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starksinthenorth · 3 years

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Musings on ASOIAF Ladies and Ambition

I’ve noticed people use “ambition” to describe Sansa and Daenerys as if it’s a bad word or an insult (often called “power hungry”). Yet in the text of the series, neither of them are shown to be ambitious people as a core characteristic. I blame the series for a lot of this, because it failed to explore the internal dialogue of Sansa, Arya, and even Cersei, who ends up more humanized than either of them by the end (because of the maybe baby).

Cersei Lannister is the classic ambitious ASOIAF lady, whose point-of-view is introduced in perhaps the most iconic sentence of any introductory chapter:

She dreamt she sat the Iron Throne, high above them all.

I can’t think of a sentence in ASOIAF that better introduces the internal thoughts and view of its leading character.

In comparison, Sansa’s first sentence is receiving news about her father’s whereabouts, Daenerys is shown her new dress to meet Drogo, and Arya has crooked stitches again. Arya’s works to frame her relationship with Sansa and her internal struggle to fit the feminine Westerosi mold, while Sansa and Daenerys are setting up plot points. None of these interactions signal ambition, bad or good. Daenerys did not arrange her wedding, Sansa is just told the information by her Septa, and while Arya is aspiring to have straight stitches, that’s hardly an ambitious goal for a girl of nine.

Fans rarely, if ever, deny Cersei’s cruel, cold, often stupid ambition. In fact, it’s one of the reason people seem to love her. She’s internally open about what she wants - power - and when she wants it - now:

All of them are burning now, she told herself, savoring the thought. They are dead and burning, every one, with all their plots and schemes and betrayals. It is my day now. It is my castle and my kingdom.

- AFFC, Cersei III

The rule was hers; Cersei did not mean to give it up until Tommen came of age. I waited, so can he. I waited half my life. She had played the dutiful daughter, the blushing bride, the pliant wife. She had suffered . . . She had contended with Jon Arryn, Ned Stark, and her vile, treacherous, murderous dwarf brother, all the while promising herself that one day it would be her turn. If Margaery Tyrell thinks to cheat me of my hour in the sun, she had bloody well think again.

- AFFC, Cersei V

Cersei is the definition of a power hungry lady, scheming and cheating at every point. Yes, Sansa learned from her, but most of Sansa’s internalized lessons of Cersei’s were to do the exact opposite.

"The night's first traitors," the queen [Cersei] said, "but not the last, I fear. . . . Another lesson you should learn, if you hope to sit beside my son. . . . The only way to keep your people loyal is to make certain they fear you more than they do the enemy."

"I will remember, Your Grace," said Sansa, though she had always heard that love was a surer route to the people's loyalty than fear. If I am ever a queen, I'll make them love me.

- ACOK, Sansa VI

Cersei isn’t the only POV character who views herself outside of conventional Westerosi standards and aspires to something beyond being a wife and mother. Arya Stark has ambition writ clear on the page, though it is not so cold or denying other people their rights or chances. Compared to Cersei, Arya doesn’t want everything, crown and throne and kingdom and all. She just wants something, and even that is denied to highborn women in Westeros. Even when she asks her father about her future, a man who wants to do right by his children and loves them, Eddard Stark is blinded by Westerosi patriarchy:

Arya cocked her head to one side. "Can I be a king's councillor and build castles and become the High Septon?"

"You," Ned said, kissing her lightly on the brow, "will marry a king and rule his castle, and your sons will be knights and princes and lords and, yes, perhaps even a High Septon."

- AGOT, Eddard V

With Arya in this, I see some parallels to Elaena Targaryen, who was so good at math and management she served as the secret Master of Coin while her husband carried the title. Elaena was “more willful than Rhaena, but not as beautiful as either of her sisters,” yet is also said to have been “more beautiful at age seventy than at age seventeen,” growing into herself like Arya is expected to. They both even cut their hair, Arya to hide her gender and Elaena to hide her beauty, both instances to gain freedom from captivity in the Red Keep.

Despite both these examples of ambition - Cersei’s all-encompassing, without care for how it affects the realm, and Arya’s attempt to find a place in the world outside the Westerosi model - it still becomes an insult when people speak of Daenerys and Sansa.

Critics claim Sansa is ambitious, and negatively so, because she “wants to be queen.” But this criticism misses a vital point of Sansa’s character. Unlike Cersei, she does not want to be queen because of the power and political influence, but because she will be living a song. In the start, Sansa’s got her head in the clouds, not to the dirty world of politics. Her very first chapter lays out this motivation incredibly clearly:

All she wanted was for things to be nice and pretty, the way they were in the songs.

When she thinks of Joffrey and being in love with him, it’s because he’s “handsome and gallant as any prince in the songs” (AGOT, Sansa II),

Alternatively, it has been said that Sansa is ambitious because of her claim to Winterfell. But compare how Sansa thinks of her claim to how Big Walder Frey does. Despite being far down the inheritance line, he is certain he will someday possess the Twins. He’s likely willing to kill his family to become Lord of the Crossing, and already has killed Little Walder.

In comparison, Sansa isn’t the one who realizes her claim as heir to Winterfell, even after her two younger brothers are believed dead. It’s Dontos who mentions it, and after she still thinks that Robb will have sons to inherit.

But she had not forgotten his words, either. The heir to Winterfell, she would think as she lay abed at night. It's your claim they mean to wed. Sansa had grown up with three brothers. She never thought to have a claim, but with Bran and Rickon dead . . . It doesn't matter, there's still Robb, he's a man grown now, and soon he'll wed and have a son. Anyway, Willas Tyrell will have Highgarden, what would he want with Winterfell?

- ASOS, Sansa II

Sansa’s not ready to kill Bran and Rickon if they show up. Her arc is about taking off the rose-tinted glasses and seeing reality, but also working to make reality like a song. For example, her idea of the Tournament of the Winged Knights for Sweetrobin. It’s a song come to life, all by her making. TBD how the ending goes, of course, but it shows that trajectory.

And finally, Daenerys.

Daenerys is not driven by some lifelong desire to win and dominate. She’s forced into it, a la Brienne’s “no chance and no choice.” If Daenerys were raised in a stable environment, I have a feeling she’d be much more like Sansa: dreamy, hopeful, sweet and studious. Happy.

But instead, her eyes are open.

When she’s introduced as a character, she shows an awareness for the schemes and politics of the world. She knows her brother is called the Beggar King in the Free Cities, and is doubtful of the smallfolk’s secret toasts to Viserys III that Illyrio Mopatis claims happen across Westeros.

Like Sansa and Cersei, there’s evidence of her goals, hopes, and wishes in the very first chapter:

"I don't want to be his queen," she heard herself say in a small, thin voice. "Please, please, Viserys, I don't want to, I want to go home."

. . .

Dany had only meant their rooms in Illyrio's estate, no true home surely, though all they had, but her brother did not want to hear that. There was no home there for him. Even the big house with the red door had not been home for him.

Daenerys remembers home as the house with the red door in Braavos. It’s her brother whose only home and stability was the Red Keep, not her.

Throughout her journey of power to take back the Seven Kingdoms, she is doubtful at every turn and most of her wishes are for happiness, for peace, for stability.

Dany had no wish to reduce King's Landing to a blackened ruin full of unquiet ghosts. She had supped enough on tears. I want to make my kingdom beautiful, to fill it with fat men and pretty maids and laughing children. I want my people to smile when they see me ride by, the way Viserys said they smiled for my father.

- ACOK, Daenerys II

A queen I am, but my throne is made of burned bones, and it rests on quicksand. Without dragons, how could she hope to hold Meereen, much less win back Westeros?

- ADWD, Daenerys II

Even later, Daenerys is determined to bring peace to the lands she currently rules. She does plan to return to the Seven Kingdoms, but it’s not driven by pure ambition. And this is, notably, from a conversation when Prince Quentyn Nymeros Martell asks her to come back and claim them now, saying she has allies for that conquest. And still she turns him down, with promises that it will only happen eventually:

"Daenerys said. ". . . .One day I shall return to Westeros to claim my father's throne, and look to Dorne for help. But on this day the Yunkai'i have my city ringed in steel. I may die before I see my Seven Kingdoms. Hizdahr may die. Westeros may be swallowed by the waves."

- ADWD, Daenerys VII

And yet in both Sansa and Daenerys, these visions and hopes for the futures they might have are considered unbridled ambition, although they turn more on happiness and peace for themselves and their people, rather than the type of ambition Cersei has, which is clearly her own power and being heralded above everyone.

Daenerys’ thoughts in her sixth chapter of ADWD have the same energy as Sansa’s “I will make them love me.”:

"A queen must know the sufferings of her people."

. . .

A queen must listen to her people, Dany reminded herself.

Daenerys has figured out how to make her people love her, by wearing her “floppy ears” and appealing to the masses, listening to them, et cetera. She’s also a bit ahead of Sansa in the realm of ruling, to be sure.

But how are these similar thoughts ambition in either of them? It’s an attempt to empathize and connect, not to throw away and disregard and rule by force and domination. Both these ladies are more nuanced, and the fandom does them a disservice by painting them as ambitious or power-hungry when at the end for both of them, it’s a desire to have a happy, stable, loving life.

#asoiaf meta #sansa stark #daenerys targaryen #cersei lannister #arya stark

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sharinluna · 4 years

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I'm surprised by the amount of positive reactions of my latest post. To be honest I was preparing myself for getting angry letters from Victor stans going "How dare you label Victor with a bad thing like patriarchy!"

...Trust me, I get really....wild anon messages from all sorts of people. Which I mostly ignore and never bother to reply.

Anyway, VictorxMC relationship is stereotypical and conservative, but I think that is a factor that contributes most to his popularity.

Also that is why he needs the humbling experience of chapter 18. The prince has to fail in saving his love. He has to watch her die in his hands. He had to be absolutely powerless to protect his woman. He has to be dragged down from his throne.

Why? Because MLQC is a story about deconstructing/subverting conventional romance! What are usually recipes for happily-ever-afters in other love stories are ruthlessly torn apart.

If someone asked me the lesson of this story I would reply: Life sucks but we have to do our best to live on. Love is painful but we shouldn't abandon love. The Light is forever unreachable but keep reaching for it all your life because that's what counts. Don't give up Hope even though you know it will lead to nothing but despair. All of which are what MC is trying to do in the chapters. But the writers won't readily hand her the happy ending.

And I thought GoT was dark.

#mlqc victor #mlqc #mlqc spoilers #mlqc spoiler #mlqc speculation

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birdlord · 4 years

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Every Book I Read in 2019

This was a heavier reading year for me (heavier culture-consumption year in general) partly because my partner started logging his books read, and then, of course, it’s a competition.

01 Morvern Callar; Alan Warner - One of the starkest books I’ve ever read. What is it about Scotland that breeds writers with such brutal, distant perspectives on life? Must be all the rocks.

02 21 Things You Might Not Know About the Indian Act; Bob Joseph - I haven’t had much education in Canada’s relationship to the Indigenous nations that came before it, so this opened things up for me quite a bit. The first and most fundamental awakening is to the fact that this is not a story of progress from worse to better (which is what a simplistic, grade school understanding of smallpox blankets>residential schools>reserves would tell you), in fact, the nation to nation relationship of early contact was often superior to what we have today. I wish there was more of a call to action, but apparently a sequel is on its way.

03 The Plot Against America; Philip Roth - An alternative history that in some ways mirrors our present. I did feel like I was always waiting for something to happen, but I suppose the point is that, even at the end of the world, disasters proceed incrementally.

04 Sabrina; Nick Drnaso - The blank art style and lack of contrast in the colouring of each page really reinforces the feeling of impersonal vacancy between most of the characters. I wonder how this will read in the future, as it’s very much based in today’s relationship to friends and technology.

05 Perfumes: The Guide; Luca Turn & Tania Sanchez - One of the things I like to do when I need to turn my brain off online is reading perfume reviews. That’s where I found out about this book, which runs through different scent families and reviews specific well-known perfumes. Every topic has its boffins, and these two are particularly witty and readable.

06 Adventures in the Screen Trade; William Goldman - Reading this made me realize how little of the cinema of the 1970s I’ve actually seen, beyond the usual heavy hitters. Ultimately I found this pretty thin, a few peices of advice stitched together with anecdotes about a Hollywood that is barely recognizable today.

07 The Age of Innocence; Edith Wharton - A love triangle in which the fulcrum is a terribly irritating person, someone who thinks himself far more outré than he is. Nonetheless, I was taken in by this story of “rebellion”, such as it was, to be compelling.

08 Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, Its Chaotic Founding, Its Apocalyptic Weather, Its Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-class Metropolis; Sam Anderson - Like a novel that follows various separate characters, this book switches between tales of the founding of Oklahoma City with basketball facts and encounters with various oddball city residents. It’s certainly a fun ride, but you may find, as I did, that some parts of the narrative interest you more than others. Longest subtitle ever?

09 World of Yesterday; Stefan Zweig - A memoir of pre-war Austria and its artistic communities, told by one of its best-known exports. Particularly wrenching with regards to the buildup to WWII, from the perspective of those who had been through this experience before, so recently.

10 Teach us to Sit Still: A Sceptic’s Search for Health and Healing; Tim Parks - A writer finds himself plagued by pain that conventional doctors aren’t able to cure, so he heads further afield to see if he can use stillness-of-mind to ease the pain, all the while complaining as you would expect a sceptic to do. His digressions into literature were a bit hard to take (I’m sure you’re not Coleridge, my man).

11 The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences have Extraordinary Impact; Chip & Dan Heath - I read this for work-related reasons, with the intention of improving my ability to make exhibitions and interpretation. It has a certain sort of self-helpish structure, with anecdotes starting each chapter and a simple lesson drawn from each one. Not a bad read if you work in a public-facing capacity.

12 Against Everything: Essays; Mark Greif - The founder of N+1 collects a disparate selection of essays, written over a period of several years. You won’t love them all, but hey, you can always skip those ones!

13 See What I Have Done; Sarah Schmidt - A retelling of the Lizzie Borden story, which I’d seen a lot of good reviews for. Sadly this didn’t measure up, for me. There’s a lot of stage setting (rotting food plays an important part) but there’s not a lot of substance there.

14 Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy; Angela Garber - This is another one that came to me very highly recommended. Garber seems to think these topics are not as well-covered as they are, but she does a good job researching and retelling tales of pregnancy, birth, postpartum difficulties and breastfeeding.

15 Rebecca; Daphne du Maurier - This was my favourite book club book of the year. I’d always had an impression of...trashiness I guess? around du Maurier, but this is a classic thriller. Maybe the first time I’ve ever read, rather than watched, a thriller! That’s on me.

16 O’Keefe: The Life of an American Legend; Jeffrey Hogrefe - I went to New Mexico for the first time this spring, and a colleague lent me this Georgia O’Keefe biography after I returned. I hadn’t known much about her personal life before this, aside from what I learned at her museum in Santa Fe. The author has made the decision that much of O’Keefe’s life was determined by childhood incest, but doesn’t have what you might call….evidence?

17 A Lost Lady; Willa Cather - A turn-of-the-20th century story about an upper-class woman and her young admirer Neil. I’ve never read any other Cather, but this felt very similar to the Wharton I also read this year, which I gather isn’t typical of her.

18 The Year of Living Danishly: My Twelve Months of Unearthing the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country; Helen Russell - A British journalist moves to small-town Denmark with her husband, and although the distances are not long, there’s a considerable culture shock. Made me want to eat pastries in a BIG WAY.

19 How Not to be a Boy; Robert Webb - The title gives a clue to the framing device of this book, which is fundamentally a celebrity memoir, albeit one that largely ignores the celebrity part of his life in favour of an examination of the effects of patriarchy on boys’ development as human beings.

20 The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (And Your Children Will be Glad that You Did); Philippa Perry; A psychotherapist’s take on how parents’ own upbringing affects the way they interact with their own kids.

21 The Library Book; Susan Orlean - This book has stuck with me more than I imagined that it would. It covers both the history of libraries in the USA, and the story of the arson of the LA Public Library’s central branch in 1986.

22 We Are Never Meeting in Real Life; Samantha Irby - I’ve been reading Irby’s blog for years, and follow her on social media. So I knew the level of raunch and near body-horror to expect in this essay collection. This did fill in a lot of gaps in terms of her life, which added a lot more blackness (hey) to the humour.

23 State of Wonder; Ann Patchett - A semi-riff on Heart of Darkness involving an OB/GYN who now works for a pharmaceutical company, heading to the jungle to retrieve another researcher who has gone all Colonel Kurtz on them. I found it a bit unsatisfying, but the descriptions were, admittedly, great.

24 Disappearing Earth; Julia Phillips - A story of an abduction of two girls in very remote Russia, each chapter told by another townsperson. The connections between the narrators of each chapter are sometimes obvious, but not always. Ending a little tidy, but plays against expectations for a book like this.

25 Ethan Frome; Edith Wharton - I gather this is a typical high school read, but I’d never got to it. In case you’re in the same boat as me, it’s a short, mildly melodramatic romantic tragedy set in the new england winter. It lacks the focus on class that other Whartons have, but certainly keeps the same strong sense that once you’ve made a choice, you’re stuck with it. FOREVER.

26 Educated; Tara Westover - This memoir of a Mormon fundamentalist-turned-Academic-superstar was huge on everyone’s reading lists a couple of years back, and I finally got to it. It felt similar to me in some ways to the Glass Castle, in terms of the nearly-unbelievable amounts of hell she and her family go through at the hands of her father and his Big Ideas. I found that it lacked real contemplation of the culture shock of moving from the rural mountain west to, say, Cambridge.

27 Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of Lusitania; Erik Larson - I’m a sucker for a story of a passenger liner, any non-Titanic passenger liner, really. Plus Lusitania’s story has interesting resonances for the US entry into WWI, and we see the perspective of the U-boat captain as well as people on land, and Lusitania’s own passengers and crew.

28 The Birds and Other Stories; Daphne du Maurier - The title story is the one that stuck in my head most strongly, which isn’t any surprise. I found it much more harrowing than the film, it had a really effective sense of gradually increasing dread and inevitability.

29 Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Faded Glory; Raphael Bob-Waksberg - Hit or miss in the usual way of short story collections, this book has a real debt to George Saunders.

30 Sex & Rage; Eve Babitz - a sort of pseudo-autobiography of an indolent life in the LA scene of the 1970s. It was sometimes very difficult to see how the protagonist actually felt about anything, which is a frequent, acute symptom of youth.

31 Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party; Graham Greene - Gotta love a book with an alternate title built in. This is a broad (the characters? are, without exception, insane?!) satire about a world I know little about. I don’t have a lot of patience or interest in Greene’s religious allegories, but it’s a fine enough story.

32 Lathe of Heaven; Ursula K LeGuin - Near-future sci-fi that is incredibly prescient about the effects of climate change for a book written over forty years ago. The book has amazing world-building, and the first half has the whirlwind feel of Homer going back in time, killing butterflies and returning to the present to see what changes he has wrought.

33 The Grammarians; Cathleen Schine - Rarely have I read a book whose jacket description of the plot seems so very distant from what actually happens therein.

34 The Boy Kings: A Journey Into the Heart of the Social Network; Katharine Losse - Losse was one of Facebook’s very earliest employees, and she charts her experience with the company in this memoir from 2012. Do you even recall what Facebook was like in 2012? They hadn’t even altered the results of elections yet! Zuck was a mere MULTI-MILLIONAIRE, probably. Were we ever so young?

35 Invisible Women; Caroline Ciado Perez - If you want to read a book that will make you angry, so angry that you repeatedly assail whoever is around with facts taken from it, then this, my friend, is the book for you.

36 The Hidden World of the Fox; Adele Brand - A really charming look at the fox from an ecologist who has studied them around the world. Much of it takes place in the UK, where urban foxes take on a similar ecological niche that raccoons famously do where I live, in Toronto.

37 S; Doug Dorst & JJ Abrams - This is a real mindfuck of a book, consisting of a faux-old novel, with marginalia added by two students which follows its own narrative. A difficult read not because of the density of prose, but the sheer logistics involved: read the page, then the marginalia? Read the marginalia interspersed with the novel text? Go back chapter by chapter? I’m not sure that either story was worth the trouble, in the end.

38 American War; Omar El Akkad - This is not exclusively, but partially a climate-based speculative novel, or, grossly, cli-fi for short. Ugh, what a term! But this book is a really tight, and realistic look at the results of a fossil-fuels-based second US Civil War.

39 Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation; Andrew Marantz - This is the guy you’ll hear on every NPR story talking about his semi-embedding within the Extremely Online alt-right. Most of the figures he profiles come off basically how you’d expect, I found his conclusions about the ways these groups have chosen to use online media tools to achieve their ends the most illuminating part.

40 Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm; Isabella Tree - This is the story of a long process of transitioning a rural acreage (more of an estate than a farm, this is aristocratic shit) from intensive agriculture to something closer to wild land. There are long passages where Tree (ahem) simply lists species which have come back, which I’m sure is fascinating if you are from the area, but I tended to glaze over a bit. Experts from around the UK and other European nations weigh in on how best to rewild the space, which places the project in a wider context.

FICTON: 17 NONFICTION: 23

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bionicdragonguardian1 · 4 years

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Ranma 2/4

Part 3; Final: chapter 26-38

After this it’s on to good and proper timeline deliberation

These two are honest-to-God morons and I want to punch them in the face

*sigh* Ranma…

Y’know I almost had hope that this differed in the manga

Guess not

I DO NOT approve of alienation

However, getting emotional character development out of Ranma is like pulling teeth

So alienate away

Emotional Oof

THANK YOU!

*chuckles* Ryoga, you’re great

BREATHE

He’s dying don’t kill him early

FINALLY!

Ooo

didn’t see that coming

*tightly* I’m fine

okay, Ranma, you know what to do

*heaves giant ass sigh* RANMA!

*screams*

Look I know no chill, kay, shut up

RIP my shipping heart

*sighs* FUCK!

Not gonna lie, I’m Ranma

Careful, Akane might kill you

And with the way Hinako’s acting she deserves it

I’m actually with Nabiki on this one

I love how Ranma is rolling with this

Ooo that’s gonna sting

Those 3 are terrifying, honestly

Hinako, your timing is awful

STOP USING RANMA AS YOUR LANDING PAD SHAMPOO!

Ranma blubbering hurts WAY more than I thought it would

Ranma, you’re digging your own grave here

Someone call me when he learns his lesson FINALLY

*cringes* Yikes, tbh I can’t tell if she’s playing him

Ranma you shit

WHY

Why is it always Kuno?!

Oof this gonna hurt w Kuno’s understanding of Ranma’s curse

Expect all Ranma and Kuno- especially Ranko- interactions to hurt really bad

Ukyo, you’re an idiot

You too Ryoga

Honestly

Alright, that’s funny

Ukyo, you’re lucky they’re dumb

Oh God, you two are SO wrong, but I love it

Aaand what does that say about you two Akane?

Ooo I could make this really mean

It’s SO tempting

Well, that went nowhere

Poor Ranma

So many trans vibes, honestly

*screams* HOW? Who? WHY?!

Wha-wha-what?!?!

Ouch, that’s gonna sting SO bad

heheh

Ouch, that hurt surprisingly more than I thought it would

Further proof that Genma SUCKS

Just this once, gimme soft

PLEASE

Close enough…

Okay, this fight was AWESOME!!

*sigh* Why am I even surprised by Genma’s reasoning anymore?

If Ranma cries, Imma cry

Excuse me while I go scream

I literally don’t even know what to do with this

Chuck it in the fuck it bucket and move on, I guess

okay, the end was funny though

Soun, is that bird didn’t look out of it’s gourd I’d believe you

*Chucks whole birdhouse* “fair”

A+ pic of Ranma

In his defense, he can argue something else, they just won’t listen cuz Shampoo won’t go with the truth

Alright, so Shampoo is smart, but with Ranma she’s an idiot

Wouldn’t the smart idea be to send Ranma AND Akane in with all 4 objects at the start?

Ok, Shampoo Sleep-Fighting is funny

Ranma is so underwhelmed that he’s just not even caring anymore

How Kasumi the scariest one to be possessed

Alright, anything with Nabiki on the cover worries me

Holy Shit he played Nabiki

I’d be impressed if I wasn’t annoyed to hell

Let’s all be glad right now that Genma never mastered this

Where do you think he would’ve sent it?

My inclination’s the Tendos

If nothing else I’m impressed by Nabiki

Now play this man like a kazoo PLEASE

When Ranma lectures you on how you’re acting like kids, you done fucked up

I’m with Ranma

Are you sure Akane?

Cuz I’m not

Heheheheh

Thems the breaks Ranma

You deserve it

Holy Shit Ryoga, nice

Now, I understand that Pigs are your life, but you might be dead

And honestly, I don’t blame him

Okay, that one’s gonna hurt

No matter how you slice it

Morality, Ranma, I know you have it

I hate this

Ok, that was uncalled for

Ranma he’s gonna kill you

Also WTF are you thinking?!?

Oof

Wait… what?

I’m officially concerned

Ok, I actually kinda like this interlude

Akane… seriously, trust is a thing you need to learn

One would think she’d learn…

Okay, that is actually creepy

I would too Ranma, I would too

Jesus fucking Christ, you suck Happosai

LetRanmaMeetHisMomCOVID19!

Gemma you shit

Happosai, go fuck yourself

Nevermind, don’t let him meet her, this is ridiculous

“Where’s the fridge?” “Akane wanted it”

I shouldn’t’ve laughed as hard as I did

*sigh* I just want Ranma to have ONE normal parental figure in his life, is that too much to ask?!

I already hate this idea

He comes back Imma scream

Since when?

On what planet does penpal = boyfriend/girlfriend?

Ryoga, PICK ONE!

I’m getting annoyed with you Ryoga, which sucks cuz you’re one of my faves

Ryoga, how are you this gullible?

You deserved that Ranma

I would wish the fate of being Kuno’s wife on no one

Ever

Congrats Ukyo you’ve actually made me freak out

I don’t appreciate it

At all

*shudders*

Oh this is SO weird

Of y’all keep making comments like this WHY do you keep trying?!

Nevermind it’s Hiroshi and Daisuke, they’re in the know

I’m going to say it again

AKANE LEARNS TO SWIM LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!

This is why you don’t buy cheap food people

I can’t lie, I’ve been waiting for Akane to get possessed

That moment when the ghost is honestly being a bit too sensitive

Actually, he didn’t, so shut up

I could make the Hawaiian thing so Explicit

But I won’t, cuz y’know consequences and stuff

I’m not going to ask how Ashura drowned at Josenkyo

Taro, quit being a dick, you turn into a Minatour-like thing

God he’s dumb

When Crazy and Crazy wanna duke it out, Ranma’s got the right idea

Excuse me, what?!

Ooo, now you’ve made Akane mad, run

Wtf is wrong with you, Kodachi, he’s literally unconscious!

I think that was almost character development?

I can’t tell

Ranma should not look that good in a suit

Whoa, she actually like… said it

Damn

Everyone’s got 4 sec to start treating Ranma like a person

Oof, right in his pride

Akane, I need you to stop being cute for 3 sec so I can focus

Yeah, I ain’t making it dormant

Ranma, I can’t tell if this is sexism or jealousy, either way it looks ugly on you

“At least he’s scaring the cats” harsh Kasumi

Okay, so I’m 90% sure it’s just jealousy, which better but still ugh

Ranma, you can be kickass when Akane is too

Ya goddamn moron

I’m going to beat that into him

There will probs be some angst about that

Not gonna lie

Look I’m good at it

Sorry

Ranma, if you want to get MURDERED that’s the way to do it

Smooth one, idiot

Called out

You better do this right or I swear, I’ll kill you myself, Ranma

I believe that is a fail

Of epic proportions, congrats

You NEED to learn to keep your mouth shut Soun

Awww

But he’s not lying!

Ranma, just run, she’s actually pissed this time

FUCKING RUN!

Alright, Akane, NO

You’re playing into the patriarchy

Oh, right… 80’s...

I’m changing that!!

Oh My God PLEASE tell me Ranma gets deaged!! Please!

Ranma’s got more patience for assholes than I do

Jesus

Hah

He deserved that

Part of me wants to see Kasumi actually get pissed off

YES!!

I LOVE degaging plots!

Ranma, I want you to math that one out, just a little

YES!

I am LIVING for this!

There is so much wrong with that sentence Kodachi

Ok, that was a little too cruel Akane

Someone either get Mousse recognized as Legally Blind

Or someone get him glasses that work!

Either one, but PLEASE

I just got a “draw me like one of your french girls” joke from a horse

Even though the widespread joke is LITERALLY at least 30 years later than this image

OOF

Ice Cold

We’re running out of chapters for her to find out

She better have a canon way of doing it otherwise I’m gonna be really mean with it…

Bean… Gun… Plant…

Eh Seen weirder

Aww Valentine’s Day chapter!

Yes!

Poor Ranma

These two are blind to each other

Heheh

Aww

I love these dorks

Heheh oops, busted

I still just find the principal an honest annoyance

Wait… when did Ranma start wearing a school uniform?

Congrats Miss Hinako!

I just now realized that I’m going to have write someone who is ok with having a female chest

Gag me with a spoon

Bleh

I’m bad at that

I really do want to give Ranma clothes that do actually fit his female form

Ranma needs to look at the terms and conditions of good curse

Cuz this is getting creative

Uh oh

Ranma you have a brain, please use it

Hehe, she’s doing her body laundry

Oh shit

THANK YOU SOUN!

Fucking Happosai

Why are you the actual worst!

Oh shit

Goddammit Nodoka

That one was ALL on you

I expected this from Nabiki, but wtf Nodoka?!

Happosai you twisted fuck

Heheheh alright that’s funny

If nothing else Shampoo is sneaky

WHY is that the only way to undo it?!

Poor Akane she is so lost

Aw, poor Ryoga

Definitely not, Akane, but thank you for posing that question

Thank you for calling him out on his ego

This would be hilarious to see this before anyone had any bit of a clue about Ranma’s two forms

Also, Ranma, you need to keep her safe from the Kunos

*sigh* Akane, you’re wrong

Ooo, not good

And that is what no self control looks like folks

What is with that ending?

And this is what manipulation look like folks

Also, y’know, robbing someone blind

I’m assuming this is Konatsu and I love them already

I’m using they/them cuz I’m unsure of what pronouns to use

Y’know I thought the Cinderella thing was a joke, turns out I was wrong

I do not understand Konatsu’s thought process w Ukyo at all

Also, can you not knock them out?

I am forgetting the name of that one Hero from Supergirl but if my understanding Konatsu is correct I’m DEFINITELY going to do that

Yeah, that’s NOT how that’s gonna go over

Okay, can we all agree that the trick Kuno used on Ranma is HORRIBLE, right?

Wholeass mood for Ranma

Like you two need to shut up

I just want Ranma to wear a sun shirt and trunks to the beach ONCE

Ryoga… how are you so lost that you came up through the ground?

Ranma, how are you both a dick and a good friend at the same time?

Just tell me How on Earth did Akari justify the hot water for Ryoga with revealing that he’s Pchan

I’d like to think that’d be something they wouldn’t skip over

No questions, just punches a grave

Why does that grave hit back?

Honestly Nodoka almost finding is stressing me out

I could be SO angsty with the Neko-ken Fear thing

Someone tell me not to I’m that much of an asshole

So glad that she’s apparently gonna learn bc I would’ve been SO mean

God, Genma you actually suck

Oh, thank God she’s not too smart

The fact that he’s 300% ready to die is actually depressing

That was actually quite touching

If we ignore the way Ranma phrasing that is just plain wrong

Uhm… what?

C-can she do that?

I hope not

God, you two are so dumb!

Is her definition of “manly” emotionless?!

Bitch, have a heart!

Oh God make them ALL leave! ALL OF THEM!

You feel? You said “you’re leaving”

Ranma, the fact that you didn’t put that together I can’t help you Like my dad says “I can’t fix stupid”

The fact that he feels the need to run screaming from his own house…

Nabiki, WHY

I’m convinced at this point that there is something Nabiki HATES about Ranma and that’s why she’s making his life a living hell

Cuz you do realize at least ⅓ of his problems are because she told someone something that was private

I can’t tell if that’s an insult or a backhanded comment

Either way, RUDE

I can’t tell, is that Konatsu or is that Tsubasa?

Must go back and check cuz Akane’s comment about “trasvestite and a homosexual” confused me since Ranma mentioned being “the first male kunoichi”But then who HAS TO BE Tsubasa says they’re a straight guy

*sigh*

Yep, nope, that’s Konatsu

My understanding was that Konatsu was like actually trans in canon

Apparently I mixed that up

I’m making it canon

MtF Konatsu

Bisexual Konatsu

One of these days someone is going to teach people to cook before assuming they know what they’re doing

Seriously It’s not that hard

Did they seriously just try to marry an unconscious Akane to Ranma?!

What The Fuck?!

Aww, she’s cute

Ryoga has a bad sense of direction, but he’s never missed before…

Okay, that’s a little strange

Why is she hatching?

Poor Mousse

Lol, that was so sweet until Ranma was dumb

It’s still sweet, who am I kidding

“Do I look like I wear Totoro underwear” oh that’s GOLDEN

Le shit

Firstly, Genma is still and idiot

Second, how is he already in Moscow?!

Third, why do I find this hilarious

Oh fuck

YES Kick her ass Akane!

I’m confused

Ok, was heralding back to the first chapter intentional?

Why does he have the staff in the bath?

Ok, I THINK I know what’s happening here…

Oof Can you two leave?

Ok, I was DEAD wrong

Wait…

If she…

If the DROWNED AKANE Imma commit murder

Damn, if you wanna piss off Ranma that’s how you do it

I don’t know why anyone would think pissing him off is smart

Oh, thank God, she’s okay

What is with this kid?

Why is he such a pain in the ASS?!

So I know she’s not dead

Unless SEVERAL DOZEN Fanfics have lied to me

Which is entirely possible since they were all listed as AUs

Uhm… Ranma… you okay?

Good, get him out cuz he’s clearly in shock

This hurts

Okay, hate to be the one who complains that Akane’s not dead, but that doesn’t track

At all

Can I rescience this?

Please?

Am I going to be an ass about it, probably, but it’s me no one should be surprised by that in any way

“Honored and crazy guest” I mean, accurate

Alright, Shampoo you’ve got exactly 1 chance

Then I’ll maybe apologize for calling you names constantly

Oh I am gonna be such an asshole in this scene

Also extend it some

Oh, God I could be such a dick

I’ll restrain

I’ll just write one-shots instead

Mousse do the right thing

You have a Moral Compass I know that!

“Anytime THIS YEAR!” Damn the witty quips

Yeah, but you won morally

That’s what’s important

Why the Scooby-Doo line?

Go Ranma!

Ok, so that comment about Ranma basically fighting a God is NOT an overstatement

Noted

Congrats Ranma you made me Google a word

Turns out it is a word that had its height of use in the 80s

Neat

Explains why I had no clue what it meant

Someone shoot those damn chicken brains OUT OF THE SKY!

“Only rocks”, rocks Ryoga just confirmed are 3 Tons

*sigh* I’m gonna have to physics the shit out of that

Joy

I cannot tell you the amount my heart dropped when I saw a full color double spread

Jesus Christ

DAMN

You’re gonna make me cry, dammit

Aww

YAY!

Heheh poor Ranma

Chill, hun, you’re good

Aww he’s tiny!

WHAT IS WITH YOU 2?!

STOP trying to marry your kids while they’re unconscious!

I’m not crying you are!

*tightly* I’m fine

Kodachi LET IT GO

Literally everyone else too! I hate you all

Just so it’s on the record I’m pissed

Ok, so “back to the start” is definitely an oversimplification because Akane knows Ranma loves her Ranma knows she knows

Akane! Your turn!

Ooo, IDEA!

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thebestpersonherelovesbucky · 5 years

Link

Rating: M Warnings: N/A Length: 24.4k Chapter 3/?

Summary:

Seventeen-year-old Bucky Barnes has it all. He’s the captain of the basketball team, has a great social life, his choice of ivy league schools, and was just announced as his class’s valedictorian. Senior year is going perfectly. Until he gets assigned to be a peer mediator to Steve Rogers – one of their class’s biggest trouble makers who doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut and goes around picking fights with everyone.

The last thing Bucky needs is to get mixed up with Steve and his pretty blue eyes and soft blonde hair and heart-melting smile. Even if it turns out he’s not quite what Bucky’s thought all this time. Even if maybe someone just needs to listen to Steve’s side of the story. Even if Steve’s heart is so much bigger than Bucky could have ever imagined. Because Steve Rogers is so not worth becoming friends with. Again. Bucky learned that lesson years ago.

Unfortunately, there are some things that Bucky just can’t control. Steve Rogers – and the way Bucky feels about him – is one of them.

Sample:

“That’s was real cool of you, Bucks,” she tells him. “What you said and all.”

Her compliment not only makes Bucky blush, but it also grabs Peggy’s attention. Being shut down without even a second thought by Mr. Pierce seems to have made Peggy forget that Bucky said anything at all. Which is perfectly fine with Bucky. He’d much rather stay off the radar when it comes to things like this. Signing petitions is fine, but he doesn’t need to get on Mr. Pierce’s bad side. Any of his sides really.

“Oh, it was no big deal,” he replies anyway. “Sorry he wouldn’t listen to you guys.”

Peggy sighs and looks over her petition.

“I wish there was some way to just force him to listen. To make him understand that I’m not trying to be hip or edgy.” Which is what some -- a lot -- of people think Peggy’s crusades to make changes to the dress code and offensive mascots and such think sometimes. So none of them will care that Mr. Pierce has shot her down. Bucky knows it. Peggy knows it. She looks up and smiles at him. “But Angie’s right.” Angie shrugs like such a thing should be obvious. “It was nice of you to try to help.”

“I believe I said cool,” Angie teases. “I said it was real cool of him.”

That makes Peggy laugh and pull Angie into her arms so she can tickle her and then kiss her when she tries to squirm away. He’s pretty sure Peggy says that she loves Angie -- which sorta melts his heart, but he’s not gonna admit that out loud in front of anyone, not here anyway -- as they move away before they get scolded for too much public display of affection. At the same time, the door of the office Bucky’s waiting to go into opens and out steps Mr. Coulson. Bucky’s stomach twists when he sees who’s been keeping Mr. Coulson busy. This must have been where Steve Rogers disappeared to from the cafeteria. Probably got in trouble. Again.

“Well, Mr. Rogers,” Mr. Coulson is saying. Then offers a handshake. “I’d like to see you here for reasons like this more often.”

Oh. Okay, maybe he didn’t get in trouble this time.

“Yeah,” Steve replies. “I’ll try my best.”

Mr. Coulson chuckles like Steve’s made a joke or something, but if that’s what happened Bucky doesn’t get the punchline.

“I’m sure you will.” Mr. Coulson looks at Bucky and Bucky keeps his eyes on him instead of letting them trail over to Steve. Steve might see him there or he might not. Or maybe he’ll just ignore him. Steve’s pretty fucking good at ignoring him. He’s had years of practice. “Ah, Mr. Barnes. Sorry for keeping you waiting. Just give me one second and I’ll be with you.”

“O-okay,” Bucky answers and watches as Mr. Coulson disappears further into the back offices.

“Steven!” Peggy cries when he’s standing there alone.

Against Bucky’s will, his gaze drifts to Steve when she shouts for him. No matter. Steve’s already turning to look at her. A big smile spreads on his lips and he sucks on the piercing there.

“Hey, Peggy. What brings you here?”

Another surprising friend of Steve’s. Peggy Carter. The two of them actually dated two years ago. It was brief, but, from what Bucky saw of them, pretty serious. Steve liked her. Bucky could tell by the way he smiled at her and lit up when he saw her and even smiles and lights up at her now.

She and Angie -- arm in arm -- speed on over to him. Once they’re in front of him, Steve holds a fist out and Angie bumps it with hers. Peggy leans in and kisses Steve’s cheek the same way Natasha might kiss Clint’s -- on the rare occasions she does.

“I was trying to get Mr. Pierce to listen to reason.”

Steve’s eyes roll and he lifts a middle finger in the air.

“Pierce and reason don’t go together.”

Well, they might not’ve talked in years, but Steve’s completely right about that. Mr. Pierce has his favorites and his good -- or wrong would be a better way to put it -- old-fashioned values. Sticks to them and them alone.

“Tell me about it,” Angie says. Peggy laces their fingers together. “Peggy was brilliant and organized and countered everything he said and even Bucky--” Steve still doesn’t look at him “--chimed in and he still wouldn’t listen.”

“So, how ‘bout it, Steve?” Peggy turns the clipboard around towards him. “Care to take a stand against the chauvinistic dress codes that are forced down our throats every day?”

“Pfft.” At first, Bucky thinks Steve might say no. But then he pumps a fist in the air and proclaims, “Right on!” He’s already signing. “Fuck the patriarchy!”

#bucky barnes #steve rogers #stucky #my fic #fic in progress #marvel #high school au #long post

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petrichorsmemory · 6 years

Text

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

Its finally over, I thought that I’m not gonna make it till the end. This book was not the worst of the series. There wasn’t much of Gandalf in it, which is an improvement. But to be honest there wasn’t much of anyone from the leads a part from Merry and Pippin, which are officially my faves. What really surprised me was the fact that the part with Frodo, Sam and the ring was very short and we had like five chapters of them going home and slowly telling goodbye to each other, and then there was this whole thing with in Shire. I skimmed through the appendixes as I’m not interested in learning the languages and in the history lessons beyond the ones Gandalf produces every time he opens the mouth. I kinda liked one moment when Aragorn was salty as hell fighting patriarchy but the rest story that involved him focused on how he is awesome and all that. Legolas and Gimli were almost non existent in this book which is a shame.

I didn’t really enjoyed this book, I just wanted it to be over, but I did get emotional in the last chapter so I guess not all was bad and I did got attached to some of the characters.

By the way is there a ship name for Sam and Frodo, cos damn.

#jrr tolkien #lord of the rings #the return of the king #book #books #book review #bookish #sam x frodo forever #spoilers

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michael-hearteyes-wheeler · 6 years

Text

Bad Brains

[1] [2] [3] [4]

Chapter 5: Authority-Shmority

(AO3) (FF.net)

November 30th, 1987

If there was one thing that El learned while growing up in the city, it was always question authority.

Back in the group home, El had befriended a wild child named Kali. They became bunk mates, partners in crime, and sisters. Kali was a bit older, and she took El under her wing. She was assertive, and demanded attention simply by entering a room. El would never forget the way she walked straight up to her on her first day while she cried alone on her bunk.

‘Don't waste your time crying over people who don’t deserve it. You are better than them, and that's why you’re here.’

From that moment on they were inseparable. Kali gave her the nickname El, but they soon called each other by their first names (and were the only foster kids to do so) because they knew that they would be in each others lives forever. She showed all of the best places in the city, she taught her how to steal candy without getting caught, all about the patriarchy, and the punk rock gospel.

When Kali got a bit older, she found a group of like minded people living on the streets and she convinced El to to run away and join them. For awhile it seemed like a good decision. They drove around in a cozy van, they slept in an abandoned warehouse, and protected each other. In a lot of ways, it was the most exciting time in Els life. They would vandalise buildings and train cars, they stole from war criminal oil tycoons to give back to the poor, they went to shows and spread their message everywhere they could. There was a political revolution happening on the streets, and El had a front row seat.

That was until her new found gang decided to take it too far.

Kali wanted revenge on the people responsible for the abuse she had been through, the abuse that they had all been through. While her anger was fully justified, it just felt wrong. It started with robbery, then moved to forgery, then arson, and before long even that wasn't enough to satisfy Kali’s rage. She wanted them dead.

It was when they broke into one man's home, that El finally decided enough was enough. She watched the way he struggled and begged for his life while he stared down the barrel of Kali’s gun. She saw the terror in the eyes of his daughters in the next room, and she saw the lust for blood in Kali’s. So she bailed. She caught a late night bus back to the warehouse they hid out in, and waited for them to come home. She knew they would be pissed, but at least her conscious would be clear knowing she wasn't around to watch Kali pull the trigger.

But they never came back.

She spent the night alone. Then another, and another, until the days turned into weeks. She was out of food and nearly frozen to death by the time the cops raided the building. That's when Hopper found her, and that's when her new life started.

After that, is was a blur of hospital stays, legal documents, court rooms, and then packing up what little things she had and moving in with Hopper. He let her buy new clothes, and bought her her very own walkman, and when they moved to Hawkins she got to have her own room for the first time in her entire life. Her counselor had said it was a miracle that she was adjusting so well, and that most kids in her situation would be either junkies, psychopaths, or both.

But El was a fighter. She was strong, and she refused to let her past dictate her future. She resented Kali for leaving her, but she understood why. She was a traitor, and hardly any better than the criminals that Kali fought. But she would never forget the lessons Kali taught her, about sticking up for the little guy, fighting injustice, and defending your beliefs at all times. For El it wasn't just about being angry, or loud music, or ripped clothes, it was a mindset based on making change for the better no matter what the cost.

Even now in Hawkins, El’s aggressive political attitude didn't change. Hawkins was painfully behind the times socially, and she wasn't about to let it slide. She rarely spoke up in class unless it was to tell off some sexist asshole in English, or argue the merits of women in history, or join in a heated political debate in social studies.

Or, as was the case today, telling her Gym teacher that is was, in fact, ‘total bullshit’ to make the girls scrub down the gym equipment in the musty old storage closet, while the boys got to run the track outside on one of the few nice days they had had in weeks.

“You should be grateful, girly.” Sneered a very smug Mr. Meloney, a heavy set man with beady little eyes and permanent bad breath. “You get the easy end of the deal. Someone's gotta clean the equipment, and don't curse at me.”

“But that is bullshit! I don't care about getting the ‘easy’ way out! It’s not fair, or right! Why don't we all clean, and then we can all go outside after?” She hissed, raising her voice. Most of the boys in class groaned, it was just another one of the freak girls stupid rants, but several of the girls hollered their approval.

“I said not to curse at me! If I hear one more thing out of you it's going to be detention. Now why don't you go sit on the bleachers and fix your makeup, looks like you have a god damn black eye.” He pointed a finger at her and several of the boys laughed.

She felt her blood start to boil, he had gone to far. She took a tentative step towards him and balled her fists. “I should give you a black eye.” She hissed through her teeth, her rage welling up into her throat. She reeled back and spit at him. “Fucking pig.”

Several of the girls behind her cheered. Mr. Maloney was a known creep. He made all of the girls feel uncomfortable and often treated them like garbage, clearly just because of their gender and his own sick issues. It was honestly a relief that someone like El started standing up to him.

“That is it Hopper!” He grabbed Els wrist and drug her out into the hallway, she squirmed but his grip was tight and it felt like it was going to leave a gnarly bruise. “Get your ass to the principal's office before I kick it there.”

She finally managed to jerk herself free and stomped to the front office of the school. She was going to be in deep shit when she got home but she couldn't help it. It was the right thing to do, and she wasn't about to let that perv slide.

She spent the rest of the period in the principal's office silently fuming as she was written up for detention, and Hopper was called.

At least her friends were supportive.

“You should have kicked him in the crotch.” Dustin said with his mouth full of sandwich.

“Yeah! Or actually punched him that would have been great!” Lucas agreed laughing.

“He's lucky I didn't. I wanted to, but that probably would have gotten me expelled.” El sighed.

“God he is such a creep.” Max shuddered. “He totally checks out all of the girls when they jog. It's disgusting.”

“He does!?” Mike and Will gasped in unison. El and Max both nodded with a grimace.

“That's what happens when you have a position of authority.” El shrugged. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Even stupid gym teachers.” She stabbed at her poor excuse for a salad, not really feeling hungry.

“What does that mean?” Dustin asked dumbfoundedly.

“It's a famous quote from British politician, Lord Acton.” Max answered nonchalantly. The boys turned to her sharply as if she had just spoken another language. “What? El talks about this stuff a lot. I thought you guys were supposed to be the smart ones.”

“It means that when you have authority you are likely to abuse it because no one can stop you. It's why most politicians are liars, and most teachers are assholes.” El added.

They all nodded and mumbled in agreement. It was kind of funny, watching El slowly open their eyes to the underground political agenda.

But her cop father was another story.

She knew the entire walk home that she was going to get an earful when Jim got off work. Until then, she was going to listen to music as loud as her speakers would allow and let off some steam from her shitty day.

She was sitting on the couch reading a magazine when he got home. Her stereo was blasting The Runaways, so she didn't hear him pull up, or walk inside, or stomp into the living room until he was looming above her. She jolted upright when he stomped to her stereo and shut it off without a word.

“Hey!” She yelled.

“Don't hey me! I have told you a thousand times not to listen to that crap that loud.” He was furious.

“God chill! I'm sorry, okay?” His tone, and her bad day put her in an argumentative mood.

“Chill? I get a call at work that you get detention and you want me to chill?”

“It wasn't my fault!”

“Oh it wasn't your fault huh? You call your teacher a ‘fucking pig’ and it wasn't your fault?” He was still towering above her.

“No! Because he was being a pig! He is a total perv and a dirtbag and I wasn't going to take any of his crap anymore!” She stood up, still much to short to be at his eye level, but staring daggers at him.

“Look, kid, you are in the real world now. And in the real world you can't just go around cursing and spitting at people like some kind of little street brat!”

“The real world!? As if I have been living some charmed fantasy life up until this point!? Give me a break!” She felt angry tears brimming in her eyes.

“That girl you used to pal around with filled your head with a lot of garbage ideas! You need to grow up!” He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “Grow the hell up!”

“Get the fuck off of me!” She ripped out of his grasp and stomped up to her room, but he was close on her heels. She turned to slam her door but he stuck his arm in just in time to catch it.

“Don't walk away from me when I am talking to you! This is exactly what im talking about. You like to play pretend that you are this angry punk but you just run away from your problems! You are never going to get anywhere in this world if you dont drop the act and own up to your mistakes.” His words cut deep into her like a knife. He was right, all she ever did was run away.

Run away from her abusive father, run away from the foster home, run away from Kali, and run away to Hawkins. She wasn't tough at all, no matter how much makeup she hid under, no matter how thick her leather jacket was, or how strong her ideals were. Inside she was still just a scared little girl. So while he yelled at her, for the first time, she just stayed quiet and listened. Hot tears streamed down her face as she took his beratement.

“You are grounded for two weeks. That means no TV, no stereo-” He turned and ripped her boombox from the wall. “And no going out with your friends. You are going to go to school, and come home and study and get over this bullshit. Do I make myself clear?” He got in her face again and she turned to avoid his glare.

“I said, do I make myself clear!?” He yelled. She turned to face him, long streaks of black mascara running down her face.

“Yes.” Her voice was like ice.

He said nothing as he turned around and slammed her door closed behind him, her stereo in hand. She flopped back on her bed and pulled a pillow over her face so she could scream into it. She wanted to badly to go downstairs and yell at him some more, she had so much more to say, but she knew none of it would change anything.

So instead she just stared up at the ceiling for hours. Thinking over all of the things she hasn't let herself think about in a long time.

‘Where is Kali? I hope she is okay. Im sure she must hate me, but I would give anything to see her right now. No one understood me the way she did.

All I ever do is run away. Run away so no one can leave me first. So no one realizes that I am worthless. Worthless and unlovable.’

It started getting dark, and as the sun set it became clear that Hopper wasn't going to be making dinner. She didn't want to see him anyway. She felt like she was going crazy. She jumped off her bed and stormed back and forth, the anxiety in her gut rising and pulsing, not letting her sit down. Usually she could just tune her feelings out with music, or a movie, or a long walk through town.

‘That's it!’

She threw on a warm grey sweater and strapped on her favorite boots. She flipped the light in her room off so that he would think she was sleeping and she locked the door on her way out. She silently opened her window and perched herself on its edge, feeling the cool air wrap around her. Lucky for her there was a small potting shed just under window that she could use to jump onto, and from there it was only a slight drop to the ground. She set of in the direction of Max’s house, wishing more than anything she had taken up her offer to learn how to skate. It wasn't too bad of a walk, but it was cold and dark.

‘At least I don't have to worry about getting stabbed out here in the sticks.’ She chuckled to herself, wrapping her arms tightly around herself and pressing forward.

It was a little after 10:00pm when she arrived at the Mayfield house. She could hear the usual sounds of Billy, Max's brother, and her step dad arguing inside, but luck for her, Max’s bedroom light was on. She grabbed a handful of pebbles and tossed them up at the girls window.

A few second later Max was sticking her head out into the night air and looked around he darkness.

“Lucas?” Max asked in a harsh whisper. El burst out laughing and stepped into the light.

“Sorry to disappoint you.” El chortled. “Does he come throw rocks at your window often?”

“Ugh, no shut up!” Max rolled her eyes, blushing furiously. “Why are you here?”

“Hopper grounded me, so naturally I snuck out. Lets go to the park or something.” El kicked the grass and smirked.

“Oh shit dude that sucks.” Max shook her head. “Okay yeah let me get my jacket.” her head disappeared from the window, and a few moments later she was back, tossing her skateboard out and jumping down from her window.

They walked to the nearby park, well, if you could call it a park. It was really just a few swings, a small set of rusty monkey bars, and a big dusty baseball diamond, but it was all they had available. Max and El jumped up on the swings, Max kicked off with great force, sending her soaring through the cool air. El just sat, kicking at the dirt and lighting up a cigarette.

“Max, why does everything suck so much?” El griped, exhaling softly into the air.

“No clue. It’s like a global conspiracy.” Max chuckled, her voice raising and lowering in volume as she zoomed back and forth.

“If by global conspiracy you mean thousands of years of patriarchy then yeah, pretty much.” El leaned against the cold metal chain of her swing and took another long drag.

“Hey, I think I have an idea.” Max said digging her feet into the dirt bellow and kicking up bark chips and dust, skidding to a stop.

“What's that?” El said exhaling another long breath of smoke.

“I'll bet the boys have never snuck out before.” Her face was turned up in the signature ‘Madmax’ devilish grin.

“So?”

“So let's get them to sneak out with us!”

“I doubt they will be down for that.” El sighed, stifling the end of her cigarette against the chain.

“Please. Lucas and Dustin will do anything to prove they aren't dorks. Plus Will is kind of always up for anything, and I know seeing Mike would make you feel better!” Max swung sideways bumping into El. A faint smile flashed across Els face, and before she had time to think of a rebuttal Max was pulling her by the hand in the direction of the Sinclair house.

All it took was one well thrown pebble, and Max waving to get Lucas to climb down off of his roof and join the girls. He seemed practically giddy (and like this wasn't his first time scaling his roof to get down). He had his Supercom and he used it to call Mike and Dustin. Dustin called Will and within the span of less than half an hour, all six teenagers were congregated back at the park.

Max and Lucas decided to race each other to the top of the monkey bars. A challenge that Max quickly won with little effort. Her and Lucas got lost in conversation from their perch, giggling and whispers about who knows what as the rest of the party milled around the field.

Will and Dustin were deep in a debate about some X-men character, and running around the field reenacting scenes like proper geeks.

Mike and El made their way to the swings and seeing him really did make her feel better. Being around her friends always made her feel better because they were the first friends she had that didn't make her feel like she had to prove something just to be close with them. If anything it seemed the opposite. It was always the boys trying to show off and prove they weren't just small town nerds, and it was kind of endearing.

“Hey El?” Will asked from across the dirt playground. “Who do you think is more likely to be a secret superhero? Henry Rollins or Glen Danzig?”

El snorted, surprised by the question. She admittedly didn't know a lot about superheros, but she did know that the lead singers of Black Flag and The Misfits respectively were some of the toughest guys in the music scene.

“Definitely Danzig. He probably has like demon superpowers. Did you know he is only 5’ 3”?”

“Holy crap really? That shorter than I am!” Will belly laughed.

“And just like you he is tiny but powerful.” El giggled

Dustin and Mike watched them like they were speaking in tongues, but it was nice having someone to talk to about stuff like this. She never would have guessed she would find someone with decent music taste in farm country. Thank god for Will Byers.

After the riveting talk wore down, it became apparent that Will really was out of his comfort zone. So much for being ‘up for anything’. As it got later, despite his clear discomfort, Will was pretending not to be freaked out by every noise, and car that drove past. And why he was asking for the hundredth time if they were ‘ sure everything was going to be fine’.

“God yes Will! We aren't going to get in trouble!” Dustin sighed rubbing his brow. While everyone else seemed to be enjoying the thrill of being out after dark, the Byers boy was a nervous wreck.

“You can't know that! I'm just going to bike home before my mom or Jonathan knows i'm gone.” Will zipped up his coat and hoisted his backpack over his shoulder.

“You shouldn't go home by yourself this time of night.” Max hollered from her place on top of the monkey bars. “There are weirdos out this late.” She snickered, throwing Will an unnerving expression.

“Really?” Will asked, gripping his bike handles and looking terrified.

“No not really, Max is just trying to scare you.” Mike rolled his eyes, throwing the giggling girl an accusing glare. “But it's probably more safe if I go with you.” He reluctantly moved to stand up, but before he could, Dustin beat him to it.

“I'll go home with you. I live closer.” He sighed, mounting his own Bike. He and Will clicked the small duct taped head lanterns on. “And besides, I don't want to be the fifth wheel.”

“Um well, bye guys!” Will smiled, clearly relieved to be getting home.

“See you later, little Danzig.” El chuckled.

Everyone watched in silence was the two boys peddled off, trying not to think about the implications of Dustin's ‘fifth wheel’ comment.

“Well alright!” Max hollered, jumping off of the monkey bars in a swift leap. “I want to walk around the track.”

“I'll come with you!” Lucas said, a huge grin spreading across his face as he climbed down. His descent was just as graceful as hers, and in seconds he was jogging to keep up with Max as she sauntered towards the distant baseball diamond.

El and Mike watched them leave, and became aware of the silence hanging in the air.

“I guess they are probably going to like... Makeout or whatever.” Mike chuckled nervously.

El giggled and nodded. “Yeah probably. You know earlier, when I knocked on her window, she thought I was Lucas. I think they do this a lot.”

“Jeez.” Mike rubbed his neck. “I guess that makes sense, I always thought Lucas would be the first one of us to...” He cut his sentence short, feeling suddenly overwhelmed with embarrassment.

“To what?” El asked curiously.

“To... you know...” He kicked at the dirt. “Like kiss a girl.”

El turned to him sharply, eyes wide with surprise. “Wait... none of you have ever kissed anyone?” She gaped.

Mikes face turned a deep scarlet and he cleared his throat nervously. “No not really. Dustin said that he kissed some girl at summer camp last year but I think he is full of shit. It's not like girls are really into the whole dork thing.” He gestured to himself, forcing an awkward smile.

El was genuinely shocked. Granted, she had never kissed anyone either, but that was mostly by choice. She looked at him and searched for the right thing to say, but she just found it so inconceivable.

‘How could anyone not want to kiss Mike? Dork or not.’

“Well it's not like a big deal or anything, to not be kissed.” She cringed at her own words. “It's probably not even that great.”

“Yeah. Probably not.” They both chuckled dryly in the tension of the situation. Then what she said dawned on him. “Wait, you have never kissed anyone either?”

“Nope. No one has ever been cool enough to deserve it.” El giggled. It wasn't the entire truth, a big part of her never having dated anyone lay in the fact that she was terrified of opening up to someone else, but everyone being lame was a large factor as well.

Mike chuckled with her, and looked up to catch Els glaze, she was wearing a similar blush to his own and he felt the sudden urge to move closer to her.

El shifted on the swing seat, feeling compelled to move in closer as well. The pale moonlight beamed across Mikes dark eyes and freckles, making him look incredibly beautiful. She felt her heart catch in her throat as they moved even closer.

They were close enough now that Mike could feel the heat coming off of her body. Her hair was firmly slicked back to way it usually was, but her walk had shaken several of her curls loose and they twisted around her cheeks and ears. That, combined with the oversized grey sweater she was wearing made her look so soft and warm.

They were only inches apart now. They both hitched their breath, suddenly hyper aware of everything that was happening. Every sound, every breath, the whistle of the wind, the blue moon light, every slight movement towards the other. El’s eyes fluttered closed, as Mike tilted his head in towards her. She could feel his shaky breathe on her lips, and she realized he was just as nervous as her.

‘I can't believe it! I'm about to have my first Kiss! And with Mike Wheeler!’

But then something ripped through the silence.

Just as they were about to close the small space between them, Max and Lucas’s laughter filled the night, and they both jumped apart. The chains on their swings groaning from the movement. Lucas and Max came running from the far side of the field, Lucas trailing behind and both teens squealing. It didn't seem like they had seen anything, they were far too preoccupied in whatever nauseating form of couples tag they were playing.

Mike jumped up from the swing and smoothed out his shirt nervously. He was still sporting a deep red blush and a slightly goofy smile. El was sure she didn't look any better. Her stomach felt warm and like it was twisting itself into knots, she couldn't look him in the eyes.

“Lucas Im going to kick your ass!” Max laughed as Lucas, finally catching up to her, picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Max slapped at his back but she was laughing too hard to actually be much of a fight.

He set her down once they reached the park again and she punched him hard in the arm. The couple walked over the the swings, both of their faces plastered with huge grins.

“Okay kids, I think it's time to go home.” Max said, slapping an arm down on Els shoulder. El sighed, her nerves still racing from her almost-kiss. Max was probably right, it was getting late and they did have school tomorrow morning.

The boys grabbed their bikes and everyone walked out to the road. While they did not live anywhere near each other, Max and Lucas both started walking off in the direction of Max's house.

“Um Lucas? Aren't you going home?” Mike scoffed at his friend.

“Uh... yeah I am I just want to make sure Max gets home safe.” Lucas and Max ginned bashfully at each other. “Because of the weirdos and stuff.”

The couple turned around and walked off again, trailing down Old Cherry Road and into the darkness of the night. Even when El couldn't see them, she could hear Max’s boisterous laugh.

“They are such dweebs.” El chuckled.

“Yeah totally.” Mike sneered. They stood in silence for a moment, not wanting to part just yet. “I could... walk you home if you want.”

El beamed up at the shaggy dark haired boy and nodded. “That would be cool.” She tucked a curl behind her ear, quickly adding with sarcasm; “So that the weirdos don't get me.”

They walked slowly down the hill towards the quiet side of town that El lived on. Mike pushed his bike next to him, hands gripped the handle bars. They both stole glances at each other, each time making them quickly look down at their feet. They walked almost the entire way in silence, both too completely lost in thought. El was still dazed that she had been so close to kissing someone, and she hoped he was thinking the same things. Every time she looked over at him her heart thumped loudly in her chest. She wanted to kick herself for being so gushy over him but she just couldn't help it, he was the sweet nerdy boy of her dreams.

In only 20 minutes, an unfortunately short walk, they reached Els home. The lights were off inside, meaning Hopper had gone to bed. Mike didn't know what he had been expecting, but this cozy little farmhouse on the end of the quaint road wasn't it. El was just too surreal to live somewhere so... normal. They stood under the streetlamp for a moment, Mike marveling at the way she looked while bathed in yellow light, and El not wanting to walk away from him just yet. It was a strange feeling, like some kind of gravitational pull keeping her glued to her spot whenever he was near.

Eventually she figured she should say something. “Well this is me.”

‘I am such an idiot! He knows this is my house he just walked me here!’

“It's nice.” Mike said, hoping to drag the conversation out as long as possible.

“I guess i'll see you at school tomorrow?” She asked, looking at the ground.

“Yeah!” He said a little to enthusiastically. “Um... thanks for asking us to sneak out. I had a lot of fun.”

“I had fun too. Maybe you should start sneaking out more often, live on the wild side a little bit.” She said sarcastically. “Maybe you could even come throw pebbles at my window.”

Mikes eyes went wide and he suppressed the urge to smile like a dope. “Uh yeah! And maybe we can run around acting like dweebs like Max and Lucas.”

El giggled, trying to act apathetic, but desperately wishing he was serious. “Totally! And maybe next time i'll get to walk you home.”

“I would like that.” Mike smiled.

Suddenly it became apparent that they were standing just inches apart again. El felt her heart beating in her chest, and in an impulse she took another step forward, so close that they were practically embracing.

Mike looked down at her, and his voice caught in his throat. He wanted to tell her how much he liked her. How much fun she was to spend time with, how happy she made him, how he felt like he was alive whenever they hung out. But he just stared at her. Her beauty, her warm hazel eyes, her loose caramel curls, her soft rosy skin. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Even more than that, she was the most amazing girl he had ever met.

On impulse, acting against every instinct he normally would have had, he reached out and put a gentle hand on her cheek, cupping her face. Their sudden proximity made him feel almost dizzy, but everything about her made him feel dizzy. He let his bike drop to the road, and he placed his other palm lightly on her side.

El was stunned. She wanted him so badly to kiss her, but he didnt move. She wrapped her arms around his shoulder and inched even closer. It felt like an eternity as they held each other, and she realized that if anyone was going to make the move it was going to be her.

So she moved ever closer, and just as she was about to go in for the kill, he spoke.

“El?” His voice was a whisper, his breathe warm on her skin.

“Yes?” She leaned in closer.

“I... never gave you back your mixed tape.” He said it like some kind of admission of guilt.

El let out a sudden, short laugh in surprise and stepped back a bit. Her face quirked up in a half grimace, half astonished glower. “Oh... Um, It's fine. Thank you for remembering... I guess.”

“Uh yeah... sorry I kept it so long.” He fished it out of his pocket. “It was pretty good by the way. I mean I only got to listen to it once before my little sister stole my tape player.” He rubbed the back of his neck and cough awkwardly.

“I'm glad you liked it. I'll have to make you another one sometime.” El let herself frown fully. Had she misread the entire interaction? Was he really only concerned with her mixed tape? She wanted to punch herself for getting so flustered, and worked up and... hopeful.

“Well... um... Have a good night.” Mike mumbeled, scuffing his shoes along the ground.

El creased her eyebrows at him. Maybe she had gotten a bit carried away, and maybe she had gotten ahead of the situation, but she was damn sure that they almost kissed. Twice! She wasn't going to let him get away so easily.

She turned to face him straight up and down, and looked at him intently. “Mike. I like you.” He looked up at her with wide eyes, as if he had seen a ghost. “I mean it. I think you are nice, and sweet, and you care about people, which is super foreign to me. You make me laugh and you make me happy and I don't feel judged when i'm with you. I like you. A lot.”

“El...” He started, still bewildered.

‘Go ahead, tell me you don't feel the same way. Why would you?’

“El I like you too. A lot. You are so smart and amazing, and awesome. You don't let people push you around, or push me and the guys around. You are so strong even though you have dealt with a lot, and you are so so crazy intelligent. You know so much about things I had never even heard of. I like you so much.”

“Wow...” She breathed, not meaning to say it out loud, but realizing she had when he blushed.

El walked forward, and wrapped her arms around him in a sweet, yet encompassing hug. After a while they stepped apart, but remained close enough to feel each others warm breath as it clouded in the evening air.

“Wow to you too.” He Smirked. She punched him in the arm lightly, making them both laugh. She still wanted to kiss him, more than anything she wanted to kiss him, but there would be time for that another day.

El reached out and grabbed his hand, musing over how nice it was to watch the way their fingers laced together. “Goodnight Mike. I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight El.” He squeezed her hand softly for a moment before mounting his bike and driving away in the direction of home. The whole way, smiling like the biggest dopey, dweeb anyone had ever seen. He understood every part of the face Lucas had made when he rejoined them on the park. He was head over heels for El Hopper, the Punk Rock badass from Chicago.

El watched him ride away, waiting until he was out of sight before she walked to her house. She decided to use the front door, assuming it would be much quieter than trying to clamber back up to her window. Her house was silent, but her ears were still ringing with the beating in her chest. She layed back down in her bed, and for the second time that day she muffled a shriek into her pillow.

Only this time, it was a scream of joy. Pure, innocent, unfaltering, heart-swelling, joy. She was head over heels for Mike Wheeler, the kindhearted nerd from Hawkins.

Tagging:

@el-themage @mileventwentyfourseven

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locutius · 6 years

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Locutius Letter #17

Alexa for kids

Alexa for kids ships later this month, and while I’m not sure I’ll buy one for my kid (I prefer my kid’s VUI use to be out where I can see it - er, hear it), I might get one for myself. Also, the current state of hand-off between my 1st Gen Echo and my Echo Show is so bad that the last thing I want to do is introduce another device where I have to whisper conspiratorially to it in order to make sure that the right one does the thing I want it to do.

Of course, new technology begets new thinkpieces on whether or not technology is good for kids. My first reaction to the Echo for kids was horror, but I appreciate that Amazon has had content filtering on the Kindle Fire for ages (it’s nearly impossible to use, but it exists), and I am a kid who watched as much TV as I possibly could (hours of Saturday morning cartoons, hours of after-school cartoons, and plenty of totally child-inappropriate Arnold Schwarzenegger movies) . . . I turned out okay?

Fine, I’m not letting my 5-year-old watch Commando anytime soon, but I’m also not too concerned about VUIs. They’re so limited in their capabilities that right now the only negative is that I set a horrible example: I yell at a device and in turn my kid yells at the device and there’s frankly a whole lot more yelling than I want happening in my home. Do I want a device that praises my kid for saying please? Or do I just need to start setting a better example on my own?

Alexa aka Echo Dot for kids: Ships from Amazon on May 9th (and feature a whole lot of subscriptions that probably auto-renew so now’s a good time to determine if you want to go down that path)

More Amazon/Alexa:

Tidying up’s a snap: Alexa is like a virtual Mary Poppins Amazon’s voice-activated assistant — by way of the Echo and Echo Dot — helps this family stay on task. (shaking my head at all of the Mary Poppins references lately)

Alexa is a revelation for the blind Ian Bogost writes “Legally blind since age 18, my father missed out on the first digital revolution…” A lot of the difficulties Ian’s dad runs into are common to anyone using a voice interface for the first time - they aren’t specific to people who are blind, or older adults, or even those who don’t do much computing. The real story here is that Ian had to reconsider his father’s relationship with the world, and the promise of independence offered by voice assistants.

When will Alexa know everything? An interview with Al Lindsay, vice president of Alexa Engine Software at Amazon. Literally every time I read this man’s name I read it as A.I. Lindsay - like Artificial Intelligence - that’s what happens when you live in Silicon Valley too long and not enough websites use serifs.

Google did some stuff, too

Google releases conversation design guidelines for Actions for the Google Assistant Conversation Design with Google

Highlights

It’s #5 on the site list, but should be #1 in your brain: Is Conversation the Right Fit? (also, there’s a quiz and I cannot resist a quiz)

Now with more dialogue samples: A Crash Course on Conversation Design

And error handling: Errors (no fancy title on this one)

Google Assistant can now control your Ikea Tradfri smart lights You know, in case you wanted to add yet another smart home app to your phone. / Android Community

I have one Microsoft news item

Here’s an interview with Javier Soltano, the new product lead for Cortana. The interview starts out with talking about Microsoft’s competitive advantage: email. But don’t think about it as email - think of it as a way of understanding the relationships between people and understanding the relationships between projects and concepts and...well, it’s interesting when you start thinking about what email really is. / VentureBeat

Is Cognitive Computing real?

Introducing CASE: the cognitive coffee-maker Is cognitive computing a coffee maker that recognizes you, makes small talk, and knows your favorite drink? / IBM Internet of Things blog

The fraudulent claims made by IBM about Watson and AI I don’t really have a whole lot to add to that...inflammatory title, so go ahead and read it for yourself and learn about the history of AI and what it is and isn’t / Roger Schank (artificial intelligence theorist - his wiki page)

More on AI (this one is a really good read, I promise)

And here’s a brief history of AI that’s just...accessible. Read it to get some background on just what AI really is and how far we have to go: [FoR&AI] The Origins of “Artificial Intelligence”

Conversational Design, the book

Erika Hall has a new book out: Conversational Design. It’s not about VUI’s, but it still has a lot of interesting lessons on language and information exchange. You can read the first chapter for free on A List Apart and here she is back in 2016 talking about the importance of language in design.

Locutius Links

Rethinking the Smart Home in 2018 Smart speakers are great, but they aren’t enough / Stacey on IoT

Quiz: Are these idioms British or American English? I failed. / Quartz

Google launches an improved speech-to-text service for developers / Techcrunch

Library Journal: Voice Activated The Library Journal offers some background and advice on smart speakers for library services. (Less “ask questions in a quiet space” and more “borrow audiobooks”) / The Library Journal

'Alexa, play my kid a podcast.' Parents look for screen-time alternatives If you have a 5yo, try the podcast But Why! We love it. Every time a 5yo on the show says their age, my kid says "She's 5, just like me!" - it's a revelation for him to hear kids on the radio. / CNN

Alexa, are you SkyNet? This talk is “an in-depth forensic dive into the data that is stored, transmitted, and can be recovered, from the Alexa portion of the Amazon ecosystem” / SANS Digital Forensics and Incident Response on YouTube

Tencent’s Smart Speaker Tingting Brings WeChat to the Entire Family IT HAS A BATTERY SO YOU CAN UNPLUG IT AND USE IT WITH WIFI FOR 5 HOURS. / Synced

A pioneer in predictive policing is starting a troubling new project We have a policing problem in the United States. We have a prisons problem in the United States. We need to actively consider just what we’re doing when we apply machine learning to policing and the judicial system. / The Verge

A note on newsletters

I took out half of the content I’d originally included it this email. Now I know why people send out daily newsletters.

Don’t worry, I’m not making a daily newsletter, but if you’re in California, I recommend subscribing to the California Sun (it's free) as a way of understanding what’s happening in our giant state (I’m from Oregon, which has ⅔ of the land area of California, but just 10% of the people): California Sun

This week I’m reading three books:

Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine Albright It is sooo good and sooo infuriating. I started it on a plane and found myself silently saying ‘Fuck’ every 30 seconds as I read it. Now you’re warned.

Head On: A Novel of the Near Future by John Scalzi It’s like a good Michael Crichton book, meaning it’s less about technology and more about people. This is the second book in this world, so consider picking up the first one (Lock In). Also, I just learned that Scalzi wrote the main character in a way that they could be a man or a woman and my brain assumed they were a man because...patriarchy. I’m kind of sad about that.

Machines of Loving Grace: The Quest for Common Ground Between Humans and Robots by John Markoff I was skeptical about this book because on the first page of the preface Markoff describes the Stanford golf course Coupa as “adjacent” to the course, when it’s far more accurate to say that it is “at” the course. Other than that, I’m getting a good background on robotics. Yes, it's full of dudes and Markoff tries to make up for that in the preface by name-dropping Cynthia Breazeal, but it feels like an afterthought. Still, it's a good book, just...so many guys.

If you’re wondering how I read so much, I will tell you my secret: my hobby is reading.

Until next week!

👋👋👋

Abi Jones Editor, Locutius

Is there something I missed? Reply to this email with a link! Want to chat? I’m on Twitter at @jonesabi

Yes, this newsletter contains affiliate links.

Finally, the opinions in this newsletter are mine, not my employer’s.

#vui #voiceinterface #alexa #echo #amazon #google #locutius

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gameofthronesrenlyxlorasforever · 7 years

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Top ASOIAF Romances

These are my top asoiaf romances, meaning the ones I was rooting for and/or found fascinating. Sometimes there’s an overlap of “I find it interesting” and “I was rooting for it”, but not in each case. This is a mix of show and book canon because it turns out that most of the romantic relationships in asoiaf are pretty crappy. If we look beyond the actual novels though, there are quite a few gems.

#1 Renly x Loras

The best OTP in the story, in my opinion. For one, we get lines like, “when the sun has set, no candle can replace it”. That is incredibly touching. It’s a King and his Knight. How can someone not love that? On the show, they depicted the relationship quite well. At first, that is. It was great in Season 2. Let’s leave it at that. I’ve talked about this before, but these boys met when they were quite young. Which means they were friends first and that’s beautiful. The tragedy is so heartbreaking, it’s at The Song of Achilles levels. The two m/m romances are similarly tender and affectionate. It’s an Achilles x Patroclus, Alexander x Hepheastion, romance. The lovers who went to war and only one returned, only for the other to die soon after. (Loras is alive in the books (maybe) but the way things have been on the show, I don’t see good things coming for any of the Tyrells : (

#2 Ned x Catelyn

What’s interesting about this Stark-Tully match is that it was an arranged marriage that turned into genuine love. People tend to complain about romances that are not dramatic enough, and these two could be in that category. If it weren’t for a couple of brilliant pieces of realistic drama in their relationship. Typically it’s contrived and silly whenever people who love each act like morons for the sake of relationship drama, but not in this case. The main reasons for Cat and Ned’s issues are that a) she was supposed to marry Brandon, Ned’s older brother. There’s a chance that Ned thinks Cat had feelings for Brandon, and I think she found him attractive in the way teen girls sometimes find “bad boys” attractive. At the same time, Cat was too smart not to be concerned about Brandon’s “wolfblood” nature. And b) Jon Snow. Their second relationship complication is Ned’s bastard. Specifically, that he refused to send Jon away to be fostered somewhere and chose to raise him along with his trueborn children instead. Cat didn’t so much care that Ned cheated on her (her patriarchy brain said “men have needs” and they were apart for a long time and hadn’t known each other well anyway) but that she had to see the consequence of his infidelity walking around Winterfell. Many people hate Cat for not loving Jon, but this is a world where the legitimacy of children is something people start wars over. She felt Jon’s very existence, and especially that he lived at Winterfell, put her own children at risk. Remember, we know Jon loves Cat’s kids, but when he was little, Cat had no way of knowing what type of person he would grow up to be. She feared he would murder her kids to become Lord Stark, a la Ramsay. Of course, the Ramsay situation hadn’t happened yet, but the Blackfyres had. Cat knew about those wars over succession that happened because of the mere existence of an alternate heir. Combine her history knowledge with the Westerosi prejudice against bastards and her choices make sense. So, even though Cat and Ned are a loving couple whose values and temperament work well together, they had their own share of relationship drama (the stuff people love when it comes to reading romance, apparently).

#3 Oberyn x Ellaria

The epic love between some of our most significant show!Dornish characters. I’d argue that Arianne and Quentyn end up being the more important players in the books. On the show, they went overboard with making sure we understood that Ellaria and Oberyn weren’t straight. Letting us know would have been fine, except they used the brothel to do it. Anyway, GRRM had no brothels for them. Duh. A prince of the realm will not be staying at a brothel when he comes to the capital for the wedding of a king.

Come on, D&D! Ugh. Still, at least Oberyn and Ellaria were presented as the good guys who go up against the Lannisters (while being awesome and having some really good lines) and that was fun. Though the brothel stuff was in poor taste. At least they were both LGBT characters we were meant to root for, originally. They were also POC, so that was nice. (This was in season 4 when Dornish people were caricatured but at least they were still presented as the good, contrasted to the Lannisters’ bad)

Basically, Oberyn and Ellaria get points for being LGBT and non-white characters and they are fun and sexy as well. In the books, the relationship is very sweet. They have quite a few kids together, and, though they’re not monogamous, they are happy together and committed to each other. They clearly love each other after many years, so that is some sorely lacking warmth in the story. Also, they are good parents. While they made Ellaria on the show kind of evil, in the books, she is 100% against revenge. Book!Ellaria doesn’t want anyone else in her family to get hurt.

#4 Egg x Betha

So, we don’t know how these two met, but it’s probably going to happen in one of the upcoming Dunk & Egg stories. The mystery surrounding the D&E characters is rather fun and it extends to the Egg and Betha romance. We know Egg married for love and we know Betha Blackwood was a spirited woman. Ergo, they were in love. That’s very rare for a royal couple. Can’t wait to meet her! She will be awesome. I’m guessing her personality will be like a Stark’s.

#5 Myrcella x Trystane

This is show!canon only, kind of. Myrcella is supposed to marry Trystane in the future, but they are little kids in the books. Still, it is very cute they have a bond. We see that in the Dornish chapters in AFFC. On the show, they are teens, who fell in love despite every obstacle. There are the cultural differences, for one thing. It could have been an issue because the rest of Westeros is racist when it comes to their perception of Dorne. Especially Cersei. BUT Myrcella and Trystane fall in love and it is very sweet. As Doran says, they don’t know how risky it is to have a Lannister and a Martell together. It’s all very Romeo and Juliet, complete with a painful ending. Yes, the Dornish Plot was butchered on the show, but these two kids and Doran were well done. Beautiful and tragic.

#6 Cersei x Jaime

Let’s get it out of the way first: this is a toxic relationship. Everything about it is unhealthy. The fact that they are twins, the fact that she only loves him as a reflection of herself, the fact that they had to kill a king and cause a war for it. But unlike with most toxic romances, the author here actually knows that it is a complete mess. That’s what’s so great about the Lannisters. They are all so dysfunctional we cannot look away.

#7 Jaime x Brienne *

This relationship is not canon by the strictest of definitions. There is no concrete line to confirm that they feel more for each other than friendship. Well, there are plenty of lines that tells us they have feelings for each other, but no one ever quite calls it love. And yet, it is underneath all of their interactions, which is very much the author’s go-to move. He doesn’t like to tell us someone truly loves a person in the story. What he does is present us with evidence pro and con “true love” and we have to weigh the evidence and decide. Btw, I think he would object to the concept of “true love”. I haven’t read/seen him talk about this, but I bet he believes how someone loves depends on personalty and circumstances. I think he would say that it’s possible to love truly but that doesn’t mean the emotion won’t ever go away. That things won’t change. This is especially true for our Lannister and our lady of Tarth. It’s such a slow-burn, and because it’s GRRM, we can smell the tragic ending the moment we realize they have feelings for each other.

#8 Dunk x Rohanne

The ultimate lowborn noble-hearted knight and highborn lady couple. Their bickering and flirting was very sexy in the novella. It’s a twist on Robin and Maid Marion, a story which is a classic for a reason. It’s a no HEA rich-mean-girl-and-boy-from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks-with-a-heart-of-gold, which is just the GRRM type of realism we all love to hate. It’s a truthful look at such a love. It was never going to work between our Red Widow and our dearest hedgeknight. Lesson learned; just because it is a novella and not an epic poem, that doesn’t make heartbreak, or love, any less real.

#9 Aegon x Rhaenys x Visenya

The best of all love triangles, tbh. While most love triangles are poorly constructed, people love to read about that trope. Refreshingly, it’s not one girl and two guys this time. It’s Aegon and his two sisters/wives. What’s fascinating is that his relationship was very different with each of them. Also, there must have been a lot of jealousy because whoever had the first son was the mother of the future king, and, as Margaery told us, sons learn from their mothers. The fact that the woman Aegon loved more died so young, resulting in Aegon and Visenya having to put up with each other without her, is amazing angst.

#10 Bloodraven x Shiera Seastar

This is such a power couple. The bastards who were unabashedly themselves. It’s so fun that she kept lovers and refused to marry him just because she wanted to annoy him. There is something sexy about a couple made up of powerful people who are both manipulative.

#11 Naerys x Aemon the Dragonknight *

Naerys x Aemon is not quite canon, but many people in-universe believe that the pious queen cheated on her cruel king-brother-husband with the noble knight who was the royal couple’s brother. Because her husband was so terrible to both of them, I hope they had an epic romance and found solace in each other. This couple is sexy because of the forbidden romance trope, and because being pious and an adulterer is deliciously angsty. It’s Guinevere and Lancelot with incest, which sounds like it would make HBO salivate. On a more serious note, it is just like GRRM to take a trope like “the forbidden lovers” and push it to the extremes of taste. And it works. Every time. (Not every time the show is “shocking” but whenever GRRM wants to re-sensitize the audience to a topic.

* I’m certain everyone’s wondering why the story of Rhaegar and Elia and Lyanna is missing here. Well, it’s not on the list because I’m not certain any of the three was in love with any of the other two. We know Rhaegar was not in love with Elia. He was fond of her, cared about her and loved her as a friend and confidante. It’s speculation, but I really believe Elia wasn’t in love with him either. She was fond of him as he was fond of her. As for Lyanna, she’s a wildcard in the story. Did she run away with Rhaegar or did he kidnap her? I think the show is going the true love route, but I think GRRM will make the situation more complicated than that. I really loathe the annulment and I would bet money that’s all D&D and GRRM never wrote such a stupid thing. Polygamy makes way more sense, people! He’s a Targaryen, after all. The only way I can see myself slightly forgiving D&D for the annulment is if they say the kids are still legitimate. As for Dany and Drogo and Jon and Ygritte, I hate Dany’s marriage to Drogo and don’t care for Jon’s relationship with Ygritte. Drogo was Dany’s rapist. To ship a child with the man who rapes her every night… it would be like shipping Laurent with the Regent in Captive Prince. Abhorrent. Disgusting. Jon x Ygritte is not nearly as bad, but there’s still a consent issue. He starts sleeping with her to prove he gave up being a crow. While I loathe Khal Drogo and cheered when Dany finally killed him, I kinda liked Ygirtte. At certain points, I nearly shipped Jon x Ygritte.

As for Jonerys, I’ll write a piece about them when the season is over. It’s one of my main OTPs, but I want to celebrate them being officially canon by writing about them then.

#asoiaf meta #asoiaf romances #renly x loras #ned x catelyn #oberyn x ellaria #egg x betha #myrcella x trystane #cersei x jamie #jamie x brienne #dunk x rohanne #aegon x rhaenys x visenya #bloodraven x shiera #naerys x aemon #romance #anti khal drogo #anti jon x ygritte

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trendingnewsb · 6 years

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The Struggle to Predictand PreventToxic Masculinity

Terrie Moffitt has been trying to figure out why men are terrible for more than 25 years. Or, to calibrate: Why some men are really terrible—violent, criminal, dangerous—but most men are not. And, while she’s at it, how to tell which man is going to become which.

A small number of people are responsible for the vast majority of crimes. Many of those people display textbook “antisocial behavior”—technically, a serious disregard for other people’s rights—as adolescents. The shape of the problem is called the age-crime curve, arrests plotted against the age of the offender. It looks like a shark’s dorsal fin, spiking in the teenage years and then long-tailing off to the left.

In 1992, Moffitt, now a psychologist at Duke University, pitched an explanation for that shape: The curve covers two separate groups. Most people don’t do bad things. Some people only do them as teenagers. And a very small number start doing them as toddlers and keep doing them until they go to prison or die. Her paper became a key hypothesis in psychology, criminology, and sociology, cited thousands of times.

In a review article in Nature Human Behaviour this week, Moffitt takes a ride through two decades of attempts to validate the taxonomy. Not for girls, Moffitt writes, because even though she studies both sexes, “findings have not reached consensus.” But for boys and men? Oh yeah.

To be clear, Moffitt isn’t trying to develop a toxicology of toxic masculinity here. As a researcher she’s interested in the interactions of genes and environment, and the reasons some delinquent children—but not all—turn into crime-committing adults. That’s a big enough project. But at this exact cultural moment, with women of the #MeToo movement calling sexual harassers and abusers to account just as mass shootings feel as if they’ve become a permanent recurring event—and when almost every mass shooter, up to and including the recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida, has been a man—I’m inclined to try to find explanations anywhere that seems plausible. US women are more likely to be killed by partners than anyone else. Men commit the vast majority of crimes in the US. So it’s worth querying Moffitt’s taxonomy to see if it offers any order to that chaos, even if it wasn’t built for it.

“Grown-ups who use aggression, intimidation, and force to get what they want have invariably been pushing other people around since their very early childhood,” Moffitt says via email from a rural vacation in New Zealand. “Their mothers report they were difficult babies, nursery day-care workers say they are difficult to control, and when all the other kids give up hitting and settle in as primary school pupils, teachers say they don’t. Their record of violating the rights of others begins surprisingly early, and goes forward from there.”

So if you could identify those kids then, maybe you could make things better later? Of course, things are way more complicated than that.

Since that 1993 paper, hundreds of studies have tested pieces of Moffitt’s idea. Moffitt herself has worked on a few prospective studies, following kids through life to see if they fall into her categories, and then trying to figure out why.

For example, she worked with the Dunedin Study, which followed health outcomes for more than 1,000 boys and girls in New Zealand starting in the early 1970s. Papers published from the data have included looks at marijuana use, physical and mental health, and psychological outcomes. Moffitt and her colleagues found that about a quarter of the males in the study fit the criteria she’d laid out for “adolescence limited” antisociability; they’re fine until they hit their teens, then they do all sorts of bad stuff, and then they stop. And 10 percent were “life-course persistent”—they have trouble as children, and it doesn’t stop. As adolescents, all had about the same rates of bad conduct.

But as children, the LCP boys scored much higher on a set of specific risks. Their mothers were younger. They tended to have been disciplined more harshly, and have experienced more family strife as kids. They scored lower on reading, vocabulary, and memory tests, and had a lower resting heart rate—some researchers think that people feel lower heart rates as discomfort and undertake riskier behaviors in pursuit of the adrenaline highs that’ll even them out. “LCP boys were impulsive, hostile, alienated, suspicious, cynical, and callous and cold toward others,” Moffitt writes of the Dunedin subjects in her Nature Human Behaviour article. As adults, “they self-reported excess violence toward partners and children.” They had worse physical and mental health in their 30s, were more likely to be incarcerated, and were more likely to attempt suicide.

Other studies have found much the same thing. A small number of identifiable boys turn into rotten, violent, unhappy men.

Could Moffitt’s taxonomy account for sexual harassers and abusers? In one sense, it seems unlikely: Her distinction explicitly says by adulthood there should only be a small number of bad actors, yet one of the lessons of #MeToo has been that every woman, it seems, has experienced some form of harassment.

Meta-analyses of the incidence of workplace sexual harassment vary in their outcomes, but a large-scale one from 2003 that covered 86,000 women reported that 56 percent experienced “potentially harassing” behaviors and 24 percent had definitely been harassed. Other studies get similar results.

But as pollsters say, check the cross-tabs. Harassment has sub-categories. Many—maybe most—women experience the gamut of harassing behaviors, but sub-categories like sexual coercion (being forced to have sex as a quid pro quo or to avoid negative consequences) or outright assault are rarer than basic institutional sexism and jerky, inappropriate comments. “What women are more likely to experience is everyday sexist behavior and hostility, the things we would describe as gender harassment,” says John Pryor, a psychologist at Illinois State University who studies harassment.

Obviously, any number greater than zero here is too high. And studies of prevalence can’t tell you if so many women are affected because all men harass at some low, constant ebb or few men do it, like, all the time. Judging by reports of accusations, the same super-creepy men who plan out sexual coercion may also impulsively grope and assault women. Those kind of behaviors, combined with the cases where many more accusers come forward after the first one, seem to me to jibe with the life-course persistent idea. “Sometimes people get caught for the first time as an adult, but if we delve into their history, the behavior has been there all along,” Moffitt says. “Violating the rights of others is virtually always a life-long lifestyle and an integral part of a person’s personality development.”

That means it’s worth digging into people’s histories. Whisper networks have been the de facto means of protecting women in the workplace; the taxonomy provides an intellectual framework for giving them a louder voice, because it suggests that men with a history of harassment and abuse probably also have a future of it.

Now, some writers have used the idea of toxic masculinity to draw a line between harassment, abuse, and mass shootings. They’re violent, and the perpetrators tend to be men. But here, Moffitt’s taxonomy may be less applicable.

Despite what the past few years have felt like, mass shootings are infrequent. And many mass shooters end up committing suicide or being killed themselves, so science on them is scant. “Mass shootings are such astonishingly rare, idiosyncratic, and multicausal events that it is impossible to explain why one individual decides to shoot his or her classmates, coworkers, or strangers and another does not,” write Benjamin Winegard and Christopher Ferguson in their chapter of The Wiley Handbook of the Psychology of Mass Shootings.

That said, researchers have found a few commonalities. The shooters are often suicidal, or more precisely have stopped caring whether they live or die, says Adam Lankford, a criminologist at the University of Alabama. Sometimes they’re seeking fame and attention. And they share a sense that they themselves are victims. “That’s how they justify attacking others,” Lankford says. “Sometimes the perceptions are based in reality—I was bullied, or whatever—but sometimes they can be exacerbated by mental health problems or personality characteristics.”

Though reports on mass shooters often say that more than half of them are also domestic abusers, that number needs some unpacking. People have lumped together mass shootings of families—domestic by definition—with public mass shootings like the one in Las Vegas, or school shootings. Disaggregate the public active shooters from the familicides and the number of shooters with histories of domestic abuse goes down. (Of course, that doesn’t change preposterously high number of abused women murdered by their partners outside of mass shooting events.)

What may really tip the mass shooter profile away from Moffitt’s taxonomy, though, is that people in the life-course persistent cohort do uncontrolled, crazy stuff all the time. Yes, some mass shooters have a history of encounters with law enforcement, let’s say. But some don’t. Mass shootings are, characteristically, highly planned events. “I’m not saying it’s impossible to be a mass shooter and have poor impulse control, but if you have poor impulse control you won’t be able to go for 12 months of planning an attack without ending up in jail first,” Lankford says.

Moffitt isn’t trying to build a unified field theory of the deadly patriarchy. When I suggest that the societal structures that keep men in power relative to women, generally, might explain the behavior of her LCP cohort, she disagrees. “If sexual harassment and mass shootings were the result of cultural patriarchy and societal expectations for male behavior, all men would be doing it all the time,” Moffitt says. “Even though media attention creates the impression that these forms of aggression are highly prevalent and all around us, they are nevertheless still extremely rare. Most men are trustworthy, good, and sensible.”

She and her colleagues continue to look for hard markers for violence or lack of impulse control, genes or neurobiological anomalies. (A form of the gene that codes for a neurotransmitter called monoamine oxidase inhibitor A might give some kids protection against lifelong effects of maltreatment, she and her team have found. By implication not having that polymorphism, then, could predispose a child raised under adverse circumstances to psychopathology as an adult.) Similarly, nobody yet knows what digital-native kids in either cohort will do when they move their bad behavior online. One might speculate that it looks a lot like GamerGate and 4chan, though that sociological and psychological work is still in early days.

But for now, Moffitt and her co-workers have identified risk factors and childhood conditions that seem to create these bad behaviors, or allow them to flourish. That’s the good news. “We know a lifestyle of aggression and intimidation toward others starts so young,” Moffitt says. “It could be preventable.”

Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/the-struggle-to-predictand-preventtoxic-masculinity/

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avanneman · 6 years

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First Things First: Uncle Reno’s Just So Stories

What do you get when you click on an article in First Things, that heady brew of theological harrumphing first set in motion by frenzied spiritual striver Richard John Neuhaus, about whom I (mostly) snickered here? Well, judging from this piece by the site’s editor, R.R. (Richard Russell) Reno, “End Times Anxiety”, you’ll learn a little, you’ll laugh a little, and you’ll conclude with a piece of sustained derision.

Surprisingly (or not), the Catholic Dr. Reno and I have a similar reaction to “Modern Times”, at least in part:

“Our present cultural moment is one of suspicion, anxiety, and worries about vulnerability. Many, perhaps most, fear that they are being discriminated against and marginalized. And those who don’t? They often live in the fear that they will be accused of white privilege or some other sin. Perhaps this is to be expected. Patriarchy, racism, heteronormativity—they are said to infect everything. One area of public discourse immune from the postmodern hermeneutics of suspicion is wonkish policy debate. But this is dominated by economistic thinking, which takes as its first premise rational self-interest. Here, too, we’re pictured as eyeing each other with competitive suspicion.

“The anxiety baffles me. Our society works pretty well. In many cities, crime is down dramatically, reaching historically low levels. The economy grows, both here at home and globally. American war-making has settled into a pattern of limited engagement that leaves most of us undisturbed. Meanwhile, public culture rings with warnings that things are heading toward disaster—global warming, resurgent racism, populism. Every week our office receives review copies of another book that promises to show us how to “save liberal democracy.”

Okay, I could do without the snicker about “postmodern hermeneutics” and the cutesy putdown of “rational self-interest”, but, hey, the guy’s Catholic. RR rumbles on a bit—well, more than a bit, actually—and then quotes to good effect someone I usually don’t care for much at all, Peggy Noonan, to wit:

“When at least half the country no longer trusts its political leaders, when people see the detached, cynical and uncaring refusal to handle such problems as illegal immigration, when those leaders commit a great nation to wars they blithely assume will be quickly won because we’re good and they’re bad and we’re the Jetsons and they’re the Flintstones, and while they were doing that they neglected to notice there was something hinky going on with the financial sector, something to do with mortgages, and then the courts decide to direct the culture, and the IRS abuses its power, and a bunch of nuns have to file a lawsuit because the government orders them to violate their conscience. . . .”

Well, again, I don’t think the IRS is abusing its power, and I don’t think the Little Sisters of the Poor should complain about being required to offer health care plans to their employees that provide free birth control pills,1 but the fact that Wall Street was rewarded for blowing up the economy,2 and that neither the Bush nor the Obama Administration had the nerve to walk away from a series of disastrous and counterproductive wars,3 not to mention occasional bloody acts of terrorism in the U.S. by isolated individuals (and not al Qaeda or ISIS or any other international terrorist group), are fundamental contributors to our national malaise.

I could go on in this vein for some time, but I already have, well, almost constantly for the past ten years, but my most recent “big picture” outburst, “Paging Dr. Yeats! Paging Dr. Yeats!, appeared only a couple of weeks ago, so I won’t belabor the point, except (and, okay, this is a pretty big “except”) it would be nice if Peggy, and maybe R.R. would admit that 1) the Republican Party started all these goddamn useless foreign wars and keeps looking for new ones (e.g., Ukraine, Syria, Iran, China) and 2) did their level best to not only prevent President Obama from countering the effects of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression but actually sought to wreck the U.S. economy in the hopes of driving Obama from power.4

Well, enough of that. Suffice to say that the failure of the center has strengthened the extremes, and encouraged the notion that “truth” resides there. The more “passionate” you are, regardless of substance, the more valid. You can read either R.R. or myself on the fine points.

R.R. has something more satisfying to say, about which I’ll also carp, mourning the death of “the most significant influence on my intellectual life,” George Lindbeck (this article is my introduction to both men). Lindbeck was a Lutheran, who taught at Yale Divinity School and, according to Wikipedia, is one of the founders of “postliberal theology”, whatever that is. Wikipedia’s writeup highlights Lindbeck’s involvement in the movement and “explains” that many second-gen postliberal types, including R.R. himself, left the Protestant faith and joined the Catholic Church, quite in the manner (as Wikipedia also notes) of the Oxford “Tractarian Movement” in Victorian England.

R.R. tells us that “[Limbeck] was and remained a Lutheran, and he had only a small degree of sympathy for my conservative political leanings. But I can’t imagine thinking about theology the way I do without his example”:

“Lindbeck taught me this lesson [something about theology, obviously] when lecturing on an early medieval controversy between two monks, Radbertus and Ratramnus. Their dispute concerned whether or not the consecrated bread and wine is Christ’s physical body or his spiritual body. His patient unpacking of this controversy allowed me to understand his metaphor of “grammar.” Both monks wanted to affirm the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the consensus affirmation for almost all Christians, not just in the twelfth century, but in our time as well. However, there is no consensus about what makes things real—a metaphysical question. As a consequence, it’s possible for someone to treat spiritual presence as more real than physical presence. Platonism encourages this way of thinking. The Pythagorean theorem is more “real” than any particular right-angle triangle. Others find this dissatisfying and emphasize the thatness of things, which is to say, their physical presence. This, moreover, is not just a matter of differing philosophical intuitions. The Bible suggests divergent metaphysical affirmations. The opening chapters of Genesis encourage a focus on physical presence, but Jesus’s statement that his kingdom is not of this world points toward the view that the spiritual is more real than things we can see and touch.”

Well, if you’re still with me, I just want to chuckle, amidst all this learnedness, about the line “Both monks wanted to affirm the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the consensus affirmation for almost all Christians, not just in the twelfth century, but in our time as well.” That is so not true. The Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, is rejected by the Lutheran doctrine of consubstantiation (both bread and body and wine and blood), the Eastern Orthodox notion of “mystery”, which explicitly and unsurprisingly rejects the Catholic doctrine (in his “twelfth century” reference, R.R. forgets, as so many Catholics do, the very existence of the Eastern Orthodox Church), the Anglican Church’s “whatever”, and the Calvinist rejection of any “magic” at all, part of the basic Protestant thrust to strip the priests of divine authority.5 And today, among the majority of American Protestants—the Evangelicals—the Eucharist plays no role in their faith whatsoever.

Furthermore, R.R. could have chosen, but of course did not, a topic that would prove more obviously divisive, such as the existence of Purgatory, which is rejected by all Protestants and the Eastern Orthodox, or, most divisive of all for Catholics and Lutherans—even more so the infallibility of the Pope when speaking on matters of faith—the question of free will versus predestination. What R.R.’s affection for Lindbeck signifies is the flocking together of all those who fancy metaphysical reveries, which, like the brook, can go on forever.

According to Wikipedia, Lindbeck and his fellow postliberal pals went back to Karl Barth, among others, for inspiration, which makes sense because Barth was one of the early twentieth-century enemies of “Whiggery”, ridiculing the idea that Christ was the first socialist (as Leopold Bloom called him). By my wildly casual reading, Barth took Kant’s categories, designed to secularize Protestant values, and reworked them to justify the metaphysical theology that Kant felt he had disassembled, naturally making it even more rigorous, and “postliberal/antiliberal” as he did so. Progress? Bah! Enlightenment? Nonsense!

Wikipedia informs me that the seminal event in Lindbeck’s career was serving as a guest observer at the famous/infamous “Vatican II” council,6 running from 1962 to 1965, which opened up for Lindbeck, one can be sure, whole new worlds (an infinite number, in fact) of metaphysical speculation. “Why can’t we have this?” he must have exclaimed.

Wikipedia further informs me that Lindbeck and his followers were heavily influenced by Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations, published posthumously in 1953 and written largely to reject the ideas expressed in the only work that Wittgenstein published in his lifetime, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.7 The notion that one has to master Wittgenstein to get into heaven strikes me as a little strict and just a bit off point. Wittgenstein, though heavily influenced by Christianity personally, certainly never belonged to a church, and moreover always encouraged his students not to pursue a career in philosophy but rather to serve humanity via medicine. The point of philosophy, Wittgenstein thought, was to prove that the study of philosophy led nowhere—though of course that was all he ever thought about.

Wittgenstein’s thought strongly echoes the ideas expressed in Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, which “explains” why all traditional metaphysics are false—because it applies concepts that effectively describe the finite world to “infinite” realms, where they are out of place. Unfortunately, finite concepts are the only ones we have. Wittgenstein’s favorite philosopher was Artur Schopenhauer, who saw himself as Kant’s disciple. Kant’s Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone, a substantially simpler work than the “thorny” Critique, effectively explains, to my mind, why the theological hairsplitting that so engages both Lindbeck and Reno never ends. And why would they want it to, since they enjoy it so much? Of course, the larger doctrinal divisions between “confessions” are very largely the result of power struggles between entrenched groups, not spontaneous musings, which is why such groups always find ways to disagree with, not to mention burn, one another.

Yeah, this is a long post. Well, you’re here, aren’t you? After bidding farewell to his Lutheran mentor, R.R. throws a few random punches, at modernizing Catholics and free-market know nothings, before coming up with the riff that set me off in the first place, “explaining” how Ronald Reagan engineered morality by cutting taxes, thus encouraging hard work instead of dissipation:

“This was brought home to me decades ago when I was watching John Updike being interviewed on Book TV. He was asked what he thought of his early novels. The celebrated author adopted an amused look and allowed that they were to some degree dated. He recounted a recent trip to an elite university. The students told him that his stories, many of which revolve around afternoon martinis and sexual escapades, ring false. It was not as though life in upscale America had become more buttoned up in the interval between the publication of Rabbit, Run (1960) and their adolescent years in the 1990s. Rather, they told Updike, no adults were home in the early evenings, and their parents were too tired to throw the sorts of cocktail parties that provide the occasions for the alcohol-fueled transgressions that figure prominently in Updike’s fiction. As Updike told the interviewer, he had to inform these hard-charging, high-achieving kids that upper-middle-class grown-ups didn’t work so hard in the 1950s. People had more time on their hands.”

I could point out—and I will—that Rabbit, Run was not about upper-middle-class grown-ups. “Rabbit”, saddled with the ludicrously “loaded” last name of “Angstrom”,8 is a former high-school jock who sells a kitchen “gadget” called the “MagiPeeler” for a living. Updike wrote quite consciously, and conscientiously, about the middle class. Couples, his raunchy blockbuster, which came out in 1968, had more of a mixed group—everyone from a “contractor” to a nuclear physicist, but I think we’re hardly in Don Draper territory.9

More importantly, if we look at the actual data, instead of a novelist’s musings, we find, well, a mixed bag. According to *Measuring Leisure: The Allocation of Time Over Decades, published in 2006 by Mark Aguiar and Eric Hurst for the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston, hours worked by individuals with more than a high school degree declined from 1965 to 2003, from 52 to 43 hours per week. Another study, The Expanding Workweek? Understanding Trends in Long Work Hours Among U.S. Men, 1979-2004, by Peter Kuhn and Fernando Lozano for the National Bureau Of Economic Research, did find an increase, but dated the origin from 1970, 12 long years before Ronnie’s big cuts took effect.

Most importantly of all, wasn’t there a fair amount of hanky-panky going on in the eighties and nineties, alcohol-fueled or no? How about Donald Trump, hangin’ in Studio 54, aka “Cocaine Alley”, watching supermodels bangin’ n’ snortin’ in public? And what about soon to be chair of the president’s Council of Economic Advisors Larry Kudlow, who blew up his Wall Street career and his marriage via the White Lady back in 1995? And how about Wall Street “Wolf” Jordan Belfort, whose lifestyle was even more obscene than the hours he worked? Seems like this postliberal theology stuff might not be all it’s cracked to be. In fact, I wonder what either Barth or Wittgenstein might think of R.R.’s “logic”.

Afterwords R.R.’s affectionate tribute to his mentor Lindberg suggests that genial companionship is more highly valued than mere “ideas”. Although both men surely took all their high-flying metaphysics seriously—believed they were necessary for salvation, which is pretty important after all—one can bet that neither ever tried to “convert” the other. How gauche can you be? If he could have done so, would Ross have journeyed to Lindberg’s deathbed, priest in tow, to save his friend’s soul? I think not. But wasn’t it his Christian duty to do so? Just sayin’.

Yeah, the gals don’t want to spend their money on birth control. But health care is “compensation”. Could the Little Sisters forbid their employees from using their wages to buy birth control pills? Then why should the employees be denied the opportunity to select a health care plan that offered them for “free”? ↩︎

The federal bailout was necessary, but in the past when the International Monetary Fund bailed out “bad” nations like South Korea they were required to “reform”. Far from requiring Wall Street to “reform”, the Obama Administration, led by Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner, rewarded them. Furthermore, while Wall Street bankers drank their own Kool-Aid during the Boom (making the same investments they advised their clients to make), when things were falling apart there was a great deal of criminal deceit, as might be expected. The Obama Administration swept this under the rug. “Do you want us to put everyone in jail?” ↩︎

The Bush Administration, of course, could hardly abandon its “Mission Accomplished” swagger without looking like losers. The possibility that the Obama Administration would pursue a policy of military withdrawal was destroyed by the rise of ISIS and Putin’s seizure of the Crimea. It is “arguable” (I know it is, because I’ve done it a lot) that Hillary Clinton’s aggressively anti-Russian policy in Eastern Europe, and her general contempt for Russian “interests”, led directly to the Ukrainian crisis that precipitated Putin’s decision to invade land that had been part of Russia for several centuries. ↩︎

After 9/11, the Democrats accepted the need for national unity and led President Bush set the national agenda, which he did with a clear eye towards partisan advantage. Under Obama, the Republicans furiously resisted every presidential proposal and were determined to undermine every possibility of economic recovery, because Obama. ↩︎

Voltaire, that shallow, shallow fellow, put it more succinctly: “The Catholics say they eat God, and no bread. The Lutherans say they eat God and bread. And the Calvinists say they eat bread and no God.” Luther invented the “theory” of consubstantiation because he had to be different from the Catholic Church, yet, having one foot still in the Catholic Church, couldn’t go “full Calvin”. Luther’s affection for the “traditional” Eucharist is “interesting” because he stripped away all other elements of priestly “magic” (holy relics, extreme unction, etc.). ↩︎

As Ross Douthat shrewdly observed, Vatican II was largely intended to make the Catholic faith palatable to the American establishment, which, the Vatican shrewdly reckoned, was the only force that could save them from communism. Among other things, Vatican II abolished the Index  Librorum Prohibitorum, the “Index of Prohibited Books”, which had been updated as recently as 1948 and embarrassingly included such classics as Galileo (of course), Montesquieu (the “celebrated Montesquieu”, as the Founding Fathers always called him), and “even” Blaise Pascal (I guess for making fun of the Jesuits and for not renouncing the evil Cornelius Jansen). ↩︎

It’s a little shocking that Word can’t spell “tractatus”. I’ll bet that Bill Gates has read Wittgenstein. ↩︎

You can learn all about Angstroms here. It’s possible, I guess, that Updike met someone named “Angstrom” (it’s a Scandinavian surname as well as a unit of measurement equal to one ten-billionth of a meter) and therefore felt entitled to use it. ↩︎

I wrote an “homage” of sorts to Updike in my little book Author! Author! Auden, Oates, and Updike, though I doubt if he would appreciate “The Apotheosis of John Updike: A Modern Triptych”, which “he” narrates in the first person. ↩︎

#R. R. Reno #First Things #Peggy Noonan #Michael Lindbeck #postliberal theology

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mrkeb · 6 years

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Privilege

The moment my nephew was born, my parents started comparing his upbringing to the ones that my brother and I had. My parents were constantly working, slaving away at the restaurant, to earn profits well beyond their keep, for feared that they will be replaced otherwise. Because of this, they were not physically or mentally there sometimes to experiencing certain milestones in parenting. Albeit annoying and the reason why I had such bad self-esteem issues, comparing your kids to fill-in-the-blank appeared to be a cultural past time. They would say things like how I was a better-behaved baby. (But it’s largely because I needed to. Y’all were busy and life would be so much more difficult if I was difficult) They would say things like how niece and nephew are much more academically advanced, especially for their age. (But largely due to being enrolled in multiple extra-curricular activities, had parents that taught them proper English from the get-go, and were enrolled in Kumon as early as they could sit still) They would say things like how brother or sister-in-law should be doing this or that because of this reason. (But that is just a different parenting style. They are raising their kids and should be able to do so as they deem fits) And after so many comparisons between positives and positives, negatives and negatives, and positives and negatives, I started to get irritated. ‘You know, I never sit around with my friends and have open discussions to your parenting style with their parents’ styles. I never talk about your weights or your decisions or your careers and felt shame or pride just because they’re subjectively better or worse than anybody else’s parents’.’ I once said. ‘You know, they (niece and nephew) are so smart because they had opportunities that I didn’t have. I spent my childhood literally creating games for myself with sticks and rocks. I had to learn how to operate a rice cooker and cooked (simple) things for brother and myself, in a wok before I had was even taught multiplication. It was a different environment and it’s not entirely fair that you’re comparing my past self to them because I didn’t have all these great opportunities.’ They would start talking about how things were difficult and there was no choice. They would say that it’s not meant to be offensive, but just a cultural way to begin a topic. They would say that within our culture, the success of a parent is highly linked with how their kid is doing. And although I don’t agree with it, I can understand. But after conversation after conversation of these unfair comparisons, a feeling of resentment started building. Success or the opposite of it, typically boiled down to privilege. Privilege to be in a (financial, social, academic, etc.) situation where you were allowed certain opportunities. And although my parents weren’t able to learn enroll in school to discuss topics relating to how the patriarchy sucks or how privilege allows the rich to stay rich, they should have some idea due to the experiences they had settling down here. And maybe the reason why they didn’t seem to understand my counter-arguments also was because of privilege. ~ Through stories I’ve read about and through television sitcoms I watched, there was one coming-of-age lesson that never quite resonated with me. It's not that I didn’t understand it, I just simply never related. There would be a chapter or episode where the kid would start to realize that the parent(s), that they so dearly admired and held in high regard(s), had flaws, were humans, and not this superhero idol that they came to believe. They would realize that their parents did not know everything, made mistakes, and were wrong sometimes. Cue the whole rebellious phase and the shift from Dad/Mom being their superhero to Black Panther and Wonder Woman. I think I could never relate because I had always saw my parents as humans first. My parents are hardworking, very admirable, very loving, and genuine wonderful people – people that deserves to be admired and held in high regards. But because of my family’s interdependent dynamic, my parents had never worked to uphold ‘illusion’ of the superhero parent that American literature and media have come to create and sometimes uphold. And because of the flaws and all approach that they have, it makes it so much more obvious that they have paved the way to [subjectively] (academically, socially, and economically) improved generations to come. My parents say things that are not-okay a good amount of the time. There would be generalizations, assumptions presented as facts, and holes in their stories or conversations. And if I’m feeling patient, I would try to explain why that might not be okay thought or challenge them (in a constructive way). And in those moments, I realized that they did a great job as a parents. Personally, I think that one of the most important lesson as a parent is to ensure that your kids have the best opportunities possible and to (hopefully) someday surpass you – at least that’s a viewpoint I agree with my parents on. Based on this measure, my high school educated, immigrant parents, who held service industry jobs did an amazing job. They raising kids that have transformed from hand-me down clothes wearing, ESL students to eventually becoming college graduates, held white-collar jobs, in companies that were highly competitive and highly sought after. And I look forward to seeing how my niece and nephew turn out. Sure, a lot of it has to do with privilege. But that’s one of things my parents worked the hardest to do during their 30 years here – work their way towards privilege for the future generations.

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metawitches · 6 years

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Jane The Virgin –“Chapter Four — Image JAV104A_155 — Pictured (L-R): Andrea Navedo as Xo, Gina Rodriguez as Jane and Ivonne Coll as Alba — Photo: Danny Feld/The CW — ÃÂ© 2014 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

This is the basic list of questions we ask ourselves while consuming media to help us determine if we’re seeing women being treated fairly or not. It’s not a yes or no checklist, or an easy, one sentence test, like the Bechdel test. But then, Alison Bechdel never meant for her test to become a widely used standardized instrument. This test requires some thinking about what you’re viewing. Misogyny is often subtle, and it’s pervasive. It’s easy to miss with one, casual viewing, but the message still gets into our heads and affects us.

That’s why these are guidelines, rather than a test. Some of these answers will be subjective, and reasonable people can disagree. We’re talking about art and the interpretation of art, after all. It also takes practice to start seeing things like camera angles and positioning, rather than letting it fly by. Hardly any of us can always spot gaslighting, especially when it’s being done by the writers and producers instead of the characters. These guidelines are just aspects of entertainment to keep in mind while viewing, to become more aware of what you’re seeing.

I (Metacrone) started working on this list in the late 80s, and it’s slowly grown. It’s still a work in progress, just like the entertainment industry. There are very few works that would pass every question with flying colors. Figure out how much you can live with watching, and the level that makes you take action. It’s okay to just watch and enjoy the show sometimes without feeling guilty, too. But, the more you can recognize the issues with entertainment and speak out, even if it’s only to one person, the more of an effect we all have on the entertainment industry.

The trick to understanding subtle misogyny, which is often institutionalized and internalized, is to look at the attitude behind the narrative, the way events and actions are framed, and the repetitiveness with which we are presented with these images. One scientist or superhero unrealistically fighting monsters in heels doesn’t matter. All of them fighting monsters unrealistically in heels while being unrealistically thin, with no muscle mass, having beautiful hair and clothing, and only a minor smudge or 2 of “sexy dirt,” matters a huge amount. It becomes the standard that everyone measures women by, even if they don’t realize they’re doing it. Especially for girls growing up surrounded by those images and looking up to those heroines. Or finding powerful female villains to be the closest thing to a well-rounded, achievable role model that is available to them.

You’ll notice we don’t include the standard used by the Bechdel test, time spent with other females talking about something other than men. We feel that standard has turned out to be a Trojan horse, as others have pointed out before us. If a woman is alone on a desert island with a man, there’s no way to pass the Bechdel test, even for the most feminist piece, whereas a piece in which a group of women do nothing but belittle each other based on patriarchal beauty standards can still pass the Bechdel test.

What’s important to us is the female characters’ appropriateness relative to the situation they find themselves in. We’re looking for women escaping the shackles of patriarchy. For women to no longer have to choose between being a madonna or a whore. To no longer be burdened with Eve’s supposed sins. We’re looking for shows where women are just women. Just regular, human people, living their lives, going about their business, as most of us do, without having male expectations placed onto them, forcing them to be weaker, or stronger, or more beautiful, or sexier, or uglier, than the situation would otherwise call for. We’re looking for female characters that haven’t been distorted in any way in order to fit male needs and expectations.

It doesn’t seem like much to ask, but it’s surprisingly hard to find. Most of us have forgotten what it might even look like. Many of us don’t even have it in our real lives, so we don’t know what to look for to begin with.

So, the next time you have some extra brain space and are watching a show, ask yourself a few of these questions. They are meant for reflection, to be applied in a thoughtful manner on a case by case basis, not to suggest that every time a woman fights in heels or wears tight, revealing clothing she’s in a misogynist show. We love a good fight in a great outfit as much as the next person.

Metawitches Guidelines for Spotting Misogyny vs Female Equality in Entertainment and Media

Misogynist works reduce women to five different tropes, or a combination of these tropes, if the characters are “complex”:

Madonna: The perfect, pure, unspoiled, virginal, all-giving, always nurturing mother/good girl who “deserves”, and gets, the men’s respect. Attractive in a more controlled, more subdued way than the Whore/Bad Girl, usually involving pastels, neutral colors, and covered skin. Sandy from Grease, Jane Bennett from Pride and Prejudice and Melanie Wilkes from Gone With the Wind are examples.

Whore: The woman who is sexual, powerful, selfish, self-aware, who does not put the needs of others first at all times, and hangs around with the men, but isn’t respected. Attractive in a flashy, obvious way, involving brighter colors, and tighter, more revealing clothing than the Madonna/Good Girl. Often a villain, but also can be simply the Bad Girl or even the Bad Girl with the Heart of Gold. Scarlet O’Hara from Gone with the Wind, Kitty Bennett from Pride and Prejudice, Rizzo from Grease, and Johanna from The Hunger Games are examples.

Child: The woman who is weak and unable to think for herself, whether it’s the writers who think that, the male characters, or the woman herself. She is helpless, ditzy, silly, insane, manic, dreamy, victimized, angry, depressed, etc. There are an infinite number of reasons why the male characters might need to step in and take over the decision-making, or provide strong guidance. Guidance may be provided subtly. This one can be difficult to spot. The child usually doesn’t grow up/grow as a character, get more than token punishment for mistakes, or have any truly evil intent. Examples include Mrs Bennett from Pride and Prejudice, Frenchie from Grease, Annie from The Hunger Games and Barbra from Night of the Living Dead. This is a prominent racist stereotype as well, so it’s often used on women of color. Prissy from Gone with the Wind is a famous example.

Eve: Even though she might be the lead character, the woman is treated as if she is an extension of the male characters, instead of a separate being, especially physically. Men will guide her decision-making. She will learn everything important from them. Their love and approval will mean everything to her. Often, the love interest will touch her constantly, going so far as to move her body to where he wants it without telling her where they are going first or giving her any choice in the matter. Sex is all about him and is often a reward for his accomplishments. If the woman disobeys the man’s wishes, the universe will often teach her a lesson. Unlike the child, Eve can grow as a character, but she can only grow in male-approved directions. Eve can be a good girl and close companion to the man from the start, or she can start off as a villain and be redeemed, after she’s accepted her punishment and male guidance. Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games, Wonder Woman (from the 2017 movie), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Jane Austin’s Emma, and Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice are Eves, as are most of the recent crop of bad ass female warriors and strong female heroines.

Invisible Woman: The women that men don’t want, unless they are used as villains or plot devices. The throwaway characters. The old (post-menopausal, sometimes younger), very young, disfigured, disabled, sick, unattractive, fat. If the piece is racist, women of color will often fall into this category. Wonder Woman 2017 erased all of the women in this category except the chosen child, the plot device secretary, and the disfigured villainess. The movie side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has also virtually erased this category, except the aging Peggy Carter and a few appearances by superhero mothers and mentors. The Ancient One in Dr. Strange was an Invisible Woman, meant to be a supremely powerful being, but instead kept in hiding, reduced to asking neophyte Dr Strange for help, and sacrificing herself, in the end.* All of the Asian women who could have played the role instead of Tilda Swinton were rendered invisible by the filmmakers.

Now that you have an idea of what you’re looking for, let’s look at the questions.

1- Does the women’s clothing make sense for their situations, or is it meant to sexualize or infantilize characters who otherwise wouldn’t have those traits? Are older women, disabled women, fat women, and other women outside the typical Western beauty standard dressed in plain, loose clothing, while the “attractive” women are dressed in tight, revealing clothing? Are the women dressed appropriately for what they’re doing and who/when/what they are? Are they dressed sexually for no apparent reason? Are they hobbled by wearing high heels or being barefoot? Is a character wearing a tiny revealing outfit that makes her physically vulnerable to injury, or virginal white, or something else that makes her seem deliberately childlike?

2-Are women who aren’t considered traditionally attractive confined to the role of best friend, sidekick, neighbor, boss, villain: anything but leading lady? Are women who are physically disabled or disfigured actively portrayed as villains?Are the women’s faces and facial expressions allowed to be normal reactions to situations and is the level of make up they wear appropriate to the character? Are they allowed to have bad hair days, not wear makeup, have less than attractive facial expressions? Are their faces oversexualized? Are they forced to smile at all times? To wear heavy make up? Are older women so loaded up with Botox that they can’t move their facial muscles any more? Do the female characters become ridiculously frightened or scream at the first sign of trouble, no matter how brave and practical they are otherwise?

3- If the show acknowledges bodily functions and genitals, does it acknowledge them in women? How? Is it acknowledged in a matter-of-fact way, or are women’s bodily functions and genitals seen as especially disgusting, especially those that are unique to women, such as periods and breastfeeding? Or are women’s bodily functions fetishized, with pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding turned into processes created exclusively to benefit men? Or are beautiful women too perfect to do anything as disgusting as fart or sh*t, but “ugly” women do it for laughs or to show us how scary or hideous they are?

4- Are the women unnecessarily physically manhandled by other people? Are the women fully in control of their own bodies? Do people touch them, either sexually or non-sexually, without their consent? Are their bodies picked up and moved around at will by others, without their consent? Is their personal space invaded without a second thought? Are they forced to use their bodies in ways they don’t want to, up to and including rape? Are they subject to social pressure to behave a certain way, often to the point of coercion? Are they seen as monsters who must be executed? Are they the subject of a witch hunt, or false imprisonment?

5- Is the woman in full control of her mind and power (personal power or supernatural power)? Or does she have to have a man guiding her all the time? Does a male step in and finish her fights for her (and possibly take the glory)? Is there a male guide who is the smart one, and who chuckles at her naivety? If she’s the main character, does the male get the big victory? Does she ever outgrow mentorship? (E.g.: Buffy never outgrew needing Giles to be her guide.) Does her husband, lover, or son tend to make the main decisions, or subtly guide her toward the correct decision? (We’re not talking about a woman freely asking for advice, or coming to consensus with another person.) Do men belittle the women’s intelligence and morals on a regular basis, while the women accept this treatment as normal? Do all of the female characters have an external locus of control (feel that they are powerless to affect their own world/lives, and thus end up being constant victims), or act like it when it’s time to take action, regardless of their position in the world? Do women go insane or develop other illnesses from experiences that don’t have the same effect on men? Are female characters expected to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, whether that means the couple, the family, or the country, while male characters are not? If the woman is a criminal, in the military, or has another dangerous lifestyle, is she treated equally to the men, or is she seen as a pawn in the men’s games? Did she understand the choices she was making, or was she portrayed as too stupid or naive to realize the seriousness of the life she chose?

6- Do men use subtle and not so subtle gaslighting and manipulation of women to control and coerce them, but this is accepted as normal behavior by everyone? Who is the point of view character? Are we ever given the honest point of view of the female characters? (This might be the most important question, and the hardest to discern. Characters speak the writers’ words, after all, not their own. Editors and directors manipulate which words we hear and how they are presented. But then sometimes it seems like it should be obvious. We’ve been pressured into accepting reality show conditions, for example, as okay, because the women appear to choose to trade their autonomy and dignity for fame and fortune. But is there any real choice in a coercive culture like ours, where we are bombarded from birth with certain messages?) Do women feel the need to apologize for expressing their emotions and opinions freely, especially negative ones, most especially anything involving anger or depression (for being the dreaded Debbie Downer), while men are accepted and even praised for expressing themselves? Are women automatically seen as liars and manipulators, using men for their own purposes? Does the gaslighting extend to the audience, asking us to accept that the male characters are truthful and have only good intentions? Do the women smile and nod their way through the scenes, accepting whatever is dished out to them (often with a laugh track in the background or a reality show commentary)? Do the women compete to be degraded, sometimes to the point of abuse? Do the male characters keep a judgey running commentary on the women’s behavior and looks going, as if the women can’t hear them?

7- If the show involves sex, do women initiate and enjoy sex as often and as much as men? Is it stated or implied that certain kinds of women want or enjoy sex too much? Are value judgements made on the types of sex a woman wants and enjoys, whether that’s hetero sex, kinky sex or queer sex of whatever sort? Does it show women receiving oral or being pleasured just for them at least as often as men are? If it does, does it only show women receiving pleasure from other women, or do they receive it from men? Is the man genuinely concerned with pleasing the woman just for her, or is it part of some actual or perceived competition for him? Does it show women being coerced, either subtly or overtly, into sex acts they aren’t interested in or comfortable with, while the narrative implies that they should go along with whatever their partner or culture wants? Is it stated verbally that it’s okay to say no or to stop in the middle of sex, but that’s negated by everything else in the piece? Is it stated or implied that only certain kinds of women (such as a certain age, size, race, ability, economic or beauty standard) are interested in sex, enjoy sex or are worth having sex with? Is the man always dominant and the initiator in sexual encounters? Is the sex about power or competition rather than pleasure? Who has the power in the situation? Is everything that happens during the sexual encounters consensual and previously discussed, if the couple is trying out sexual practices that are new to them? Is the women freely choosing to have sex, or is the sex something that has been earned by the male character for fulfilling certain conditions, whether it’s taking her to dinner and a movie or helping her escape from prison? Are the characters being honest and open about themselves before having sex, or is dubious consent involved due to the dishonesty and manipulation of one or both of the partners?

8- Are the women surrounded by symbols and signs of female powerlessness and weakness? Are the women forced into a Madonna/Whore dichotomy, where good, nurturing women can’t be sexy and own their power, and bad, sexy, powerful women can’t be selfless and compassionate? Where women are either powerful or good? Where a “complex” female character is a woman who struggles to choose between being powerful or good? Does her power ultimately make her weak or evil? Is she forced to apologize for using her power? Is she self-loathing because of her power? Is she a funny-sexy woman who’s too weak for her hypersexuality to be threatening? Or a powerful but evil woman whose sexiness is portrayed as threatening? Is she turned into Eve, falling from grace and goodness with the acquisition of knowledge and adulthood? Does using her power drain her and make her physically and mentally weak? Is she self-loathing because of the necessary choices she’s had to make to survive a crisis situation, such as a war or natural disaster, or an ongoing struggle, such as poverty? What kinds of jobs do the female characters do? What kinds of roles do they play in their society? What does the culture’s religion look like? The military? Are women respected for the roles they traditionally and currently play in the culture that’s being portrayed?

9- Are they showing the truth of a woman’s experience, or are they showing exploitation? Is the woman a victim because that’s the only way the writer knows how to write women? Is a historical figure’s story being told accurately, or is it being sensationalized, with the woman being made weaker, or sexualized, or taking a backseat in her own story? Is a woman making choices that act out male fantasies rather than choices real women make, such as when characters fall in love with their rapists?

10- How are women photographed and physically positioned? How does the cinematography treat them? Is the lighting harsh, to make them look old or ugly? Soft, to make them look younger? Are women in positions that make them look smaller and more childlike? Are they positioned behind and/or below men consistently to show that the men are the more powerful and important characters? Does their position make them look dehumanized, vulnerable, self-protective, or lacking in individuality? Do they appear faceless or monstrous? Are they disappearing into shadows, or do they appear as if they’re behind shadowy bars made by blinds, making them look sinister? Is the camera tilted and/or is part of the subject of the frame obscured, making everything feel off, unstable, maybe even insane? Do all of the women look alike, in their physical characteristics and/or dress and behavior, turning them into anonymous clones lacking in individuality?

11- What kind of language is used to describe women and women’s issues? Are elderly women referred to as “grandmothers,” while elderly men are called “men”? Are women called “ladies” or “girls” while men are called “men”? Are women described by their physical characteristics, while men are described by their character traits or history? Are appropriate terms and phrases used for women’s body parts, issues and crimes against women, or are derogatory terms used, and terms that question the validity of crimes and issues, like the phrase “real” rape? Even the tone of voice that newscasters use has an effect on the way we view the people and issues they are reporting on. Do narrators, hosts, and commentators promote stereotypes of women, and manipulate the audience into feeling a certain way about certain women, such as that empowered women are “evil witches” or unmarried women who use birth control are “slutty”? Do the jokes have an anti-realistic, anti-equal woman slant (fat jokes, lying woman jokes, ageist jokes)?

12- How are female characters treated relative to male characters, in areas such as amount of screen time, focus given in the plot, and relative number of lines of dialogue? This goes for females vs males in all aspects of the production. Lead characters and series regulars are the most visible. How does the number of named female characters relate to the number of males? How prominent are the women’s roles? Are there women of color and LGBT women in the cast? How prominent are the roles the women of color and LGBT women are playing? Is there a female lead, but she’s the only named female character? Does the production have women on the creative team? If it’s a TV series, does it have female writers and directors for its episodes on a regular basis? Are there women in any of the male-oriented tech positions? Is the story about female characters who look and act like they are important to the piece (and might even be the title character) and get major screen time, but in reality the important work of the story is done by the male characters (who might technically be supporting characters)? (This, and the female lead as the sole woman are the most popular ways to dupe women into thinking they are seeing equality.)

Lucky 13- If you want to dig really deep, what is the working climate for women who work for this production, this director, this studio, this theatre, this TV network? Are they known for hiring women? For giving women their start as writers or directors? Or are they known for shutting women out of anything but acting, for enforcing unrealistic physical standards on actresses, and/or for sexually harassing the women who work for them? Worse, have they been accused of rape, pedophilia, or other crimes against women, but their wealth and influence have allowed them to escape justice? Is this a business that you are comfortable continuing to give your viewership to, knowing that views, ratings, clicks, advertising dollars and ticket sales encourage the continuation of the misogyny you’re seeing on the stage or screen?

According to the annual Celluloid Ceiling Study, fewer than 1% of each year’s top 250 films employs more than 10 women behind the camera, whereas 70% employ 10 or more men. This has remained unchanged for the last 20 years. It will remain unchanged until we demand change with our feet.

What we see in our entertainment influences us, but we have the power to influence it back by focussing our attention and our money onto the projects and creators that we feel are most worthy of our support. All it takes is some critical thinking and the power of an informed choice.

*The Ancient One also has elements of the Madonna and Eve, but given her self-sacrifice and dependence on the men around her, I feel that the combination of making her soft spoken, dependent, sacrificing, hidden, and generally lacking in authority and presence serves to make her fade into the background, compared to other characters. Usually an Invisible Woman would be a smaller role, so The Ancient One is worth noting. She’s turned into a ghost when she should be a powerhouse. For comparison, look at the Netflix side of the MCU, and Madame Gao, who commands every room she walks into, before even saying a word, even though the actress, Wai Ching Ho, is physically a tiny person.

Metawitches Guidelines for Spotting Misogyny vs Female Equality in Entertainment and Media This is the basic list of questions we ask ourselves while consuming media to help us determine if we're seeing women being treated fairly or not.

#analysis #Bechdel Test #meta #metacrone #metamaiden #misogyny

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boricuagoddess79 · 6 years

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Happy New Year everyone!! Its been a while since I’ve written and it’s simply or rather not simply been because the latter half of 2017 was whirlwind. It happens. I helped plan our high schools 20th reunion this past September, Kiddo was struggling with turning in his work on time and grades were suffering because 13 year olds…amirite? And then the holidays of course. I ended up having emergency surgery in December to remove the LapBand that I only had for 18 months. The good thing was I had lost 100 lbs, the sad thing was it almost killed me by slipping, and even worse I still owe $7,000 on that surgery and lord knows what the bill for this will be. I didn’t eat for 10 days and well the icing on the cake was a tree hit my house on New Years Eve. Clearly in a past life i angered the gods and apparently their time to shine was fourth quarter of 2017. It wasn’t all bad here’s a trip down memory lane for the year before i get to the reason for my post.

January: My first visit to Chicago!

January: Stood up to the Patriarchy and marched for Human/Womens Rights

February: Finally saved up enough money to paint my house. Now its not thescary house on the hill!

March: The Harlem Globetrotters ❤

March: The Harlem Globetrotters come to Mics school to help stand up to bullies

April: We scored tickets to the Playoffs

May: Taught myself how to install a light

June: Got to see my grandpa

June: Family Reunions Cousins

July: Lost a childhood friend. Honor the Moon

August: Fake Bachlorette Party- Level Epic

September: Niceville 20th Class Reunion

October: Happy Halloween!

November: Freedom is a beautiful thing, Welcome home Pat!

December: Finally! 100 lbs!

December: Part 2 emergency Surgery

December Part 3- The damn Tree

So now that that is out-of-the-way onto the Getting Rid of 100 Things. When I saw my friend on Facebook post it, i had to pause and i thought hmm how would i do this. The woman who posted it is full of wisdom and always inspires me to think so i knew not to take this lightly. Sure we can look at it physically throw away 100 items. Easy. But I thought I could mix it up to just try to improve my life in general. Yes, there will be a physical purge at some point but i thought it only right that my first thing to “Get Ride Of” is UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS.

It’s a new year. If you haven’t been constantly reminded of it by all the New Year New Me posts on Facebook then you’re lucky. I don’t normally make resolutions because I have a hard time committing to anything. Hell, I’m surprised me and my shadow still hang out. But I bit into the hype as one does and mixed in with having my LapBand removed and the fear of gaining weight i decided to sign up for a Women’s Half Marathon in November and that I was going to go on a low carb diet to get these last chunk of lbs off. I figured that i would lose 23 lbs in a month (WTF) AND RUN. Can I tell you that a week in I was sticking to the diet, worked out but jumped on the scale and i was 15 lbs heavier. Now before you oooh and gasp I need to remind you that prior to this I had emergency surgery, had not eaten for 10 days and then was on a liquid diet for a week so in that time I lost 25 lbs. Its only natural to gain it back for the health of your body as nourishment comes back to sustain you.

But I wasn’t reminding myself of that. I had failed. I gained weight back (which after weight loss surgery, it becomes your biggest fear) i had jumped into bad habits of thinking negatively, I stopped telling myself nice things in the mirror, I criticized my body who really did work very hard this year. I ate sad high protein food and punished myself when I didn’t lose 5 lbs overnight. I found myself crying and depressed and basically had resigned myself to dying alone, undiscovered for years on my couch. Yes I have a flair for the dramatic and it gets the best of me from time to time.

When I saw my friend post the #GetRidOf100Things i sat and thought and came to the idea that my first trash out for the new year was to get rid of the negativity. And that meant, for me. to Get Rid of Unrealistic Expectations. Not only as it pertained to my health, but overall when interacting with people. So ill break it down in the areas where I think this could benefit.

UNREALISTIC BODY EXPECTATIONS: Yes run that half marathon, do it for fun for camaraderie, do it for the adventure. Do not get mad if you don’t finish by a certain time, half to walk a little or are the last one to finish. Do not feed yourself sad food that makes you feel even sadder. Yes make better food choices, portion control, but if you want a piece of pie eat the damn pie. There’s no such thing as bad food enjoy the moment in moderation. Understand that a 23 lbs weight loss in a month isn’t healthy. When I had the LapBand I lost up to 1-1 1/2 lbs a week and i was ok with that. Eventually it got me to a 100 lbs weight loss (OK 85 now that I’m eating again) but if I was happy with a lb then, why all of a sudden is anything less than 7 lbs a week unacceptable?! Who wants to live like that. Stop setting myself up for failure of the heart and mind, I’m not going to win Miss Hawaiian Tropic and I’m OK with that.

UNREALISTIC RELATIONSHIPS: Honey if he’s just not that into you, there is nothing you can do to salvage that. This year I held onto, clawed and grabbed and tried to feed an unhealthy relationship because we had been friends for 15 years. I figured if the moon aligned right, i won the lottery, dressed pretty, was agreeable and the moon rose over Capricorn (whatever the eff that means) that it would just come together and guess what? all the sweetness in the world couldn’t make that work. In the end this person couldn’t even call me on my birthday and refused to sit with me in the hospital while i was waiting emergency surgery. Lesson here: You can’t get blood from a turnip. And I’m done trying to sell myself the story that i can. Next time ill read the room early and leave in time to enjoy the day.

UNREALISTIC TIME CONSTRAINTS: If I can do it I will, if i cant oh well. It is what it is

UNREALISTIC FUTURES: I have a vivid imagination. Oftentimes it gets the best of me and I go dark. Like real dark. I tend to think about the things that i don’t have and spiral down from there. Well circle back to me dying on the couch. In this scenario, I’m 38 years old, I’m unmarried and a single mom of one child, a dog and a cat. Often i think about how my son is almost a grown adult and will be going away soon to college or start his life. I imagine he wont call or come home often (even though he’s been raised better) and my married friends and family are all far away. I’m too old to date (nonsense) and I’m going to end up old and alone and no one is going to hold my hand as i leave this good earth. What the actual macabre shit brain!? So I’m going to try my best to not doom and gloom myself to the point of insanity. The next time I’m home on a Saturday watching TV and the cat is in my lap and my kid is upstairs ignoring me it’s just what it is. It’s not an indicator of what is to come and i will not in fact die on the recliner alone with the cat eating my face……you see what i did there? this ones gonna take work 😉

UNREALISTIC COMPARISONS: I will refuse to compare my journey with others. I will not look at Facebook pictures and get sad because my life isn’t like XYZ or that I cant buy a car like XYZ or that i wish i could buy those expensive xyz like XYZ. Not gonna do it. Its poison and leads to ungratefulness.

And that’s it. For my first throw away I am going to choose better health and get rid of Unrealistic expectations. What 100 things can you get rid of? I’d love to hear!

Get Rid of 100 Things: Chapter 1 Happy New Year everyone!! Its been a while since I've written and it's simply or rather not simply been because the latter half of 2017 was whirlwind.

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neshatriumphs · 7 years

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The Patriarchy Ain’t Never Been Shhh

I don’t think that I have ever posted my Full Armor of God Devotionals on Tumblr before... I think I got on Tumblr after I stopped doing them regularly. Well. at any rate...

Helmet Of Salvation: Radical Discipleship

SWORD OF THE SPIRIT:

Genesis, Chapter 3

Blessing to enjoy: So far, I don’t know that these particular accounts are basked in blessings, but rather in mercy. So, I will go with that. Mercy, even when messing up.

Example to follow: Not Adam, I tell you that. Maybe not Eve, either. But, definitely not Adam.

Thoughts to carry: Whether or not you are a Christian, this information can be dissected. If you believe in the Bible, it should be looked at from a believer’s perspective. If you don’t, it can also be looked at from the perspective of analyzing a tale. At any rate:

Breastplate of Righteousness

The Patriarchy Ain’t Never Been Shhh

Man has been a letdown since the Garden and today we still make excuses for them, but we need to gain a whole view of the picture and do whatever is necessary to bring about the change that we want to see in the world. We can’t hold on to the problems that have been created and continue to expect God to show up and rescue us from systems that we keep erected. God was not a misogynist. His people were/are.

Remember in the Garden, when Eve had a full conversation with the serpent? Adam, the one that God had sent to be in charge was there, but did not step up as Eve was making a deal that could possibly ruin her life. What they thought - that they would surely die when they ate the fruit. What the serpent said - that they would not surely die, if they ate it. That they would become LIKE God. What Eve did - decided to trust the serpent and take the risk of dying to try that fruit and some of that sweet godlikeness. What Adam did - stood by and watched, waited to see how the fruit affected her, then ate it too. What happened - Sin was born into the world and punishments were handed down. What does that lead ME to believe? - That it was Adam’s mess up that caused the fall of humanity. What is taught - That it was Eve’s fault.

Why do we do this? Adam tried to blame her and she tried to blame the serpent, but if we are to faithfully believe these accounts and model our lives after them and learn from them, we have to see these things with eyes that do not hold our prejudices and our privileges. We don’t always get to do that because for so long, men have been the ones sharing and teaching these stories. Men have been the ones giving the instructions and spreading the interpretations. It was a man who first said, “This was the woman’s fault!” (And to some degree, God’s fault because she was called “the woman you gave me,” instead of her name.) It must have been a man who first said, “Look at how this woman ruined the entire world for everyone,” and since then, too many of us have accepted that as good interpretation of Genesis, Chapter 3.

I remember the first time that I heard this story, and maybe it was because I identified with a woman in it, I immediately thought that this wasn’t her fault. I thought that surely if she was in the wrong, God was going to step in and punish her and give Adam a new wife. So, I spent years simply being quiet about these thoughts, because I felt like if I didn’t take the lesson that I was being taught away from it, I had to be wrong. Years later, something that I had not realized before… Adam was there. She gave the fruit to her husband who was with her. He was there, all along!

Let’s not be coy. We know “how men are.” Victims, scapegoats, and supporting friends get speeches all of the time to defend their bum behavior by setting up the archetype of “just a man.” The toxic masculinity and misogyny attached to that are another few conversations, at least. But for the sake of this one - “how men are” includes: Being strong, being brave, being fearless, being in charge, being… You get it. But, what we see here is a man, standing by while a woman that we are expected to believe is someone who is under his control makes a decision that goes against what God has told him and held him to, even before she was ever pulled from his rib.

So, why when it was time for him to be that dude with dominion. To be “the man,” as so many of us put emphasis on right now; he simply stood by and then did what he knew he wasn’t supposed to do? I mean, he claims that it was Eve’s fault. He didn’t just tell her, “I don’t recommend that you eat that fruit. God told me not to and if we’re going to be together, you can’t either.” He didn’t say, “I told you not to do it and now that you’ve done this thing and disobeyed God, you’re going to have to deal with whatever happens, now.” He didn’t look around and wonder why God wasn’t there to do something about this. He didn’t even ask HER any questions! He didn’t ask, ‘Well… did it work? Are you like God? What does He know? What does He see?” The most reference that we know of that he received from her was that it tasted good.

And he ate. THEN, the eyes of both of them were opened. (And the discussion of why God didn’t prevent the free will etc is also a different conversation, BUT) God showed up. When he showed up, He started questioning them to get their confessions. Their confessions were to place the blame elsewhere; but everyone was punished, on a personal level and through all the generations.

With Adam’s punishment - To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” With ADAM’S punishment, came strife, death and the end of the world.

But, to this day, we associate all of the bad with Eve’s portion. I even have heard men say that they don’t listen to their wives/women because, “Adam listened to Eve, and look what happened! Lol” But, all he really had to do was step up. When she went to eat it, I don’t know what thoughts she had. Maybe she had been wanting to taste it anyway. Maybe they both were curious and the serpent just nudged where he noticed that desire was already budding. Maybe he had tried to talk to Adam and got turned down and went through Eve because she was a weakness for Adam… But, in that instance, if she was a weakness for him and he thought that they might die... Why wasn’t he willing to protect her from that? Why didn’t he raise questions and voice concerns? I don’t buy it.

Adam was the world’s not only first man in the biblical account of Creation, but he was the world’s first… You know the word. Starts with “F” and ends with “boy.” Cursed was the ground, because of him, but people are still blaming Eve. Thorns and thistles because of him, but people are still blaming Eve. (That man has to work to provide for himself and his family - a LOADED conversation with today’s F boy excepting a wifey, but not expecting to toil #GoodLawdIHaveSoMuchToSayAboutThatConversation), but people are still blaming Eve.

Let’s not be coy, again. I’m in no way saying that Eve is an innocent precious flower and that she deserves all amnesty and all protection. But, I am saying that in this story about humanity and how we are flesh and how we can mess up and have to face consequences, sometimes consequences bigger than ourselves… Eve is a HUMAN in this story. This is a story about how they messed up and what happened. This is a story in which, she is actually a protagonist to the the serpent’s crafts and a catalyst to Adam giving up his dominion. Adam gets to be human in society. He gets empathy. He gets to be a tragic figure who lost it all… but people are still blaming Eve.

Girdle of Truth: We don’t have to demonize women to love and follow God. Sometimes, we need to see that we are all in the battle together.

Shield of Faith: Men will hold on to problematic behavior and let women take the fall for many things that they both engaged in. We need to communicate better, so that things won’t come between those who we have missions with.

Sandals of Peace:

Heavenly Father, Father of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

I pray that these words that I have asked you to give to me be examined with an open heart and mind. We have people in this world who think of you as a misogynist because there are those who claim to follow you who hold true prejudices and hatred for the women that you have created. We are not evil. We are not enemies. But, we are also not here to be the punching bags and patsies for these men. I pray for radical change in the dynamics of sexual oppression and gender specific antagonism. In Jesus’ Holy Name, Amen.

#NeshaTriumphs #Nesha's Bible Study #Bible #Christianity

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