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cassiopeiasara · 2 years

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ALOTO Reflections

So I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to think of how I want to phrase my thoughts post finishing the season and I can’t promise full consistency or coherency but there’s something I want to explore and praise so much that my rambling be damned. So as my girl Issa once said, I go into every show like

Y’all I had such low expectations for Max’s storyline. I’m a fan of the original movie and I thought maybe they’d expand that minute with those black women to idk 5 in a few episodes then pat themselves on the back for a “diversity win” BUT THEY DIDN’T DO THAT!

Forewarned there will probably be spoilers ahead. Listen, I love period pieces so much and as a black woman, I’m so used to it being about nothing but our trauma as if one of the defining characteristics of Black people in the US isn’t finding joy in the most unimaginable circumstances. And beyond that, I’m used to seeing us portrayed as one dimensional as if we don’t have our own community and struggles and layers.

Instead of those maybe 5 minutes I expected, we got Max and her place in a family who experiences a wonderful amount of success and status. I fucking love that her mom Toni not only owns her own business but it’s a beauty salon. One of the epicenters of black femininity specifically. I love that this is the legacy she wants to leave for Max and the fact that it won’t work for Max. Not only is there the very obvious fact that baseball is Max’s dream but also she interacts with her gender expression (as a fucking stud be still my weak lesbian heart) in a way where being in this very specifically defined feminine space would be stifling. BUT ALSO! That salon is home. Max won’t let a stranger cut her hair, she goes to her uncle because she needs the connection that exists in her family and her community. AND THEY SHOWED US THAT!

Clance, dear Lord, my beloved Clance. They gave Max not just a funny sassy sidekick but a woman who is supportive, hilarious and a vintage blerd (black nerd for those unaware). Also we get that lovely conflict of Clance being so stressed out about her housewarming because she doesn’t have the success of the Chapmans. Her place is still being established in her community. I just don’t have the words for how fucking rare that is to see portrayed in a lot of media much less in a period piece. Also all those instances where Clance tries to hold Max back because she knows the dangers of losing your shit in front of white folks. It’s an ever present force in both of their lives and the way they remind each other and protect each other, I could just sob.

ALSO! I’m so beyond thrilled at the romances between black folks. Max’s parents are adorably and disgustingly in love and we don’t get that often enough with our legacies of families torn apart and violence (which are very real but it’s not all that exists). We also get Clance and Guy. I LOVE GUY. He’s so sweet and loves Clance so much and they are so wonderfully supportive and vulnerable with each other. AND WE GET TO SEE IT! Then Max, my wonderful wonderful Max gets to navigate two different avenues; one in which she’s a secret side piece of someone who doesn’t fully see her and one in which nestled in the safety and community built by her uncle she gets to meet a woman not in the dim shadows of a secret but in a bright light of joy where she presents in a way where she’s finally found comfort. And Bert and Gracie, my gosh Bert and Gracie, they’re like a queer version of my favorite aunt and uncle and they give Max a place and hope and they’re SO IN LOVE.

Honestly this was all beyond my wildest dreams and while I find myself grateful, I’m also in a place where I’m like it’s what we deserve. In fact we deserve whole shows like this in any period of time because we’re worthy and see what beautiful stories we can be?? Anyway, I’m going to go back to sobbing and probably rewatch this show a few more times.

#max chapman #clance morgan #a league of their own #a league of their own spoilers #aloto #aloto spoilers

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chaineduploosesoicanfitin · 2 years

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Listen, if you go into First Kill thinking it’s gonna be this masterpiece, you’re gonna be highly disappointed. I’m learning that some things are just meant to be what they are. First Kill is just meant to be what it is: a teen drama about a lesbian vampire and lesbian monster hunter falling in love.

It feels good knowing that half the MAIN cast is black. Black people in a SUPERNATURAL show at that! Like, she was written as black in the short story. It wasn’t a white character they made black so they could fill a quota or gloatingly check a diversity box. Y’all can’t tell me that’s not rare. And for the most part, they feel like a black family. The way Taila hits Calliope with that “Because I said so!” is VERY black y’all 😂

It feels good knowing that the romance is not centered around their sexuality. They literally have one conversation about coming out and then they move on because not every queer relationship has a person struggling to be who they are. A lot of queer relationships can start with two VERY out people. AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, not every family is unaccepting.

This show has its issues but its not meant to be this emmy winning show that has some deep meaning and/or all this other shit. If you want that, go watch Stranger Things or something. It’s just meant to make you enjoy watching it and not take it too seriously and that’s what it does.

Let us gays sit and enjoy some gay content.

#first kill #firstkill #first kill netflix #calliope burns #julliette fairmont #juliette fairmont #ben wheeler #calliette #sarah catherine hook #imani lewis

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avatorofthelonely · 11 months

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the tma fandom is like, if you display a higher interest in the female characters and not the regular gay couple on the show you are a victim-blame abuser apologist and there is no defense. that's why I stopped listening to podcasts.

Nah fr

Also side bar in relation I get the ick with how some of y’all portray him.

Like it’s wild to me that some of y’all will go and make him greasy and gross as hell and super feminized and then also be like “diversity win he’s an Asian man!!1!!1!” Like what?? — and all of this is particularly noticeable in jmart fanart (which while it isn’t my favorite ship for either of them I do like it!)

There is definitely some content I’ve seen of him were they do make him unkempt and more feminine without being stereotypical but some of y’all are walking a line so fine it can only be seen with a microscope.

As far as the women, I’ve seen people in this fandom jump through hoops like they’re trained acrobats (the Flying Graysons themselves, if you will) to justify saying the most vile and unfair things about them. Especially Basira and Melanie. When narratively, these characters mirror certain traits of Jon right back at him and y’all will still blorbo-fy him.

I do think a lot of this could be fixed by people taking a second to think before they speak but hey I can only ask so much I guess.

Okay I’m done, tma fandom, I do love you but sometimes y’all can benefit from shutting the fuck up.

#I promise y’all I do love Jon #but he deserves to be criticized too #tma #the magnus archives #jonathan sims #tma jon #jon sims #basira hussain #melanie king #tma basira #tma melanie #tma meta

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dalishious · 1 year

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So are we not going to talk about absolution’s toxic sapphic trope. Again. Where da sapphic’s always end up being fucking toxic? She wanted to sell Miriam back into slavery and thinks it’s nbd. Hira might not be white but wanting to sell the dark skinned brown woman back into slavery and said brown woman giving her a “we could give you another chance 🥺🥺” speech is disgusting. As a black lesbian who actually comes from slaves, I can’t pretend that this show is redeemable. I can’t pretend the lighter skinned brown woman wanting to sell the character she gets queerbaited with back into slavery, directly to her abuser, is somehow *good*. Miriam’s arc with Hira is so disrespectful to those of us who actually care the generational trauma of slavery. Like even if you remove the sapphic aspect, people lauding this show and Miriam’s arc really just shows other brown people do not care about black trauma with chattel slavery.

Same black lesbian anon from before, can you add a tw for Miriam/H*ra? Seeing a freed slave kissing the woman who was planning to sell her back into slavery and all these non black fans celebrating that literally makes me sick to my stomach that y’all think this is hashtag diversity win lmao

I 100% agree Hira is a villain for what she was planning on doing to Miriam, no matter how much she justified it by saying "it wouldn't be forever," "you would escape" and whatnot. In the end, she used Miriam, just like Rezaren wanted to use her.

Any shippable content between the two, for example the requested gifset I made, will be tagged as "hira x miriam" per my shipping tag format, so you can blacklist that. But you won't be seeing very much of that on my blog anyway.

#ask #da absolution

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nappingpaperclip · 1 month

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happy very late trans day of visibility we stay winning 💪💪 🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵

Trans people please rb and add your gfms and cashapps 🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵

Gonna get a bit personal cause to be honest? I don’t think non trans people really understand what it is like to be trans right now and some of y’all really need to hear this.

People outside of the man/woman sex dichotomy have existed in every culture throughout history since humans have existed. Yet people are still using the argument that being trans is a “trend” that young people are falling/being groomed into

This rhetoric leeches out of politics into the minds of young people, who turn around and externalize it onto their peers. Trans people, and especially young trans people are being bullied, harassed, followed home, beaten, raped, brutalized, and killed every day because of this line of thinking.

It’s literally the same argument used against gay people in the early 2000’s and 2010’s. I was there. I heard it growing up. It made it take much longer for me to realize that I was bisexual because of it. Because I didn’t want to be just hop on a “trend.” Well, more like I didn’t want to be accused of that. I didn’t want to be seen as less than over something I didn’t think was that big of a deal.

To be honest, I find that it was more accurate to say that I was being groomed into being a cis straight girl.

As someone who was actually groomed, and who knew I was not cis before that btw thank you very much, it’s fucking frustrating to see this argument be used to make it harder for me and other people like me to safely exist. It’s so fucking frustrating to see people co-opt my OWN trauma to take away my agency, and make it 1000x more dangerous for trans people, and especially trans women, to just literally exist.

Others tell us that our existence is a violation of biology, science, logic, or reason. Laughs in biology student. The human body is a complex organism with many moving and changeable parts. Humans are complex emotional beings with incredibly diverse cultures and roles within their respective societies. Biology isn’t as simple as XY and XX, and I’m tired of hearing this argument from people who don’t understand basic biology, and who don’t understand how language, science, and gender relate to culture.

It’s frustrating because even the “gender abolitionists” who claim to want to throw off the roles of womanhood still try to pin me and people like me into roles that fit their narrow worldview.

I cannot escape the roles that other people push on me, ever. I just want to exist. I can’t use EITHER bathroom without feeling unwelcome and unsafe. I can’t use a computer without articles and videos bashing trans people and our “dangerous gender ideology” or whatever popping up and ruining my day by making me feel guilty for literally just existing. I can’t look at the comments section on any post mentioning trans people, especially from my own local news, without seeing hateful comments wishing people like me death, saying we are all pedophile groomers, that we are delusional and should be locked up, that we need to be rounded up and shot to protect the children or traditional families or whatever.

Even the way people LOOK at me is dehumanizing and at times, humiliating.

I can’t go a single day at work or at school or in public without being stared at like I am some kind of freak because people can’t immediately tell what genitals I have. It doesn’t matter how polite I am or how small I make myself.

We remember the way you treat us. It sticks with us, shapes how we feel about ourselves and how we interact with the world. Just one of the many moments that still sticks with me was recently when I spoke at a city council meeting. I had a progress flag and a picture of Nex Benedict. This lady sat next to me and was kind and polite, until she saw the flag, and then she clammed up and refused to talk to me when I tried politely asking her something. You’d think I’d threatened her or was violating her rights just by being there the way she was looking at me.

Do y’all understand how fucking bad that feels? Seeing people make the connection, seeing the way their face drops as you watch them lose respect and all care for you in real time? Over something you can’t control? Something that doesn’t even effect them?

People literally see me and freeze, give me whale eyes and refuse to speak to me because they can’t tell what I am. I am a person. I try my best to be good and do good. Why is that not enough?

I’ve been told my whole life to just shut up and take it. No. No, I won’t do that. That doesn’t suit me at all. If you have a problem with that, that says more about you than it does me. You don’t get to complain about trans people making themselves be heard or making our transness a “part of our personality” when y’all harass and bully and kill us every day. It’s part of my personality because of the way I’ve been treated for it. I spent years of my life wishing and begging and dreaming that I was not trans, but it didn’t work. I tried very hard for so long to convince myself that I was cis. I can’t be something I’m not. My transness is a part of me and I will spend the rest of my life fighting for basic kindness and respect because of it.

If you wanted us to shut up then you’d leave us alone. Our existence is not part of some grand scheme or conspiracy. Our bodies and lives are not collateral damage.

Trans people are just people. We just want to be treated like people. We just want to live our lives without being forced into a box all the time.

You don’t have to “get it,” you don’t even have to agree, but you do have to respect our agency and respect that we know ourselves better than you do. Mind your own damn business. What we do to our bodies, how we dress or act, what bathroom we use, it does not affect you. Live and let live. Our existence should not be stomped out because it makes some people uncomfortable or confused.

We are people. We deserve to live. Let us live. Let trans people live

And to any other trans folk reading this: thank you for being here. You are a boundless, beautiful soul, and you are so, so loved. Your life is precious. Please keep fighting with us. I know it is scary right now but we will make it through this.

Our stories, our love, our hopes and dreams can never be stomped out or erased. I’m holding your hand and fighting with you. Let’s show love to the most vulnerable members of our community, like the black trans women and black trans men who need our support now more than ever, and the young ones who are terrified to go to school. You deserve to live. We all deserve to live. Your community is waiting for you with open arms. We will always cherish and support you, no matter what.

Sorry for the long personal post. I hope nothing but safety and love to everyone reading this, even if my existence or this post makes you upset. We are all human and everything else is secondary. Political, gender, class and other labels just divide us when we would be stronger together.

Love is always, always more powerful and more fufilling than hate.

If you can spare a few bucks please consider supporting my partner’s top surgery and survival fund. Thank you 💕

#.txt #trans #transgender #trans day of visibility #tdov #tdov 2024 #happy tdov

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ladamedusoif · 10 months

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there’s nothing wrong with people asking for no age gap fics. If they go to an author with open requests and they request that.

It’s not cool tho when someone just finished a multi chapter fic that they worked hard on and someone just goes “are you ever not gonna write an age gap fic?” That’s annoying.

Same with PSA Post in the Tags being like “y’all weird for age gap fics, write some real women please” that’s also annoying.

I also think it’s kinda shitty to say women in their 20s aren’t “real”. Women in their 20s can also have experiences, sometimes experiences someone else will not have in their whole life.

Fact is, there’s a lot of writers in their 20s and they write what they can relate to, which is a woman in her 20s. If a 25 year old wrote about a woman in her 40s they would just get shit too because they obviously can’t relate to that and we all know someone would be like “well that’s actually not how someone in their 40s is like”. And there would be rant posts about young writers falsely portraying older women.

Younger writers will literally never win, no matter what they do.

Anyone can like whatever they want. Just leave writers alone with unneeded opinions. If someone has requests open, go ahead and request whatever you want. Otherwise, AO3 is great for looking for specific things with the tags.

More people should go there and just look for the no age gap tag instead of messaging 20 something year old writers and demanding they do what they want..

Thanks for this considered ask, anon. I was bracing for hate but this is reflective.

I’m not telling - and would never tell - someone what to write. In your case you seem to be a 20-something year old writer so you write from that perspective.

Like the tag on my original post said: if there’s room for all things there’s room for all things.

I would never, ever message someone in the way that you’ve mentioned. Writers in this world aren’t doing this for pay (well, some are) so why demand like that? I’m firmly of the “why act like that for fanfic writers they’re giving you this for free” approach, it’s shitty.

I guess what I would ask you to consider is why there’s so much fic about age gaps. Why is it a tag in its own right, like certain kinks? There wouldn’t be “no age gap” without the age gap, if that makes sense. I think its dominance in the fandom goes way beyond fanfic that’s the work of 20-something women - many of whom I know and are writers who explicitly don’t do the whole DBF thing or whatever.

No one is saying “don’t do this ever”. No one is being prudish or puritanical or whatever we’re being presented as. Literally just asking for more diversity in what’s turning up on the dash.

(I use AO3 too.)

#asked and answered #don’t harass fic writers guys

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myanimatedopinion · 2 years

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I’m sorry but the way some of y’all were headcannoning Perfuma as trans simply based on the fact she had a flat chest and sharper facial structure..is not the win you think it is

Like come on “this woman was obviously born a man because they have a flat chest” is a very iffy mindset to have, and really shows how you as a person expect all biologically born women to look😬you cannot celebrate the body diversity of women She ra then turn around and go “well this woman used to be a man”/simply because you expect women to be born with defined chests and soft faces

#headcanon her as trans I don’t care #but there are so many biologically born women that have flat chests that may actually look up to perfuma #and for fandom to use that and say she was obviously born a man because no bio woman has a chest that flat is so wrong #shera #stop #perfuma #I can feel the keyboard warriors coming I know it🥱

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thepennedcommandments · 1 year

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Fuck you. Sincerely, a Millennial

Guys, it’s been a shitshow. Let’s get into it.

What’s your earliest childhood memory? What is the first major world or news event that you can remember?

Mine? I had to stop my VHS of The Sandlot to watch OJ Simpson being chased in his white Bronco per my parents demand. I mean, who could blame them? A former football player murder his wife and her lover and sent the police on a high speed chase only to be acquitted a year later. My childhood was AMAZING, don’t get me wrong, but there was a lot demanded of my generation.

•Adults demanded blind obedience. Don’t you question authority! It’s disrespectful.

•Rules were demanded to be followed.

•Children should be seen and not heard.

•Don’t you ever question an adult.

•You better speak when spoken to.

•Teachers demanded an inhumane amount of homework be completed nightly.

We were demanded to follow a dress code in high school that sounded like it came out before women could even wear pants in public. We were told that bare shoulders were too sexual for school. Ok, Perv. Do you know how long it took me to feel like I wasn’t doing something wrong when wearing a sleeveless shirt? Thanks, Marlboro Academy. 👍🏻

Demands, demands, demands. But no explanation other than “Because I said so.”

How about in 2001 when we watched actual human beings jump from the 50th floor of the World Trade Center, in real time on national television, at 14 years old in classroom with our peers.

What about those mature enough to pursue college degrees right out of high school only to be met with a recession upon completing that degree. There were no jobs, no money, and good luck buying a home.

The transition from a relatively private life to being filmed by cameras in every store, every highway, and every sidewalk. The transition from celebrating your life wins with your family to the pressure of needing to document it for your social media following. There is an electronic footprint of everything we do now.

We are a generation that were hit by our parents for making a mistake. It’s such an odd concept. I’m not talking about being popped on the rear for disobeying. I’m talking about adult strength behind the force of a leather belt. Seriously, y’all. What the actual fuck was that?

We are progressive. We are adaptable. We are resilient. We don’t believe our lives revolve around grinding 9-5. Maybe because it feels like the world has been crashing around us our whole lives so we want to make the most of what’s left. We want others to be heard and feel accepted. We want our children to ask questions and we use alternate forms of discipline. We are tolerant. But we don’t tolerate bullshit.

Our music is top tier. Our pop culture was addicting. Pearl Jam, Alanis, Lil Jon, Lil Wayne, Britney, Freddie Prince, Jr., and Monica Lewinsky. I mean, the diversity that the 90s and early 2000s served. 👏🏻We listened to everything from Tim McGraw to T-Pain. We watched everything from Will and Grace to Jenny Jones.

Hot Takes From an 80s Baby:

I don’t care. Literally. Do what you want as long as it doesn’t hurt others. The idea of caring so much about what other people are doing has been strongly perpetuated by this social media/influencer culture. We didn’t even have the internet growing up, or cell phones.

I don’t care that you and your dad and his dad all worked the same job for 35 years before retiring. If my current job isn’t serving me, I’m gonna find a new one.

I don’t care that you are my aunt or a childhood best friend. I don’t hang on to relationships that are mentally and physically draining. Family or not, if you are toxic then you gotta go.

I don’t care that your feelings might get hurt because our children didn’t want to hug you today and I didn’t force them to. Or force them to have a weird conversation with you. There’s like 50 years between the two of you, find someone your own age to talk to.

I don’t care that you think we are dumber than your generation.

I don’t care that you hate tattoos and piercings and brightly colored hair.

I don’t care that you don’t understand other communities outside of the one you belong to because you’ve never tried to.

I don’t care that you disagree with me. Two opposite opinions can coexist in the same space.

I don’t care that you think your generation is superior. I’m glad you do, someone needs to, I guess.

I just don’t care. Life is too fucked to care too much about any of it.

So, I stand by it. Fuck you. Fuck another war, fuck politics, fuck social media, fuck toxic family members and work environments, fuck recessions and pandemics, fuck blind obedience, fuck inflation, and lastly, fuck off.

Sincerely,

a Millennial ✌🏼

#millennials #holy fuck #spilled words #nostaliga #opinion #i said wtf i said #small town usa #written #delete later

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starberrywander · 11 months

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I hate that if you critique something its automatically assumed that you support the opposite. Like, sometimes someone says something really shitty and someone else responds to them holding the general opinion that I do but in a really shitty way. And I want to be able to say “hey, that’s shitty of you. You’re not helping. Please approach this in a different way before you make it worse.” but if I do that people will assume I support the original speaker even though I very much do not.

Like, why can we not critique our own people? The people who we generally agree with? Why does a critique have to mean opposition? Its holding us back more than anything, because we can’t effectively hold each other accountable for shitty behavior.

Like yeah, I’m all for protecting trans rights and fighting ableism and stopping racism and all that. 100% extremely important goals that we need to be working on and taking very seriously. I agree with y’all on the positions you take there. I want us to succeed in those goals.

However, treating those who disagree or oppose that as if they aren’t human? Pretending that insults are an acceptable substitute for activism? Using personal attacks to make your argument seem more potent instead of actually doing the work to improve the argument? Stop it. All of you.

And quit acting like people telling you not to make your application of basic human decency conditional are telling you to just give up everything and let people harass you with not consequences. Treating your opponents like literal piles of dogshit is not “activism.” It’s called being an asshole.

People aren’t just people when they agree with you. People aren’t just complex when they agree with you. Groups aren’t just diverse when they agree with you. Groups don’t only have nuance when they agree with you. And pretending like prejudiced folks are all simple minded members of simple un-nuanced groups helps nobody. In fact, when you refuse to acknowledge the complexity of “enemy” groups, you damage your own effectiveness.

Like, do people win wars and battles by assuming things about their opponents and refusing to accept contradictory information? No. That’s how they lose them. There is a reason spies are so valuable; if you want to plan an effective attack you need as much information as you can get about the enemy. What they’re doing, what their motives are, what they’re planning, etc.

Same goes for activism. You need to understand why people are doing what they are doing (in other words, have the empathy to put yourself in their shoes) if you want to effectively stop them. If you just assume that they’re all stupid, delusional, simple minded monsters then you miss all that. You’re setting yourself up for failure because you’re attacking an enemy that is not there. You need espionage. Gather information. Make sure you actually know what’s going on and plan around your observations, not your intuition and assumptions.

Do you get what I’m saying? Like, I obviously oppose things like sexism, racism, anti-LGBT prejudice, etc. But at least half of the arguments I see against those who spout those prejudices just fall on deaf ears. Because people don’t bother to empathize and connect with these people’s actual position and instead attack and insult them based on what they assume they believe. It’s a waste of time and it can often make the prejudiced person just double down on their position and come away with an even stronger conviction. It. Does. Not. Help. Anyone.

But for some reason people can’t seem to separate disagreement from bullying and harassment so when I say “you should stop bullying people” they think I’m saying “you should stop disagreeing with them” and it’s so fucking annoying because no I’m not telling you to stop standing up for yourself, I’m telling you to stop being a petty fucking bully. Learn some damn patience and check yourself from time to time. They aren’t less than human and you aren’t superior, so quit acting like it. This isn’t a “fight fire with fire” situation. Dehumanization isn’t solved by more dehumanization. Get a fucking grip.

(sorry, I’m pissed. A lot of pent up frustration from not being able to say any of this shit to the actual people who do it. I hope my point was clear.)

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blackstarising · 2 years

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sometimes i don’t like making takes. and no one needs my take, honestly. quite frankly, i’m like a sponge when it comes to anxiety so whenever Big News™️ hits? listen, i love y’all, but i simply Cannot Be Here for a minute.

but i also have this big, honking ‘christian’ sign on my blog. and i still am, totally unironically. i know i don’t talk about it much, but the last few years have been uhhh rough, especially as a girlie of color.

so with all of that being said, i fully disbelieve the overturning of roe v wade is a win. it’s not a win, it’s not a fight for the children, it’s not a win for Christ. and i am speaking as someone who ascribes to a whole life theology.

but, to some of my literal siblings in Christ, we have to critically examine how the current political pro-life rhetoric is patchy at best. why are race and lgbtq rights ‘political’ and shied away from at service but abortion (let’s say each syllable) deserves a chunk of pulpit airtime? why can some of us only offer a ‘oh, let’s adopt more’ in response to this and not consider that the way that some of us vote against things like universal healthcare, contraception, sex education, tax credits, food access, are entirely antithetical to our supposed esteem of children? why do people mistrust the crisis pregnancy centers we set up? why does the rhetoric change when we discuss babies of color in addition to white babies?

this decision wasn’t made with discernment. it wasn’t made with wisdom. it was made for a clear disregard for the vulnerable, a population that God has commanded us to protect from the beginning. we are attempting to legislate the affairs of God, something that Jesus took the religious leaders of the day to task on when he walked here. we love to say smugly that ‘we’re not Pharisaical’ when we read the Gospels. are we sure about that? are we really on Jesus’ side, reaching the untouchable, the ones disenfranchised, unable to protect themselves? or are we the ones with cold stones in our fists, struggling under the weight of our own bounds we created, looking for anyone who walks free of them to step on?

i grew up with white men telling me, every sunday, that we need to ‘take back this country for Christ’, that ‘the family is under attack’, that ‘we need to protect family values’. fellow Christians, these were not pushes for His witness, these were the fighting gasps of white Christian nationalism. and here were are, one step closer to it. there is no interest in protecting anyone with overturning roe v wade. it is about domination. and that is NEVER how God has tried to work with us. and because we keep trying to go this route, we are actively damaging our witness.

so, this is bad. what do we do?

first of all, VOTE. vote to codify our civil liberties into law. inform yourselves about candidates, and make your voice heard. i am not saying that the candidates are perfect, i’m not saying you have to agree with them, but we are not working with 31 flavors, we are working with 2. you have to understand that the moral majority have been working ruthlessly and for decades to get to this point. we don’t have the luxury of errata. change is not instant, but we have to start somewhere. if you’re so online that you think that it’s not worth it to vote at all, it’s already a lost battle.

understand that this is a multifaceted issue. we don’t know how to talk about abortion well, and the truth is, it’s complicated. we can split it into a binary, but people on both sides have a panoply of emotions and motivations. people have different principles and convictions that inform them as well. faith, gender identity, values, race, income level. not everyone under the umbrella of pro-choice legislation feels comfortable with the ethics of abortion or would choose one themselves, for example. and we haven’t even stepped into the medical sphere yet, which makes it even more complicated. but it’s not a binary. be mindful of the diversity of thought when you’re talking to others.

white people especially, be mindful about how much oxygen you’re taking up in the conversation. i know, i know, when will we take the microscope off y’all, but I’m serious, you guys. yes, this affects white people. but we also have to understand that, even with our struggle to talk about abortion, our point of reference is usually a white cis woman with disposable income. the image needs to be expanded. to people of color. to trans people. to low income people. to non-binary people. to people of different faiths. to people of different immigrant statuses. and so on.

white people, your voice is necessary and valued because people will listen to you. don’t forget that. but also! y’all GOTTA stop with the white liberal existential dread. y’all gotta stop with the fatalistic takes. y’all gotta stop with the handsmaid’s tale costumes. it doesn’t mean that this isn’t distressing but yes, America doesn’t always act in its people’s best interests, welcome to the club. many minority populations have been dealing with this, our own apocalypses, for way too long. and there’s a time to mourn, but there’s also a time to get up and do something about it. your whiteness will automatically allow you to be centered in many cases, but if it’s all distress and sucking up the oxygen in the room, we won’t go anywhere. yes, it’s hard, unforgiving work. but it needs to be done.

finally, if you’re of faith, pray. pray for the protection of our freedoms. pray for protection of the vulnerable. pray that we find leaders with good judgment and compassion. pray for true justice.

#adwoa blahs

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pussyhoundspock · 2 years

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Do you think Strange New Worlds having nothing particularly new or exciting to say is why it’s been more well received than the other new-treks? I’ve been watching reviews and there’s definitely critique but most don’t tend to get too deep or tear it apart like they do with Discovery or Picard. I like the show but it’s full on 4K nostalgia bait I watch in the background you know? Seeing people talk about the return to ‘real trek’ and positivity is like okay do y’all not want to do any thinking at all? Or maybe I’m being pessimistic idk

yeah i honestly have no idea what's up! that's why i sort of compared it to marvel -- because it's very like COMPETANTLY made like it's a product with solid effects, clear characters, a comprehensible plot ... i mean i feel like they were clearly trying to win back the fans who DIDN'T like disco and picard by just sort of giving into their heteronornative bland sci fi vision or whatever it was they had? so like idk i feel by listening to critics and catering to that specific fan, the artist integrity is already shot ... and like discovery for all its flaws -- and there are MANY -- was fun to even be annoyed with and i always felt like it was at least ambitious. if not good. it was trying something new! and i respect that much more than whatever strange new worlds is trying to do, which seems to be 'create the most commercially paletable product to have the broadest appeal to the "old school" mostly heterosexual white male star trek fanbase. i mean. its star trek's least diverse cast since tng it seems like, and neither uhura nor m'benga have been featured nearly as heavily as chapel and spock which is frustrating because spock and uhura are famously friends in TOS and chapel and spock interact like, once, when she has a sad unrequited little crush on him he does not notice. ALSO uhura and number one are in MY opinion the most compelling actors on the show while spock pike and chapel have some of the worst actors on the show so. LOL.

this is getting long but like. it's frustrating to me to see a show with no ambition shooting for like "good", not "great". and like to see a show SO clearly made for money reasons and fanchise continuing reasons rather than because they had something to say, a new take on a relationship, science fiction concepts it wanted to explore, a new area of the federation of larger universe it wanted to explore (see: how little hemmer has been in it ... and the way he's occupying the 'spock tos' role aka friendless struggling to make connections and struggling to reconcile heritage with choice to be in star trek).

I WILL SAY my favorite star trek reviewer is this guy: https://them0vieblog.com/. That's his personal website but he ALSO works for the escapist where he linked an ICONIC gay spock essay in response to the last snw episode!!

#snw #asks

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intherainbowfactory · 1 year

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No Escape from the Rainbow Factory, chapter 1 full

“...All together now, Wonder group, what is the motto of the Rainbow Factory?”

“IN THE RAINBOW FACTORY, YOUR DREAMS AND HOPES COME TRUE!” a dozen young voices shouted at once.

The guest presenter had to take a moment to check his hearing still worked, while Ms. Cheerilee held a hoof to her mouth to block out a giggle. “No windows broken? Good! Because THAT’S the kind of enthusiasm I need to hear! I only wish some of my co-workers could be so cheerful. Well,” he adopted a mock thoughtful expression, “I suppose if some of you came to work for the Rainbow Factory now…”

“Rainbow Dust!” Ms. Cheerilee chided with a grin.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out!” Now a few groans could be heard from the foals (“Gag me with a silver spoon!”), with Sweetie Belle taking the lead in volume, and those mean fillies Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon miming gagging to each other. “What? What?” Rainbow Dust declared in his best impersonation of a baffled old granny mare. Then he gave a little smirk before pulling a serious face and stating, “It’s probably for the best that you don’t like old ground-up cliches (most foals were confused when he said this) like that, since”, he sighed, “I have to leave now.”

“Ah, c’mon!” Snips whined, “Why do ya gotta go?”

“Yeah!” Rumble joined in, “Tell us another story!”

After the roar of assent that shook the room, it took Cheerilee a couple moments and a classic teacher counting diversion to get the class on track and keep them from rioting.

Rainbow Dust had a twinkle in his eye and another winning smirk. “No. Stop. Agh. I want to go to work.”

Apple Bloom piped up, “Ah, horsefeathers. (“Language!” Cheerilee admonished) Ahm sorry, Ms. Cheerilee, but,” she sat up and put her hooves up, “t’ain’t no way he would wanna go back ta workin’ insteada hangin’ out with us,” she focused her classic puppy-dog stare on Rainbow Dust, “wouldn’t y’all?”

At that Rainbow Dust just gave a reserved grin and a not unkind look to the little yellow-and-redhead. “Well, I guess I can answer a couple of questions from my Wonder group before I fly off…” Cheerilee agreed, and the class went into a romping cheer before calmly sitting back down.

“Okay, who’s first?”

About everyone’s hoof was in the air.

Scootaloo’s was waving more energetically than anyone else’s.

“Alright… you, there, sir!” He pointed.

“Yay!” It was Snips, who asked a question and got an answer that Scootaloo didn’t hear, since she was waiting for the best moment to get to raise her hoof first.

Rainbow Dust took a look out the window at the sun’s direction, and back at his sundial. “Alright, I’ve only got time for one more question…”

“Ooh! Ooh! Pick me!” Scootaloo was waving both hooves in the air and fluttering her wings, gaining a hover. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon sniggered at this, while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle giggled goodnaturedly.

“Alright, calm down, missy. What do you want to know?” He was amused by the display.

“Ooh! Oh. Uh…” Think, Scootaloo, think! “What’re rainbows made out of?”

Cheerilee’s jaw dropped, while Diamond Tiara was still sniggering. Nopony saw the look that Silver Spoon pulled at Scootaloo.

Rainbow Dust flew over and put his hoof on Scoot’s muzzle. Now, before this point, almost everypony’s gaze was directed straight at where Rainbow Dust stood, so they didn’t get the time or chance to see the look on his face as he flew over, quicker than a young foal’s reflexes. Even Scootaloo was too distracted mentally kicking herself over forgetting her many questions to notice the emotions crossing his face.

But Silver Spoon saw.

He gave Scootaloo a sly smile as he booped her nose and she scrunched her muzzle in shock. “Now, that’s a trade secret, little lady! I couldn’t say, or I might get fired (“Aww…..”). But don’t be discouraged! Work hard and pass your flight exam, and you can work for our wonderful feathermilitary Factory too! I’m counting on you, chief!” And Scootaloo could tell he meant it! Scootaloo was in awe! He talked to her! Maybe she’d have to take him up on that offer…!

Rainbow Dust flew back to the front of the classroom where a blushing Ms. Cheerilee stood. They exchanged a few whispers that were lost in the bustle of the class, after which Ms. Cheerilee looked as eager to teach as she usually was.

Rainbow Dust stated, “Well, that’s about it for today—and yer takes what yer gets!” he added to the increasing pleading from everypony in the room.

“Say thanks to our guest speaker today, class!”

“THANK YOU!” they shouted, twice as loud now.

“This is the only thing that keeps me going in this job,” Rainbow Dust admitted to Cheerilee with a warm, peaceful smile.

“I know just what you mean,” Cheerilee confessed, “My cousin works in the Rainbow Factory, as a—” Cheerilee gulped, “well, I get it.”

He looked at her. “Yeah… hey, I gotta get going. I’ll go grab my stuff!” He pranced out of the room with a twinkle in his eye and a shine dancing through his teeth.

“How does he do that?!” Sweetie Belle pouted. She tried to

“Weren’t ya listenin’? MAGICAL RAINBOWS!” Apple Bloom responded.

Scootaloo was engrossed in a day-dream of her being the most awesome Rainbow Pourer who was so good she made an eighth color appear in the rainbows and was made into the owner, so she didn’t say anything.

“Alright class, break for lunch!”

After taking part in the mad stampede of foals out of the schoolhouse, the Cutie Mark Crusaders sat at one of the bench tables in the shade.

Sweetie Belle asked, "Wasn't that pretty cool, Scoots?" Scootaloo was looking off in the distance with her chin grinding on her hooves. Off in a world of her own.

"Air control to Scootaloo! ("Huh?")" Sweetie Belle opened up her fashionable lunchbox and tore off the lid of a yogurt cup with telekinesis. "Sheesh! I knew that would wake you up," she smiled as she shot the yogurt into her mouth magically, making a big mess around her.

Scootaloo wasn't affected, since she expected Sweetie Belle to do that (show-off!) and could duck down in her seat across from Sweetie Belle to shield herself from the blast. Apple Bloom, however, was seated on Sweetie Belle's right and preoccupied with her construction worker-grade lunchbox, and took the full force of the yogurt explosion.

She licked her lips. "Mm-mm! Purple huckleberries! My favorite!" They all giggled at that...

... Something feels wrong. Oh, yeah!

Scootaloo cocked an eyebrow at Sweets. "Wait, what's 'air control'? Some type of pegasus force?"

"Yer not all wrong," Apple Bloom stated in bemusement, huckleberry still on most of her face. Sweetie Belle wiped off her own face with a red fabric handkerchief and offered it to Scootaloo, but she waved it off since her own orange coat was untouched.

Sweetie Belle took on a poised pose with her hoof raised, eyes closed, and smile present before kindly explaining to her friend, "That guy that was in there from the Rainbow Factory talked about it when he answered Snips's question. From the top of the spiraling tower in the middle of the Rainbow Factory, they direct the pegasuses ("Pegasi!" Apple Bloom interjected, coat now clean and naturally yellow with some help from the ornate green handkerchief Sweetie Belle floated over to her as well. "Whatever...") They direct the pegasi to fly the rainbows out all over the world super fast to make people happy and make peace and harmony," she concluded magnanimously.

"Ahh, mare! I totally should have paid more attention to that part..."

"What were y'all doin'? Playin' with yer tail?" Apple Bloom drawled with an innocently knowing look.

"Heh heh... Just spacin' off, y'know?" Scootaloo replied with an embarrassed grin and an uncomfortable shoulder shrug.

"Aw, horseapples, Scoots. You were daydreaming of bein’ a worker in the Rainbow Factory,” Apple Bloom stated very matter-of-factly.

Scootaloo’s ears twitched in embarrassment and her wings fluttered her into the air briefly as she whined, “Nuh uh! I’m gonna be the owner!” Her friends looked up at her skeptically for a moment as she hovered there for a little bit. She realized where she was and fell onto her seat. “—I mean, no I’m not…”

Bloom giggled, and Scootaloo glared at her.

Apple Bloom threw out her forelegs in defense. ”What? We-all already know y'love rainbows! Ah mean, ya practically mob Rainbow Dash ta ask fer auto-graphs every time ya see her!" Button Mash, who happened to be walking by and heard this, stopped and snorted at Scootaloo.

Scootaloo whined, "Dude, c'mon you can't embarrass me like this!” She glared at Mash, who gave a nonchalant whistle and trotted away. "I mean, at least I'm not the one who explodes a cup of yogurt every day at lunch now for like, what," she turned to Sweetie Belle, "five days?"

"Ah yeah! What'n tarnation'rya even thinking doin' that all the time???" Apple Bloom squeaked. Sweetie Belle was looking absently at her muffin, wondering if Rainbow Dash was related to Rainbow Dust.

Apple Bloom headbutted Sweets’ withers and said, "Earth control ta' Sweetie Belle!"

"Huh? Oh, heh!” Sweetie Belle had a smug look on her face. “Rarity’s been teaching me to move stuff around for a couple weeks now. Apparently, when ponies get to be our age, their magic starts really coming into their own. ("Their own what?") Unicorns get magic magic, earth ponies get... earth magic, and pegasi get, y'know, air magic."

"Ooh! Ah got that talk from Applejack, too! Lemme show y’all what Ah learned!" Apple Bloom held up her lunchbox from earlier. Opening it up, there was a little sapling inside, nestled in too much dirt for a food receptacle. It was kind of leafy, but kind of gray, and a little cracked and dry.

"What?" the others chorused. Scootaloo followed the thread first. "Was that just in there without sunlight for the whole day? They're not meant to do that..."

Apple Bloom shrugged. "Well, Ah know Ah could take care of it through the day. Applejack told me, and showed me, that Ah could use mah earth pony magic to grow apples from trees! So Ah got this one to practice on here! Ah kinda like how it survives and thrives away from the world… Oh, yeah,” she added, “please don't tell mah family!” She pleaded, “They wouldn't like it!"

“‘Kay, ‘kay,” Sweets agreed.

Scootaloo was thinking about her own magic. She thought about her parents.

... She was starting to feel uneasy. Just where do I fit in here, anyway...? What right do I have to be here?

Scootaloo decided right then and there that she would get cool magic someday, too! She turned to Apple Bloom and spoke her mind. "I'm gonna get cool magic of my own someday, too! Oh yeah, first, let's see you make that apple grow, mare!" she shouted.

"Boy howdy! Let's get to it! Alright, let’s see if this works,” she added under her breath. Apple Bloom gently pushed her hooves into the dirt around the sapling and took deep, rhythmic breaths. Five seconds in, five seconds held, five seconds out, five seconds held. Over and over.

After the other fillies were starting to grow bored, some movement perked up in the modest leafy sapling.

"Oooooh!" Sweetie Belle sung. "It's blooming! There’s a bloom, Bloom!" The bow-haired filly nodded her head vigorously for a moment, continuing to massage the earth and breathe in her routine. "There's a flower blooming at the tip!" And there was, and it was starting to weigh down the little sap.

… Poor, poor tree. Scootaloo couldn't shake the feeling that this was hurting the tree, like Apple Bloom should have just left the sapling home and left it to its own devices. It’s not right, she thought, it’s not…

She couldn't watch. Her ears flattened to her skull. She hid the sapling from her eyes with her hooves.

Sweetie Belle squeaked, "Something's growing!" Something’s wrong. Something’s going very, very wrong. Her natural pegasus instincts were just screaming at her, making her feel like the world was spinning before she closed her eyes and tried to stop the gagging sensation of almost throwing up from overwhelming her. She felt like bigger things than her—bigger than Equestria, actually, were rushing around her head in circles among the oppressive breeze, pounding at her head.

After what seemed like minutes of this, she heard Sweetie Belle exclaim, "WOW! Just look at it, Scoots!"

"Huh, ah wasn't 'spectin' that..."

Scootaloo peeked out from behind her hooves, a cold shiver wracking her body and a faintness starting to come to her. The nausea and the sensation of phantoms dancing around her skull had suddenly stopped, but the sensation wouldn’t end. Her shakiness and instinctual fear still escaped the attention of her friends.

"It's blue!" Sweets exclaimed.

A blue apple was weighing down the sapling. Sweetie Belle snatched it from the tree (gently!) and took a bite. "Mmmm! It tastes pretty good, Bloom!"

"Well, it's kinda a bad omen in th’ Apple family for an apple ta turn out blue, but there have been a coupla cases of this kinda thing’n Cousin Gene’s farm a few years back, where—"

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes and stuffed the apple in Bloom’s mouth, who took a bite, and said, "Huh! Kinda sweet! (Not as sweet as the ---- apple, but... ...)"

Sweets swallowed her bite and just then noticed Scoots, whose head was on the table with her hooves on her muzzle, shaking. “Hey,” she nickered worriedly, “are you okay?”

Scootaloo’s ears started twitching again. She peeked an eye out from behind her hoof and meekly said, “O-oh, I’m j-just feeling a little… sick. T-that’s it,” right before she quickly hid behind her hoof again and shuddered.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged worried glances, mentally coming to the same conclusions. This was one of Scootaloo’s panic attacks. They knew that this was a part of being friends with a growing pegasus by now, that the young fliers could be set off by a sudden unplanned change of air pressure around them or some weather thing that only a pegasus could feel, and that they could be a bit mood-swingy sometimes, just like Sweetie Belle’s drama-fiend sister.

They might have not known why Scootaloo was panicking, but they knew they had to help out as much as equinely possible.

Apple Bloom reached across the table, which was not an easy feat by any means, and nuzzled Scootaloo’s forelegs while grasping them in her hooves. The calming repetition of Bloom’s warm breath on her fur combined with the soft nuzzling served to soothe Scoot’s overpowering flight/flight/freeze instincts, and she stopped twitching her ears or shaking.

However, her expression, which was now distinguishable as that of horror, was still hidden behind her forelegs, and her breathing now had a distinct shuddering quality to it.

Sweetie Belle stepped in now. She gently said, “Scoots…”

Scootaloo flinched away from Apple Bloom, before returning to her softness.

Sweets said, firmly now, but not unkindly, “Scoots—Scootaloo. I might not understand what you’re going through, but I do understand that you’re having a bad time right now and need help. Do you want to talk about it?” She raised an eyebrow and tilted her muzzle at Scootaloo.

Seeing her friend shake her head in the negatory, she pushed her muffin across the table to touch Scootaloo, who peeked out from behind her hooves, eventually broke down her defenses with a sigh, and popped it in her mouth. It was her favorite flavor, blueberry. Apple Bloom rested her head on the table, looking up at Scootaloo with a big smile across her face.

“‘Bout time ya woke up from yer coma!”

Scootaloo glared behind her, appearing bemused but feeling as wing-achingly embarrassed as if she broke down crying in front of her friends. Nopony else seemed to have noticed her breakdown, which was good. Her ears twitched with the shame of it all.

Bloom grinned. “Now that looks more like th’ filly Ah know! Why—” she flashed her most innocent, most naive smile as she pointed at Scootaloo’s glare, “Ah mighta thought y’all were scared of mah earth magic earlier if not for this!”

Scootaloo shot up again. “What! Me? No, fluttering, way!” Sweetie Belle sighed in relief and exhaustion; the spell was broken.

Apple Bloom could just giggle. “Ya can talk tough,” she drawled and pushed the apple towards Scootaloo, “but can ya back it up? Ah promise mah apple’s not bad fer ya! After all, Ah tried it mahself!”

Scootaloo gulped as she hovered down to the table bench uncertainly. Then, she steeled her stare toward Bloom and took the apple in hoof. After all, she couldn’t very well be scared by a little old apple that her own friend made with her own hooves and sweat! She wouldn’t forgive herself if she did.

Scootaloo nibbled on it a little.

It tasted bitter.

#my little pony #mlp #mlp fim #cutie mark crusaders #apple bloom #sweetie belle #scootaloo #rainbow factory: escape #no escape from the rainbow factory #writing #fanfic #fanfiction

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