Who is this mysterious man who also asks you on a date? Will you comply?

Warnings: *Slightly Abusive* language in the beginning warning, Foul Language, Sexual Content

Word Count: 2,698

Genre: Romance, Slice of Life, Sexual, Series.

Pairing: Insert Teacher X Reader

A/N: (F/H/P) is favorite hockey player (if you have one if not just replace it with your last name). And (T/NN) means teacher’s nickname.

Masterlist

She slapped me.

My eyes went wide as tears finally began to pool. I was now sitting on the floor, looking up at Miss Crossland who was hovering above me with that same damn smirk on her face. I cover my head with my arms as a shield and cry, “please don’t hurt me.” But I knew no one could hear me as everyone had gone home since it was the end of the day.

“That’s what you get you ungrateful bitch!”

She lurched forward and grabbed a fistful of my hair, I waited for another hit...but it never came.

I open my eyes and see my hero. Matt. He yanked Miss Crossland by the arm away from me and held her as she struggled. I scramble backwards in an attempt to get further away from her, only to bump into something. I look up and suddenly I’m embraced. I didn’t know what was happening behind me since I was too busy crying into the chest of this stranger, but I noticed the room was quiet and we were alone.

Whoever it was began to rub my back and finally spoke, “it’s fine (Y/n) I’m here, there’s nothing to be afraid of anymore.”

It was (T/C).

I then felt a wave of safety wash over me and I cried even harder. It’s all I could think of doing.

After a few minutes, I calmed down and finally looked up at him.

“Don’t worry beautiful, Miss Crossland was taken away by Matt and principal Dubois and she was handed over to the police. Matt left his phone recording in the room so there is evidence and you won’t have to deal with her ever again.”

I clutched onto him like he was my lifeline.

“Thank you Mr. (T/C).”

“Of course, anything for you. Do you want me to take you home?”

I let go of him, surprised, I looked up at him to see his smile that melted all my worries away.

“Are you sure sir? Can’t you get in trouble for that?”

“I think taking you home for your safety is the last thing they’ll consider troublesome after this whole predicament.”

He then helped me up and examined my face.

“Damn she really left one hell of a mark on ya.”

“Don’t I need to talk to the police or something to make a statement?”

“If you’d like we can stop by and have them take note of that bruise on your cheek as it can be used as evidence.”

I touched my left cheek to find it was indeed tender and probably bruised. I nodded in agreement and (T/C) took my stuff and we walked to the front office.

After about a half hour of questioning and them taking pictures of my face and arms, they finally let us leave. Usually I drive, but since my parents took the car for work, I told the police I would drive myself so they wouldn’t have to escort me and let me go with Mr. (T/C). After we turned the corner, (T/C) looked down at me and I looked back up, our eyes locking for a few seconds. He coughed, “your backpack is heavy, are your hands the same way?”

I smiled and furrowed my eyebrows in confusion only for him to answer the questions he knew I had.

“Mind if I hold them for you?”

It took a minute to understand what he was getting at, but when it came I blushed profusely and nodded. He quickly looked around to make sure we were alone and took my hand. After turning down a few more hallways, we passed through the back door, and arrived at his nice ass giant white truck.

He opened the door for me and stood close to make sure I got in alright so he could shut the door. I stepped onto the bottom bar and slipped, but felt a pair of firm hands steady me by my ass. My blush deepens and so does Mr. (T/C)’s as he awkwardly chuckles and let’s me go.

“S-sorry (Y/n).”

“It’s fine (T/C).”

And with that I sat down. He closed the door, got on his side, and started the truck and we were off.

After a long silent drive, he eventually spoke up, “you can call me (T/n) you know.” I smile and laugh, “(T/n)? It’s weird calling you that I’m so used to your cool last name haha.” He gave me a lazy but sweet smile in return.

“But only when we’re not in school alright.”

“And when will I be seeing you outside of school hm (T/n)?”

In a split second he bashfully looked down then back at the road, us approaching my home.

“Well, do the leafs play tomorrow?”

“Why yes they do, why do you ask?”

“So many questions from you huh? Well if you’d like, you can come over to my place and watch it with me.”

I was taken aback. We come to a stop and I grab my stuff. I rest my hand on his and softly smile, our eyes meet and I give him my answer.

“I’d love to sir.”

He pulls out his phone and we exchange numbers. As I’m getting out he responds with, “see you at seven then beautiful.”

I squeal internally and could only nod. I close the door and make my way up my porch, once at my front door, I turn back and wink at him before heading inside.

God she was so perfect.

My heart was pounding in my chest as she finally closed the door behind her. I was so scared she’d reject me or worse, but she welcomed me with open arms. I found my fingers tapping along to the radio music on my way home. Once there, I immediately began cleaning everything and went grocery shopping so I could impress her with my cooking skills.

After quite the eventful day, as I drifted off to sleep, I dreamed up every scenario in my head. Some dirtier than others of course, I’m a man don’t blame me! And I fell asleep dreaming about her in my arms, hoping she was doing the same.

The next day, when her class came to an end, she caught my eye as she was walking out and I returned her wink she gave me yesterday. I could tell my coworkers observing the skip in my step, but I didn’t care. Today was my date with (Y/n) and no one could ruin it, especially with Madeline gone. Matt sped walked into my classroom at the end of school bursting with questions.

“How did it go? Did she say yes? Did you use the pickup lines I gave you?!”

“Yes, yes, and yes. She’s coming over to my house to watch the game at seven.”

He fist pumped, making me laugh.

“Hell yes dude! This is perfect, now we can move onto phase two! Making her your girlfriend!”

It felt like my smile couldn’t get any bigger because of him.

“Gosh, how could I ever repay you Matt?”

“You already have Mr. (T/C). You gave me an A, didn’t get me kicked off the hockey team, and you’re making (Y/n) happy. That’s all I could ever ask for.”

I pat him on the back as I felt as if my heart was gonna burst.

“Thanks kid. Now I need some advice, do you think spaghetti is a good first date dinner? Or should I go with steak?”

Matt chuckled, “I’m sure whatever you make she will love. As long as you put effort into it and it doesn’t make her sick.”

He laughs and I roll my eyes, “I’m not that bad Matt geez…do you think I should make a move on her or?”

“I don’t think you should yet, no offense but I don’t think she sees this as a date quite yet though I know she hopes it is. This is more of coaxing her into liking you more, learning more about you, and having her feelings for you grow until she’s yours.”

I nod, “yeah good thinking Matt, glad to see you can use it somewhere” I joke.

“Hey! I’m street smart not book smart ya nerd.”

We both laughed and parted ways, I now had about two hours before she came over so I had to prepare myself and dinner.

I decided to make spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner and to wear my ‘Matthews’ jersey to keep it casual knowing she’d be wearing her own. I showered, got dressed, and began dinner and before I even knew it, seven arrived. (Y/n) knocked a few minutes after seven and I swiftly, but not too swiftly, opened the door. She of course came in her (F/H/P) jersey, but she still looked stunning with her hair done and a little bit of makeup and perfume.

“(Y/n)! Hey come in come in.”

She gave me a warm smile, stepped in, placed her bag by the door, and took off her shoes.

“(T/n)! Thanks for having me over.”

“Oh and of course always a little late huh Miss Maine?”

Her smile then turned playful.

“Oh shush come on the game is about to start!”

She then grabbed my hand and led me over to the couch, but before I sat, I grabbed us some drinks.

I hand one to her, followed by a, “thanks” and I flip to the channel it was on. It was in the middle of the American anthem, as they were playing the Washington Capitals, and she immediately stood, causing me to laugh.

“Come on (T/C) you gotta stand for our country!”

We both laughed and I stood to entertain her and it was over. The Canadian anthem starts and she of course sings (screams) along making me laugh harder. I had barely done anything and it was already going great.

The game starts and ten minutes in the leafs score causing us to both jump up in cheer, her more enthusiastic than me. The second period came and I grabbed some plates with food on it and handed it to her.

“Thanks (T/NN), and you have a beautiful house by the way.”

She dug into the food and hummed in enjoyment a little too loudly making me smile.

“Of course. And thank you, it’s almost as beautiful as you.” I wink, causing her to blush deeply.

She excused herself to the bathroom, but five minutes later when she returned, she sat next to me rather than her old spot on the other couch.

“So (T/NN), have you ever been to a game?” She asks.

“Yeah I’ve been to a bunch of games, every time we go on the Washington trip me and the other teachers sneak out to a game. What about you?”

“I’ve only been to a few, but I go when I can. I should have assumed you were a chaperone of that trip seeing as you are a government teacher.”

We both laughed and the commentators came back on, signaling the start of the second period.

“Why didn’t you sign up to go? I thought you loved traveling? Your water bottle is filled with stickers from all over the place.”

Way to go (T/n) now you sound creepy.

“Oh, well now I would have loved to go if I had known there was gonna be a cute guy on the trip.”

My breath catches in my throat.

Did she just flirt with me?

I realized this had been the first time she had and my eyes quickly darted away from hers. I was at a loss of words, “w-w-well I’m sure Mr. Macmara would still let you go if you asked him. He’s a pretty chill guy after all.” She simply smiles, unaware of what her words did to me.

“Oh yeah? Cool then I’ll totally come!”

The puck drop pulled us from our conversation. I was too engrossed in the game to realize that (Y/n) had slowly gotten closer to the point where she was right up against me.

Then of course to ruin the moment, Zach Hymen rips a nice wrist shot that ends up in the back of the net, causing her to stand enthusiastically.

“Yeah that’s Hymie for ya! What a guy!”

I chuckle, too tired to stand with her but still matching her excitement. She sat, but this time she pushed herself onto me, resting her head on my shoulder.

The third period comes and goes and soon the game was over. We both stood and I walked her to the door while she talked my ear off about how amazing Mitch Marner was after he scored in overtime. I walk her to the door and she turns to me, “thank you for letting me come over (T/N) I had a wonderful time.”

“Of course, if you’d like, would you wanna go on a picnic under the stars with me at Frontenac Park this Friday? It’ll be dark so you won’t have to worry about anyone seeing us.”

She smiled sweetly, “yes I would love that (T/N), well I’ll see you Friday then goodnight.”

Then she leaned up and kissed me on the cheek making both our faces flush pink. She quickly turned and left clearly nervous about what she had just done. I close the door and instinctively my hand reaches up where she had kissed me.

She really does return my feelings.

It felt like my chest was going to explode with how fast my heart was pounding. And my cheeks began to hurt as I noticed I was smiling like an idiot all this time, but I couldn’t help it. She made me this way.

I rummage through my purse to immediately grab my keys to my car. I fumble with them, of course, as my hands shook from the embarrassing moment I had just caused. I hoped he wasn’t watching me through his window or something to make sure I left safely but it’s all my mind thought of. I unlock the door, hop in, start it, and sped off back home. I had told my parents I had gone to Mo’s house for a bit, knowing she’d cover for me, but I hated lying to them like they could see right through me.

My phone goes off, I see it’s from Mo and answer it, putting it on speaker.

“Hello?”

“So you gonna tell me why if your parents called to tell them you were here?”

“Okay okay. But you can’t make fun of me or tell anyone because this means a lot to me, understand?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die.”

I heard what sounded like something dropping on her end followed by a ‘shush’.

“What was that? Are you okay?”

She sounded a bit frantic but playful, “oh it’s nothing, go on.”

“Okaaaayy, so you know how Mr. (T/C) is my favorite teacher?”

“Yeeeeesss, whyyyyyy?”

“Well...he asked me to come over to his house to watch the Leafs vs Caps game and I might have kissed him on the cheek before I left.”

She squealed, “Oh my gosh (Y/N) I’m so happy for you! Oh and don’t be mad but Matt was in the room when you said that.”

I pause, “...wait why is Matt at your place? Ooooooooo I know why!”

“Yeah yeah Matt asked me to be his girlfriend no big deal.”

I then hear a “no big deal?” In the background knowing it was Matt.

I laugh, “oh and he might have asked me out on an actual date.”

I then hear two squeals over the phone.

“What makes this an actual date?” Matt asked.

“Well we’re going on a picnic under the stars this Friday so that seems more romantic than watching a hockey game dontcha think?”

“Omg (Y/N) you HAVE to come over and get ready with me!” Morgan said, taking her phone back. I laugh, “fine, but only if you keep vouching for me.”

“Deal.”

#teacher #teacher x reader #teacher x student

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forestcump · 4 years

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Gentrification and The Last Black Man In San Francisco

Heres a blog I wrote lol

Joe Talbot’s The Last Black Man in San Francisco is a tale told of the heartbreaking wave of culture-annihilating gentrification that has hit one of America’s iconic metropoles. It’s sloping streets, angular row houses, and quirky residents have made it a place of myth emboldened further by its key role in radical social movements such as the Anti-War Movement, The Black Panther Party, etc. But, the story Talbot tells doesn't reflect on the history known by most (white) Americans. Instead, he tells the story of the black man in San Francisco and all of the culture that gentrification is, successfully, trying to wipe away.

The film’s protagonist, Jimmie Failes IV, and his best friend, Montgomery Allen, take it upon themselves to maintain the house that Jimmie grew up in. The rub of the whole thing though is that neither Mont or Jimmie live there, in fact, this older Yuppie (stands for: Young, Urban Professional) couple are the owners of the property. In one of the first scenes, Jimmie is repainting the window sill in the front of the house and the woman who owns the house threatens to call the police, which is quickly met by her apologetic husband. This struck me as funny because it perfectly represents both sides of the well-meaning, affluent, white person that have become the principal population group in the city. On one side, these new folks are tired of locals giving them shit and not caring about them or their cool publishing jobs; and on the other they won’t call the cops to avoid the risk of being “like” other White people. Although humorous, this scene is a haunting reminder to viewers who are themselves victims of gentrification that this is what the final stages of the process look like. Neighborhoods once teeming with ethnic influence, devoid of the blandness of White America, have now been transformed into pricey and bland versions of the suburbs where these damn people come from.

The role of race is also very present in this film as it does a great job establishing the symbolic gravity that happens whenever Jimmie or Mont are on the screen. This becomes especially clear when the film returns to where Jimmie and Mont actually live, which is the far-off borough of Bayview-Hunters Point. This area plays just as key a role as the decadent Victorian house that Jimmie longs for, as it establishes the result of when a cities inhabitants are priced out of not just their homes but their impact on the cities culture. In this part of the map, there are a group of local men who spend their days busting the balls of any and everybody that come their way. This group acts as Greek Chorus which provides commentary and atmosphere to scenes where Jimmie and Mont seem to be singularly focused on the old Victorian. Another character that stood out to me was a Preacher who stands on a milk crate and preaches to these men, and anybody walking past, about the insane levels of inequality that have pushed Black people so far from the city. In one scene, the Preacher is railing against this mysterious cohort of men wearing hazmat suits cleaning some sort of chemical spill in the Bay right behind where the Preacher is standing. “Why are they wearing suits and we’re not? What are they not telling us?” he roars atop his milk crate to the attention of, uh, nobody that’s listening.

The imagery of this movie, which includes the Chorus and The Preacher, speak to the San Francisco that is fading away fast. Another image that stands out is a scene where Jimmie is waiting at a bus stop next to a nudist and they are both accosted by a party bus full of inebriated Yuppies. They roar and cackle at the sight of the nudist and proclaim him “the fuckin’ man!”, but fail to realize they’re role in the extermination of people like the nudist. Jimmie and this nude man sit silently in shared exhaustion of this wave of people storming they’re city, despite their best efforts to “be cool”, the city is dying with each yoga studio and salad bar that opens.

Although my experience as a straight, white man has no comparison to the struggles of POC and LGBTQIA+ communities in this country, I do share the same feeling of being exiled from your own home. I grew up in Hoboken, New Jersey which has now turned into a hot bed for gentrifiers who desire to work in New York. This is yet another iconic American metropole that has had it’s soul stamped out by the wave of suburbanites who feel it is their right to claim the city as their own. This is seen, mostly, in the cost of housing and cost of living which has skyrocketed as a result of the wave of private equity money that flooded the city and whose tentacles have reached nearly every industry you could imagine. Hoboken was once a working class town that had its fair share of racial tension, as any town in this country, but it always remained genuinely Hoboken, until the real estate developers came. Wharfs and warehouses that once played a key role in the American economy were demolished and turned into apartment complexes. This obviously brought more money into the community, but soon the locals that made Hoboken were being pushed out further and further. For instance, my mother and I lived in one apartment for my entire childhood until the end of middle school but the rent got raised and we were forced to move to Jersey City. In high school, I spent most of my free time in Hoboken because that’s where my friends were but everytime the party was over and my friends walked back to their childhood homes, I had to walk across the city to the train station to get back to my new home. I felt displaced and lonely for most of my high school days as I grappled with the harsh realities of gentrification and the brutality of capitalism. It also did not help that my mother was laid off from her job in 2009 and was essentially job-less for five years.

My childhood home was sold to a young couple from somewhere that they turned into some trendy little spot for them to live for the time being. No care was given to the memories I made there or the progress that my mother made as a single mom raising a child in this area, just a cold “Sorry, thanks for cleaning it before you left”. The coldness of gentrification is the most galling result of this phenomenon. The young people move in and immediately lust for making their mark; whether it be calling the police or 311 on locals loitering on the streets, or building breweries in old school buildings, etc. Business' that I grew up walking by every day became boarded up and replaced with hair salons and boutiques that were going to close in six months anyway. But, despite the spirit that lives in places like Hoboken, San Francisco, New York, or Boston; money always seems to win.

Watching “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” gave me a strange sense of hope because it showed me how to defend your home, even when the odds are terribly stacked against you. There was a scene at the end of the movie where Jimmie Failes is sitting on the bus and overhears these two Yuppie women shitting on San Francisco and talking about much they “hate it here”. Jimmie turns to them and tells them “you don't get to hate it unless you love it”, which doesn’t make an impact on the women, but it made an impact on me and many others who have seen the movie. Hearing transplants bitch and moan about how shitty the New York subway is or complaining about the cat that lives in the bodega makes me laugh when it used to make me sad, because I know that the city has won. What I mean by that, is that when you hear Yuppies complain about the community they’ve gentrified it's clear that they’ve failed to make “the city their own” and have succumbed to the community that was already there. Cities are magical places that are the center for so many things, but what truly makes them magical are the people that built them, whether it be physically or spiritually. So, I hope to embody the spirit of Jimmie and Mont as fierce defenders of their homes even when it doesnt even seem worth it to fight for it anymore.

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