#its an example of the nature of the work

[temeow]

shout out to media ..... its really interesting to look at how graphics and layouts and stylisation develops over time and what influences it (lots of analysis in the tags)

#temtalk #i was comparing 1957 vogue to 2023 vogue #and u can see its very much based on pictures now #rather than back then it was lots and lots of words #esp in the first issues where it was so many paragraphs #and its also very fpcused on advertising despite when the article itself isnt #for example one on margot robbie (photoshoots n stuff for barbie) managed to work the branding into the little snippets of text #which ur bound to read bc of how small they are n how they stand out on the page #as being the only text so naturally ur gonna read them #its in the same paragrah no line break or anything #backstory on the image then BOOM brand name #and it has the brand name first which is interesting #like [brand] shoes rather than shoes by [brand] #bc if u were reading for backstory on the image itself u would see 'shoes' and stop reading #but by having thr brand first . boom . right in ur face wether u like it or not #which id obviously what a lot of advertising does bc yk. no one likes it. so they have to force it at u #also also also. i was considering #yk how tumblrs layout look so much like twt now #thats fascinating to me #bc why would u want to go with the crowd rather than maintain ur image which already sticks out somewhat #lots of social platoforms are looking more and more similar #which. is fascinating like i mentioned #bc being unique is a big part of marketing #so its probably playing to the popularity of twt? possibly hoping to draw in more users with a theme thye already recognise #which i mean. this is known as being a 'dead' website #heavy on the quotation marks #so maybe its a case of trying to revive it somewhat by pushing it into the crowd #even tho. its not dead #IDK IDK its all rlly interesting to me!!taking media in school at the moment #and im rlly enjoying it so

[perenlop]

Cannot guarantee I'll be quick on it, tbh they might come down to concept pencil sketches in my book than full colored doodles... but would anyone be down for recommending me canon PMD characters to design and make headcanons for, to later fit into my personal PMD/Starfall universe?

No heroes/partners cause I'm already focusing on them. You can recommend anyone from Grovyle to the one Sunkern in PSMD. It'll be canon to Starfall.

#when i say design i mean in the starfall art style where the characters have like differing palletes and sizes and whatnot #some may be tweaked to being fusions if I feel they'd work as them #some characters are gonna be tweaked in starfallverse too. not all of it will matter. really only the gti and super ones do #but its still like my own personal verse. i wanna talk about my interpretations of the other games too cause theyre all canon #like in my psmd interpretation hero is a reincarnation and was adopted by nuzleaf as a baby #and scizor gets more to do in pmd2 #those are some examples. ill definitely just be brainstorming for some of them but thats the nature of this #i want to brainstorm i want character prompts cause im thinking abt the canon games #echoed voice

[scarletiswailing347]

need to find a fanfic writer bestie or something cause im in the mood (always in the mood) to draw for fanfics but i have a Lot of trouble doing so without being told first (mostly cause i have a lot of trouble reading fanfics period lol)

#mine.txt #i have specific tastes when looking for fics so i cant just read things willy nilly unfortunately #but if a pal told me to read something and then draw it ill do it in a heartbeat #idk its just hard to find inspiration when youre not a naturally passionate person #its why i keep making fanart rather than original art btw #cause when youre making fanart you can just leech off the creators passion #while for original art you gotta manufacture that shit yourself #and since im now back to not having an obsession to cling onto after lowering my interest on zam #im just kinda lost on what to do #theres the fanfics im working on ofc but idk how long thatll last #idk kinda lowkey regret properly engaging with fandom after just lurking #not cause out of anything negative happening but rather the opposite #i miss the times when im able to cling onto an interest in something and creating stuff out of said interest #cause otherwise i dont feel much of anything and it reflects in the way i draw aka very sketchy and just. ''lost'' #i know since its a purposeful interest i can theoretically just cling onto whatever i want #but i have certain criteria i like to follow cause otherwise it just feels pointless #its why you dont see me making art for stuff like different kinds of fashion for example #cause yeah im i terested in it and yeah i could make stuff out of it #but i know eventually ill start feeling like its pointless #and itd be nobody elses fault but mine

[005mins]

/  my man literally called out his own servant-

#;ooc #ooc #tw: spoilers #I LOVE their dynamic; one day i would like to talk about why they work so naturally with each other but today is not that day #i also think it was fitting for d.aybit to recognize r.itsuka's talent; d.aybit is very methodological and his views tend to go further than #s.elfish reasons per say; he can recognize things as they are without biases; #but at the same time; its this 'selfishness' to say what allowed r.itsuka to form so many bonds and be the m.aster they are; and its somethi #something d.aybit lacks; there is a sense of humanity in r.itsuka that d.aybit cannot really achieve #not in way r.itsuka has at least; bc if i stop to think about it; maybe there are some patterns if u dig deep enough #and which is also part of why his summoning pool might have been very very very limited and included only t.ezca #i feel like in a realistic way; d.aybit would only be able to summon a s.ervant that is very impartial or posseses a neutral stand per say #maybe someone that isnt human entirely; someone who has divine blood or is related to gods #t.ezca representing so many dualities and having the side of blue t.ezca on the lb is a good example of this impartiality #yet even then; despite t.ezca's spirit as well as finding d.aybit entertaining; i feel like there's more to that #maybe there is something about them sharing some traits that also contributes in t.ezca sticking along besides his own entertainment #THE WAY T.EZCA WENT: WHAT #r.itsuka; -summons 48754856 s.ervants- #d.aybit with only t.ezca: ... #IMAGINE J.AGUAR MAN JUST TAGGED ALONG #INSANITY #im remembering that one m.eme post that went like; t.ezca sucks #IM-

[snekdood]

Ppl gotta understand that just bc you do x thing because you're mentally ill, doesnt mean your actions dont have the same effect if you weren't. Like if you've been manipulative to your friends, you cant get mad at them for not sympathizing entirely with you when you go on about how they dont accept you for your mentally ilness. Regardless of your reason, you were still manipualtive, you fucked with peoples trust. Theyre still gonna have trust issues about you even if its bc of whatever mental illness you have.

#im not saying its cool for them to abandon you but cmon. you have to consider sometimes other people and what they can handle #bc if you keep manipulating your friends or whatever theyre gonna get used to being manipulated and expect it from other people #whatever the case. people have limits. your friends have limits. im not saying theyre always justified. im not saying your friends are #never abliest. but they do have limits. and if you're yelling at them all the time about being perfect or whatever you cant exactly #be surprised when they dip out. #like for example. im a p aggressive and angry guy. clearly. if youve seen any of my posts. #ive always got something to rant about. and while im not quite as much like this irl its still a thing about me. im very very vocal about #whatever injustice i percieve happening to me or others lol. but i can understand why me being intense and angry and ready to throw hands #at the drop of a hat would make some people want to avoid me. i understand it makes some ppl feel scared and unsafe. #its not something i try to do. i dont try to make ppl i like feel unsafe. i try not to be that way around ppl w those kinds of issues #but im not gonna throw a fit and be like 'you guys are okay with bpd until i get really really angry and call you a cunt' #like... uh... yeah. i dont blame ppl like that for dropping me entirely if im getting angry all the time around them and it triggers them #and i dont seem to stop or be able to stop. #sure its not great. sure i dont want to be as aggressive and angry around anyone let alone ppl afraid of that sorta thing. but this is #the current state of my being. its something im working on. and i can understand why some ppl cant handle me right now as i am. #idk. just. shit like that man #another example. im hella hella HELLA bad at communicating via technology. unless you're in front of my face my mind just forgets we were #even talking sometimes. this naturally will cause issues. how am i gonna get upset at someone for being mad i stoped responding #in the middle of a conversation? sure i didnt mean it. this is purely unintentional. however that doesnt change the fact of my actions. #it doesnt change the fact that that person might feel unwanted. i can apologize day and night but until i actually try to be more attentive #of my phone this is just gonna keep happening yknow. how is it fair to get mad at other ppl for getting mad at you over that?

[timeisacephalopod]

I love my mom but sometimes, for lack of a better way to put it, she acts like an entitled boomer. It's already a peeve of mine when people bitch about kids and what they're bitching about is kids doing completely normal, expected shit for kids to do but my mom takes it a step further and implies my nieces doing normal kid idiocy is like a personal failing and ok. Look, my youngest niece is rammy as hell this kid is a bowling ball and she's here to win, but she's seven. I expect seven year olds to be Like That and be empty head no thoughts until they break something, that's normal. No sense in getting pissed off at a seven year old for acting exactly the way you'd expect them to, but the thing that extra pisses me off is that instead of just making peace with this and teaching any of my nieces where they went wrong and how to fix it my mom just kind of expects literal children to be able to just get some verbal feedback and figure it out?? Like come on now, I have 2 siblings surely she should know zero kids are equipped to get not very useful feedback and figure out how to apply it to everything??

My oldest niece gets it the worst and every time my mom says shit about personal responsibility I want to roll my eyes so hard they pack their bags and go on a vacation to Hawaii because my niece is 12 (almost 13)- if she's not taking 'personal responsibility' then someone didn't teach her how to or at least not in a way that stuck and worked for her. It's actually the adults personal responsibility to teach a child how to develop emotional maturity, not for a kid to be grated about all the damn time like any 12 year old is equiped to be The Most Emotionally Mature Ever. Problem being my mom is NOT good at taking feedback on parenting so if I say anything I gotta wrap it up nice and sweet and make sure it comes off almost more like offering advice rather than criticism, which irritates me because "if your so pissed off about this behavior why don't you do something about it and NO not the only thing you've been trying for years and complaining doesn't work because fucking obviously why do I have to explain this to someone who surely knows far more about parenting than I would" is a lot easier than my methods that aren't working any better than my mom's.

#winters ramblings #the biggest problem is that when i HAVE pointed this out she points ME out. half the time i never even needed to be tokd what for #my susters did dumb sbit and i decided not to do that same dumb shit but like you cant take a particularly smart kid #and decide ALL kids are like that. neither of my sisters were like that especially my middle sister #so like why the hell am i being used as an example here lmao im not relevant in this case #my nieces are not weirdly smart emotionally like i was and id also like to point out HALF MY PARENTS WERE DYING #for nearly all of my childhood that i can remember. im pretty sure THATS what made me Like That. i just had am awareness most kids dont #because most kids arent as unlucky as i was to go through something so harrowing. my sisters also had shit but not like that #their shit i think made it hard for them to do relationship stuff whereas mine made me a snart kid and an extremely distrustful adult #still if youre mad a kid is acting A Fool its the ADULTS job to make sure that kid is bding taught ahat they need to know #in a way THEY understand and put to use. not repeating how YOU understand shit over and over again #my mom is great dont get me wrong but sometimes she does shit and i want to roll my eyes because its so stupid #kids do not naturally posess every adult skill in the book and actually will probably take their WHOLE livesto develop #so instead of being mad a seven year old rams shit around give that kid 80 billion reminders every time theyre rammy #not to do that. drop in an example where they brine so. #something they liked because nothing convinces kids to behave like being reminded that they actually like their stuff #and even then a million more things will break. thata how kids work #if i busted some shit being rammy then that would be that abd id clean it up. kids deserve the same courtesy

[wollfling]

I came across an "I redraw your art" video on YouTube and it legit made me sad idk...

#better #theres only one person ive come across who does 'i fix your art' well and its bc he explains technical #mistakes and how to fix it with detail and examples. like one was how a hand could be positioned more naturally and he showed with his #own hand as visual reference... but like above all he kept the artists style. like he didnt totally change it and tried to keep the artists #colouring and lining etc style like.. thats the way to do it !!! so lovely! #but these redraw videos by artists are so.... 🙄 #like this one didnt even have talking or whatever. and i know people submit their art for these things but like idk.. #something about it bothers me 😑... #and those i fix your drawing videos where they dont keep the original artists style in mind are just annoying #if youre specifcally a how to draw channel and youre replicating the process of a teacher reviewing studemts work whatever #but 80% of those videos dont feel that way idk #okay random wierd petty ramble over lol

[mx-paint]

If your argument is "there are no people of color in [x] because I personally don't see this person as a person of color" than it's like. a faulty argument.

#max rambles #this is about percy jackson #like. idk what theyre trying argue about #first this person is saying there arent any naturally blue eyes blond haired people of african decent without white interference #(there are with 0 white genes) #then theyre like theres no colored characters in any of the work #then when i gave a list of actual people of color they said i meant Main characters and im just like. all of the people i listed Are mains. #theyre literally in the same story. #and this all started bc someone else starred a different argument with me how black people cant see themselves in annabeth #and didnt have reason for how they cant other than the characters insrance isnt based off of race? #like. wtf are tiktokers On #ive learned more negative stuff in the world from tiktok than i have on anything else #like the people insisting that people cant be religious and gay bc then theyll be living a life of sin #like. its even worse than it is the real world bc they think bc theyre online rhey can get away with everything #edit: hes using the fact that he says hes black to say nothing hes said is racist #hes saying i must be white lady....bc i gave him examples of why hes wrong #like. im not a lady and. idk what to say abour the white comment since im technically not white either #but when i tried talking to him he just kept saying that #then when i pointed out hid Own racist comment he said 'im black so i cant be racist'..... #...........what #idk anymore man #i was talking about something else in the first place. he talked about something else and got mad when i didnt want to talk to him anymore #idk what he wants me to say when i comment and he ignores it or when i comment and he says that what he asked for 'doesnt count'

[viovio]

ahhhh my gah repeating to myself black hair cant be shaded i can only add highlights from where the light hits cuz it's literally how it works irl also it's sooooo reflective and awesome

#if that makes sense. like it all depends on palettes but if its like blonde id overlay pink or ourple shading #and any other light color but with dark hair u could slap on any color to reflect off it and it WORKS #i dont know what to shade it with usually because its like. when you slap on the base shade color and add natural lighting from there #like when i render skin #if that makes sense #sorray he is just mesmerized by coloring #speak iza #might add an example later

[chisatowo]

Not me considering tweaking Dodie's design right after making her a new ref

#rat rambles #oc posting #eternal gales #suffering and pain #I dont necesarily dislike her current one more so I just have some ideas that I think could be cool #but also Im contelplating changing her eyes for a large variety of reasons but idk what to go for as an alternative #mainly theres aspecs of both adjusting the color and maybe letting irisis exist that I have to think through more #both cause of worldbuilding reasons and for not wanting to overwrite past me's intentions with certain design aspecs #for example how similar to many of the staliens the lack of many tools for drawing facial expressions was a intentional quirk not a mistake #and I wanna weigh the pros and cons of changing that since even though its technically not a huge design change it is to me ok dhdnhdk #as for color I wanna keep it consistant across au designs but I also reallyyyyy dont wanna give full human au dodies blue eyes #thats where the worldbuilding problem comes in but I dont think thats a deal breaker #I could always keep the blue as the whites of her eyes and still give her natural colored irises #but that leads back to the stylistic problem so Im not 100% sure on that one #changing her full eyecolor is still an option but Id rather not if I can make the other one work since her eye color is tied to a lot ofw #worldbuilding and more importantly reacuring imagry thats very prominent in the stalien side of the story #I could also make it a like half and half thing ig? like bottom half is natural and top half is the blue #idk how thatd look but thats another idea worth trying #anyways the other less complicated design thing I wanna try is giving her like cloudy body hair? idk I just think thatd look cool #depends on if I can draw it how I imagine it in my head though dhskhdkdhdj

[gay-jesus-probably]

As a general rule, if you're having food cravings, you should probably pay attention to that, because it's usually a sign that your body needs something. Like, if you've just finished a workout and are suddenly desperately craving fries? Maybe you're low on salt, you did just sweat a whole bunch. Period cravings for junk food? Your body's under some stress and working hard, you need energy, and foods with a lot of fat and/or sugar are an easy way to get that.

Back in the early 1900's when exploring Antarctica was all the rage, y'know what was a major part of everyones daily rations? Butter. Just butter. The men out on the sledging teams would have cravings to eat entire sticks of butter with nothing else, so that was included in their rations. And that happened because under those extreme circumstances, their bodies desperately needed as many calories as possible, so their diet consisted mainly of butter, chocolate, and animal fat. Eating entire sticks of butter was the healthiest possible diet for them.

That's an extreme example of course, but my point is, there's no such thing as inherently Good or Bad food. Anything that's edible can be healthy under the right circumstances, just like anything can be an unhealthy choice under the wrong circumstances. Your body knows what it needs. Listen to it. Unless you're actively going through a serious medical situation, you do not need a tightly restricted diet. Diet culture is a scam, body fat is natural and healthy, food is good for you, and calories are the fuel your body needs to power its continued survival.

[the-busy-ghost]

Warning- this is a very petty post, but I think I'm entitled to at least one petty, pissed-off reaction every time I finish a classic novel that hit harder than I expected so take this as my quota for the year.

Also spoiler warning for a book that came out over a century ago but still, I didn't know the plot going in so don't want to ruin it for anyone else, if you haven't read it shut your eyes. (Also Local Tumblr User Going Wild Over Book Published a Hundred Years Ago That Everybody Else Already Read should probably be categorised as akey part of indigenous tumblr culture at this point).

Anyway I just finished the War of the Worlds and in between studying I've thinking about Themes and Motifs as you do, and idly looking for further analysis. I then accidentally ran into an article called 'A Quiet Place II Succeeds Where the War of the Worlds Failed' and:

Now I haven't seen any of the Quiet Place films, this is not a rant against them and of course everyone is entitled to their own opinions. But re: the ending of The War of the Worlds, I have to ask, did this guy somehow miss, uh, the entire point of the book or am I just utterly insane?

#You're right it's not very satisfying for humanity that the invaders are foiled by a bacteria and not human action! Maybe that's the point! #Maybe it's supposed to be FRIGHTENING and make you ask questions about what humans will do under extreme stress #Not be a morally uplifting tale about Humanity Heroically Defeating the Martians in a Glorious Hollywood Ending #Maybe it's MEANT to be unsatisfying because this is not a straightforward fairytale #I mean I've only read it once and don't know much about Wells' work so I might have misunderstood the point of the book too #But at places it is a very pessimistic view of the human condition and that's partly WHY IT'S SO POWERFUL #That doesn't mean there aren't moments of individual acts of heroism (the Thunderchild for example) #But the question is not just 'how will humanity beat the Martians and prove that we're still the masters of the universe' #Rather 'a) why is humanity so confident that it's ultimately in control of its own destiny #And b) here's lots of scenes of societal collapse and of people pushed to the brink and what would YOU do in those circumstances? #Would YOU feel remorse about silencing the curate even if it did lead to his death? #What if it rather than a foolish adult it had been a small child? #And even if they were weak did they DESERVE it? Yes it might have been necessary but should it be policy going forward? #Would you also be attracted briefly by the certainties that the artilleryman's (rather fascist) plan seems to offer so humanity survives? #But what sort of humanity would that be if it DID survive and is it worth it? The narrator feels he needs to justify the curate's death #The artilleryman would have probably never have thought it was anything OTHER than justifiable or indeed laudable #Under strain and stress would you start to turn against even your loved ones and become brutal? #Is that the only hope for human survival beyond complete surrender? And was the destruction of London maybe even 'cleansing' #In the eugenics sense or in the sense of a natural horror of dirt and germs? #And the vast exodus of six million people fleeing headlong in panic - we might not have seen that exact phenomenon #But didn't the twentieth century subsequently go on to show us unprecedented scale of slaughter and refugee movements and communal strife? #At the end of the day what really separates humanity from other animals? And what separates us from the Martians? #It's not an uncontroversial book- it was written over a hundred years ago for goodness sake and there are questions worth asking #about the way imperialism and arguments about eugenics and population control and all sorts of other dodgy areas operated on Wells' mind #But dear God I really don't think the problem with the book is that 'Humanity didn't save the day!' #Unsatisfying ending? Yes. A FAILURE? No not in my opinion- looks like it was exactly what Wells set out to do #Humanity didn't win the war of the worlds they had a narrow escape and though it might not be martians next time #Why wouldn't disaster return in the future? Sure we've studied their flying machines and even preserved a martian in a jar #But for all our science what have we ACTUALLY learned that will enable us to avert future human catastrophes? Ethically or socially? #Alright rant over- as usual my opinion is not universal nor necessarily well-informed this take just really got my goat

[perenlop]

mentioned this while talking on discord but one of the dumber complaints ive seen about swsh is “um the weather in the wild area changes when you go to a new section and that’s unrealistic and bad design”. bro its a video game

#also the entire point of the wild area is that its diverse and the weather changes up the amount of pkmn you can find #and itd be less interesting if all the weather was the exact same #and this isnt even exclusive to swsh so to claim its a swsh problem is just dumb #i didnt like swsh overall personally but some ppl really just took issue with things thatdidnt really matter in the end #idk ur definitely allowed to dislike smaller stuff in the game even if its not quite a symptom of the awful work conditions in the industry #like thats just normal and natural ur gonna do that with big and small things #but like. idk i didnt care for the camps in swsh. im not using those as my main example of why pokemon sucks now #echoed voice

[ko-eko-ev-go-ms]

It continues to trip me up how much human brains are just weird organic computers

#thoughts #oni talks #oni vents #additionally wild that the easiest ways for me to explain brain stuff are generally in computer or video game terms despite the fact I’m #notoriously awful with computers (and to a lesser extent video games) although I won’t if my natural inclination would be different if I #didn’t have trauma related to computers/if maybe it’s the classic adhd interest based learning difference? unknown tbh #I still really wanna go to school to study people but academics is fucked as hell so making that work will be a personal hell for me #but also I have so many theories and data I can’t do anything super tangible with coz I’m not in an academic setting so even if i wanted to #talk about stuff and work on it no one would take me seriously w/o that academic background no matter how much effort I’d put in learning it #on my own for my entire life at this point it won’t matter if it’s not on some level acknowledged by an academic system I despise tbh #it’s one of those things that makes me miss my dad coz we used to commiserate together about these sorts of things tho he made it work far #better than I have been able to. i wish i could ask him science questions again. #anyway human brains are so fascinating but also I really wish I was better at explaining myself analysis of people I feel like I’m good #enough at this point to be like partway understood coz I’ve done so much practice on my own coz I tend to rehearse explanations ahead of tim #but its still often misunderstood or misconstrued & it’s understandable a lot of the time coz like most other people aren’t spending a ton #of their free time thinking about and researching how people work/analyzing those around them+themselves vs me whose been doing since like #I dont remember the exact time but I do remember being really young & making the conscious decision to study & analyze my family for example #so that I could be helpful & translate their words to each other better + ppl often don’t see things about themselves that others do #also forever thinking about the human brain/experience in relation to the sims & video game commands lmao #currently trying to explain save states in the human brain to ppl but no one knows wtf I’m talking about #& researching academic terms that are close to what I want doesn’t necessarily work if there’s no academic term for what I’m talking about #hence wanting to do the research myself coz sometimes it feels like there’s all this stuff that’s obvious to me but no one else?? from what #I’ve seen in recent studies they are only starting to scratch the surface of stuff I’ve already known sometimes? other stuff is older & it’s #VERY gratifying when it’s stuff I’ve known but not been listened to about & it actually gets the proper recognition #though getting ppl to actually listen/take what I say seriously is its own journey & I have to be careful myself bc I’m human so my own #understanding/data is constantly updating + I have storage issues so finding the data I have in my brain is its own struggle sometimes #every version of me is interested in people & I think that’s neat even if other people don’t understand that concept #sometimes I feel like an alien/robot whose sole task is just to study & support humanity & it’s very weird tbh

[reasonsforhope]

"With “green corridors” that mimic the natural forest, the Colombian city is driving down temperatures — and could become five degrees cooler over the next few decades.

In the face of a rapidly heating planet, the City of Eternal Spring — nicknamed so thanks to its year-round temperate climate — has found a way to keep its cool.

Previously, Medellín had undergone years of rapid urban expansion, which led to a severe urban heat island effect — raising temperatures in the city to significantly higher than in the surrounding suburban and rural areas. Roads and other concrete infrastructure absorb and maintain the sun’s heat for much longer than green infrastructure.

“Medellín grew at the expense of green spaces and vegetation,” says Pilar Vargas, a forest engineer working for City Hall. “We built and built and built. There wasn’t a lot of thought about the impact on the climate. It became obvious that had to change.”

Efforts began in 2016 under Medellín’s then mayor, Federico Gutiérrez (who, after completing one term in 2019, was re-elected at the end of 2023). The city launched a new approach to its urban development — one that focused on people and plants.

The $16.3 million initiative led to the creation of 30 Green Corridors along the city’s roads and waterways, improving or producing more than 70 hectares of green space, which includes 20 kilometers of shaded routes with cycle lanes and pedestrian paths.

These plant and tree-filled spaces — which connect all sorts of green areas such as the curb strips, squares, parks, vertical gardens, sidewalks, and even some of the seven hills that surround the city — produce fresh, cooling air in the face of urban heat. The corridors are also designed to mimic a natural forest with levels of low, medium and high plants, including native and tropical plants, bamboo grasses and palm trees.

Heat-trapping infrastructure like metro stations and bridges has also been greened as part of the project and government buildings have been adorned with green roofs and vertical gardens to beat the heat. The first of those was installed at Medellín’s City Hall, where nearly 100,000 plants and 12 species span the 1,810 square meter surface.

“It’s like urban acupuncture,” says Paula Zapata, advisor for Medellín at C40 Cities, a global network of about 100 of the world’s leading mayors. “The city is making these small interventions that together act to make a big impact.”

At the launch of the project, 120,000 individual plants and 12,500 trees were added to roads and parks across the city. By 2021, the figure had reached 2.5 million plants and 880,000 trees. Each has been carefully chosen to maximize their impact.

“The technical team thought a lot about the species used. They selected endemic ones that have a functional use,” explains Zapata.

The 72 species of plants and trees selected provide food for wildlife, help biodiversity to spread and fight air pollution. A study, for example, identified Mangifera indica as the best among six plant species found in Medellín at absorbing PM2.5 pollution — particulate matter that can cause asthma, bronchitis and heart disease — and surviving in polluted areas due to its “biochemical and biological mechanisms.”

And the urban planting continues to this day.

The groundwork is carried out by 150 citizen-gardeners like Pineda, who come from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds, with the support of 15 specialized forest engineers. Pineda is now the leader of a team of seven other gardeners who attend to corridors all across the city, shifting depending on the current priorities...

“I’m completely in favor of the corridors,” says [Victoria Perez, another citizen-gardener], who grew up in a poor suburb in the city of 2.5 million people. “It really improves the quality of life here.”

Wilmar Jesus, a 48-year-old Afro-Colombian farmer on his first day of the job, is pleased about the project’s possibilities for his own future. “I want to learn more and become better,” he says. “This gives me the opportunity to advance myself.”

The project’s wider impacts are like a breath of fresh air. Medellín’s temperatures fell by 2°C in the first three years of the program, and officials expect a further decrease of 4 to 5C over the next few decades, even taking into account climate change. In turn, City Hall says this will minimize the need for energy-intensive air conditioning...

In addition, the project has had a significant impact on air pollution. Between 2016 and 2019, the level of PM2.5 fell significantly, and in turn the city’s morbidity rate from acute respiratory infections decreased from 159.8 to 95.3 per 1,000 people [Note: That means the city's rate of people getting sick with lung/throat/respiratory infections.]

There’s also been a 34.6 percent rise in cycling in the city, likely due to the new bike paths built for the project, and biodiversity studies show that wildlife is coming back — one sample of five Green Corridors identified 30 different species of butterfly.

Other cities are already taking note. Bogotá and Barranquilla have adopted similar plans, among other Colombian cities, and last year São Paulo, Brazil, the largest city in South America, began expanding its corridors after launching them in 2022.

“For sure, Green Corridors could work in many other places,” says Zapata."

-via Reasons to Be Cheerful, March 4, 2024

#colombia #brazil #urban #urban landscape #urban planning #cities #civil engineering #green architecture #green spaces #urban heat #urban heat island effect #weather #meteorology #global warming #climate change #climate hope #climate optimism #climate emergency #climate action #environment #environmental news #city architecture #bicycling #native plants #biodiversity #good news #hope #solarpunk #ecopunk #hopepunk

[princesssarisa]

In the past I've shared other people's musings about the different interpretations of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Namely, why Orpheus looks back at Eurydice, even though he knows it means he'll lose her forever. So many people seem to think they've found the one true explanation of the myth. But to me, the beauty of myths is that they have many possible meanings.

So I thought I would share a list of every interpretation I know, from every serious adaptation of the story and every analysis I've ever heard or read, of why Orpheus looks back.

One interpretation – advocated by Monteverdi's opera, for example – is that the backward glance represents excessive passion and a fatal lack of self-control. Orpheus loves Eurydice to such excess that he tries to defy the laws of nature by bringing her back from the dead, yet that very same passion dooms his quest fo fail, because he can't resist the temptation to look back at her.

He can also be seen as succumbing to that classic "tragic flaw" of hubris, excessive pride. Because his music and his love conquer the Underworld, it might be that he makes the mistake of thinking he's entirely above divine law, and fatally allows himself to break the one rule that Hades and Persephone set for him.

Then there are the versions where his flaw is his lack of faith, because he looks back out of doubt that Eurydice is really there. I think there are three possible interpretations of this scenario, which can each work alone or else co-exist with each other. From what I've read about Hadestown, it sounds as if it combines all three.

In one interpretation, he doubts Hades and Persephone's promise. Will they really give Eurydice back to him, or is it all a cruel trick? In this case, the message seems to be a warning to trust in the gods; if you doubt their blessings, you might lose them.

Another perspective is that he doubts Eurydice. Does she love him enough to follow him? In this case, the warning is that romantic love can't survive unless the lovers trust each other. I'm thinking of Moulin Rouge!, which is ostensibly based on the Orpheus myth, and which uses Christian's jealousy as its equivalent of Orpheus's fatal doubt and explicitly states "Where there is no trust, there is no love."

The third variation is that he doubts himself. Could his music really have the power to sway the Underworld? The message in this version would be that self-doubt can sabotage all our best efforts.

But all of the above interpretations revolve around the concept that Orpheus looks back because of a tragic flaw, which wasn't necessarily the view of Virgil, the earliest known recorder of the myth. Virgil wrote that Orpheus's backward glance was "A pardonable offense, if the spirits knew how to pardon."

In some versions, when the upper world comes into Orpheus's view, he thinks his journey is over. In this moment, he's so ecstatic and so eager to finally see Eurydice that he unthinkingly turns around an instant too soon, either just before he reaches the threshold or when he's already crossed it but Eurydice is still a few steps behind him. In this scenario, it isn't a personal flaw that makes him look back, but just a moment of passion-fueled carelessness, and the fact that it costs him Eurydice shows the pitilessness of the Underworld.

In other versions, concern for Eurydice makes him look back. Sometimes he looks back because the upward path is steep and rocky, and Eurydice is still limping from her snakebite, so he knows she must be struggling, in some versions he even hears her stumble, and he finally can't resist turning around to help her. Or more cruelly, in other versions – for example, in Gluck's opera – Eurydice doesn't know that Orpheus is forbidden to look back at her, and Orpheus is also forbidden to tell her. So she's distraught that her husband seems to be coldly ignoring her and begs him to look at her until he can't bear her anguish anymore.

These versions highlight the harshness of the Underworld's law, and Orpheus's failure to comply with it seems natural and even inevitable. The message here seems to be that death is pitiless and irreversible: a demigod hero might come close to conquering it, but through little or no fault of his own, he's bound to fail in the end.

Another interpretation I've read is that Orpheus's backward glance represents the nature of grief. We can't help but look back on our memories of our dead loved ones, even though it means feeling the pain of loss all over again.

Then there's the interpretation that Orpheus chooses his memory of Eurydice, represented by the backward glance, rather than a future with a living Eurydice. "The poet's choice," as Portrait of a Lady on Fire puts it. In this reading, Orpheus looks back because he realizes he would rather preserve his memory of their youthful, blissful love, just as it was when she died, than face a future of growing older, the difficulties of married life, and the possibility that their love will fade. That's the slightly more sympathetic version. In the version that makes Orpheus more egotistical, he prefers the idealized memory to the real woman because the memory is entirely his possession, in a way that a living wife with her own will could never be, and will never distract him from his music, but can only inspire it.

Then there are the modern feminist interpretations, also alluded to in Portrait of a Lady on Fire but seen in several female-authored adaptations of the myth too, where Eurydice provokes Orpheus into looking back because she wants to stay in the Underworld. The viewpoint kinder to Orpheus is that Eurydice also wants to preserve their love just as it was, youthful, passionate, and blissful, rather than subject it to the ravages of time and the hardships of life. The variation less sympathetic to Orpheus is that Euyridice was at peace in death, in some versions she drank from the river Lethe and doesn't even remember Orpheus, his attempt to take her back is selfish, and she prefers to be her own free woman than be bound to him forever and literally only live for his sake.

With that interpretation in mind, I'm surprised I've never read yet another variation. I can imagine a version where, as Orpheus walks up the path toward the living world, he realizes he's being selfish: Eurydice was happy and at peace in the Elysian Fields, she doesn't even remember him because she drank from Lethe, and she's only following him now because Hades and Persephone have forced her to do so. So he finally looks back out of selfless love, to let her go. Maybe I should write this retelling myself.

Are any of these interpretations – or any others – the "true" or "definitive" reason why Orpheus looks back? I don't think so at all. The fact that they all exist and can all ring true says something valuable about the nature of mythology.

#mythology #greek mythology #orpheus #eurydice #orpheus and eurydice #analysis #interpretations #adaptations #long