#all of those kids helping one another

[backjustforberena]

OPERATION: PROTECT ALL THE GRANDBABIES!!

#rhaenys targaryen #jacerys velaryon #lucerys valeryon #rhaena targaryen #baela targaryen #corlys velaryon #rhaenys x corlys #house of the dragon #hotdedit #my gifs #i mean it's just ALL ABOUT THE HAND PLACEMENTS #little luke holding onto rhaenys's hand in the third gif #corlys's hand on jace's back as he goes to his mum #all of those kids helping one another #rhaena getting in the huddle so rhaenys has her arms around ALL THE KIDS #jace holding onto rhaenys's arm as she moves them all backwards #third gif: rhaenys just touching jace's shoulder as it's all she can reach #and then fourth gif of her just holding those girls right to her #i love it #WHO SAYS SHE DOESN'T LOVE ALL HER GRANDBABIES?!

[pinkysberg]

hey haha just thinking of sadie and abigail making a life pact immediately after being told john had died and being sent off. sadie vowing to stay by abigail, that she won't leave her until abigail says. and abigail can't even think straight, she's distraught but she remembers holding sadie as a stranger in colter, she remembers sitting with her in horseshoe overlook while she mourned jake. so she agrees. and they make plans then and there, where will they go, how will they survive.

then john shows up and ruins everything ugh

#kidding abt the last part #BUT CAN U IMAGINE #i think abt it ALL the time #what was abigail thinking #what was going to be the plan #can't help but feel those two have an unbreakable bond #theyd do anything for one another #sadigail #thinky

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

actually I think the thing about being a youth leader is that 25% of it is teaching about God, 25% is playing fun games, and more than that though 50% of it is making a safe space for kids to be. not to try and make them believe, not so they'll be open or anything. just. a 100% no stakes, safe place for them to just BE. whatever else comes after that. and I don't just mean physically safe, two-adults-in-the-room-at-all-times, et cetera. I mean emotionally safe. I mean not hitting them over the head with scripture, not trying to help them feel better or any particular way. just... a no-judgment, emotionally safe place to exist as kids.

#I'm convinced that my time on Tumblr helps me with this tbh. idk how to explain it but it does #I had one kid this weekend really overtired and stressed out just uncontrollably crying and like. the goal there #is not to make them feel better or stop crying. the goal is to be a safe person for them to feel those things with #does that make sense??? #another one doesn't believe in God at all but told me about some really heavy stuff and like. the goal isn't to start #talking their ear off about Jesus it's just to be a safe place for them to come to. this kid didn't want prayer during ministry time #but I did casually tell them at the end of our conversation that I would be praying for them anyway. you have to keep it chill #and not put pressure on them yknow??? they're kids #idk. #adventures in youth group #anyway pray for a few kids in particular I won't share any more detail than I did here but some stuff got shaken loose for sure #Lu rambles

[padfootastic]

Tell us more about sugar daddy James pls 😏

sadie <3

so—this one comes wholesale from a random post i made a while back about sugar daddy james with a huge age gap b/w him and sirius. i’m talking, businessman james who comes into contact with sirius who’s just run away from home and is on the verge of homelessness. it’s about james being nice and kindhearted, offering sirius a meal which somehow turns into a place to stay which somehow turns into the spending a lot of time bonding with each other.

it’s about a little shit sirius who’s deliberately trying to seduce this saint of a man who refuses to look at him twice (spoiler: it’s not because james doesn’t want, it’s because he thinks it’s unethical. sirius is here to put all those worries to rest). just. a lot of back and forth, pushing and pulling, and getting together moments.

at least, that’s how i’d want it done lol

#sirius black #james potter #prongsfoot #this is another one of those where i started writing and lost steam lmao #so i’ve mainly just got bullet points #along with the beginnings of the first scene #where it’s basically james gets into his car and the chauffeur almost runs over sirius #who appears out of nowhere in the middle of the road #and james is so worried and apologetic that he offers to help him out #and realises this kid is starving and hasn’t taken a bath in ages or sumn #so offers his home temporarily #and once sirius is all pink from a hot shower and eating a meal james made himself—j realises he’s much younger than he initially thought #and is even more worried now #and sirius basically. low-key manipulates the situation to get a free pass into his home lol #but not as evil. it’s all quite innocent and wholesome #but yes. that’s the basic idea #but i can picture the vibes in this!! It’s a bit of long suffering tortured james #and a minx sirius who’s used to people admiring his body and doesn’t know how to react now that it’s not #and it’s them both coming together to help each other <3 #also ofc the utter filth of power imbalances and age gaps and sugar daddy/baby dynamics <333 #pen’s writing #pen’s asks

[talaricula]

a rly underrated thing about crazy ex girlfriend imo is that it's one of the rare shows i know of that really spends time on exploring what the process of having children is like for queer ppl/for those who go about it "non-normatively". it's not even rly a main storyline but i still find it rly well-handled and touching.

#idk i feel like in the general consciousness (deciding to) having kids as a queer person is either treated as impossible #(which is true to an extent in some jurisdictions tbf - at least if you want the legal status of parents) #or is imo way oversimplified #like yeah most ppl know ivf is A Fucking Process but many ppl still seem to underestimate iui for example #or there's an assumption that all couples with no sperm between them choose to use a sperm bank and that that process is easy #and doesn't require any reflection (which it isn't and it does) #or that if you choose to go with a known donor finding a donor is an easy process (which it also rly isn't) #or for couples where no one can get pregnant that surrogacy goes without saying (in addition to the fact that surrogacy is banned #in Many Places where other MAR techniques aren't #finding a surrogate is also orders of magnitude more difficult than finding a gamete donor) #or that adoption is an obvious solution - idk if those ppl know any gay couples who are trying to adopt but i do #they've been in the process for SIX psychologically excruciating years and it will likely be another year before they actually have a child #and that's for white college-educated materially comfortable ppl #and idk but cxg does a rly good job with the storyline - from Darryl and White Josh's disagreement about whether to have kids #to Darryl's decision to have a kid alone #to him asking Heather and Rebecca for help with that process #to the fact that Heather and Rebecca's feelings about Hebecca are v realistic and nuanced atm #not at all maternal bc that's never what they wanted or planned for (being a mother to this child) but also not indifferent #for example the 'hello nice to meet you' reprise - i legit think that's the only time i've ever seen a known donor's attitude and feelings #about the child they helped create but in no way consider 'theirs' being explored. even in thirty seconds. #or even just the fact that Darryl is a lawyer and requests help from both a gamete donor and a gestational carrier - yes! #as far as i understand in the us 'surrogacy' (one person being pregnant with their own ovule) gives the pregnant person legal parental stat #and thus requires giving up those rights and sometimes adoption after birth #while 'splitting things up' between a donor and a carrier also cuts through that 'biological' link for the purposes of legal recognition #i might be wrong in my understanding of this but if not it's cool to see it handled realistically including wrt how the legal consequences #influences decisions about which choices you make #reproduction cw #children cw #adoption cw

[welcometoteyvat]

the last part of arlecchino's character short is giving bsd atsushi's orphanage director but i dont know how to feel about that

#basically this orphanage director was needlessly cruel to him supposedly to make at.sushi hate him so much that he'd be motivated #to live on because of spite and anger (iirc at least). all it really did was give him crippling self worth issues but like #when he finds out about the death of the director and the truth of what happened all those years he becomes kinda mired in conflicting feel #feelings etc. which makes the whole thing interesting but i dont know whether that kind of story would be good for arle #idk how much genuine caring i want her to display. bc that orphanage director really thought he was doing the best course of action lol #also on the other hand. this director's story is there because u're supposed to care about at.sushi，whom it affected，and not the director h #himself. so idk whether a similar gimmick would be good for arle. well anyways we'll see #on another note nobody has made this joke under the youtube video and i'm very surprised and impressed #but on bilibili: you can add like rolling comments on top of the video itself and when the blonde kid in rags shows up at the end #the ENTIRE SCREEN blows up with 'kakavasha is that you????' comments. help lmao #people have one braincell and it's hsr crossover #personally if aventurine came into genshin i would drop kick him into the next universe i just dont care for him as a character but whateve #ramblings! #arlecchino #genshin impact #NO MORE THOUGHTS. finals jail. bye

[ohitslen]

Working with kids is the best thing ever because they will just do or say literally anything and never elaborate on it, they just do stuff, once they are done they leave, or sometimes they aren’t even done with whatever they are doing and STILL leave

There’s no beginning or end with kids, things just kinda happen, you’re just there to witness whatever they are up to and maybe prevent them from killing themselves or getting hurt, be their assistant, and that’s about it

In conclusion, I love kids and I don’t trust anyone who genuinely dislikes them that’s all

#do I love kids? yeah. do I want kids? hell no those are two very different things that don’t need to coexist #I Can only be with them for so long before I want to #cry and curl into a ball from all the noise and senseless things without a pattern they do #they unnerve me in a way kids just can. if you’ve worked with them you understand #they can be little shits for sure but they are also some of the purest out there #yeah I remember never liking kids since I was little but never in the sense of hating them #they just weren’t as interesting to me or were too noisy but still liked them for who they were #my point still stands strong until today #lenssi rambles #aaah it reminds me abt something that happened in my workplace #there was one girl who was making a castle and used me as her helper. another girl came by and took the pieces from the other girls’ castle #she just stared at her. exhaled & said ‘okay.that’s fine’ and left me standing with blocks in my hands #it was so funny because she just said to me help me. I did. and then left. No hi no bye just did her thing and left me by the shore

[ivyithink]

I wish I had a nice monster-related quote or something to put here, but instead I’ll just recommend “for the departed”, “villainous thing” and “godspeed” all by shayfer james, ‘cause they’re a vibe for this AND great songs

this piece is also one for cringetober 2023! (some info here!)

the prompt: day 31 - halloween! honestly though, this was just an excuse to finally do at least something for the idea that’s been living in my head for a looooooong time…

#my art #the last kingdom #tlk #tlk uhtred #tlk alfred #cringetober 2023 #there’s another character for this au I wanna draw soooooo badly #‘cause The Vision (tm) would not be complete without them #time i just need some time to get to that #but look at these dramatic hoes #‘hey op what’s up with their outfits?? what time period is it???’ who cares #probably our time and they are just stupid #and by they I mean alfred ‘cause uhtred has a sensible t shirt and jacket on #no but literally this stupidity would be like the plot of hotel transylvania except no one at all is having a good time building a home for #all the wretched souls of creatures of the night; alfred’s too busy trying to sneak into churches without bursting into flames; he is #centuries into bemoaning the fact that god hates him now and what is even THE POINT in circumstances like that; meanwhile uhtred is just #gathering more and more critters around himself just because he’s uhtred and he has NOWHERE TO FUCKING PUT THEM??? he’s collecting the found #family and has like a dozen kids around his neck AND WOULDN’T IT BE NICE IF THEY ALL HAD A HOME HMMM??!!!?? maybe JUST MAYBE there’s a #depressed immortal somewhere who’s rich as hell and smart enough to build a safe place for those in need of it???!!? WITH HELP OBVIOUSLY #and I hope everyone appreciates the decision - no matter how ‘DUH of course’ it is - to make uhtred (saxon raised by danes yada-yada-yada) a #human turned werewolf (and raised by them to an extent; in my au anyway) #and alfred’s a vampire because of course he is and also I think someone should cast david dawson as one IMMEDIATELY #that’s such a missed opportunity he would be fantastic i think #anyway; i would happily babble about this with anyone who’d have me but tags are infinite so I’m stopping for now #*are not infinite #and just in case cause there is a detail in the work itself #cw: self harm #tw: self harm

[yuribalisms]

Essentially what it is all boiling down to is I have fully realized I am bad at being a person, that will always be true, and I don’t know how to handle that

#I’m going to be depressing and self depreciating in the tags so. fair warning to anyone who reads them #I’ve known for a while now that I don’t know what to do with my life. I’ve thought of a few ideas but none of them seem to be working. and I #think a good chunk of what it’s boiling down to is that I am quite literally just stupid when it comes to an actual useful real life skills. #and it’s frustrating because I can’t even talk to ppl I know and confide in them that I feel dumb and stupid without them being like ‘nooooo #don’t say that! you’re not stupid! you were top of your class in hs!’ (that is their favorite thing to fall back on) but like. the thing is #I wasn’t even smart in hs. sure I did good but that’s because I cheated my way through and got lucky a lot. I never actually learned anythin #I never understood what I was being taught or how to apply it. I was good at English and art classes and that was it those were the only one #I truly felt I knew what I was doing in and grasped the subject matter well. I know I’m good at those two things and smart when it comes to #those subjects. but the thing is. in real life. both of those are useless skills. I can’t make money with them and it is highly unlikely #that will ever change. and yes I know not being able to make money with it doesn’t mean it’s useless but like it kinda does. capitalism #sucks. I know that. we all do. but that doesn’t change that we live in a capitalist society and it’s unlikely to actual change in my lifetim #so I’m stuck to try and figure out how to live in it. but I have no skills I can make money with so I will live my entire life poor and #miserable and working dead end jobs that make me want to kill myself. I’m not good at socialization I’m so fucking bad at it so I can’t work #any kind of job that hinges on networking or sales or human interaction which is MOST JOBS but I’m also too stupid for anything related to #STEM. I tried two different stem degrees and flunked out of both of them because I am a FUCKING IDIOT and I know there’s no point in trying #to go back to school for another one. but no degree in anything I naturally have a knack for will help me find a decent well paying job. ill #just be wasting my money to go to school for something like that. and then like. I don’t even think I’ll ever get married and I def won’t #ever have kids. so I can���t even put any hopeful stock in just being happy with a family one day. I know a lot of ppl who don’t like their #careers but they’re fine with that because they’re happy with their family but like I don’t even have that and I won’t ever have that. I #have NOTHING to strive for and NOTHING I am good at that’s meaningful I’m going to fail at having a career and a family and I know that #doesn’t mean I won’t be happy in theory but by societal standards I am and always will be a fucking failure of a person and since I do live #in this society yeah. it’s kinda fucking true. and I don’t know what to do about that. I’m just tired. I’m tired of being afraid and #struggling and going through patches of wanting to kill myself because of this because like what’s the point. I’ll never have anything #better so what in the actual hell is the point of me existing. and I know I’m being ridiculous and my brain is eating itself and none of #this is probably even true but that doesn’t change that it FEELS like it is a lot of times and esp right now and I don’t know what to do #to anyone who reads this I’ll be fine tbh prob as soon as tomorrow like dw about it I just need to get it out so I stop stewing in it. #I’m just. yeah. not having a great time rn but I left work so I’m gonna cry and then maybe sleep for a bit and hope that helps #kaz rambles

[seenthisepisode]

.

#before i go i just like to say something about that poor kid from heartstopper being forced to come out to the twitter crowd #first of all this just proves a point how toxic the bird app is and i hope it doesn't die because if those people come here..... #also something something this aligns so well with these terminally online teeangers who have everything about them in their bios #and find you suspicious if you don't. constant surveillance over one another because if you don't have everything public then that means #you have something to hide. like this is a pattern and given the audience of that show are mostly teens and early 20s.... this just fits #and the fact that some of these idiots celebrated after they bullied him to come out because yay bi guy plays a bi charcater #this is insane and also disgusting please get help #there is this post going around with the tweet screen how real people can't queerbait #and i see people being like hahahha misha did queerbait tho and it was extremely funny when he had to come out as straight #and. being in this fandom for years. and the fact that he said it in a private m&g. and the fact stands called him a queer man #and the fact he backtracked only after TWO DAYS. like this thing is still very.... well it makes me uncomfortable because i still think #he might have had to backtrack for some reason. idk it just makes me feel weird because laughing at this situation feels wrong #but idk idk and like i don't have to know and i dont want to speculate. i just think both of these situations must have been horrible #but one of them is turned into a joke...... #also i know nothing about harry styles but accusing taylor swift of queerbaiting. WHERE #don't project your sexuality (or your anything) onto celebrities like they are fictional characters........ #anyway....... i had to get it out lol.

[love-fireflysong]

Welp, and as promised here's me once again restarting up WIP Wednesdays! I think we can all agree to just forget the fact that my last update for one of these was back in *checks archive* NOVEMBER????? Oh, uh shit. Huh. Damn that creativity slump was really kicking my ass there for a bit oops. Did not realize that it had been an entire four months since I last shared anything lol.

So, from the bottom of my heart: my bad. So please find it in your hearts to forgive me asjdhjakshdas.

Thankfully at least, I think I'm starting to find a nice after work/morning routine that should hopefully keep that creativity up again. Four mornings are spent cross-stitching for a couple of hours with a little bit of pc gaming afterwards, one (which is smack dab in the middle of those four days) is like 4-6 hours hanging out in a starbucks/library and ONLY writing, and the other two mornings are my days off of work where I just game for like 12 hours straight lmao. Routines are good for the heart and soul me thinks.

Plus, the slightly warmer weather and more sun is making me feel WAY better about life and picking my ass up out of that seasonal depression so that also helps a shit ton not gonna lie lol.

Enough taking about me trying to get some semblance of a life back together, here's the shit that (almost) everyone's actually here for: a teensy little sneak peak from my new outlast au piece!

The only reason that Ashley refused to give in to the pain though, was because she knew that no matter what pain she was currently feeling, Chris was feeling it magnitudes worse. That he could feel far more than the metal slicing into muscle, that he could feel the stickiness of the blood that coated Josh's back, the fabric of the more than likely entirely soaked jumpsuit digging into the cuts and making them only sting more. That he could feel each and every one of the small pieces of rubble that still continued to dig into the bloody palms of Josh's hands, left nearly shredded from his frantic attempts to chip at the thick wall of his padded prison cell in order to make a gap just barely wide enough for him to squeeze through. All as he dealt with not only the insistent, burning itch in Ashley's left arm from where the word carved there was still healing—plus whatever other aches and pains she had gained in the last couple of hours since her long-awaited release—but his own long, angry, and still weakly bleeding gash on his right arm. A parting gift from one Rick Traegar during his own desperate escape from the confines of the Male Ward. A ward that he had only barely managed to escape with his life in that first hour.

And now for the bit for the people who don't give a shit about my writing: cross-stitch update! Obviously not a huge amount of progress since my last pic, since I've only sewn once since then. But that skiploom is certainly coming along okay and should hopefully be finished tomorrow morning if everything goes smoothly!

#wip wednesday #my writing #cross stitch #until dawn #pokemon #outlast au #climbing chrash #is it bad that i missed putting these poor kids through absolute hell on earth and terrible emotional/physical trauma? #cause i really really have lol #anyways cross your fingers for me on friday morning when i sit down for another quarter-day session of writing #got one of my roommates to pick me up some earplugs when they went grocery shopping yesterday #and if i'm really lucky they'll be able to block out all noise so i won't get distracted from writing by the music playing in the starbucks #or the noise of people walking around me and talking in both places #or thats the hope at least lol #that what i really need when it comes time to concentrate when writing is just quiet #though i suppose also going to see a doctor and maybe getting back on my meds would help too now that i think about it #considering those meds are literally just to help me concentrate and focus on shit sjkdhaskdjhasd

[zkretchy]

just like with other fictional characters I can put my oc’s into serious stories and such but only produce meme content or other silly things of them in actuality

So have them being dorks and a sketch saying such

#mentally titleing the first piece 'tfw your sibling stole all the height' #yes she is standing on her tippy toes as well #look at those cool kids #not even kids i am incapable of making characters under 18 anymore help #we are at the vague age of college times MAYBE #even i dont know okay send help idk what time is #art #zkretchy #ocs #doodles #wren #james #amaia #ansel #this mostly came from me actually deciding to make refs for this group (and another one i havent done a reference for yet) #to get their overall vibes and stuff as well together onto one canvas #and also i havent drawn in ages #the last piece i posted was almost a month ago! #like wtf!! #i HAVE done a lot of daydreaming tho #not all creativity was lost #i just spent time touching grass #literally #and also being with friends #insane i know #anyway enjoy this #not whatever is written in my notes app-wise #maybe some day i will be thrown back into fandom shenanigans #fanart wise

[spocksmalewife]

.

#honestly #like ik we're killing Cringe Culture and all that but #i can't help but feel embarrassed about really liking Spock #cuz it's like such a quintessential neckbeard nerd thing to do even though ik that's a disservice to the poepl e that like him but anyway #another le epic cringe moment but my mother and i have been watching young sheldon which is actually kinda cute but it deffinitely falls in #to the trap of 'ahaha everyone hates this autistic kid cuz he's annoying' #even though we just watched an episode where he goes to a party dressed as spock and it was so endearing #but then you just know people are going to be like 'oh you like spock? go figure. Hoooowww original' #and it's weird because sheldon's character in the show is literally not bad but everone around him is like ''this bitch 🙄'' #which ig can be a metacommentary about how autistic people are treated by society in general but I don't think it's chuck lore's place to #be doing that??? #it's just one of those things where you can't trust the audience to be able to parse that out and #not laugh along with all the mean-spirited characters constantly making him the butt of the joke

[hauntingblue]

Can't believe I spent so much time thinking kiku and kinemon were dead... they really got me there...

#damn izo...... can we get back to that i do not care that much about raizo and this guy... #AND WHAT IS GOING ON AROUND THE WORLD??? damn the reverie..... and sabo #talking tag #watching one piece #episode 1063 #also the thing i said episodes ago about kaido being luffys foil because he loves fighting and they smile all the time... and then we get #king saying he thinks he is joyboy bc he saved him.... but the difference of those new worlds they imagine and how kaido wants to die and #luffy the complete opposite.... yeah yeah #toko..... and this swordmaker man just adopting little girls... he is the father that stepped up (multipile times) #kaido just having a drink.... he is just having some fun... fighting and drinking... average friday night for him... thats his love language #it is his love language... he said he just accepted him aldjsks i was just saying shit... see he is just having some fun witj his peer #luffy was so confused with all this he got hit akdhsks first person ever to bamboozle him..... #drunk kadio is so fun to watch.... crying about his son escaping and how everything goes wrong ajdkskskk #his impulsivity and like unpredictability just make him better while drunk akdhsksjk luffy should try shrooms if thats what he prefers.... #what devil fruit???? also get robin's name out of your mouth!!!!!! OH ZOU!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE #IT'S LUFFYS DEVIL FRUIT.... WHICH HAS ANOTHER NAME....... WONDER WHY HMMM...🤔🤔 #also kaido saying luffy likes him too much.... that's another secret fruit JAHSJAHA #episode 1064 #zoro just bleeding out on the floor... nvm he died... well... there are other swordsmen.... this looks like an impressionist film #zoro doesnt get it... he is powerless against death.... #IZO NOOO!!!! HE GOT STABBED!!! jesus.... MARCO HELP!!! MARCOOOO WHAT IS HE DOING #THE FUCKING CP0 NO!!! WHAT??? well i respect that decision... leave him alone get a job etc. NOOOOO YOU WON'T WIN!!! #do not make a deal with them either... izo..... #love how traffy and kid have each one (1) woman on their crew. its not ooking good on the diversity office #mugiwara no chibi.... exacty..... also how is big mom tired... i mean i get it but damn.... LAW GOT HER!!! YEAAHHH!!! FINISH HER!!! #law needs to cut her to pieces like he did with that guy.... come on.... punk corna DIO??? omg its a bull.... BUT IMPALE HER!!! #well i see progress now at least.... but until kid magnetos her ass idk... law needs to start cutting also....... #episode 1065

[esleep]

i actually do kinda like delivering groceries on the side because it gives me such a unique cross-section of the community. i never know whose groceries im shopping for until i finish the delivery and see them/their home and it's like it adds more detail to the picture of who they are. the baby supplies going to the apartment that i know for a fact is one bedroom (they'll be moving soon - i bet they're apartment hunting, i hope they find a place). the new cat litter box, bowl, and kitten food going to the house covered in "i <3 my dog" paraphernalia (a kitten definitely showed up on the porch recently and made itself at home). the fairly healthy boring grocery order that includes an incongruous tub of candy-filled ice cream going to the home of an elderly woman with toddler toys in the yard (it's clearly for her grandkids, whom she sees often).

shopping for someone else's groceries is a fairly intimate thing. i've bought condoms and pregnancy tests, allergy medicine and nyquil, baby benadryl and teething gel, a huge pile of veggies paired with an equally huge pile of junk food, tampons and shampoo and closet organizers and ant traps and deodorizing shoe inserts and a million other little things that tell a million different stories in their endless combinations. one time someone had me buy one single green bean. i messaged them to confirm that's actually what they wanted, and they said yes - neither of them liked green beans very much, but they had a baby they were introducing to solid foods, and they wanted to let him try one to see if he liked them. another time i had someone request 50 fresh roma tomatoes - not for a restaurant, but for a person in an apartment. the kitchen behind them smelled like basil and garlic when they opened the door. another time i brought groceries to three elderly blind women who share a house. that was one of the few times i have ever broken my rule and gone inside a place i've delivered to, because they asked if i could place the grocery bags in a specific location in the kitchen for them to work on unloading and there was no way i was going to refuse helping.

i gripe about the poor tippers, but people can also be incredibly kind. one time i took shelter from a sudden vicious hailstorm inside an older lady's home in a trailer park, while i was in the middle of delivering her groceries. we both huddled just inside the door, watching in shock as golf-ball-sized hail swept through for about five minutes and then disappeared. she handed me an extra $10 bill on my way out the door.

when covid was at its deadliest, people would leave extra (often lysol-scented) cash tips and thank-you notes for me taped to the door or partially under the mat. i especially loved the clearly kid-drawn thank you notes with marker renderings of blobby people in masks, or trees, or rainbows. in summer of 2020 i delivered to a nice older couple who lived outside of town in the hills, and they insisted i take a huge double handful of extra disposable gloves and masks to wear while shopping - those were hard to find in stores at the time, but they wanted me to have some of their supply and wouldn't take no for an answer.

anyway. all this to say people are mostly good, or at least trying to be, despite my complaints.

#long post

[chronicbitchsyndrome]

so: masking: good, unequivocally. please mask and please educate others on why they should mask to make the world safer for immune compromised people to participate in.

however: masking is not my policy focus and it shouldn't be yours, either. masking is a very good mitigation against droplet-born illnesses and a slightly less effective (but still very good) mitigation against airborne illnesses, but its place in the pyramid of mitigation demands is pretty low, for several reasons:

it's an individual mitigation, not a systemic one. the best mitigations to make public life more accessible affect everyone without distributing the majority of the effort among individuals (who may not be able to comply, may not have access to education on how to comply, or may be actively malicious).

it's a post-hoc mitigation, or to put it another way, it's a band-aid over the underlying problem. even if it was possible to enforce, universal masking still wouldn't address the underlying problem that it is dangerous for sick people and immune compromised people to be in the same public locations to begin with. this is a solvable problem! we have created the societal conditions for this problem!

here are my policy focuses:

upgraded air filtration and ventilation systems for all public buildings. appropriate ventilation should be just as bog-standard as appropriately clean running water. an indoor venue without a ventilation system capable of performing 5 complete air changes per hour should be like encountering a public restroom without any sinks or hand sanitizer stations whatsoever.

enforced paid sick leave for all employees until 3-5 days without symptoms. the vast majority of respiratory and food-borne illnesses circulate through industry sectors where employees come into work while experiencing symptoms. a taco bell worker should never be making food while experiencing strep throat symptoms, even without a strep diagnosis.

enforced virtual schooling options for sick students. the other vast majority of respiratory and food-borne illnesses circulate through schools. the proximity of so many kids and teenagers together indoors (with little to no proper ventilation and high levels of physical activity) means that if even one person comes to school sick, hundreds will be infected in the following few days. those students will most likely infect their parents as well. allowing students to complete all readings and coursework through sites like blackboard or compass while sick will cut down massively on disease transmission.

accessible testing for everyone. not just for COVID; if there's a test for any contagious illness capable of being performed outside of lab conditions, there should be a regulated option for performing that test at home (similar to COVID rapid tests). if a test can only be performed under lab conditions, there should be a government-subsidized program to provide free of charge testing to anyone who needs it, through urgent cares and pharmacies.

the last thing to note is that these things stack; upgraded ventilation systems in all public buildings mean that students and employees get sick less often to begin with, making it less burdensome for students and employees to be absent due to sickness, and making it more likely that sick individuals will choose to stay home themselves (since it's not so costly for them).

masking is great! keep masking! please use masking as a rhetorical "this is what we can do as individuals to make public life safer while we're pushing for drastic policy changes," and don't get complacent in either direction--don't assume that masking is all you need to do or an acceptable forever-solution, and equally, don't fall prey to thinking that pushing for policy change "makes up" for not masking in public. it's not a game with scores and sides; masking is a material thing you can do to help the individual people you interact with one by one, and policy changes are what's going to make the entirety of public life safer for all immune compromised people.

#dyspunktional #cripple punk #actually disabled #cripplepunk #a lot of these are major concessions for me personally as i'm an anarchist and loathe to support further concentrations of state power #but if you're gonna be operating within the structure of the system. here you go. handing you a cheat sheet for what you should demand.