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eydi-andrius · 1 year

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What He Wants (Aemond Targaryen x Strong!Reader)

WARNINGS: creepy behavior, cussing summary: The castle of Harrenhal has been your safe space after the tragedy that befallen you while traveling the foreign land. You survived being an almost bride of a dothraki warrior but not the gossip that you lost your honor during that unfortunate day. However, after the death of your father and older brother, you were tasked to continue serving the crown. And it seems like only the unfortunate keep following you around as you caught the eye of the Prince Aemond who was known to be cold and ambitious who traded his eye to tame his now dragon, Vhagar.

a/n: I originally uploaded this on my ao3. i decided to upload it here as compensation because im not feeling well lately and i am behind with my other story "don't get sad, get even". i hope you enjoy it.

not beta-read.

and i am busy with fixing my masterlist so i am really behind everything. yikes.

divider by @firefly-graphics

“Are you really sure you wanted to do this?” Larys squeezed your hand and asked you for the tenth time if you’re going to show your face now after years of being hidden and protected by your house.

A lady has no place for the council but your ability and prowess to economy and trade had been the foundation of Harrenhal. You have spent your years studying trade and made Harrenhal the center of trade with the foreign land on your own while most of your family members had gotten themselves in high positions within the court of the king. You always told yourself that it was your way of repaying your family for still giving you their name and trusting your words when you told them that your honor wasn’t soiled but you indeed killed men who tried to take it with brute force from you.

“I will be fine, brother. It’s been years and with the issues at court, I bet they won’t even remember me. It will be fine.” You squeezed his hand back as you smiled. Larys had been nothing but kind to you after what happened to your family. You two didn't talk much before because Larys was known to be very quiet and observant. But you guessed the accident strengthened your bond.

Larys signaled to the knight stationed by the door to introduce the two of you before entering. You flinched a little when the knight mentioned your title as the slayer bride of the dothraki. It’s been a while since you’ve heard that. No one in Harrenhal ever used that. Your father made sure not to remind you of the event that changed your life greatly and the reason why at your age you are still unwed.

With a shaky breath, you held your head high and walked proudly as you entered the great hall. Larys and you were invited to a party hosted by King Viserys. He claimed that this event is a celebration with his family while he is still well. The king has been suffering from a disease unknown even to the citadel. And maybe he wanted to have a one last feast with his family without hostility.

The place echoed with murmur and voices as you walked down the aisle. You swallowed the nervousness building at the pit of your stomach and continued walking with ease. You stopped in front of the king and bowed with practiced grace as you greeted him.

“Is it really you? You have grown such a fine lady. You were rather small the last time I saw you. Time sure flies fast when you’re getting old.” The King laughed with a bit of a cough. You gave him a small smile. He looks different than what you remembered. The rumors sure downplayed the disease the king was suffering from. As you greeted him this close, you can see that what he had is not some simple unknown disease. His skin looks decomposing as if something is slowly eating his flesh. Due to the years you haven’t seen him, you can’t even remember quite well what he originally looks like.

“You are far too kind, my king. The House Strong wishes you well and we’re grateful for extending your invitation to feast to our family.”

“Oh child! And still far too polite. Come on now! Sit down and let’s start the feast!”

You bowed one last time to King Viserys when you felt a shiver run down your spine. When you turned your head, you saw him. A man with long silver locks is staring straight right at you. He is wearing an eyepatch on his left eye. His one orb shares nothing of his intention nor interests. Despite the danger he was emitting, you can’t help but stare back at him.

“Sister.” You felt a tug on your arm and saw Larys on your side. You withdrew your eyes to the mysterious man as your brother led you both to your respective seats. But as he helped you with your chair, your eyes widened by what he whispered in your ear.

“Be warned, sister. The man you’re staring at is Prince Aemond. He doesn’t like people staring at him. He is known to be cold and quiet but rather ambitious. I advise you to stay out of his sight for your safety.” He squeezed your shoulders before sitting on his seat. You gave him a quick nod as you pretended to not notice the lilac gaze that is still pointed at your direction.

You’ve known Prince Aemond. Not much but enough that it reaches the dreadful walls of the castle. He was known to be the prince who exchanges his eye for the largest dragon, Vhagar.

The days were colder than usual so you understood when Larys decided to leave the feast to rest his legs. His legs tend to hurt much worse as the cold seeps through his bones. You wanted to retire to your room as well but you know that it is a common courtesy to stay, at least until the feast ends.

As you were drinking your wine and listening to the chatter of the drunk guests, you were surprised when the Ladies Baela and Rhaena stood beside your seat and called your attention. “We’re glad to finally meet you Lady Strong.” Baela said after she introduced herself. She seems excited to see you which comes off as a bit of a surprise. You’ve known your reputation and their reactions were something you don’t expect to see from them. “The same with me, my ladies.”

There was a pregnant pause when the siblings just stared at each other as if communicating within their heads. Until, Baela decided to speak and you were a bit taken aback by her question. “Is it true though? That you were a captive as a dothraki bride but were able to save yourself by killing warriors? -” “Pardon?” “Ah! We don’t mean to offend you, my lady. But we wanted to hear the story from you. Your brave story-” “My brave story?” “Was well-known throughout the kingdom with bards singing prai-” A bit overwhelmed was an understatement as Lady Baela threw questions at you. You look to Rhaena for help but the twinkling in her eyes tells you that she’s also excited for you to answer. This type of attention is something you were not used to. Throughout the years of being alone and purposely isolated by peers your age has created these huge gaps with socialization. Your ability in the art of trade might be extraordinary but unfortunately, you were not gifted with normal interactions. This was the reason why whenever you do your trade your father or Larys stands with you. “I don’t think it is rather nice to overwhelm a lady who hasn't gotten out for years with questions she mostly wants to avoid, dear cousins.” A smooth baritone voice spoke behind you. You looked up and saw that he was standing right behind your chair with hands on his back staring at you and then back to his cousins. You inhaled sharply with the way he stares. Somehow, on a closer look, it seems much more intense. You saw a frown quickly plastered on the ladies' foreheads when Prince Aemond scolded them. Even without knowing much about the stories outside the walls of Harrenhal, you knew that if you don’t step forward to dissipate the three, a fight will break out. “It is alright, my lord. I am just a bit tired due to the alcohol on my system and journey on my way here. I’d love to tell you my story. Maybe on the morrow? This feast will last for a week and we’ll have all the time to talk and share our stories.” The frown left their faces almost immediately when the two looked back at you.

“Really, my lady!? Then, we’ll see you on the morrow then.” Baela smiled widely as if you had given her an answer she was waiting for her whole life. But the frown came back to their faces when they heard the Prince's voice again. “Well, you heard the Lady Strong. Now go. Stop pestering the lady. My father and your parents were all waiting for you in a private dining chamber.” He said as he motioned to the direction of the door. The two ladies just stared at him angrily but quickly gave you a smile and a happy “goodbye” and “see you tomorrow then” before they disappeared on the nearby door.

"I do believe that you owe me a dance after I saved you from being pestered by my cousins. Hmm." He said it like it was a statement not a request or a command. You stopped yourself from rolling your eyes and just stood elegantly from your chair.

"I don't think it was a situation worth saving me for, my lord." You replied as you stood your ground not wanting to accept the hand he put out in front of you.

It started out as a slow murmur until it became a chatter. That's when you become hyper aware of where you were. You completely forgot about the people because everyone seems to be focused on the royal family. But since they moved to another chamber for privacy, all the focus was on you again especially since a prince seems to be asking you for a dance.

With eyes wide, you looked around and confirmed your situation. Everyone is indeed staring at you and the prince. Your breath comes in short gasps as you look around and count all the eyes focused on you.

You heard his voice before you felt him. He's calling your name to focus on him. Both his hands are grasping your cheeks when he moved your face closer to him and called your name much firmly this time. “Breathe, my lady. Follow me.” You followed his command and breathed in and out the same way he does. Following him had calmed your nerves and even your breathing. Eyes closed you continue breathing to fully take control of yourself. You completely forgot where you were but quickly realized what was happening when one lady gasped in shock. The moment you opened your eyes, you saw how close he was. His forehead is almost brushing yours. Hands immediately grabbing his, you yanked them away from your face.

"I don't think that was appropriate, my lord. You shouldn't have grabbed the face of an unwed lady especially when you’re unwed as well!" You reprimanded him in a hush tone to not let the outsiders hear what you were saying. He just replied with a soft hmmm and a tilt of his head.

Again, Prince Aemond presented his hand while keeping the other to his back.

"I do think this time you owe me a dance." Without much choice, you accepted his hand and danced with him. This seems to stop the staring as the music starts to play and more wine was poured to the cups of the guests.

But your concern now is not the people, it is the lilac eye staring right in front of you. Somehow it looks darker. There is something swirling behind which you can't pinpoint. It stirs something within you which is akin to worry. You’d lie if you claim it wasn’t fear.

During the dance, all he did was stare. The whole time it was uncomfortable and it made you regret why you didn’t just excuse yourself with Larys earlier. You could have avoided this and enjoyed the soft bed which you missed a lot while traveling on a carriage. You were removed from your reverie when you heard his voice asking you a question. “Would you let this one-eyed prince know the truth about your story? Is it true or was it just an exaggeration?” “I cannot completely tell what you meant my lord when I personally don’t know what songs bards had sung on my name and what stories you’ve heard from your nurses.” You’ve heard him say hmmm again before continuing. “They said you cut off their cocks and presented them to their Khal as proof that you were not some lady to whom they can kidnap for their wife's hunt that easy.” “Heavens! That was the story you’ve heard? If I may recall, it was six years ago. How come a young prince was let to hear such grotesque stories from wandering bards?” Annoyingly, you asked the prince for confirmation. The King and Queen will not let that happen, right? You frowned when you saw that his mouth curved up with obvious amusement. “Let's just say that this prince did go out at night to check on the kingdom on his own when he was young.” You can’t help but sigh at his straightforward answer. Of course, no matter what status they have, men will be men. The musicians plucked the last string of the song and you promptly removed your hand from his hold but instead of letting go, the prince grabbed your hand, rather too tight, and forced you to move forward and get closer to him again. He looked down and made sure your faces were almost inches away from each other. You released a quiet whimper and felt your whole body shivered from fear.

"They weren't lying when they claimed that the only reason why the court ladies had been bad mouthing your name was because your beauty outstands them all. I’ve never seen a golden skin as dewy as yours. How your wild curly black hair matches your bright brown eyes. Outside these walls, your name was well-known differently from what I’ve heard. And it always fascinates me. How come a lady like yours was hidden. It’s obviously not the question of your honor. If that was the case, the best for your family was to sell you to an old lord who wanted another cunt to fuck. But no, they kept you and treated you rather fairly. Protected and well-taught on top of that. Tell me, my lady. What is your family hiding from the walls outside the dreadful Harrenhal?” He spoke with pronounced curiosity and interest.

You swallowed and tried to fight him to retrieve your hand. But he is much too strong for you. There is no excuse for what you did but your head is telling you to free yourself rather than care that a prince is holding you.So what you did is balled your hands and made sure your fingernails punctured his skin. His eyes wandered to the trickle of blood that came off from his wounds made by your fingernails. You used that moment to free yourself from his grip almost tumbling backwards in the process. From his wounds, he stared right up at you.

“Be careful, my lady. As I am known as the prince who claims those he wasn't supposed to have.”

He used his thumb to gather the blood which came out of his skin and slowly wiped it on your face. As if nothing happened, he bid you farewell and excuse himself for another dinner he must be having.

You stilled and never in your life had fear gripped you this bad. When you killed the dothrakis, you were fueled with anger and hatred as you stabbed them to earn your freedom back. Maybe hiding inside the Harrenhal made you much more vulnerable than safe. He was just a young prince with no experience with real war but you knew it better than anyone. A man changes when they finally set their eyes to the ones they wanted to conquer the most. And for the one-eyed Prince Aemond, it is you. It is a wonder how come he wants you. But you know you put yourself in danger tonight.

You should have listened to your brother's warning. But no one will entirely blame it on you when all you did was be polite and entertain him for a bit. Who would have thought that by doing so, you were already signing up your fate to him. If your brother asked you again if you were really sure, you would probably say no and agree right away to go back to Harrenhal. You can’t help but foresee the disaster coming your way after years of trying to avoid one. What exactly have you done?

#aemond fic #aemond x you #prince aemond #aemond targaryen #aemond targaryen x reader #house of the dragon aemond #hotd fic #writing: aemond targaryen #house of the dragon

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cscclibrary · 9 months

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[Image description: Horizontal rectangular graphic; the background is the Disability Pride flag, with adjoining red, yellow, white, aqua, and green stripes slanting together from the top left to bottom right corners on a dark gray background. White text in the center foreground says "Disability Pride: / Suggested Reading / Columbus State Library / library.cscc.edu."]

July is Disability Pride month, and that means it's time for a bigger, better, updated Disability Pride reading list!

A Disability History of the United States, by Kim E. Nielsen

Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist, by Judith Heumann

About Us: Essays from the Disability Series of the New York Times, Peter Catapano and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, editors

Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice, by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and how to Be an Ally, by Emily Ladau

Disability as Diversity: Developing Cultural Competence, by Erin E. Andrews. Companion case study volume here.

Exile & Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation, by Eli Clare

The Minority Body: A Theory of Disability, by Elizabeth Barnes

Nothing about Us without Us: Disability Oppression and Empowerment, by James I. Charlton

The Problem Body: Projecting Disability in Film, Sally Chivers and Nicole Markotić, editors

Routledge Handbook of Disability Studies, Nick Watson and Simo Vehmas, editors

My Wonderful Life as a Vegetable, Lars Feldballe producer/director

The Disability Rights Movement: From Charity to Confrontation, by Doris Zames Fleischer and Frieda Zames

Disability Experiences: Memoirs, Autobiographies, and Other Personal Narratives, G. Thomas Couser and Susannah B. Mintz, editors

The Routledge Handbook of Disability Activism, Maria Berghs, Tsitsi Chataika, Yahya El-Lahib and Andrew K. Dube, editors

Black Disability Politics, Sami Schalk

Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life, by Alice Wong

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, Alice Wong, editor

From the Periphery: Real-Life Stories of Disability, by Pia Justesen

Young, Disabled and LGBT+: Voices, Identities and Intersections, Alex Toft and Anita Franklin, editors

Disability, Media, and Representations: Other Bodies, Jacob Johanssen and Diana Garrisi, editors

The Routledge Handbook of Disability Arts, Culture, and Media, Bree Hadley and Donna McDonald, editors

Occupying Disability: Critical Approaches to Community, Justice, and Decolonizing Disability, Pamela Block, Devva Kasnitz, Akemi Nishida, Nick Pollard, editors

Use our catalog to search for more titles on this topic!

Current Columbus State Students and employees can check out books using a photo ID. Ebooks and other electronic materials can be used both on and off campus; off-campus use requires logging in with your Columbus State username and password.

#disability pride month #virtual display #resource list #disability

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rockislandadultreads · 11 months

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Nonfiction Thursday: LGBTQIA+ Pride Month Picks

The LGBTQ+ History Book by D.K. Publishing

Exploring and explaining the most important ideas and events in LGBTQ+ history and culture, this book showcases the breadth of the LGBTQ+ experience. This diverse, global account explores the most important moments, movements, and phenomena, from the first known lesbian love poetry of Sappho to Kinsey's modern sexuality studies, and features biographies of key figures from Anne Lister to Audre Lorde.

Dive deep into the pages of The LGBTQ + History book to discover:

- Thought-provoking graphics and flow-charts demystify the central concepts behind key moments in LGBTQ+ history, from eromenos and erastes in the Ancient World to political lesbianism. - Features insightful quotes from leading historians, philosophers, cultural commentators, economists, anthropologists, sociologists, activists, and politicians. - Includes biography boxes and directory entries on the lives of important but lesser-known individuals, alongside well-known names including Sappho, Oscar Wilde, Anne Lister, Harvey Milk, and Marsha P. Johnson. - Global in scope with a localizable directory.

This is volume is part of the “Big Ideas Simply Explained” series.

Queer Conception by Kristin Liam Kali

The only evidence-based, up-to-date fertility guide for queer people from an experienced health care provider, this is also the first to be transgender inclusive and body-positive.

Here, queer prospective parents will find sound advice for navigating complex medical, social and financial decisions. Trusted fertility midwife Kristin Kali walks you through the baby-making process: creating a timeline; fertile health for every body; preconception tests; identifying ovulation; donors, gamete banks, and surrogacy; methods of insemination including IUI, IVF and reciprocal IVF; navigating early pregnancy; and preparing for infant feeding, including lactation induction for trans women and nongestational parents.

This book is for all LGBTQ+ readers interested in creating family through pregnancy: anyone who identifies as queer, lesbians, gay men, bisexual people, trans and nonbinary people, couples, single parents by choice, poly families, and coparents. It’s an antidote to a culture and medical system that all too often centers heterosexual couples experiencing infertility while overlooking our unique needs. It also contains sidebars with guidance for reproductive healthcare professionals.

It Was Vulgar & It Was Beautiful by Jack Lowery

In the late 1980s, the AIDS pandemic was annihilating queer people, intravenous drug users, and communities of color in America, and disinformation about the disease ran rampant. Out of the activist group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), an art collective that called itself Gran Fury formed to campaign against corporate greed, government inaction, stigma, and public indifference to the epidemic.

Writer Jack Lowery examines Gran Fury’s art and activism from iconic images like the “Kissing Doesn’t Kill” poster to the act of dropping piles of fake bills onto the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Lowery offers a complex, moving portrait of a collective and its members, who built essential solidarities with each other and whose lives evidenced the profound trauma of enduring the AIDS crisis.

Gran Fury and ACT UP’s strategies are still used frequently by the activists leading contemporary movements. In an era when structural violence and the devastation of COVID-19 continue to target the most vulnerable, this belief in the power of public art and action persists.

It Came From the Closet edited by Joe Vallese

Horror movies hold a complicated space in the hearts of the queer community: historically misogynist, and often homo- and transphobic, the genre has also been inadvertently feminist and open to subversive readings. Common tropes—such as the circumspect and resilient “final girl,” body possession, costumed villains, secret identities, and things that lurk in the closet—spark moments of eerie familiarity and affective connection. Still, viewers often remain tasked with reading themselves into beloved films, seeking out characters and set pieces that speak to, mirror, and parallel the unique ways queerness encounters the world.

It Came from the Closet features twenty-five original essays by writers speaking to this relationship, through connections both empowering and oppressive. From Carmen Maria Machado on "Jennifer’s Body", Jude Ellison S. Doyle on "In My Skin", Addie Tsai on "Dead Ringers", and many more, these conversations convey the rich reciprocity between queerness and horror.

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saunne · 10 months

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ERASDE : WIP INTRODUCTION

Here I am to introduce the project I've been working on bit by bit for more than two years and my wip for the July Camp Nano and the next NaNoWriMo.

Genre : High fantasy ; Queer romance

POV : Third person multiple

Status : Heavy worldbuilding during July Camp Nano and First Draft for NaNoWriMo 2023 !

Themes :

Academic Life and Research

Knowledge versus Ignorance

Search of the Truth

Love and Sacrifice

Find Oneself in Others (Found Family)

Duty and Free Will

Convention and Rebellion

Dichotomies and Similarities Between Deities and Humans

What's in it :

A significant cast of queer characters and relationships, with gay main romance, non-binary characters, aroace representation and queerplatonic and polyamorous negotiations.

A found family can be : an outcast who uses himself as a research project, a divine emissary disconnected from reality, a prostitute turned noble heiress, a God (press X to doubt), a pretty girl with way too many knives, a semi-accidental arsonist and the local emo teen adopted by his teacher.

A “fuck around and find out” type of magic system : no one knows yet how everything works and what can explode will explode.

Tourism disguised as study trips, whether to a remote island or to another plane of reality. All with more or less reliable guides, to spice things up.

Religious conflicts between New Gods, Old Gods, and Even Older Gods and their followers who are dragged in the wake.

Political intrigues based on murders, marriages, betrayals and typical court drama. It's Tea Time almost everytime around here.

Blurb

In the Human Academy City of Terenta Mari, everything is always in motion. This year, though, is a little special : after more than a century of isolation, the Raven Clan once again open themselves to the world. And what better way to do this than to send their Sramana, their divine emissary, to the greatest Magic research center ? "Magic no longer belongs to the Divine… for better or for worse."

Content Warning :

Graphic Description of Violence (Injury Details, Blood, bit of Body Horror)

Death (Natural, Murder, Suicide)

Ritual Cannibalism

Imperialism and Colonization

Slavery

Coming soon: posts presenting the main characters of the cast, excerpts from worldbuilding points, snippets and other things !

#writeblr #writeblr intro #wip intro #writers on tumblr #writing community #writeblr community #writeblr introduction #nanowrimo 2023 #erasde

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thechronicmasochist · 1 year

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Hi! I was wondering if you could recommend me books, articles, essays, or whatever on queer history? like, any time or place (i want to learn as much as I can, but I need a starting place). and like, theory and history specifically by sex workers and kinksters?

if you don't want to dw about it, you can just ignore this message!

First of all, thank you for asking me about my favorite thing to talk about!! having the opportunity to encourage people to learn about this history is a big part of why I’m still here on this blog and it’s also a big reason for why I’m majoring in queer studies and want to become a librarian.

Awhile ago (some of you may remember) I put up a burner g—gle drive with a bunch of these texts, but the post that links to it is now impossible to find (thanks Tumblr) so I’m going to do this one a bit differently. This post is a bit of a mess, my brain is NOT in peak performance condition right now, but I didn't want to miss this opportunity to share either. I added headers, I'm not sure they help much though.

FIRST OFF, KINK:

For kink/leather theory and practice, I will almost always recommend starting with Leatherfolk: Radical sex, politics, people, and practice, edited by Mark Thompson. It is available on the internet archive here, you just make a free account and you can check it out. https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781555831875 (I personally struggle with the internet archive’s lending model, I know I know I’m a bad aspiring librarian. I read quick, but I can’t seem to read THAT quick. So, in case you are like me, this is also available on libgen) Leatherfolk is great in that it includes pieces from both before and after the AIDS crisis, along with many reflections on the impact which the crisis had on the leather community and the community’s response.

From Leatherfolk, I recommend the works of Patrick Califia (who also published work under the name “Pat Califia” prior to his transition). I really liked Public Sex: The Culture of Radical Sex for its investigation into how we have pushed sexuality so far into the private sphere that we are inevitably losing our ability to express it and to find people who share our desires. Public Sex is not currently available on the internet archive, but you can find it on libgen. Patrick doesn’t have a site to pay him directly right now, nor are any of his works in active publication, which is unfortunate because he deserves money for his labor as his work has been pivotal to many kinky queers developing a greater understanding of ourselves, our history, and our community.

To understand the THEORIES of sexual deviancy and kink, I have leaned on the works of Gayle Rubin. Her theory of the charmed circle really helps explain how certain types of sex are heavily policed/politicized, and how certain groups fall further from the center of the circle than others. You can find Gayle Rubin readers on libgen, but she’s also been republished in many different feminist theory readers. I’ve found repubs of the charmed circle all over the place, honestly. There’s a really easy-to-read explainer of her sexual deviation theory in the book “Queer: A Graphic History” by Meg John-Barker and Jules Scheele (this book is very popular at libraries, so I’d start there for a copy if you can’t afford your own).

SEX WORK

Sex work heavily overlaps with the kink stuff, you’ll find discussions of sex work in most of these texts especially in Leatherfolk. For sex work specific research though, my go-to specialist right now is Melissa Hope Ditmore, whose works include Sex Work Matters and The Encyclopedia of Prostitution (available on libgen, but also PAY her if you can because she’s alive and deserves money for her labor). I’m currently debating shelling out for a copy of her newest book, Unbroken Chains, which is a look at human trafficking and I’m sure it is impressive because all of her research has been.

To get into the real lived experience of sex workers, I just finished “Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex” which was edited by Matilda Bickers, peech breshears, and Janis Luna. It was REALLY good. This one you’ll have to pay money for or convince your local library to buy (in my experience, they usually will). I bought my copy from PM press. https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1323

DISCLAIMER!!

If you’ve read this far, I want to make a point to address something which I know will come up if you do actually read some of these works. Specifically, I want to address the fact that our community and its history is imperfect, and very culturally contextual. The works of Gayle Rubin and Patrick Califia have been both misconstrued and misguided in their attempts to make sense of the complex relationship between queer youth and queer adults. In the past, both of these individuals have made statements which suggest that they’ve supported relationships between queer adults and queer teenagers. Since then, both of these individuals have either/both changed their position on these issues or clarified that they did not intend to be supportive of these relationships. This is a really important piece of queer history, though. We cannot necessarily easily explain away the fact that for many queer youth in the past, the only way out of an abusive environment was to find a queer adult to take them under their wing. There were not as many ways for queer youth of the past to find and support each other. We are in a position now to understand more fully that this is not a healthy or appropriate model for a romantic or sexual relationship due to the inherent power imbalance, but anyone who wants to do research into historical queer/kink information will need to be prepared to encounter some “problematic” (I kind of hate that word) takes, and to be willing to think critically about the context in which those takes were reached. It is NOT okay for adults to have romantic or sexual relationships with teenagers/youth, but we have to be more willing to understand the ways in which those types of relationships have existed in the past and have even been things that saved lives in the past. Our history and the context in which it occurred will not go away, we can only seek to learn and grow from it.

#csa tw #chaotic book club

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sincerelylaurel · 2 years

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50 fancy words to expand your vocabulary (pt 3)

writingwithacutlass on instagram

source: https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/258109

again, these definitions are quite short and not very detailed, so you may want to google them so you can be sure you're using them correctly. and yes i am aware some of these may not sound fAnCy to you but please remember everyone's vocabulary size is different! knowing all of them or not knowing any of them is okay either way <3

litany: a prayer led by clergy with responses from the congregation

lurid: glaringly vivid and graphic; marked by sensationalism

machiavellian: of or relating to amoral or conniving political principles

malaise: a feeling of mild sickness or depression

malinger: avoid responsibilities and duties, often by faking illness

mantra: a sacred utterance or poetic hymn in vedism

maudlin: effusively or insincerely emotional

mercenary: a person hired to fight for another country than their own

minimalist: a conservative advocating only minor reforms in government

misnomer: an incorrect or unsuitable name

narcissist: someone who is excessively self-centered

nirvana: the beatitude that transcends the cycle of reincarnation

non sequitur: a reply that has no relevance to what preceded it

oblivion: the state of being disregarded or forgotten

ogle: stare or look at, especially with amorous intentions

ostentatious: intended to attract notice and impress others

ostracize: expel from a community or group

panacea: hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases

paradox: a statement that contradicts itself

peevish: easily irritated or annoyed

perfunctory: hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough

philistine: a person who is uninterested in intellectual pursuits

picayune: small and of little importance

precocious: characterized by exceptionally early development

propriety: correct behavior

previse: to foresee

quid pro quo: something given in exchange for something else

quintessential: representing the perfect example of a class or quality

red herring: something intended to distract attention from the main issue

revel: take delight in

rhetoric: study of the technique for using language effectively

scintillating: having brief brilliant points or flashes of light

spartan: unsparing and uncompromising in discipline or judgment

stigma: a symbol of disgrace or infamy

stoic: seeming unaffected by pleasure or pain; impassive

suave: having a sophisticated charm

supercilious: having or showing arrogant superiority

teetotaler: someone who abstains from drinking alcoholic beverages

tete-a-tete: a private conversation between two people

tirade: a speech of violent denunciation

tryst: a secret rendezvous, especially a romantic one

ubiquitous: being present everywhere at once

unrequited: not returned in kind

untenable: incapable of being defended or justified

verbose: using or containing too many words

vicarious: experienced at second hand

vile: morally reprehensible

waft: a long flag; often tapering

zealous: marked by active interest and enthusiasm

zeitgeist: the spirit of the time

have a great day/night!!

remember you're loved and remember to drink water. see you next time! (turn on post notifications so you don't miss any of my posts!)

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#writing #writeblr #writing inspiration #writers on tumblr #writing advice #writer #writing techniques #my writing #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity

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terresdebrume · 2 years

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01: Migraine

A new ficlet verse is born!

What's a snippet verse, you might ask? TL;DR: It's a low-effort, medium commitment way for me to write fic, where I prioritize actually sharing bits of stories over pretty much anything else, including revisions, finishing the thing, and posting to AO3.

What to expect in this 'verse? Vecna is dead, Billy and Eddie aren't. Steve followed Robin to New York when she went to study at NYU, found a job in a queer bar, and later found Billy Hargrove in said bar. FT. Billy & Steve friendship, Robin & Steve friendship, probably some Steddie + other appearances by the rest of the group.

What to expect in this snippet in particular: M rating for use of the F slur, all by Steve to recount homophobic things or actions he's seen. Non graphic recounting of a homophobic assault. One brief but plainly stated reference to the fact that being queer in a hospital in 1988 is not safe. Medical environment + non graphic discussion of migraines and the one Steve experienced recently. Steve and Billy friendship, though not front and center.

Important: There will be no graphic or intense homophobia or homophobic violence shown "onscreen" in this verse. While I don't personally want to write stories set in that time period that ignore homophobia entirely, I'm also not interested in making myself suffer, so if characters face any homophobia onscreen it will be limited to words, and most likely not very harsh. I will of course warn appropriately when that's the case.

________

Steve sits on the flimsy paper sheet in silence, keeping his hands at his side and his eyes on the clock on the wall. He's trying to follow the thin red hands as it marks the seconds, but his vision is blurry. His eyes can't keep up with it. Outside the room, he hears the occasional footsteps noise, some bits and pieces of conversation.

It's too quiet and too noisy at the same time, and he can't help but think of El. Of the things Dustin and the other kids told him about her past. He's not sure how she managed not to go nuts after so long in that kind of environment: Steve's been waiting for less than five minutes (he's pretty sure, it's hard to see the clock sometimes) and he already hates it.

Eventually, to Steve's relief, the door opens with a burst of noise and a portly graying man in a rumpled blouse comes in. His hair is just short enough to show the hint of curls, and when he looks at Steve there are huge bags under his eyes, but he gives a polite smile anyway.

"Mr. Harrington, right?"

Steve wants to correct him, but it feels too childish for the circumstances, so he just nods.

"I'm Dr. O'Toole. I see here you've come to us about a headache?"

There's a pause, and Steve spends several seconds trying to figure out if the man is being sept—no, wrong word. Skeptical? Skeptical sounds right. He can't pinpoint it though, so eventually he just says:

"Billy said it lasted for two days."

"Billy being the young man who was trying to flirt his way into the consultation room when I got your file?" The doctor asks, and Steve snorts.

"Probably, yeah. We were hanging out at my place when it started."

Steve remembers trying to read the cookbook Robin got him for Christmas, vision going weird at the edges, then the pain hit. Billy talked to him at first, he thinks? Then after that, mostly just a haze of pain until something calmed down and he found himself in bed, covered in sweat and in desperate need of water. He asked why Billy looked like shit, he's pretty sure, and got a quick rundown of what happened…and then promptly forgot it, which then prompted Billy to insist on taking him to the hospital.

"I don't really—can't he come in?" Steve asks after he finishes explaining that to Dr. O'Toole. "I really don't—"

"Don't worry," the doctor says, "the nurses already took down his account."

He points to the folder he came in with, and Steve swallows. It probably makes sense, but it means Billy really has no chance of coming in, and at this moment that is a terrifying prospect. Steve nods anyway.

"Now, Mr. Harrington, was this the first time you experienced that kind of event?"

Steve blinks.

"You mean headaches?" Dr. O'Tole nods. "I mean, not really, but it's never like that. Usually I just get some Tylenol and call it a day."

He watches the write something down on his notepad, and something scared and ashamed rears its head inside of him, making him add:

"I mean, I could probably do without it, it's just…it makes it easier to keep going. And it's not—they don't happen that often either. Maybe once every couple of months. I guess."

"Mmh. Have you noticed an increase in frequency recently?"

Steve has to think hard about it before he can nod. Not only because he's still a little fuzzy but also because…

"Can you think of anything unusual that happened before the increase? Any kind of injury or sickness you might have experienced?"

…That. Steve knows he's not the sharpest tool in any shed, but even he realizes he has to be careful when it comes to talking about his job.

"Yeah," he says, trying not to show that he's being careful. "I uh. I work security at a bar."

It's a tiny space in Greenwich Village, just enough room for a two-person-wide platform, a row of bottles, and about fifty persons all told, staff and drag artists included.

"We had a few angry drunks last month."

And the month before that, and the month before that. Since Steve started moving there, there's barely been a week without some kind of assholes yelling slurs and playing bash-a-fag or whatever it is they call it these days.

"Does that happen often?"

"Kind of. Usually I just scare them away."

It's the steadiness, Steve found. Once you've fought Demogorgons and Vecna, people yelling and shaking a fist at you really doesn't have the same power.

"But not that group?"

"No. Those were more…motivated."

They didn't come with bats or anything like that, thank fuck, but where most of those people accuse Steve of siding with the freaks, this time they actually called him a fag and a pervert. It hit him in a way he wasn't prepared for, cutting deep into a tender part of himself he didn't know existed.

He wasn't ready when they started swinging.

"One of them bashed my head against the wall."

The pain, Steve could have handled—between the Russians and the demobats and even fucking Billy, he's kind of learned to push through it. But the disorientation, the suffocating feeling of trying to find a way to tell someone their assumptions about you are wrong and finding nothing…he remembers thinking he was going to die then and there, feeling like maybe he deserved it.

"Billy's the one who got me out of it, actually."

Came running out of the club in full Marilyn get-up, screaming bloody murder and spreading peach scented perfume all through the alley. Steve has blurry memories of drunken shouting, and a shoe flying, and eyelashes sticking to his shirt under the jacket as Pete--one of the queens who’d finished his show--took him to the nearest hospital.

“Lucky you,” Dr. O’Toole says without looking up from where he’s still writing. “Was that the first time you were in a fight?”

“No.”

“And was it the first time you were hit in the head?”

Images flash in Steve’s mind. His head, hitting the ground as the demobats throw him down. Jonathan’s fist, again and again, concrete at the back. The plate. The Russians. The drunk guys, manic with it.

“No.”

“Mr. Harrington, how many times did it happen?”

“That last one makes five,” Steve admits.

“And did these hits by chance tend to land on the left side of your face?”

Steve rubs the spot before he can think better of it, a familiar phantom itch spreading under his skin. He turns back to the doctor.

“How did you know?”

“Well first of all, most people are right handed.”

Making the left side a better target. Makes sense.

“And also because your friend mentioned that was where the pain seemed to hit the hardest.”

There’s a pause, as Steve ruminates on the doctor’s words. It’s not…they shouldn’t be so hard to parse. They shouldn’t. But Steve is well aware that he was never a very smart guy in the first place, and he’s been even slower than usual in the first place, so it takes him a while to say:

“So…the headaches are linked to that?”

“Yes. However, the symptoms you and your friend reported speak more specifically to a migraine.

“So like. A big headache.”

Dr. O’Toole smiles in a way that reminds Steve of Will, just a little bit. He would like to say it reminds him of Dustin, but Dustin is more the type to frown or roll his eyes when Steve says something stupid. Thank God the kid’s got other qualities.

“In a way, yes. But they tend to be strong headaches who bring friends like confusion, slowed thinking, blurry vision…or sometimes less expected things like food cravings or diarrhea, for example.”

“Oh,” Steve says.

He thought he’d gotten the runs from that new street vendor near NYU. What a stupid fucking symptom for a head thing. At least the blurred vision and the not thinking straight kind of make sense. Same with his light sensitivity and the bit after where he didn’t quite know where he was for a solid half hour. Could do without any of these, though.

“So…what does that mean for me?” He asks once the doctor is done explaining how migraines work. “Is it like…can we make them stop?”

“There are ways to reduce the frequency and severity,” Dr. O’Toole says. “Whether or not they’ll go away entirely is a different question.”

“Oh,” Steve says again.

He’d love to say something more useful or intelligent, but he’s apparently not back to full speed yet.

“It’s a lot,” the doctor says with a comforting expression. He rummages around his desk for a bit before handing Steve a pamphlet in muted colors. “Here’s some basic information to get you started. I’m going to write you a prescription for painkillers, to be used if you have another one in the future, and a referral for a CT scan.”

“A what?”

“A test we do to see the extent of the damage to your brain. That will give us a better idea of what we’re working with, and what to expect in the future. Our contact numbers are at the bottom of the page, please call if you have any additional questions.”

Steve nods, feelings a little like his body is moving without his impulse, and then stands up to shake the doctor’s hand. He goes back out into the corridor in a daze, and finds Billy sprawled across three and a half seats in the waiting room, popping a pink bubblegum as he reads through a faded copy of Times Magazine.

He straightens up when he notices Steve though, getting to his feet and coming up to Steve’s side in the blink of an eye. He doesn’t hug him, of course. It wouldn’t be safe, especially not so close to the Village, but Steve sort of wishes he could.

“Hey. How did it go?”

“It was a lot,” Steve manages, trailing off when he realizes his voice is about to break on the last few words. “I’d like to go home.”

Billy looks him up and down with a frown, then gently takes the brochure, prescription and referral from his hands.

“Sure,” he says. “Sit down for a minute. I’ll take care of this, and then I’ll take you home.”

#Stranger Things #Steve Harrington #Billy Hargrove #My fic #Snippet verse #Steve in the City #I swear they won't all be this long #I'll make an explanation post tomorrow and just link it for the next ones #But it's half past 10pm and I'm half asleep so yeah #Sorry?

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mausasurvivorstale · 2 years

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Speak of the Unspeakable: Memoirs of the Past

Germany’s literature legacy is an expansive one. From philosophy to fiction to verse poetry, Germans have made prolific contributions to humanity through their writing, something that has resulted in international recognition and, perhaps more importantly, a better understanding of the human condition. German literature is rich in beautifully crafted stories, especially from the eras of Sturm und Drang, Romanticism, and Realism. Certain German books are excellent introductions not only to German literature but to German culture and the history of Germany too.

In the modern post-war period, the characteristics of German literature were dominated by both subjective and political explorations of Nazism, the Holocaust, war, and political division; these themes were written about in an attempt to help heal the wounds of the 21st century. The most important aspects that have marked the development of German literature, characteristics that distinguish it and were decisive for its evolution over time, have to do with the importance that the avant-garde represents for its authors. In particular, for the modern classics, it is of great relevance in the development of literature and will give access to a series of writers who find in them access to literature.

Maus' story depicted by the narrator wanted to work with anthropomorphism in a comic book, and decided to use cats and mice as the center of this particular comic. Logically, the decision that the animals are chosen would work well to illustrate his father's experience in the period just before and during the holocaust. The narrator wants to portray a larger specter of memory than a first-person verbal narrative can achieve. Spiegelman uses the form of the comic medium to visualize the connection of the mind between the present and the past. By including both Artie and Vladek, he has achieved a narration not only depicting one side of the story, but two very different sides. As we know, Artie is not a survivor of the physical Holocaust, but he is a survivor in his own way. Both father and son have had to deal with the psychological consequences and aftermath of the Holocaust.

In Requiem for a Nun, William Faulkner writes that "The past is never dead. It’s not even the past. " (1) It points out that the past never dies because humans have a way of adapting the past to suit their present needs. (2) This happens on a personal level, as well as on a political and collective level. The graphic novel’s characteristic way of demonstrating narrative levels and time makes this story excel as not only a narration of memory but also a narration on memory.

While numerous academic studies have done extensive work on the use of the animal metaphor and the complicated relationship between father and son, few have, according to Jeanne C. Ewe "focused on Maus as a visual narrative: its graphic arrangement of narrative layers and frames, its pictorial treatment of narrative time..." (Ewert 87). The animal metaphor is an act of focalization; it plays on the assumptions of the human race as not one, but divided into several. It makes the reader contemplate the idea of a natural hierarchy between "races". While cats are the natural predators and mice are the natural prey, Germans and Jews are of the same race; the human race. However, by depicting humans as different races, the absurdity of the Nazi doctrine is highlighted. We are not presented with the past and then the future, but rather a stacking, morphing, and collision of temporalities. This is much more suitable to explain human memory.

The graphic novel medium not only allows it to challenge traditional expectations and representations of time, narration, and focalization, but the medium itself has the possibility of reaching a large readership. Most likely, this could include people that otherwise might never have picked up a Holocaust narrative. Chute argues that this is the gift of the graphic novel, its possibility to write a history that combines "formal experimentation with an appeal to mass readership" (Chute, "Comics as Literature" 459).

Irrevocably, Maus is a reflection of challenges. The power struggle in defining the past is thus not unique to Maus, but is a widespread problem in our daily lives. It is an act of prosthetic memory. Maus’ importance to collective memory is not because of Landsberg’s idea of prosthetic memory, but rather that it works to involve the reader in the difficult process of both remembering and creating memory.

#maus #multimodal analysis #history

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lboogie1906 · 4 days

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Elizabeth Catlett (April 15, 1915 – April 2, 2012) was a political expressionist sculptor and printmaker. She was born to John and Mary Catlett who were public school teachers in DC. She was the youngest of three children. After graduating from Dunbar High School, she studied Design and Drawing at Howard University. She graduated cum laude, after changing her major to Painting. She became the first student to receive an MFA in Sculpting from the University of Iowa.

She studied ceramics at the Art Institute of Chicago, followed by the study of lithography at the Arts Students League, she was married to fellow artist Charles White.

She began focusing her sculptures on African American women. Her thesis project, a limestone sculpture titled Mother and Child, won a sculpture prize at the 1940 American Negro Exposition. During WWII she taught art at Prairie View A&M College, Dillard University, and Hampton Institute as well as the Carver School.

She spent the majority of her adult life in Mexico, after winning a Rosenwald Fund Fellowship in 1946 to study wood and ceramic sculpting at the Escuela de Pintura y Escultura in Esmerelda. She married artist Francisco Victor Mora (1947) and became a Mexican citizen and they had three sons including Juan Mora Catlett, a film director. She became involved with the People’s Graphic Arts Workshop.

She taught at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where she became the first female professor of sculpture. She retired to Cuernavaca, Morelos in 1975. Her artwork did not attain the same degree of fame in the US, her sculptures were selected for an exhibition at New York’s June Kelly Gallery. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions in Cleveland, San Francisco, Chicago, and Charlotte, and she has works featured in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, and New York’s Metropolitan Museum and Museum of Modern Art. Her African American-inspired sculptures and prints have been recognized by the Women’s Caucus for Art and the International Sculpture Center, from whom she received the 2003 Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #deltasigmatheta

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bllsbailey · 7 days

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You Won't Believe What a Federal DEI Office Sent Agency-Wide

Last year, button-pushers within the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)'s DEI office tediously constructed and widely circulated a "Black Resistance" flyer that exalts anti-police political figures and promotes black nationalist ideas, according to the federal law enforcement agency's internal communications obtained by Townhall via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Back in early December 2022, CBP's Privacy and Diversity Office (PDO) leadership placed a work order of "High" importance, instructing the federal agency's Printing, Graphics, and Distribution Branch to design an 8.5 x 11" flyer for Black History Month.

Though the flyer aptly features a photograph of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader is showcased alongside the likes of race hustler Colin Kaepernick. Near them is a picture of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), once accused of attempting to incite a Black Lives Matter mob to commit political violence. In the center is a word cloud that looks like it was slapped together with woke buzzwords taken off of TikTok, such as "Allies", "Social Justice", "#BlackLivesMatters" [sic], and "#ICan'tBreathe".

Also featured prominently are political slogans, such as "#BlackPower," a phrase which MLK "resolutely" opposed, worrying that it carried "connotations of violence and separatism", as well as "My Black is Beautiful," a saying that's supposed to instill a sense of pride in being black, as inspired by the politics of black nationalist Marcus Garvey.

To celebrate Black History Month, CBP distributed the flyer "along with information about the process for establishing the theme to advance the educational intent of Black History Month," a CBP spokesperson told Townhall. The poster spotlights names and historical references "representative of Black Resistance," the agency spokesperson added.

Each year, CBP follows thematic guidelines laid out by Black History Month's founders, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). 2023's theme, as ASALH declared, was "Black Resistance in the Past, Present, and Future."

"African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression, in all forms, especially the racial terrorism of lynching, racial pogroms, and police killings since our arrival upon these shores," reads ASALH's explanatory summary of last year's theme.

ASALH named Colin Kaepernick, Simone Biles, Jesse Owens, and Jackie Robinson in the same sentence as examples of industry trailblazers who "resisted the idea that they cannot or should not speak about political, cultural, or social issues."

For CBP's Black History Month initiative, the DEI officer assigned to oversee the project opted not to include Jesse Owens, who triumphed over racial discrimination at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin during the Nazi regime's reign and at home in a segregated America, or Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball and endured relentless abuse as a result.

Instead, the DEI officer chose to extol Kaepernick, who uses his platform to sow racial division, and Simone Biles, who quit the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to "focus on [her] mental health," later saying she was under pressure to overachieve as "a black woman."

"Black activist athletes have often suffered personal and economic consequences due to their stances, speech, and actions, but to them, it has been worth it to see changes," ASALH wrote, although Kaepernick had little to lose and everything to gain from seeking attention on the sidelines. (No one even noticed Kaepernick's first few "protests" against the national anthem, because the then-regressing San Francisco 49ers quarterback was benched and out of uniform at the time of his waning NFL career.)

"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," Kaepernick proclaimed. For his bravado, he was rewarded handsomely, securing an endorsement deal with Nike that made him the face of its "Believe in something, Even if it means sacrificing everything" campaign despite him not really "sacrificing" anything at all.

Kaepernick, having made millions off his time in the NFL, would go on to produce his own Netflix special, where he compared the NFL draft process to a slave auction. Actors acted out the analogy in the multi-millionaire's production. The slavery scene depicted white NFL team owners bidding on black NFL prospects, shackled in the football field-turned-plantation.

Another anachronism can be found in the DEI officer's decision to sequentially list Biles before Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy who was abducted, brutally beaten, and lynched in the Jim Crow-era South. Notably, ASALH, which the federal worker used as a reference, made no mention of Emmett Till in its paragraph on "lynchings and ongoing police violence against African Americans." Rather, the organization focused on "the murders of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor, and thousands of other Black women, men, and trans people..." as present-day calls for "resistance."

Furthermore, ASALH claimed that "societal and political forces" are escalating to "limit access to and exercise of the ballot, eliminate the teaching of Black history, and work to push us back into the 1890s," a thinly veiled jab at GOP-led election integrity efforts and Florida's legislation prohibiting the instruction of critical race theory in the state's schools.

(Per the Florida Department of Education's social studies requirements and standards, the African people's passage to America, slavery, and abolition are all mandated topics under the required instructional Florida statute as is the civil rights movement.)

"[W]e can only rely on our capacity to resist," ASALH proclaimed.

CBP files - FOIA response t... by mia.cathell

As Townhall previously reported, the flyer was disbursed agency-wide and accompanied by CBP Commissioner Troy Miller's message commemorating Black History Month. An email sent from the agency prodded personnel to "participate in local Diversity and Inclusion Program Committee activities at headquarters and various field offices in honor of National Black History Month."

The work order also indicated that the "Black Resistance"-themed graphic would be used for a "promo pic" on CBPnet, the private network accessed exclusively by CBP employees and administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

A source at CBP's Baltimore Field Office told Townhall that the flyer was printed out and posted to a bulletin board inside the building, causing quite a stir among the employees there due to its "divisive" nature and rhetorical tone. "BLM hates us, so does Maxine Waters. Kaepernick hates us. They're anti-police advocates against the nation's largest police agency," the source said.

In 2021, the global Black Lives Matter organization said that CBP, "like other law enforcement agencies," is "rooted in white supremacy and a history of slave-catching." BLM's declaration was issued in the aftermath of the left-wing media disinformation campaign falsely accusing mounted U.S. Border Patrol agents of whipping Haitians who were illegally crossing into Del Rio, Texas. BLM peddled that false narrative, later known as the WhipGate hoax, in a statement claiming Border Patrol perpetrated "anti-black violence" against the illegal aliens.

"When we say #DefundThePolice, we mean all the police, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), who are demonstrating their slave-catching roots, riding horseback, and beating Haitian asylum-seekers with whips," BLM wrote.

As for Maxine Waters, ahead of the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial, the Democrat lawmaker directed BLM activists to "stay in the streets" and "get more confrontational" if the ex-Minneapolis police officer was found not guilty of murdering George Floyd.

"This is just another attempt by a federal agency to show how woke it is," one Border Patrol agent, referring to the Black Lives Matter-inspired flyer, told Townhall. "The office that made this is also responsible for responding to FOIA requests, so I would rather they not spend time making flyers like this and instead work on not taking six months to respond to a FOIA request."

Indeed, the FOIA Division is nested within CBP's Privacy and Diversity Office (PDO); the PDO has dual functionality split between handling FOIA requests and enforcing DEI practices in its federal workforce. In February 2023, Townhall submitted a public records request seeking access to CBP documents discussing the design and dissemination of its "Black Resistance" flyer. It, then, took the agency's FOIA-processing department a year to locate these records created by its own DEI-fused counterpart.

The "releasable" records were heavily redacted, pursuant to subsections of Title 5 U.S.C. § 552 that pertain to the disclosure of personnel files, which "would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy," production of law enforcement records, and revealing investigative/prosecutorial procedures. Two pages were withheld altogether because of inter- or intra-agency memorandums "that would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency."

"CBP has considered the foreseeable harm standard when reviewing the record set and has applied the FOIA exemptions as required by the statute and the Attorney General's guidance," the agency's FOIA Divison told Townhall via a final response letter.

The redactions include censoring the names of those DEI officers involved in the flyer's creation.

CBP's PDO, whose tagline is "Diversity Makes Us Stronger," has what are called "local Special Emphasis Program Committees (SEPCs)," formerly known as "Diversity and Inclusion Program Committees (DIPCs)," but the overt DEI branding was dropped in the past year. PDO staff helps these DEI committees, comprised of CBP employee volunteers, execute the agency's Diversity and Inclusion Management Plan, as well as fulfill its "affirmative employment obligations" through DEI programming, such as "cultural education," and by attracting "underrepresented minority communities" to apply for employment positions within CBP.

According to the agency's five-year strategic plan for expanding DEI efforts through FY 2026, "Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility are essential elements in achieving CBP's mission, living its values, and realizing its vision as an agency. Increasing workforce diversity will improve the quality of decisions made by CBP employees..." The agency's DEIA mission statement says, "CBP protects our borders, the American people, and economic prosperity by [...] making DEI a cornerstone of all that we do."

In preparation for its strategic planning, CBP completed an "equity assessment" of its workforce demographics and touted seeing "improvements in the demographic representation" of female and black employees in high-paying senior management positions.

For National Women's History Month this March, the theme is celebrating "Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion," and for Women's Equality Day on August 26, the agency's DEI office will urge CBP employees to "Embrace Equity."

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uncloseted · 2 months

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Do you have opinions on people who say world events affect their mental health and make it hard to live their lives? I've started to Westerners on tt and x say how what's happening in Gaza is affecting their mental health and they're struggling with their day to day lives because of it. What's happening is horrible and I get how the state of the world is soul crushing and feels like it's getting worse but it feels icky hearing Westerners talk about genocide making THEM feel bad about life

I think it's complicated. People can develop PTSD and other serious neurological health issues from repeated exposure to media of mass violence. For example, a few years ago Facebook paid a $52 million settlement to moderators that developed PTSD as a result of viewing violent images all day long. And studies have corroborated that- per Dr. David Spiegel, of Stanford’s Center on Stress and Health, "Exposure to trauma, even at a distance, will elicit the kind of reaction you might have if you are witnessing an event yourself.” So I think it makes a lot of sense that for people who consider "witnessing" what's happening in conflict zones to be a form of political action are developing mental health issues as a result of constantly being exposed to that imagery. That's real, and I'm sure it is making it hard to live their lives.

That said. Intentionally traumatizing yourself by "witnessing" a conflict is not a real form of political action, and developing PTSD from constantly consuming imagery and video from a war zone is a surefire way to make sure you don't take any political action that would actually impact the situation. In some ways this feels to me like a particularly extreme form of slacktivism, where people feel like their trauma from "witnessing" what's happening proves that they care the most and absolves them from having to do anything else. It's important for people to stand up for what they think is right. But consuming graphic content isn't helping anyone. It's just creating a secondary issue that requires time and resources to fix. I know that engaging in real-world activism can feel intimidating and vulnerable, but that's what we all have to do if any real-world change is going to be made.

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rixm01ina · 3 months

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Unraveling the Layers: An Analysis of 'Minsan May Isang Puta' by Mike Portes

Mike Portes, a talented individual, is recognized for her roles as an author, public servant, and former overseas Filipino worker. With a diverse background that includes work as a flight attendant and studies at De La Salle University and the University of the Philippines Manila, Mike is not only a successful author but also proficient in web and graphic design.

The story "Minsan may isang Puta" seems to center around a mother sharing her challenges with her children. However, it turns out that Mike Portes is using this narrative to symbolize the state of the Philippines. The conflicts among the children mirror the societal issues and divisions within the country. The reference to material wealth and titles reflects the complex socio-political landscape where disparities exist. As a significant event approaches, the plea for remembrance and protection may symbolize a desire for unity and care for the nation amidst potential challenges. It's a poignant reflection on the multifaceted challenges faced by the Philippines, skillfully woven into a personal narrative.

The purpose of this story by Mike Portes is to offer a nuanced and symbolic reflection on the complexities of Filipino life, society, and history. Through the use of metaphors, literary techniques, and personal narratives, the author aims to convey the challenges faced by the Philippines, such as economic disparities, societal divisions, and the desire for unity and care for the nation.

Mike Portes skillfully uses different literary techniques and themes to tell a story that reflects the complexities of Filipino life. The metaphor "nabunutan ng tinik" repeats as a symbol, representing widespread uncertainty and mistrust in the speaker's life. Similarly, the metaphor "lubog kami sa utang" appears throughout, skillfully depicting financial struggles in Filipino society.

The irony in the statement "mismong mga anak ko, ang tuluyang sisira sa akin", making us think about life's unexpected turns. Looking at the bigger picture, the story becomes a small version of the Philippines' challenges, connecting personal experiences to the nation's history, even mentioning foreign colonization.

In summary, Mike Portes tells a story that reflects various aspects of Filipino culture and history using metaphors and societal themes. The narrative acts like a mirror, showing the complexities of the Philippines' social and political landscape. It explores internal struggles, chasing material wealth, and the need for unity and compassion in the nation. The mother metaphor adds an emotional touch, emphasizing a deep connection and concern for the country's well-being.

#analysis #essay

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oncomics · 3 months

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I confess: I don’t believe I ever knew of him, certainly don’t remember the name.

That said, some of his books may be of interest to some of you.

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eclipseuniversity · 4 months

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im struggling with a major for my muse... could i im the main for specific help?

ABSOLUTELY ! so generally we would love to see astronomy, astrophysics, climatology, meteorology, physics, or atmospheric chemistry. some other good stem majors are computer science, engineering, biology, robotics (the campus has a great robotics center!), informations technology, mathematics, zoology, entomology, or maybe some kind of health science, kinesiology, and pre-med since this is a stem school with a specific reputation for astronomy BUT outside of that circle though we would love to see people majoring in things like graphic design, art, classics, russian, dance, economics, education, film, geography, architecture, history, anthropology, linguistics, music, archeology, political science, philosophy, gender studies, B U T !!!! if you want more specified ideas for your character, hit us up in ims! we love chatting. just give us some information about your muse and their interests and we are so happy to give specific help.

#faq #multifandom rp #college rp #dark academia rp #university rp

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laura-apexart · 8 months

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Day 24. 7.31.23

Rock climbing at Zona De Bloque

To rent shoes and for 2 hours it’s about $8

No class just free climb -left to my own devices. Wish I had guidance- had climbed a few times before in Brooklyn with friends using their guest passes and with their pointers. Enjoyed the kinesthetic negotiations and problem solving-I enjoy watching others move their bodies and cling and scale across colored knobs and blobs. The gym is playing hip hop and rap (mostly American music)

Again -I am confronted with a sort of syntax and grammar but for the body to negotiate.I choose blue-beginner but still hard -I’m afraid of heights and of tweaking my back. The patterns of these different colored forms jutting out of the wall. I push myself and try different walls or sides around the gym but always stick to blue and get pretty high up-when I leave my arms are sore. Need to work on upper body strengthening. I probably should have stretched before beginning to climb like everyone else at the gym. HA.

In the afternoon, I go to Tipo, Lito, Calavera, Histories Del Diseno Grafico enn Colombia at Casa Republicanna de la Biblioteca Luis Anngel Arango–one of the first exhibitions to record the history of typography in Colombia during the 20th cen. Like so many of the museums here, the exhibition is in the Candelaria area. The exhibition had an amazing layout and display-album covers, books, advertisements, logos, comics, journals, political and social works.

In a vaulted room there's a small projected film playing , the color is gorgeous-it was filmed in the 60’s Bogota Blues —a take on an American in Paris to Rhapsody Blues by George Gershwin. I found the footage masterfully edited together, playing with shifts in camera speed and direction -buildings moving up and down for transitions between subjects–everything is organized in categories but still maintains a sort of chaos and mess of city life and beats and fun to sit next to two Bogota women as they watched in delight and pointed out different neighborhoods etc–see how the city looked in the 60’s –1963.

Various montages like cuts between people walking in the rain, running, reacting to the rain with their umbrellas or the domes and spires of churches and cathedrals or the city all light up at night , the neon signs, dogs wandering around roaming, the city at sunset and sunrise. Thought of what I would film or patterns I have noticed:

Uniforms -so many different ones

Trash piles and trash pickers -picked trash

Animals asleep in Windows

Fruit/food vendors on the street

Motorcycles at green lights like insects buzzing by

The people on the bus selling snacks and various objects like headphones and sparkling hair clips

Interesting to connect back to the Typography and graphic designs in all the printed works. Makes me want to study Gestalt psychology and rules of visual perception and patterns of the eye/mind. Accumulation of likeness. Can you find patterns in chaos? If you focus on a category and collect data of footage, maybe a type of sense or likeness starts to emerge? Everything is a Construction but we need structure and systems to function-which ones are culturally specific? Which ones transcend borders / boundaries?

In the Evenning I go to Meditation at the Bogota Buddhist Center

The center is being renovated (I went to the center’s address on Thursday and it was closed) so it’s taking place in the community room of one of the members apartments -I arrive early and the doorman/security guard sends me up to the 5th floor, it is the apartment of the mother of the women who is hosting, they are both so warm and welcoming and invite me in and she explains she is undergoing treatment-chemotherapy but almost done, that’s why she’s wearing a mask–but not to worry or feel bad for her because she is ok and feels good and I want to imagine the meditation must be a big part of that? I help bring down mats and other supplies we need for the meditation. I ask how she found her way to the practice.

She was working in Medelln (gods heart?) with children and a family that was stressful and she was smoking at the time and but couldn’t because of the job and wanted to quite, and a friend suggested meditation, she took to it, then when she moved to Bogota found this center. We set up and Juan -arrived leads the meditation and graciously translates the whole lecture / meditation for me -but the others assure me that it’s good practice for him (he agrees) because he's about to go on tour in Europe and lead sessions in English. All 7 members of the group, friends are warm and charismatic and good natured, so welcoming, open, and curious. It all feels so intimate and makeshift and I am curious to go to the center in nyc (by Empire State Building) they have 600 around the world .

The meditation opens with a lecture that goes something like: We are shaped by are perceptions. If we have a happy disposition we will experience the world positively, if we are depressed and have hard feelings/outlook -circumstances, we might experience the world badly

The practice helps us be objective, remove ourselves from our feelings -feelings are impermanent.These are the teaching from a Tibetan teacher (Nepal) who trained a man and his wife from Holland / who now live in Bovaria, Germany and have a center and have trained Juan.

The lecture continues: It’s about experience moving from head and intellect to heart and experience so that you can connect with others -not about self, about others!!!

The container stays the same -the contents are impermanent.

Guided meditation with chanting dispersed that I loved at one point repeating two words the room was filled with whispers and humming and vibrating and it sounded wild but felt so focused

crystal light -tip of nose

Red light in throat that connects with the sea

Blue light in heart that connects with the sea

Black light ? form disintegrates

All that is left is shining light, energy, joy, radiating outward.

After a stayed a little longer to chat with some of the younger members, Isabella and her partner joined 2016-17 they were both raised Catholic, had questions that weren’t answered or addressed-took a course in school that exposed them to meditation, discovered this center in Bogota. They stressed the importance of questioning–do you feel something from it–does it resonate with you? It is important to ask yourself these questions, becomes so personal.

#Laura Bernstein

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