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#it just frustrates me when people dont try to articulate what the issue is
thehardkandy · 3 months
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i have been lurking around online help forums answering questions for probably at least 15 years and to this day it still drives me absolutely bananas when people essentially just post "HELP! I HAVE A PROBLEM" and then refuse to provide any information or context as if you are some sort of mind-reading savant capable of inducing all the information required on the broadest problem imaginable
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corpsentry · 3 years
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january: an art retrospective
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i did some stuff last month (but it’s a lot of stuff and there’s a photodump + some Serious Fucking Reflection, so it’s all below the cut)
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so ok, let’s start with this. here are some heads. each head has a red arrow. that red arrow is what i call the red line of the devil. it’s the slope of the face from the side of the eye to the cheekbone and then down towards the chin. up until like 2 weeks ago, i couldn’t draw it. i couldn’t fucking draw it. i would edit over that part of the face over and over again until i was frustrated and tired and i had a raging homosexual headache and it still never looked right. notice that each head is different. notice that each head looks wrong.
at the start of 2021 i finally admitted to myself, as per the image above, that i was deeply, deeply unhappy with my art. what was the problem? i dunno. but i decided i was going to fix it and i was going to do so via another one scribble a day event wherein for every day of january i would find a photo of a human head, and i would draw it.
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january 1st, 2021. i was embarrassed to tweet this even on my private account where like 5 friends and a rock would see it. in retrospect, you can also see all of my bad habits emerging like dicks from a hole in the ground. it’s disproportionate. the brows look flat. the eyes are slanting upwards. the entire drawing looks flat, like this isn’t a 3d person but a caricature of one.
january 2nd, 3rd, 4th:
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on the 2nd i decided to start a separate thread for doodles and applied learning. here’s the first set of tests
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the rest of the week is kind of uneventful so we’re going to skip those. fast forward to january 11th
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this one is especially bad. i am acutely aware, suddenly, that i am not changing anything at all. i’m stressed and miserable about it because i’m still trying to see people as people and trying to draw people that look attractive and proportionate and hot. my friend, leny, reminds me that i need to think about faces in terms of planes. i have a moment. my other friend masha sends me some links to anatomy tutorials. i have another moment.
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january 11th. applied sketch
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january 13th is when i start the troubleshooting process. the link above drives me mad because i’m pretty happy with the face but then i realize that there’s something very fucking wrong with the shape of the head LOL and then i realize that i’ve never had any idea what the proportion of the face to the rest of the skull is so i grit my teeth and i open a new canvas and i
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bald studies. it seemed like the right thing to do. can’t draw heads? ok draw some heads. look at some photographs. i traced each photo but tried to stick to straight lines so that i could replicate the shapes more easily. i broke each face down into shapes. i thought about airplanes
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i got really excited. i started doing studies, then applied studies, then stylized studies.
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sketches. i’m not sure what’s going on (as always) and it’s very rough, but they look different from the sketches i did on january 2nd. that’s a start
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january 16th’s daily study. looks more like a person now. juuuuuust a bit
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more applied studies
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on the 18th i take a break and go stare at some lips because i don’t understand how the fuck they work. again, i focus on shapes, on volume, on the fact that these things exist in 3d. holy fuck lips exist in 3d. holy fuck we are real
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january 19th. i’m working on it.
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january 22nd. some sketches + a daily study. it has finally occurred to me that heads can tilt up and down and that things look different accordingly. yes i was not aware of this before. yes i have been drawing for over a decade.
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january 23rd. by this point after doing my daily sketch i almost always go back and do an applied study which is basically to say i drew a lot of fucking links. this one looks kind of okay. i’m kind of proud
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january 25th. links. trying to make sense of everything i’ve learned
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26th, 27th, 28th. daily studies
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january 1st. january 31st
The End Of The Photo Dump (dab)
ok NOW i get to talk about what i discovered while studying the shit out of human beings
FIRST OF ALL, there is something precious and magical about drawing shit without the explicit knowledge that you’re going to tweet that shit out to 45 people later. it takes the burden of perception off your shoulders and that does something to you, or at least that’s my theory. i told myself i wouldn’t post any of this stuff until the end of the month (if i wanted to post it at all) and kept everything off my public social media accounts and that meant i could draw ugly as hell without worrying about who would point and laugh, which i absolutely fucking did. a lot of these are fucking trainwrecks. most of these are fucking trainwrecks. why do they look like that?? why??? this doesn’t look like the work of someone who’s allegedly been drawing since they were in kindergarten, does it?????
here’s why: because that person took a huge motherfucking swing at everything they’d ever known about art and spent a month building something new in its place. the abstract explanation is that i grew up on shoujo and weird old anime and my understanding of anatomy was unironically kamichama karin and while i love kamichama karin, when kamichama karin is your rule even if you try to break it, you’re going to end up going nowhere. “you have to know the rules to break them”, yeah? well i didn’t know shit. the abstract explanation is i’ve been miserable about my art for a few years now because i saw other people doing things effortlessly which i couldn’t and instead of going back to the basics, i tried to do what they did (not plagiarism, mind you, i mean i literally tried to copy the red line of the devil i mentioned above because i couldn’t even make that happen) and then i fucking failed.
the simple explanation is this. i had to unlearn everything, and relearn it again (like some kind of new renaissance clown, what the fuck is this?)
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take this for example. all my life i’ve drawn faces in the order: eyes, nose, mouth, face shape, head. this works for some people, im aware, but it was something central to how i had always drawn, so i decentralized it. i said fuck you to the old me and changed the order up. now i start with the nose, then the eyes, mouth, the chin line, and the sides of the face. now i force myself to think about the human head as a series of parts interacting with each other instead of a bunch of disparate features which i want to look pretty.
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or let’s use this zelda from last year. something about this looked wrong last october, the way something about all of my drawings looked wrong, but i couldn’t pinpoint it for hell the way i couldn’t articulate Any of my feelings about the visual arts. now, looking back, here’s what i see. that nose is sticking out far too much given how she’s not really facing very far away from the camera. that ear at the back shouldn’t be there. her forehead is too big. she doesn’t have a forehead. what the fuck is up with the shape of her head?
so apparently reject modernity embrace tradition has its roots in alt-right terminology and i’m not very horny for the alt-right (you understand), but the spirit survives here. you know sometimes you have to admit that you have no idea what the fuck you’re doing and draw people for 31 days. i’ve spent my whole life drawing stylized people and while again there are artists who have no issue with this, i veered off the track of the Good and the Holy and couldn’t get back on. i had no point of reference because i’d never thought about what an actual human being looks like, so i had no way to fix what i knew in my gut looked wrong but wouldn’t come out better.
this was hard. this was like oikawa tooru swallowing his worthless pride and admitting that ushijima wakatoshi had gotten the best of him for the last time in his high school career, but in haikyuu!! by furudate haruichi oikawa tooru fucks off to argentina and then joins the argentinean national team, and you know what, i think i’ve made it to argentina (not the team just the country). as per the golden rule of dont fucking move until you’re at least two thirds of the way through the month, i only started trying to draw Shit shit on like the 22nd or something, but i was happy with that i created. i am happy with what i’ve done. i’ve posted like 2 things this month that involve people with what i now call ~applied Knowledge~~ and they’re, like, not perfect obviously (perfection is an unattainable ideal), but i’m fucking proud of them. i didn’t spend 5 hours hunched over my laptop adjusting the red line of the devil because it’s not a devil’s line anymore. because i finally sorta get how people work. because i sat down and i said ‘we are not going to fuck with this misery shit anymore’ and then i did that. it’s just a line now.
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here are 2 collages tracking my painstakingly carved out progress from january 2nd to february 2nd because i’m a slut for collages
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and here’s what i’ve done to my art! the same person drew these but also Not Really! you know! for the first time in a year i don’t immediately hate what i’ve drawn. you know what guys? art is fucking fun. zelda’s forehead doesn’t scare me anymore because i know how foreheads fucking work now, and i don’t know everything, and i’m going to keep troubleshooting stuff as i go (i want to draw a skeleton. like a. i want to draw a goddamn skeleton guys) but i’m honestly and genuinely proud of what i’ve done in the span of a month, and i’m also in disbelief. i started this month-long challenge out as a last ditch effort to make peace with my art because i’ve been tired for a long time and i was ready to kick the bucket on drawing people altogether. i didn’t think anything would happen. nothing’s happened for years. i’ve been miserable for years.
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this was the caption for january 1st, 2021. i was super, super fucking embarrassed and it looks like super fucking shit, but you know what, i think i did in fact triumph over the bullshit. surprisingly enough, when you put in consistent effort into something, You Will See Results. didn’t see that coming, did you? i know i didn’t.
this isn’t a success story. it’s a happiness story. i never gave a shit damn about the institute of art or whatever, i was just mad at myself because what i saw in my head didn’t match up with what was on the canvas. and now it’s getting better. now i’m calibrating the compass. now drawing not just backgrounds but also people is exciting to me, and i can stick my links in your face and tell you ‘they hot’. i’m going to keep doing that. i’m going to keep going until i drop off the side of the earth and then spiral towards mars like some kind of fairy, and then i’m going to create something beautiful.
thanks for reading. here’s a pr department link for sticking around until the end
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wollfling · 3 years
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Hi Allie! I wondered if I could ask you for some advice. I want to draw really badly and create art but I really don't have any skill! I know that in order to get better at art I have to actually do it, but I feel so overwhelmed by how I'm not where I want to be with it right away, and also with where to start with learning to draw. Do you ever feel that way when you draw? And if you do how have you gotten past it?
[I am literally so sorry this is so long oh my God. My mind has been very jumbled lately so I accidentally rambled too much, but I hope it still helps you in any way orz] Oh sweet little anon.. ;^; I do feel that way, a lot of the time if not all of the time! Just recently this week, I felt like I just couldn't draw despite picking up my pencil and scribbling, it just wasn't working partly for that exact reason! Overwhelmed by not being where I want to be with it! These things happen and its frustrating. It's hard for me to imagine as a beginner artist because I've been drawing since I can remember but I will still do my best to offer you some meaningful advice!
But first, to answer your very last question, getting past it can be a little random sometimes. This whole week after being unable to draw, I was laying in bed trying to sleep while reflecting on some heavy feelings ive been having and memories. Suddenly part of an image flashed in my mind and I got up to immediately try drawing it. (The drawing I recently posted and captioned "parade"!) I worked on it completely driven by my heart, and so it didn't matter at the time if it looked good or was anatomically correct, etc. Right now I am working on another heart-driven drawing, but if I tried to work on lets say a study or character drawing instead.. I dont think i could!
My point in all this is that, I think that its important to know/understand why you want to create art, and I think my advice would change slightly depending on your answer. For me personally, I am an emotional artist. I create art that (usually) reflects how I'm feeling or topics I am emotionally drawn to. Illustrations, drawing characters, writing comics, etc.. I think this week, while I'm definitely struggling with my skill level, I was so burdened by some things I've been feeling lately that I couldn't focus on or enjoy anything that I was trying to create, until I was able to release it all in a drawing. (And I'm still not done with them hence why I am now working on another related drawing, but im making SOMETHING and feeling passionate which cannot be said with any of my other attempts this week.) So since these drawings purpose outweigh my current issues regarding my skill, I am able to work on them. If that makes sense?
Okay im sorry with how long-winded this all is so far and all about myself orz but I wanted to give context on how I view art and I think if you asked someone who creates like. Hyperrealistic drawings their answers would be completely different. So! I wanted you to be able to judge if my advice would work for you if that makes any sense at all...!!! Moving on to my actual advice then..!
This is a little general ofc because I dont know what sort of art you are creating, or what your passion behind it is. And if after this you would like to tell me more about your art I would love to hear! 🥺💗 you are welcome to dm me or if you send another anon/ask i think that would be good too since.. well other artists who see can also give their own advice too!
Okay. So anyways lol, first I want to tell you that your desire to create art makes you an artist, despite your skill level. And therefore, everything and anything that you make even now has value. Even if right now you're drawing wonky shaded spheres and cubes! I understand its frustrating when wanting to make something but you feel like your skill isn't "there" and how that can prevent you from making anything to begin with!! But I really want you to try and work through it! Ignore it, disregard it, give your worries about your skill the silent treatment!! And I know its near impossible to do but if its getting in the way of you actually creating well.. thats the worst! We can't have that. If you really want to draw, then you really NEED to draw, you know what I mean? You deserve to draw! The hardest part for like 80% of artists is working around their skill level. I promise you will get there, but for now, you can't let it get in your way. And I realize me saying "oh you feel like you're not good at drawing and its hindering you from doing it? Just do it" sounds like Chad advice but ;---; unfortunately its the reality that comes with being an artist. If you tell me more about what you like to/why you want draw then maybe we can find some alternate lines of thinking that will help you (for example "this tiger i drew looks like shit but drawing all of her stripes was therapeutic and made it worth it!" If lets say you draw as a stim, opposed to "this tiger im drawing looks so bad I can't even look at it anymore " dhsjhd I really hope that this all makes sense lol.)
Moving on, learning how to draw.. this also depends on what you enjoy drawing but my main piece of advice here is study from real life. I grew up drawing cartoons and anime, and now that I want to draw a little more realistically.. its so hard!! If you study real shapes/people/animals/etc it might be easier later on when you understand fundamentals to bend them if you decide to create stylized or surreal art. However if right now you like to draw stylized art, I would recommend to keep working on your personal style while studying from real life on the side simultaneously! Any way you look at it, understanding how shapes, lighting, colour, etc work in the real world will help you out even with the most obscure pieces. And since art is a learned skill yknow you need to build those brain..pathways..and such. Im not a scientist but you get what i mean. Studies are the equivalent to lifting weights! I would recommend the website quickposes (com) they have a library of images that they throw at you at random. The site can explain itself better than I can lmao, check it out!!!
I really hope i was able to offer you something of value here, I didnt mean to ramble so much. I'm excited for you to grow as an artist, I love when I hear about others deciding to learn how to draw ;-; please feel welcome to ask for any clarification (as im having a hard time articulating my thoughts lately) or if you really just want to ask or say anything! ♡♡♡ again sorry if this was more than you bargained for length wise dhsishskshksj
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e8luhs · 4 years
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i am very excited for refactoring!! i already love the characters. can you tell us more about the main cast? like personality and interests and stuff.
AW YES IM SO GLAD THAT YOURE EXCITED!! i got this ask this morning and it seriously made me want to stay home from school and just infodump. im putting this under a cut since it will probably get a bit long i just kind of wrote down some fun tidbits and etc
mavis
absolute jock-passing nerd. she dresses like she Does Sport even though she did like quiz bowl and whatnot instead.
shes quite chill and thoughtful (its the taurus rising) but gets easily bored and needs constantly new forms of stimulation to stay motivated. she loves a challenge and basically feeds off of that kind of stuff. this really only cancelled out when its something deeply stressful (like being teleported to an entirely new dimension and all that). she CAN settle down into one spot and feel comfortable with that so long as she isnt BORED because GOD FORBID SHES BORED.
mavis likes science but especially astronomy, and despite everything shes actually really into horror movies and the paranormal too. a definite Halloween Enthusiast and also listens to lemon demon dare i say.
whenever shes stressed or frustrated or anxious her knee jerk instinct is to try and joke about it and move on. she isnt really direct about how she feels and whatnot and when she IS its usually via punchline.
silas
silas is probably one of the easiest people to read in the cast. its basically impossible for him to lie or say that hes doing well if he isnt. hes a very honest person and expects that kind of honesty from others also, and it becomes really frustrating for him when people arent direct about how they feel
BECAUUUUSEEEE hes also very empathetic. both of the hao siblings are but he goes about it in a very different way than catriona. hes much more like “I have to know everything about why you are upset or else ill die” because if he sees someone sad and doesnt know why it basically eats him up inside until he knows.
hes also a bit of a jokester not about his feelings or anything but just in general! rather than using it as a defense he just really enjoys making people laugh. silas is very sociable.
sometimes he can be a bit of a try hard.... he is really doing his best and i love him. him and lea and mavis all share a need to establish themselves as something greater than they are and his mainly stems from Youngest Sibling Syndrome with a side of boredom with his own life too. mavis and silas really bond over that but silas didnt really take on any escapist tendencies like mavis did. he pushes himself to take action and try many things and considers many paths.
catriona
she has a teddy bear in her room that she hides in a reading cubby because its still important but she feels that her image as Mature and Put Together matters too much to really share that soft side with others. and i think that basically sums her up as a character.
really just needs some fuckin sleep. she is fueled by various caffeinated beverages (her favorites being an overly elaborate coffee order and arizona green tea). shes articulate, but because shes usually running on 4 or 5 hours of sleep she can sometimes miss small details or starts talking faster than her own thoughts+stumbling over her own words.
shes a bit suspicious of other people because shes had her trust tested a lot. catriona is very like kind and warm still though its just that like... you know. if you wrong her its very hard to win her back and she likely wont trust you with anything again.
shes also much more of a “fix it” kind of person when it comes to problems. she will absolutely provide a shoulder to cry on when you need it but at the end of the day she provides very practical support by trying to provide options. she takes the same approach with her own feelings too.
kirabo
basically like “*softly* dont”. they are very cautious and dont take a lot of risks unless theyre absolutely sure that it will work out and there will be a benefit. however, theyre still optimistic and theyre always able to see the best in other people and in any situation. not really in that toxic kind of positivity way... but as in like they are able to appreciate the small things and whatnot
^ that world view is basically why they are so into botany. its very precise but its something small that you can really appreciate and see your own success in little by little. they also like arts and crafts.
they are incredibly diplomatic despite their initial virgo stubbornness. theyre really open to other perspectives and theyre very patient/understanding. kirabo and catriona are basically opposites in this respect and so they balance eachother out a lot here.... they are like bestest buds.
they are very big on like Emotionally Productive Self Care. kirabo WILL put on a face mask and will be like “dont @ me i am chillin”. and they will be like “enough is enough i am going to knit a fucking scarf a second”. they just have a lot of little hobbies to keep them busy like that because they are super fidgety. anxious energy... the mercury-ism
minka
absolutely hates being underestimated in any capacity. minka is fully aware of her intelligence and capabilities and expresses no qualms with it whatsoever. alot of her insecurity ends up lying in her social life and etc. shes just been through a lot and really just wants to share her passions with other people.
really likes to decorate and APPEARS messy but is super organized. she has that sort of “chaotic order” thing going on where she can locate something even if its under a huge pile of random stuff. she has lots of stickers and lots of color-coding methods too.
will do the “are we there yet” thing and the “why? why? why?” thing. mostly out of curiosity to see how far she can go. she is always so curious about how far she can go with everything. so once she finds company she basically never wants to be alone. shes very talkative and inquisitive.
a baby bi.... she is still figuring it out a little though
lea
a little >:3c and i like love that for her. she has a lot of charisma and energy and those are things that she really NEEDS TO HAVE with being a video game streamer and all but deep down shes just really mischievous and playful too.
i consider her a vriska by technicality. she has a lot of issues revolving around her identity and how people perceive her because so much of the time she deals with people projecting an idea of what shes like onto her. so alot of her thing is allowing herself to just be rather than feeling like she needs to put on a show.
^ shes actually probably one of the hardest people to read in the cast because of that. its not that shes not being herself... its just that she feels like she needs to be a pretty altered version of herself. the neptune in 1st struggle. she also kind of tends to have one foot out the door on everything but it makes her very adaptable. pretty much opposite to mavis in that its hard for her to settle down in any sense.
has a scorpio mercury but a libra venus so basically like “good luck my deep lovecore affections for you will be hidden behind several proxies”. also it just makes it to where she comes off very Intense at first as is the scorpio placement way. but really its fucking great and i love her.
trinity
well theyre a scorpio sun AND a scorpio moon aka theyre like “i will know everything about you but you will never know anything about me ever” and also theyre like *rebirth* *rebirth* *rebirth*
despite what the emotional constipation and capricorn rising may tell you they are seriously A Lot. they make very quick decisions based on any instantaneous assumptions that they have so deep down theyre just very emotional and impulsive. AND intuitive which is partially because they are analytical of others but all around theyre mostly guided by like Vibez.
their precognition is kind of like if you randomly started having dreams during the day and only saw them through your left eye. so more than anything they get kind of like... weird deja vu when they talk to people or go to places that theyve seen in their visions.
really they are just like. okay in theory by first impression they would be a vriska but in actuality they are a rose lalonde because like. come on. theres a certain self-aware yet chaotic and dramatic and repressed je ne sais quoi here
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fancyfade · 5 years
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Hi! I really love your Oracle posts. I haven't read a lot of Batfam stuff, but I think Barbara really is at her best when she's Oracle, and it's a shame that DC keeps trying to ignore that part of her character history. I was wondering if you could give me some recommendations as to where to start reading Oracle, and what comic runs to avoid?
Okay, so first I am glad you love my oracle posts ^_^ thank you! and she is definitely at her best as oracle.
Sadly I don’t have any oracle reading lists set up atm but i’ll tell you what I read
I read Birds of Prey (1998) which was 127 comics long. the most oracle content is in the first half, the team gets bigger and then the oracle content starts getting less and less there.
so I would start at Birds of Prey #1-46. This is Chuck Dixon’s run and somehow the weird conservative guy was the only one who didn’t do a magicure plot.
the issues he did that I would definitely skip here are 28, 29, and 30 when you’re reading because they struck me as really racist.
If you don’t like Chuck Dixon as a writer (and I wouldn’t blame you) i’d only read the best issues, which are outlined below:
The best issues in the chuck dixon run for oracle content IMO are Birds of Prey #8 (which has some very important things wrt quality of life and disability articulated) and Hunt for Oracle, which shows us just how formidable Oracle can be in her home turf. That was a crossover issue between Oracle and Nightwing  (nightwing 45, Birds of prey 20, nightwing 46, birds of prey 21). there are other issues i like her in, but those ones stick out in my head as don’t mis.
Then there are 10 issues of guest writers which sucked. one had a magicure plot, the other just brought nothing but some weird romance drama.
then there’s the gail simone run.
the pros of the gail simone run is she is much better at writing women than chuck dixon and seems to be a better writer in general. the downside is now the cast is larger and she also decides to do a magicure plotline eventually (temporary but i still hate it). to the best of my knowledge there wasn’t a huge deal made of it and oracle wasn’t like “oh now i’m whole” like she was in Terry Moore’s writing but still. it was unnecessary.
So far, I’ve re read 56-65. it establishes a nemesis for oracle and i like some of her dynamics there, and she gets to be scary. there is also a lot of black canary and shiva content you might enjoy if you like those characters.
i will be cataloguing my favorite issues and least favorite from gail simone’s run later, but since i only read through it once it’s less fresh in my memory.
outside of birds of prey, i like barbara in no man’s land. in no man’s land volume one, we see the fact that with the infrastructure in gotham crumbling, she is at a disadvantage that able bodied people are not, but also due to her preparations and the fortifications of her base she has a lot of advantages everyone else does – she both doesn’t need to leave her apartment, because it is well defended and she has a good stock of food, but she also can’t leave it, because of the inaccessibility outside. it’s some nuance i’m not sure i see able bodied writers include often (I can’t remember who wrote this issue, so i have no clue whether they were able bodied or not).
no man’s land volume 1 also has an ending plot with azrael which had some important notes on quality of life and disability.
no man’s land volume 2 has some crossover issues with nightwing, in which babs gets to defend her base (again) and be awesome. basically any time bab’s defends her base she’s at top tier. however this part had some disappointing things, in that it was implied that barbara being in a wheelchair was what stopped her and nightwing’s relationship. weirdly enough, this showed up in nightwing but not BoP even though they had the same writer at this time. maybe there was a cowriter or something on BoP making it better or a cowriter on nightwing making it worse? IDK.
No Man’s land vol 2 also has cassandra cain’s introduction which :P not oracle, but awesome anyway.
outside of no man’s land and birds of prey i’m not really sure where to go. birds of prey is barbara’s longest running series, it starts as a duo title between her and black canary and gradually the cast gets bigger (most cast expansion happens in simone’s run).
there is also a 3 issue solo mini series called Oracle: the Cure. despite appearances, it is not about magicuring. it had some good content, IMO, but also be warned: If you are pedantic about comics matching reality or at least being possible, the “computers are magic” vibe here might frustrate you :P
for more oracle as a side/supportive character, she appears a lot in Batgirl (2000-) as a mentor for Cassandra (though I dont’ remember a ton of moments that make me think this is an essential oracle series. We do see that she tries to keep some of Bruce’s unhealthy habits away from Cass and protect her, but also that Cass feels a bit stifled and like barbara is being overprotective or trying to force her into doing “normal” things) and Batgirl (2009-) as a mentor to stephanie brown. In batgirl (2009-) she interacts with another woman who became disabled and now uses a wheelchair, and sort of takes her on as a protege, which I liked, but she’s not the main character. the main character is stephanie.
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josephjohnblogs · 4 years
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Creative writing
STUDENT ACTIVITY SHEET NO. 7
(Individual Task)
Subject: Creative writing
Topic: Writing Eassy
Date Given: October 6, 5pm Due Date: October 7, 11:59pm
Learning Competencies:
Write a draft of a short piece (Fiction, Poetry, Drama, etc.) using any of the literary conventions of genre following these pointers:
1. Choosing a topic
2. Formulating a thesis statement
3. Organizing and developing ideas
Instruction: Choose a famous Cebuano expression, research its etymology, and write a 1,500 word essay.
"GI ATAY "
Ay Gi atay! Gi atay na ka peste! Gi atay man ka" This words I've been encountered in my life, when i was too young i dont know this words by the time i meet my special friend Robi i heard this word's at first i dont know what that's all about., then i just tolerated it by the time i grow with my friends, neighborhood, Uncle's, Tito's and titas finaly i knew whats word is that and this is a commonly expression of the cebuano and bisaya people who are showing "disgust or "frustration" over anything. The "Gi atay ka peste " is a vulgar words in cebuano and it's not a good example to say this words in sensitive people, lucky to me I'm not that too sensitive, in view fact that what i experienced many peoples are irritated this words the giatay ka" and also the "Ka yawa or yawa in a real sense implies, evil. Much the same as peste and atay, they're terrible words as well and it has a similar significance as an articulation. It's equivalent to reviling somebody. You can likewise consolidate the two words, peste and yawa. And afterward it becomes, pesteng yawa.
but some people in bisaya , cebuano try not to say this swear word in front of young children and whole inside the church, school. In fact it's what my parent's oriented me when i was too young that time, by virtue of something can absolutely affect the susceptibility of the people who go through this profanity .
A obscenity can be an precedent of informal expression, in a view of something we have this what we called circle of people, various of people emotions, personality and perception . They say Gi atay ka peste because they're mad of something, someone or they're just having fun with their friends, indeed! Were this expression often used for having fun with my friend's, and i experienced this sometimes but i can limit my self of this expression. Because my parent's teach me to be responsible enough to my words and action, they guide me to be a better individual in this society
admittedly many children now adays use this swear words it in our society , the society full of disrespectful kids and behaviors, they can't limit their self of this expression, without knowing thats not a great manifestation as a children's, in short they are not totally oriented what thats word, because perhaps how the parent's rise their children . Or how the society reflected is, because the children are can easily follow you in the way the learn new words and things, they are exploring new ideas that could actually implies how they behaved. and by the time i grow and develop my self i try to explore my self to the society because in my home we don't say that in front of our parents, did you do that? Well eradicated that behavior ,
That's why as an adult we have to be responsible enough of our expression. In that bad words they can easily to follow you , when i was young, i actually think that Gi atay " is a part of respiratory system , i thought to my self that is a liver, Yes, that state “an energized liver” sounds unusual since we tend to think of the liver as a or maybe gloomy organ, tucked absent in one corner, recalled as it were when somebody comes down with a few kind of liver disease. Yet, numerous societies see the liver as the situate of feelings and, etymologically, it appears that prior eras of Filipinos shared the view.
Cebuanos talk of giatay actually, “to be livered”as a plague initially influencing chickens but presently with extended meaning; so an outcry of “Giatay!” is one of irritation, alluding to individuals who come into our lives like a plague. Liver infections do figure noticeably among the foremost common sicknesses within the Philippines, indeed as causes of passing, but they are not analyzed sufficient for their social centrality. I have no question that cirrhosis is tied to our tall liquor and/or sedate use. And irresistible hepatitis relates to unsanitary nourishment taking care of (for hepatitis A and E), and to the bigger issues of sexually transmitted contaminations, sullied blood supplies, and infusing sedate utilize hepatitis B, C and
Words are powerful; not only Giatay describe emotions, they also direct the way we feel. In the Philippines, we seem to have abandoned the liver and moved over to the heart when we describe our emotions. When we say “nakakataba ng puso,” we do feel the heart expanding as it is touched.   We also feel the pinching when we say “nakakakurot ng puso.”
Now for the medical part.  Is there an actual relationship between the liver and emotions?
There is, actually, because the liver is such a vital organ. It’s our filter system for removing toxins. It produces bile for digestion and several blood proteins. It activates enzymes important in many body functions.
Then i found out the Student of history Resil Mojares composed an article named "Heart and Liver" in 1994. The article expounds on the connection between the liver and feelings, calling attention to that in Cebuano, sharp feelings are depicted as makapakitbi sa atay "what turns sour the liver".  And while the Tagalog portrays a genuinely moving inclination as nakakataba ng puso "something that swells the heart"— not smooth in interpretation, the Cebuano will say makapadaku sa atay what which broadens the liver"— again much is lost in interpretationz
Mojares sees that the Tagalog atay ng lupa alludes to the most prolific aspect of a bit of land,  and the  pagmamayatay as a glad and influential man, in a real sense signifies "he who professes to have the liver." He brings up that the palm, and the underside of the foot is the atay ng paa in Tagalog, and atay-atay  in Cebuano.  In endless words at that point, atay is focal, practically like the spirit truly, the spirit of a foot and of a hand, perhaps, even our very being.
The liver figures conspicuously in our legends as a supported delicacy for the ruthless aswang.  I can see the incredible allegory here of the aswang depleting its survivor of its life-power, the feelings. Heroes from different ethnic gatherings in the Philippines have been portrayed as going for the liver of the foe, to ingest his fearlessness, and creature livers are utilized for diagnosing an individual's sickness and foreseeing what's to come.
Doing explore for the present section I was amazed at how boundless the affiliation is among feelings and the liver.  The Online Etymological Dictionary takes note of that in the English language during the middle age ages, "the liver equaled the heart as the seat of adoration and enthusiasm."
In conventional Chinese medication, the liver is viewed as the seat of outrage while the heart is the seat of euphoria, the spleen of contemplation, the lungs of tension and distress, and the kidneys of dread and trepidation. Biblehub.com, a site that centers around etymological and interpretation parts of the Bible, records a few references to the liver in the Old Testament and in Semitic dialects spoken in the Middle East, North and East Africa where the liver is likewise "temper" and "demeanor." In Lamentations 2:11 Jeremiah shouts out: "My liver is poured upon the earth as a result of the demolition of the girl of my kin."
Biblehub takes note of that in Hebrew, kabedh signifies "liver" and kabhodh signifies "magnificence," which may have potentially brought about disarray during the interpretation of Psalm 16:9, with differently peruses: "My heart is happy and my heart rejoiceth" (ASV variant); "My heart is happy and my brilliance rejoiceth" King James Version and "My heart is happy and my entire being rejoiceth"
And i found out lately For the individuals who are not from Cebu especially to me, 'gi-atay' is one of the exhausted revile words utilized particularly during outrage.Gi Atay ka? I generally imagined that the underlying foundations of the addition atay or gi-atay was the liver or atay in Filipino. I thought saying gi-atay ka was a reprobation wishing somebody liver ailment and epidemic pesting gi-atay. Clearly not.
Modeler Tony Abelgas, who driven the rebuilding of the 1730 Jesuit House in Parian, said atay’s historical underpinnings has roots in this furniture, an Ok Tay bed. He said the bed – with its complicated carvings of blossoms and natural products – is by the famous Chinese furniture producer Ok Tay. It was a favorite of princely families all over the nation. Abelgas said that when individuals alluded to those who were as of now bed-ridden, they said that they were fair on their Ok Tay bed. This rehashed references, he said, eventually driven to the utilize of “gi-atay na” to portray somebody passing on. For i concluded with quotation "If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all. -Noam Chomsky.
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villlaneve · 7 years
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summing up my thoughts on the Castgate
ok so far I have reblogged posts from either side where I dont entirely agree with every point that has been made so let me try to articulate how I feel about this whole mess of a weekend
I guess I want to start this off by saying I was one of the people who thought the video the Cast made was insensitive and carried some (involuntary) homophobia with it. Involuntary or not, despite anyones “track record” of LGBT support if the LGBT community tells you “hey I was hurt by that joke you made and we’re constantly invalidated. can you apologize please? we perceived it as homophobic” your automatic response should not be to tell people how non homophobic you are and making yourself out to be the victim. Just apologize, listen to the people who are trying to educate you on why it was bad and acknowledge you made a mistake and learned from it (thats what jeremy did on twitter and Im proud he ended up handling it graciously. Its also frustrating as hell being dismissed as children only whining because of a ship when that is NOT the issue at all and when people have tried to explain it calmly to some of the cast like david they get blocked
Now Melissa is the only one of the cast who hasnt really acknowledged the situation (aside from liking Jeremys first apology on instagram which was a godawful apology) but there is really no reason to assume that she hates the entire LGBT community and is a hardcore “lesbophobe” as people are trying to claim because she participated in a dumb juvenile ignorant joke where she and the rest of the cast weren’t evenaware it was hurtful and why. People calling her a crackwhore and bring up her divorce in light of this is not gonna help start a healthy dialogue. Personal insults will make the other side shut down and write off arguments of reasonable people who make good points off.
The cast clearly thinks this is about some silly shipwar and thus dont realize the issue lies somewhere completely different and people who are going way beyond the line and telling members of the cast to kill themselves or using personal insults are preventing others from explaining it to them and making our voices heard. 
Mistakes have been made on both sides but im not willing to write off a group of people because of an ignorant mistake. People arent either a saint or an angel. sometimes people mess up. These people happened to be filmed while doing it. They should have issued a joint apology and theyre definitely also in the wrong but yeah some of these insults have been going way over the line
I dont think I’ll talk or post on this issue anymore unless something new comes up
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chronic illness and the constant battle
in the beginning of 2012 I was a 27-year-old person that used way too much meth, didn't eat well,  had barely exercised in my life, drank coffee and energy drinks like they were going out of fashion, never wore shoes and thought that I would have joined the "27 club" before the year was out. I didn't die, I just got diabetes. a chronic illness that will result in disastrous consequences if I don't look after myself. joke was on me. fast forward to 2018- i only take drugs very occasionally.. well I smoke weed but that's therapeutic! i dont drink coffee or energy drinks anymore, and i always wear shoes. I do roller derby now which so far has entailed up to 5 hours of training per week, soon to be more. i try to eat well, more and more all the time. but none of that matters to the cold hard bitch that is diabetes. For diabetes, nothing is ever enough.
the thing that compounds everything is poverty. and I have a lot of good things to say about our healthcare system, but it is flawed. on top of that, I am really lucky to have amazing foster parents who are in a position to help me out sometimes. but I grew up poor and I spent my 20s partying and not at all thinking about my future. now I have multiple chronic illnesses and less capacity to work, no life savings and what feels like very little prospects in the current economy. it's unsettling to say the least. the days of working hard for your piece of comfort in life are over it seems and value is so often based on productivity.
I feel like I should say now that i have C-PTSD, I have had since before age 10. for me this results is anxiety and depression. some of my thoughts can be upsetting, fluctuating, and exhausting suicidal ideation which I will most likely discuss and describe in the coming paragraphs. or at least keep in mind that when i talk, i am currently experiencing an intense episode of depression and suicidal ideation, but i do feel like this extreme can make it easier to articulate my feelings and thoughts. bear with me!!!
I don't know I just feel useless, like a big waste of space, if not now then in the future. I'm a foster kid with no extended family, no life savings. a serial killers dream. statistically likely to end up homeless and destitute not just because I'm a foster kid, but because I've already been homeless, I'm a woman, well actually I identify as non-binary but I would be read as female.... I'm single. I have a mental illness...apparently, it might be a miracle if i dont end up homeless and destitute?!?
anyway, I wanted to talk about poverty and how hard it is to do your best when you're struggling because think that the biggest battier for me to getting my blood sugar in order. every time I go to hospital I get overwhelmed. I act like a two-year-old ( sorry doctors and nurses) because I feel so overwhelmed. people preach to me about how easy it all is, and how to eat healthily and how to do this and that, not knowing how far from normal it all is for me and how despite what seem like huge changes I feel like I can never do enough. I wanted to talk about stuff because I think I have a unique life view, my birth parents were intravenous drug users and I ended up in foster care with massive trust issues albeit an amazing family. despite this and 20+ years of therapy, i'm still a fragile, frustrated, angry little cunt though. anyway i wasted a lot of years of my life flaking it through somehow. I was passionate about working as a disability worker for some time. after my diagnosis, I went and got a diploma of community service and then a bachelor of arts, then my dream job (short contract) after all that I've spent 6 years slowly getting it together and slowly pushing myself more and more only to find that your best effort can mean shit all in the current economy, especially when the enemy is diabetes. I'm always living below the poverty line but somehow not always eligible for a concession card. my salary ranges between below the poverty line to slightly less below the poverty line and on top of that chronic depression and anxiety mean that I'm not always on top of things. but for the most part, it's all invisible to others I think. people wouldn't look at me and think I'm a person struggling with multiple chronic illnesses.
i feel like this blog is all over the shop but I'm trying I promise. if anyone reads this, I am trying!!!
my housemate and I do food together, which isn't smart, we are both always tired and or lazy and argue before resorting to take out which doesnt help me. anyway, I watched Julie and Julia the other night which always makes me want to blog about food. and then after today i wanted to blog about trying to be a healthy diabetic on a real actual budget.
so: my dinner tonight was: rotary chicken wraps with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. i think it would have been ok but i drank a bunch of rum and coke cos i feel like i'm the shittest at diabetes management and life right now. so blood sugars : 1 Jess : 0
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ultrapandachan · 7 years
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Mute rant
so this is very long, very emotional, and because I can’t talk, i need to like cleanse my soul and I dont’ give a fuck who reads it. to clarify, I use the verb said a lot, I don’t mean literally, i either wrote it, signed it, or texted it. I haven’t spoken recently.
Background story time: I lost my temper and I screamed so loud and so suddenly that I ripped something in my throat. Ripped or stretched, I am waiting to see which. I have like a 3/10 mild pain all day, and 10/10 when I make ANY noise. So, I have refrained from speaking for the last 2.5 days, and only made noises on accident. It is helpful that I learned some ASL in the past when I was first diagnosed with menieres, but it turned out that I have a migraine condition, not menieres. That itself is it’s own rant. Anyways, because i was properly diagnosed, my husband and family stopped learning ASL (except my sister, who is learning it because she loves the Deaf culture, and has made friends in her town that are Deaf). So, I have mostly been writing and texting my family members to communicate, and I  have previously hurt my wrist, and all of this unnatural increase in writing/texting is flaring up that old injury. So I have been using MORE and more asl, because it hasn’t hurt me. I will sign and write, but I tried to show them, hey, this sign means ____ so i can cut down on writing. My mom, who is normally so lovely and wonderful, has been getting increasingly angry with me and got to the point that she will flick me off instead of repeating the sign. It’s kind.... of extremely shocking because it’s so unlike my mom (who lives with me, btw). I have become more and more depressed (mind you has literally been only 2.5 days.).
My neighbor is much faster on picking up ASL, but she doesn’t call it ASL, she calls it charades. However, after a while, she will refuse to try and will only look at my mom, and talk with her, and not really pay attention to me. I knew D/deaf people had this happen to them, but I had never seen it happen first hand, and let me tell you, it’s soul crushing. especially if you’re a really active, vocal person normally, and this neighbor is my age and my friend.
My sister confirmed my suspicion that this will probably take weeks, or even months, to heal. My husband wants me to go to a doctor to confirm that i don’t have an actual tear that needs repairing, but doesn’t believe me that this will take a LONG time to hear. That i’m overreacting. Why can’t i make a sound. My mom walks in and they start talking. My mom isn’t even facing me, so she can’t see me sign, she can’t see  me silently sob. My husband keeps talking too fast for me to keep up and communicate back. I did have a text to voice app up, but they wouldn’t stop talking so they could hear it. and I at one point said, crap i forgot what I was going to say, and my husband looked at me and said why did i share that. and I think that was the last straw for me. I started to ugly sob (while trying to stay silent, because of the pain) and i wrote, if you lost your ability to articulate what is wrong and communicate even on a basic level, and your family was unwilling to help, you’d be upset too. I forgot because you guys wouldn’t stop talking and you KNOW!!! i cannot hear and think at the same time. I have a sensory issue. I think seeing me break down finally made it clear how insensitive they were being.
BUT! I followed up with that writing and texting, and even typing on my computer to an extent, is starting to hurt my wrist, and I didn’t want to re-injure it, my husband told me to stop communicating. Wrap up my wrist and stop writing/texting/typing and I looked at him  like he had literally ripped my heart out. he smiled and was like, just make noises like the dogs. they tell us what they want. He said because he was training for work that he didn’t have the time or energy or brain power to learn asl.
And that made me do another big.. big ugly cry. I said, the dogs can bark, they can bite you, they can walk to you and to the door. THEY DO ALL OF THE WORK to communicate with you. I literally cannot make a noise without much pain. I have been doing ALL of the work to communicate with you and i’m asking you to treat me better than you treat our dogs because I am your wife. I know you were trying to be cute, but goddamn it, this is really upsetting me.
My mom disappeared sometime during all of this, because my other sister was calling (and called me). My husband picked up and said sorry (sister), she can’t speak, if you want to talk, please get on fb messenger. and then my husband said how sorry he was and that he was being really rude and insensitive. after that, he started to ask what my signs were, take them seriously, and even used them too. He promised me that he’d do better, that he didn’t realize it was this painful, and going to take this long, and that i was this upset and lonely.
Before this big conversation between my husband and i, my sister (the one who is learning ASL, and is QUITE GOOD) and I were texting. I was mostly ranting to her at this point, and she kept telling me ways to work around it. and almost all of them were ways to text or type. That’s how D/deaf people handle it, so that’s how i should. Soo many misunderstandings have happened over the last few days, because I cannot get abstract or complex sentences out, and they keep talking too fast for correction, that at one point i’m like, thank you for your advice, it doesn’t apply to the situation. I had already at this point kept trying to correct her that my problem was compounded by my wrist ALSO hurting. I did say that I feel I have learned a lot about accessibility, and that talking like this is helping me edit myself (because I feel i am too wordy) and I said multiple times that this was such a short amount of time and it’s been HARD not being about to communicate. I KNOW IT’S ONLY BEEN 2.5 days and it’s already taken my ok mood (i wouldn’t say great because I did obviously have an anger outburst) to a very depressed, isolated one. I couldn’t imagine how hard and frustrating this is to all of the countless deaf or mute people where there isn’t even sign languages taught. And how mainstream communication habits are very hard to break for most people (like talking while walking away)
I have tried to let misunderstandings go, as long as they’re minor, because i’m tired of spending soo much time just trying to articulate it better. it also made me realize that most of my friends/family have BAD written comprehension skills. without the addition of spoken language, they don’t get the full meaning. IT MAKES ME APPERICATE HOW ALL THE TIMES MY HUSBAND SAID DON’T TALK ABOUT IMPORTANT THINGS OVER TEXT because jesus, most people are... bad.. at comprehension. And these are intelligent, thoughtful, wonderful people. makes me think about all of those internet arguments, and how different they would be in person (totally aside from the amminitity) 
Over all, these few days have been extremely taxing, extremely emotional and very educational. I am NOT trying to say i undrestand the plights of anyone, because I really have only a EXTREMELY small grasp of understanding.
I have ibs, i have daily bloating and normally 5-7 times a day worth of diarrhea poop. some days, I only go 3 times, some times, more. Now that i’m on medicine, i go twice a day, and it’s normal. Still working on that bloating. My mom has chronic rapid diarrhea for 23 years. within 20 minutes of her eating, it is out of her body. it used to be worse, meaning the second she swallowed, it was on it way out literally. some days, she can go up to 2 hours. Thats it. With my IBS, i can understand SOME of it. My sisters, when they have a stomach bug, and they said oh mom i know what you go through now, i want to laugh in their goddamn faces. yes, you know the literal pain, the timing, but you don’t have 23 years of that eating away at you. That’s what I mean, I have had 2.5 days worth of this, and i’m heartbroken. and my mind cannot even fathom how frustrating it must be otherwise when people are unwilling to meet you half way.
BUT in the same breathe, i know Deaf, deaf and mute people who are amazing and don’t look at it as a disability, and I by no means am here to police them into thinking differently. but i’m sure they’ve had growing pains at least somewhere along the lines. your new normal becomes your normal, and you embrace it, and it can make you stronger, and empathetic. And honestly, that is what i’m trying to do. Please pray, chant, light a candle, whatever, but please know i am trying to become stronger and empathetic over this. and understanding. but i’m in pain right now, physical and emotionally. and i just needed to rant, i didn’t need advice. If you’re still reading, bless your face, and i hope you know how special it is that you read all of this. that i was heard, finally, in total.
I am used to taking my “new normal” and making it awesome. I have IBS,  I have a migraine condition, I have depression, anxiety, i have weight issues, and i’m still awesome. I know this will pass and I will learn from it.
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viralhottopics · 7 years
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I want to leave my partner of 15 years. Am I being selfish? | Mariella Frostrup
A woman who married her longtime partner two years ago now wants to separate. Mariella Frostrup wonders why its taken so long to address the issues in their relationship
The dilemma After much heartache, sleepless nights and consideration I told my husband of two years, but partner for 15, that I was unhappy and thought we should separate. I am 37 and he is 49. On discussing our issues my husband said that if I left he would have no chance of children and Id be robbing him of that as his chances of meeting anyone are very slim and mine are slightly better.
He has become a father figure to me. I feel I live in his house with his things and his rules. My husband is making me feel guilty for wanting to leave and leaving him childless and I do feel guilty, incredibly guilty and sad about that, and it is leading me to question whether I should leave. He says I am selfish. Am I?
Mariella replies Maybe, but thats not important. Who isnt selfish when it comes to making the choices that shape our lives? Im afraid this all sounds like a case of too little too late. Which one of you is responsible for leaving your relationship untended for so long?
Its a shame that having had so many years to make up your minds you went ahead and married only two years ago. Were any of these doubts on either of your minds then? Sometimes babies are made to patch up relationships; sometimes weddings.
It may be an error in your description of the situation, but your letter suggests that this recent discussion was the first of its kind. There are people who store up complaints and negative experiences, barely emitting a murmur, until one day they blow. You certainly appear to be one of them. If you wait until you simply cant take any more, the choice to leave is pretty irrevocable. But sustainable relationships involve myriad minor re-adjustments on a continuous basis. You are in development, as they say in the movie business, for the duration of any partnership.
Its a highly dysfunctional act to pronounce sentence on a relationship without any attempt to address the issues that lead to it, but Ive come across many such unilateral concluders in my time. Its not unusual to encounter those who have been abandoned by partners without a second glance and shared barely a syllable after their unexpected departure. In broader society thats the behaviour of despots and dictators. Could you be guilty of such behaviour? If so, try to have a full and frank discussion before you make such a move.
Alternatively, its possible your husbands controlling behaviour is an issue youve been confronting and attempting to resolve for some time. Either way, his reasons for continuing the relationship arent particularly persuasive. His suggestion that youre his last hope is neither flattering nor realistic and doesnt say much for either of you. Its a far more selfish piece of emotional blackmail than your simply expressed desire to leave.
Im on the fence as to what your plan of action should be. Im not convinced by your account either and am struggling to understand why youve lingered so long. If having children was an ambition, youve been mulling it over at enormous length. After nearly two decades together, for it to be an issue only now seems disingenuous on both your parts. My instinct is that you are both in the wrong relationship, or at the very least in dire straits and in need of urgent positive action. Certainly you shouldnt stay with someone who makes you feel controlled and parented rather than loved and supported but for that to have taken this long to realise seems at best incongruous.
Meanwhile, on his part, if at 49 hes only just realising youre his best route to kids and family, then hes either a slow learner or hes been dawdling up until now. I cant believe youve squandered 15 years simply treading water and if thats the case Im shocked at how little that suggests you value your lives. You dont mention religion, so like most of us today I presume you understand that this is it, one shot, and sitting around waiting for life to change is a waste of precious moments. If youre adamant that your best path to enhanced happiness is to be found by forging a brand new adventure then get on with it free of guilt.
At 49 your husband has the opportunity to make future babies should he so desire; you on the other hand dont have a moment to waste. You need to move on decisively, but do try to carry the wisdom of lessons learned. Hanging around and storing resentment is a recipe for disaster. Problems in a relationship need to be aired, managed and moved on from, and not trapped in your head building up pressure. Denied the oxygen of articulation, frustrations become ultimatums and the only outcome is to finally and emphatically explode. I hope youve thought long, hard and honestly about what to do and that next time it doesnt take so many years to gain clarity on what you want.
If you have a dilemma, send a brief email to [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @mariellaf1
Read more: http://bit.ly/2kBHK2i
from I want to leave my partner of 15 years. Am I being selfish? | Mariella Frostrup
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viralhottopics · 7 years
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Who is Neil Gorsuch? A staunch conservative with a background to worry liberals
Donald Trumps nominee to the supreme court has written about liberals relying on judicial rulings to advance their social agenda
In a 2005 essay titled Liberals N Lawsuits, Neil Gorsuch, then a corporate lawyer in Washington, DC, argued that American liberals had come to rely too much on court decisions to advance their social agenda on everything from gay marriage to assisted suicide to the use of vouchers for private-school education.
Published just months after the re-election of George W Bush, it was a remarkable bit of concern-trollingahead of its time. If liberals really wanted to enact their agenda, Gorsuch wrote, they should focus on trying to win elections rather than lawsuits.
Fast-forward 12 years. American liberals and quite a few centrists too have lost another election and many have once again turned their eyes to the courts, hoping for protection from what looks to many of them like a vicious attack by the executive branch on core rights and freedoms.
If Donald Trump has his way Gorsuch will be in a position this time to do more than just write an essay. If confirmed by the Senate as the newest justice on the US supreme court, he will have unique power to help vindicate or frustrate liberals strategy.
The announcement of Gorsuchs nomination in a hyped White House spectacle on Tuesday night was greeted with expressions of concern on the left and robust cheer on the right. Carrie Severino, chief counsel of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, hailed Gorsuch as a principled constitutionalist with an obviously brilliant legal mind.
Trump picks Neil Gorsuch for US supreme court
He is someone who is going to look at any question according to what the constitution itself says, setting aside his own political views whatever they may be, Severino said.
A partisan scrum has developed around the nomination nevertheless, with Democrats vowing a filibuster and the Republican senate leadership vowing a confirmation. The air of partisan controversy is not obviously rooted in Gorsuchs track record as a circuit court judge, which does not include rulings on the kinds of hot-button social issues he alluded to in his Bush-era essay.
Gorsuchs disposition on abortion rights cases may be suggested in a line from a book he wrote about euthanasia, the subject of his doctoral studies at Oxford University. To act intentionally against life is to suggest that its value rests only on its transient instrumental usefulness for other ends, Gorsuch wrote.
Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the onus was on the nominee to explain his position on the issue.
Given president Trumps promise to appoint a supreme court justice that would seek to overturn Roe v Wade, we need to know whether Judge Gorsuch would do just that, Northup said.
Our constitution guarantees a womans right to safe, legal abortion. Any effort to gut those protections would harm the rights and health of women for generations to come.
But beyond any single issue Gorsuch has articulated a judicial philosophy that emphasizes the primacy of the constitution and prizes the text of laws, while warning against judicial forays that might be mistaken for an attempt to shape or direct legislation.
Congress could have written the law differently than it did, and it is always free to rewrite the law when it wishes, Gorsuch wrote in a ruling that argued for a new hearing for a felon convicted of firearm possession. But in our legal order it is the role of the courts to apply the law as it is written, not some different law Congress might have written in the past or might write in the future.
In some ways Gorsuch seems likely to please social conservatives. He has repeatedly upheld claims of a religious exemption where the law would compel an individual to violate a personal spiritual belief. While the supreme court declined to consider one such religious liberty case in 2016, in which a family-owned pharmacy objected to a state regulation forcing it to sell emergency contraceptives, future cases in the area seem likely.
In Hobby Lobby Stores Inc v Sebelius, Gorsuch argued that a retail store owner need not comply with a provision in Barack Obamas health care law requiring employers to provide health insurance covering oral contraceptives. In his opinion Gorsuch gave wide berth to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which asserts the religious liberty claim and which Gorsuch called a super-statute.
Hannah Smith, a lawyer at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represented Hobby Lobby in the case, praised the judges ruling.
That opinion is an example that he is a clear thinker, a clear writer on really complicated religious liberty issues, Smith told the Guardian. They were faced with a Hobsons choice, to choose to abide by their religion or saving their business. I think hes someone who would stand up for the religious liberty for all.
Elsewhere Gorsuch has ruled sympathetically in cases involving the erection of Ten Commandments monuments in public spaces and ruled against capital punishment defendants seeking relief from their sentences.
In the integrity of his adherence to the principal of judicial restraint, as well as in the pithy eloquence if he lacks a certain acerbity of his opinions, Gorsuch is often compared favorably with the justice he would replace, Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016.
His writing style has often been compared to Justice Scalias, Severino said. Its very incisive, very clear and logical, but also very entertaining, and of course that was a hallmark of Justice Scalias own writing style.
Gorsuch spoke about Scalias death in an April 2016 speech at Case Western University. I was taking a breather in the middle of a ski run with little on my mind but the next mogul field when my phone rang with the news, Gorsuch said.
I immediately lost what breath I had left, and I am not embarrassed to admit that I couldnt see the rest of the way down the mountain for the tears. He really was a lion of the law: docile in private life but a ferocious fighter when at work, with a roar that could echo for miles.
Gorsuchs biggest difference with Scalia comes in the field of administrative law, an area that is sleepy for most laypeople but determines the scope of much government action. The Trump nominee has been a critic of Chevrondeference, a doctrine that gives administrative agencies significant latitude with how they interpret federal statutes. His views, which are shared by a number of conservative legal scholars, would significantly weaken the federal government and allow the courts to override agency actions on issues ranging from immigration to health care to the environment.
But several former colleagues of Gorsuchs from across the ideological spectrum have called for Gorsuchs confirmation, saying his temperament is distinctly different from Scalia.
Scalias writing seemed dismissive to the claims of gay rights, said Melissa Hart, professor at the University of Colorado Law School who worked with Gorsuch. Everything I know about Neil Gorsuch as a person leads me to believe he would not be dismissive of anyones claims, regardless of how he rules. Im not saying I think he will rule in favor of LGBT rights but I dont think he will be dismissive of anyones claims.
Hart said she believes Gorsuch is more than qualified to be on the supreme court, echoing an op-ed in the New York Times by Neal Katyal, a former acting solicitor general under Barack Obama, that called for liberals to back Gorsuch.
I understand the political reasons for wanting to block the nomination, Hart said, but I dont think theres a principled reason to reject Neil Gorsuch as a jurist.
Neil McGill Gorsuch was born on 29 August 1967 and grew up in Denver, Colorado. His family moved to Washington, DC, after Ronald Reagan nominated his mother, Anne Gorsuch Burford, to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Gorsuch attended Georgetown preparatory school, Columbia University, Harvard Law school and Oxford University, where he enrolled on a Marshall scholarship and earned a doctorate.
He fits the mold of every sitting justice on the US supreme court in educational pedigree: they all went to Harvard or Yale for law school.
Post-graduation, Gorsuch worked for a decade representing mostly corporate clients at the Washington law firm of Kellogg Huber Hansen Todd Evans & Figel.
But Mark Hansen, the nominees former boss at the firm, told the Denver Post that Gorsuch was a regular person.
He acts and relates well to all people, and he did the same sort of thing in trial, where he was very good at making connections with jurors, Hansen said. Hes a regular person. Its part of being a Westerner.
At Oxford, Gorsuch met his future wife, Louise Gorsuch, a UK citizen. With their two teenage daughters they lives outside Boulder, Colorado, where Gorsuch indulges hobbies including fly-fishing, hiking and rowing.
After his 2005 essay subtly celebrating the re-election of George W Bush, Gorsuch got good news from the administration. Gorsuch was to be appointed to the 10th circuit appeals court, which covers all or part of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.
In 2006, when it came time for the Senate to review his nomination, Gorsuch was confirmed in the most expeditious way possible, by a voice vote and encountering no objection.
This time may be different.
With reporting by Ben Jacobs
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from Who is Neil Gorsuch? A staunch conservative with a background to worry liberals
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