#texts from pawnee

[whencyclopedia]

The Boy Who Was Sacrificed

The Boy Who Was Sacrificed is a legend of the Pawnee nation highlighting the belief that everything happens for a reason according to the will of Ti-ra'wa ("Father Above"), the supreme creator, and how even the smallest creatures have an essential part to play in the divine plan and are as worthy of respect as any other.

The story is among the best-known Pawnee legends, not only for its message but also because it features the sacred site of Pahaku (also known as Pahuk, Pahuk Hill, in modern-day Nebraska) which is considered the most supernaturally potent of five such sites (all mentioned in the tale) where the Nahu'rac – sacred animals who serve the will of Ti-ra'wa – have their homes. The Nahu'rac are mediators between the Pawnee and Ti-ra'wa, receiving messages from the divine and acting upon them, as well as sending along the prayers and sacrificial gifts of the people to the Father Above. The Nahu'rac appear in several Pawnee tales, including The Bear Man, which is, in part, an origin tale of the Pawnee Bear Dance.

In this story, a man acts on his belief that he must sacrifice his only son to receive blessings from Ti-ra'wa, but his offering is rejected through the intervention of the "little bird" (most likely the Interior Least Tern, a small bird that lives along the Platte River in Nebraska) who recognizes the boy should not have been killed and convinces the Nahu'rac to restore him. The reluctance of the Nahu'rac to act on this immediately would be due to their uncertainty as to whether the little bird, who is their servant, is acting in the interests of Ti-ra'wa or his own, but once the bird demands the boy be restored, it is assumed the Nahu'rac interpret this as a message from Ti-ra'wa.

Their hesitation might also reference a ritual in which one must visit the other four sites before returning to Pahaku to be made whole, as in another famous Pawnee tale, A Story of Faith, in which a young doctor is poisoned by another who is jealous of his skill and is taken by an elk round the homes of the Nahu'rac before he is cured. In that story, as in this one, the little bird plays a significant role in healing the young doctor.

In The Boy Who Was Sacrificed, once the boy is brought back to life, he receives the kind of blessings his father had hoped for but was denied. The story's central theme of good coming from bad frequently characterizes Pawnee tales, which emphasize the goodwill of Ti-ra'wa toward the people and how this is shown through one's interactions with the natural, or even the supernatural, world. In The Ghost Wife, for example, a Pawnee man convinces the ghost of his departed wife to return to him, and even though this does not work out as well as he had hoped, the story has a happy ending, as is also the case of this story of the boy and the mystical site of Pahaku.

Pahaku is still understood as a sacred site by the Pawnee in the present day, and in 2008, a conservation easement was granted for 257 acres (104 ha), including the sacred site, to be dedicated to perpetual preservation. Stories concerning the site, like The Boy Who Was Sacrificed, are still told in Pawnee communities, continuing the tradition of storytelling as the central means of transmitting cultural values and history.

Text

The following text is taken from Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales by anthropologist and historian George Bird Grinnell, first published in 1889. The original date of composition for the story is unknown as it was passed down through oral tradition until recorded by Grinnell.

THERE was a time, far back, when some people thought that it was good to sacrifice to Ti-ra'-wa whatever they had that was most precious to them. The sacrifice of the animal, the burnt offering, has always been made by all the Pawnees; that is one of the things handed down from the ruler. It is very old. The Skidi have always performed the sacrifice of the captive. Each one of these is sacred and solemn, but it is not like giving up something that belongs to you, and that you love. It is a sacrifice, but it does not cost much.

Many years ago, in the Skidi village on the Loup, there lived a man, who believed that if he sacrificed his son to Ti-ra'-wa, it would be a blessing to him. He thought that if he did this thing, perhaps Ti-ra'-wa would speak to him face to face, and that he could talk to him just as two people would talk to one another, and that in this way he would learn many things that other people did not understand. His child was a nice boy about ten years old, strong, growing up well, and the man loved him. It made him feel badly to think of killing him. He meditated long about this, but the more he thought about it, the more he believed that this sacrifice would please Ti-ra'-wa. There were many things that he wanted to understand, and to do; and he thought if he gave up his son, these good things would come to him. So, he resolved to make the sacrifice.

One morning he started out from the village and took the boy with him. They went over to the Platte. When they got to the river, as they were walking along, the man took his knife from its sheath, and caught the boy by the shoulder, and stabbed him quickly, and cut him open. When the boy was dead, he threw the body into the river, and then went back to the village. When he got there, he went into his lodge and sat down. After a time, he said to his wife, "Where is the boy?" The woman said, "He went out with you, when you went over to see the horses." The man answered, "No; I went out to where the horses are feeding, and looked at them, but he did not go with me."

The man went out, and looked for the boy all through the village, but he could not find him. At night when the boy did not come home, they began to get frightened, and for two days they hunted for the boy, and at last they got the old crier to call out for him from the top of the lodge, and ask if anyone had seen him, but none of the people knew what had become of the boy. Now the mother was mourning, and the father pretended to feel very badly. They could not find the boy; and soon after this the tribe started on the summer hunt, and the father and mother went with them. The village made a good hunt, killing plenty of buffalo, and made much dried meat.

After the boy had been thrown into the river, he floated down with the current, sometimes turning over and over in the swift water, and sometimes grounding for a little while on a sand bar, and then being floated off again, and being carried further down. At length he came near to the place where the whirlpool is, under the bluff at Pa-hŭk', where is the lodge of the Nahu'rac. There were two buzzards sitting on the bluff, just above this place, and as they sat there, one of them stretched out his neck and looked up the river, and after he had looked, he said to the other, "I see a body." Then both the buzzards flew down to where the boy was floating in the water, and got down under him, and raised him on their backs, and lifted him up out of the water, and flew up to the bluff, carrying the boy on their backs, and placed him on the ground on top of the bluff over the big cave, which is the home of the Nahu'rac. In this lodge were all kinds of animals, and all kinds of birds. There were bears, and mountain lions, and buffalo, and elk, and beaver, and otter, and deer, all kinds of animals, great and small, and all kinds of birds.

There is a little bird, smaller than a pigeon. Its back is blue, and its breast white, and its head is spotted. It flies swiftly over the water, and when it sees a fish, it dives down into the water to catch it. This bird is a servant or a messenger for the Nahu'rac. Such a bird came flying by just as the buzzards put the body on the ground, and he stopped and looked at it. When he saw how it was—for he knew all that had happened—he flew down into the lodge and told the Nahu'rac about the boy. The bird said, "There is a boy up here on the hill. He is dead, and he is poor, and I want to have him brought to life again." Then he told the Nahu'rac all the things that had happened. When the messenger bird had done speaking, the Nahu'rac earnestly counselled together for a long time to decide what should be done, and each one made a speech, giving his opinion about the matter, but they could not make up their minds what ought to be done.

The little bird was coaxing the Nahu'rac, and saying, "Come, now, we want to save his life." But the Nahu'rac could not decide. At last, the chief of the Nahu'rac said, "No, messenger, we cannot decide this here. You will have to go to the other council lodges and see what they say about it." The bird said, "I am going," and flew swiftly out of the lodge and up the river, till he came to the Nahu'rac lodge near the Lone Tree. When he got there, he told them all about the boy, and said that the council at Pa-hŭk' could not decide what should be done. The Nahu'rac here talked, and at last they said, "We cannot decide. The council at Pa-hŭk' must decide." Then the bird went to the lodge on the Loup, and the Nahu'rac there said that they could not decide Then he went to Kitz-a-witz-ŭk, and to Pa-hūr'; and at each place the Nahu'rac considered and talked about it, and then said, "We cannot decide what shall be done. The council at Pa-hŭk' must decide for themselves."

At last, after he had visited all the council lodges of the Nahu'rac, the bird flew swiftly back to the lodge at Pa-hŭk' and told them there what the animals at the other lodges had said. In the council of the Nahu'rac at Pa-hŭk', there were four chiefs, who sat there as judges to determine such matters as this, after they had all been talked over, and to decide what should be done. When the messenger bird came back and told the Nahu'rac what the other councils had said, these judges considered for a time, and then spoke together, and at length the chief of the judges said to the bird, "Now, messenger, we have concluded that we will not decide this question ourselves. You decide it and say what shall be done."

The messenger was not long in deciding. He did not hesitate. He said, "I want this boy brought back to life." Then all the Nahu'rac stood up, and went to where the boy lay, and stood around him and prayed, and at last the boy breathed once, and then after a little while he breathed again, and at last he came to life and sat up. He looked about and saw all these animals standing around him, and he wondered. He said to himself, "Why, my father stabbed me, and killed me, and now here I am among this great crowd of animals. What does this mean?" He was surprised.

The Nahu'rac all went back into the lodge and took the boy with them. When all were seated in the lodge, the four judges talked to each other, and the chief one stood up, and said, "Now, my people, we have brought this boy back to life, but he is poor, and we must do something for him. Let us teach him all we know and make him one of us." Then the Nahu'rac all made a noise. They were glad. Then they began to sing, and they danced. They taught the boy all their secrets, and all their ways. They taught him how to cut a man open and cure him again, and how to shoot an arrow through a man and then cure him, and how to cut a man's tongue out and then to put it back, and how to make well a broken leg, and many other things. After they had done all these things, they said to the boy, "Now we have brought you back to life, and have taught you all these things, so that you are one of us. Now you must stop with us one season. Your people have gone off on the summer hunt. You must stay with us until the autumn. Then you can go back to your people." So, the boy stayed with the Nahu'rac in their lodge.

At length the Skidi had returned from the hunt with plenty of dried meat. Soon after this, the Nahu'rac said one day to the boy, "Your people have got back from the hunt. Now you can go back to the village. Go back and get a lot of nice, dried meat, and bring it back to us here, and we will have a feast."

The boy went home to the village. He got there in the night, and went to his father's lodge, and went in. There was a little fire burning in the lodge. It was nearly out, and gave only a little light, but he knew the place where his mother slept. He went up to her, and put out his hand and touched her, and pushed her a little. She awoke, and sat up and looked at him, and he said, "I've come back." When she saw him, and heard him speak, she was very much surprised, and her heart was glad to see her boy again. She called to his father, and he woke up. When he saw the boy, he was afraid, for he thought it was a ghost. The boy told them nothing of what had happened, or where he had been. He just said, "I have come back again."

In the morning all the people were surprised to hear that he had come back, and to see him, and they stood around looking at him, and asking him questions, but he said nothing. The next day the people still questioned him, and at last the boy said, "I have been all summer with friends, with people who have been good to me. I should like to take them a present of some nice, dried meat, so that we can have a feast." The people said that this was good. They picked out four strong horses, and loaded them with dried meat, the nicest pieces. The boy's father gave some of it, and all the other people brought pieces and put them on the horses, until they had big loads. They sent two young men with the boy, to help him load and drive the horses, and they started to go to the Nahu'rac lodge at Pa-hŭk'.

When they had come pretty near the place, the boy sent the young men back to the village, and he went on alone, driving the packhorses before him. When he reached the home of the Nahu'rac, he unloaded the horses, and turned them loose, and then went into the lodge. When he went in, and when the Nahu'rac saw him, they all made a hissing noise. They were glad to see him. The boy brought into the lodge all the dried meat, and they had a great feast. After the feast they had a doctors' dance, and the boy was made a doctor, and again was taught all that the Nahu'rac knew. After that he could do many wonderful things. He could sometimes go to a man that had been dead for a day, and then bring him back to life.

No one ever knew what the father had done, for the boy never told anyone. He knew that he could never have learned all these wonderful things unless his father had sacrificed him.

Continue reading...

#History #Pawnee

[alice-makes-things]

The library I work in used to be the village rectory, built in the 18th century. I've been doing some digging into local history books to try and put together a little display of the building's history. I've learned some cool stuff—including that one of the more eccentric Victorian rectors built a massive observatory extension to the rectory (sadly demolished when it became the library) and that Charles Darwin's children used to visit for Sunday school lessons.

(I also learned that the rector who commissioned the building has a name that sounds ridiculously similar to Lord Farquad, which is just plain funny.) But one story I found out today broke my heart. It's about a nine-year-old First Nations boy who died of smallpox in a tiny village in Kent, at least 3000 miles away from his homeland, as the slave of William Pitt the Elder. This is the story of John Panis.

Let me make it very clear: this boy was not named John Panis. We do not know his true name, or how it was stolen from him, or even for certain how he came to be in this tiny corner of England. While his gravestone describes him as "of the Tribe of Panis", "Panis" is not a Native American or First Nations term. It was an 18th-century French term used to describe slaves of First Nations descent in the colony of Canada, then part of New France. Most "Panis" were from the Pawnee Nation, but we don't know for sure that John was Pawnee. What we do know is that it is nearly certain that nine-year-old John was a slave, and it is nearly certain that William Pitt was his enslaver.

To be given a tombstone was a rarity in 18th-century villager life: only the wealthy could afford one. Only 10 grave markers of the 600 or so 18th-century burials recorded in the churchyard survive. So it's significant that, firstly, nine-year-old John had one, and, secondly, that it survived to this day. The wealthiest 18th-century local at the time? William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham.

Pitt supported the American position in the run-up to the American War of Independence. The text I read today suggested that little John was gifted to Pitt by an American to thank him for this, as a "playmate" or "pageboy" for his young children. But with no surviving contemporary records, we simply don't know how he came to be here.

Again, John was not a "playmate" or a "pageboy". He was nine years old. He was a child slave. His name was not John. We do not know his original tribe, name, or language.

I spent my lunch hour today thinking about John, sold into slavery at such a young age, torn from his family, and stripped of his name, language, and people. Sent across an ocean simply to entertain white children. Contracting smallpox, suffering, and dying in agony in a small village in Kent, without the comfort of a mother or father. He was likely put to rest by the very rector who commissioned the building I now work in. I went to find him in the churchyard. His resting place is only a few metres from the library.

I wonder if he is the ghost I sometimes speak to.

#first nations #william pitt the elder #pawnee #library

[weaselandfriends]

Detective Pony

I recently received an ask from @querimoniousqueer about whether I had ever read Detective Pony by sonnetstuck. I hadn’t, but decided I should, so I read it over the past week.

Going in I knew almost nothing about it beyond the joke in Homestuck proper, in which Dirk sends Jane a vandalized copy of a Pony Pals book with substitutions made to the text for comic effect. The Detective Pony fanfic extrapolates off that premise and provides a Dirk-ified version of the entire novella.

At first I wasn’t particularly sold on the premise. Revisiting the story’s first page (which Hussie himself created in Homestuck), it’s actually not that funny. At the beginning of Act 6 Hussie took the opportunity of the new universe to update the in-universe date from April 13, 2009 to November 11, 2011. This is not a particularly long stretch of time but to emphasize this shift Hussie decided to throw in several references to what is, I assume, the singular piece of new media he had consumed during that period: the sitcom Parks and Recreation.

I’m not sure how hilarious Hussie thought it was to change a supporting character’s name to Pawnee Township, Indiana, the fictional setting of Parks and Recreation, but in 2023 the reference feels phenomenally dated, without the self-awareness of the intentionally dated references to Con Air elsewhere in the comic. Though the reference is a bit more interesting metafictionally (does Dirk, living in post-apocalyptic future Earth, intend to make a reference to a work popular in 2011, making it contemporaneous and thus relevant to Jane?), now that the audience of Homestuck is no longer themselves contemporaneous to Jane it’s hard to even crack a smile beyond the simple audaciousness of the premise.

As Detective Pony (the fanfic) continues, it quickly grows dull. In Homestuck, the joke is fairly short and works because of its aforementioned audaciousness, so seeing a subsequent 20-30 pages of what is basically the same idea repeated over and over (everyone swears, everyone is violent, the cat is Satanic, plus a few non sequitur references) wore me down pretty quickly.

Fortunately, the fanfic has some major cards to play.

The first longform philosophical digression on the corruption of lolcat memes grabbed my interest, and as the story goes on, an entirely new metafictional narrative emerges in which Dirk, the cynical and too-smart-for-his-own-good authorial figure, comes into conflict with the more earnest and sincere characters (and original author) of Pony Pals. A dichotomy is established between the intellectually probing but ironically detached nature of one authorial voice and the childish but emotionally honest nature of the other. The authorial voices begin to wage war against each other, with Dirk’s orange-texted narrative attempting to cover up the black-texted narrative of the other voices, leading to a complex series of machinations and an eventual exposing of Dirk’s bitter loneliness and self-doubt.

This all sounds rather familiar.

Indeed, halfway through this fic, I had to scroll to the top and check the date it was posted. October 14, 2014. Predating Homestuck’s Epilogues by roughly five years.

I find it difficult to believe that Hussie or his Epilogue co-authors had not read Detective Pony prior to writing the Epilogues. The thematic overlap is immense, let alone the explicit plot and metatextual elements, let alone the fact that all of those elements revolve specifically around Dirk. That’s not to say the two works are identical. Detective Pony leans far more heavily onto its author’s extensive knowledge of Western literature and philosophy (including significant references to Derrida, Dante, Plato, Socrates, and others), while the Epilogues aggrandize the scope of stakes of the plot and weave in a far wider amount of character threads.

I’d recommend Detective Pony to anyone still confused or potentially even hurt by the Epilogues; the “character assassination” done in Detective Pony is done to characters from a story about ponies for little girls as opposed to your beloved Homestuck characters, so it might be much easier to approach, grapple with, and understand the themes of the Epilogues without the large amount of emotional baggage characters like Jane, Jake, Jade, Dave, and so on carry with them. It might shed more insight on what Hussie and his co-authors were attempting with the Epilogues, though you might also find it a bit dull if you’re not familiar with Derrida or the other frequently-quoted philosophers within the text. I’m not a philosophy person myself (way more of a classical fiction junkie), but still I was able to follow along and enjoy it.

#detective pony #sonnetstuck #homestuck #homestuck epilogues

[notalisonyet]

Viewed at a distance, Dances With Wolves might seem like an instance of the White Savior trope. But while Dunbar’s process of learning Lakota language and culture does parallel what happens in many white-savior stories, it’s an unavoidable fact that he does not save them. (To the contrary, they literally save him.)

In the middle of the film he does bring in rifles that allow the Lakota to fight off a Pawnee attack, but this is not the main story, and the Pawnee are never the true threat. This is one battle in a long, long inter-tribal conflict, and it makes a huge difference on one particular day, but soon enough the Pawnee will acquire rifles and the sides will again be more evenly matched. Dunbar only gives this group of Lakota advance access to a technology that we know, historically, radically altered the Plains cultures.

The true threat in the film is white encroachment—not merely the army and their forts, or white hunters and trappers, but more than anything white settlements. And before the final credits of the movie begin, in case we didn’t already know it from history, there’s a paragraph of text on the screen informing us that thirteen years later everything was over and the last of the Lakota surrendered. The film deliberately tells us that Dunbar/Dances With Wolves does not save them and that his efforts will not be enough.

#dances with wolves #kevin costner #1990s #movies #films #native americans #lakota #u.s. history #white savior trope #tropes

[artbookdap]

In celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Day, here are a few works from 'Action Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s to 1970s,' the first appraisal of modern Native American abstraction—merging abstract expressionism, color field and hard-edge painting with Native American art. ⁠ ⁠ Artists include: Ray Aguilar, Ralph Aragon, Sammy Begay, Larry (Littlebird) Bird, Earl Biss, Bennet Brien, Bennie Buffalo, George Burdeau, T.C. Cannon, Art Chischilly, Joseph L. Concha, Larry Desjarlais, Joe Dudley, Earl Eder, Mary Eder, Kirby Feathers, Anita (Luttrell) Fields, Phyllis Fife, Herman Fragua, Henry (Hank) Gobin, John Gritts, Harvey Herman, Patrick Swazo Hinds, John Hoover, Michael Jenkins, Peter B. Jones, Ralph Robert Kniffen, Delores Lee, Alice Loiselle, Linda Lomaheftawa, Linda Lucero, Edna Massey and more.⁠ ⁠ Pictured here: ⁠ Lloyd Kiva New, (Cherokee), Untitled, 1968⁠ Fritz Scholder, (Mission/Luiseno), New Mexico Number 1, 1965⁠ George Morrison, (Wahwahtehgonagabo) (Chippewa), White Painting #1, 1965⁠ George Morrison, (Wahwahtehgonagabo/Chippewa), White Environ VI, ca. 1967⁠ Henry "Hank" Delano Gobin, (Tulalip/Snohomish) Northwest Design, 1966⁠ Mike Medicine Horse Zillioux, (Akimel O’odham/Cheyenne/Pawnee), The Day Jackson Pollack Became Christian, 1974⁠ ⁠ Published by @iaiamocna⁠ ⁠ Text by Lara Evans, Ryan S. Flahive, Shanna Ketchum-Heap of Birds, Tatiana Lomahaftewa-Singer, Stephen Wall & @manuelawelloffman⁠ ⁠ Read more via linkinbio.⁠ ⁠ #actionabstractionredefinied #nativeamericanheritage #nativeamericanart #modernnativeart #nativeart @instituteofamericanindianarts #lloydkivanew #fritzscholder #georgemorrison #mikemedicinehorsezillioux #indiginouspeoplesday #indiginousart #indiginous https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjf1OawsN_W/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#1 #actionabstractionredefinied #nativeamericanheritage #nativeamericanart #modernnativeart #nativeart #lloydkivanew #fritzscholder #georgemorrison #mikemedicinehorsezillioux #indiginouspeoplesday #indiginousart #indiginous

[jancys-blue-bayou]

M!

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

I've got a few (including prompts so if you sent one in I promise it's coming eventually!). A prompt for a fic of Jancy visiting each other between s3 and s4 which I'm quite excited about, will get canon divergence bc they'll hash out the college issue in that time. I also have an ST/Parks & Rec crossover totally planned out but not actually started writing yet (basically Jancy interning for a state wide paper gets sent to Pawnee to interview Leslie Knope but uh-oh Jerry sees a monster in the woods by a park so now Jancy must lead the parks department on a monster hunt lol).

Big thing I'm working on though is a long-ass multichapter canon divergence going back to end of s1. Premise is just Steve doesn't have his heel face turn, so Jancy isn't interrupted on the couch, kiss and then fight the Demogorgon themselves + what the "The Boy Who Came Back to Life" newspaper article they show in the epilogue actually says (it's pretty interesting calling out the Lab really directly, when they show it again in s2 I think they changed the text to lessen it). Then it'll continue from there and basically be a rewrite of canon, I'll incorporate some s2 stuff I liked but the only hardline canon for that fic is what happens in s1 (minus the divergence I do with Steve) everything else canon I disregard for that. Will be Jancy focused ofc but also featuring the others (lot of Byers fam, Wheeler fam, and Jancy and the Party bonding), first dealing with the aftermath of s1 and then moving forward into dealing with future supernatural threats, taking down the Lab etc, all while Jancy's relationship evolve. I'm quite excited for it myself, but it's a long road still, I have the basic plan outlined for the whole fic but still working on some planning ahead, and actual writing so far I'm just three chapters in and it's many more to go, but I want to have the whole thing firmly planned out and more chapters finished before I post anything, in case I later realize smth in the early chapters need fixing.

Thanks! Fanfic ask game.

[sonicenvy]

one of the top things that i don’t miss about working in adult services at the library (which i did for ONE summer as an intern in high school) is dealing with the creepy old guys that hit on young female staff and who you regularly have to remove for watching pornography on library public computers.

literally ask any library worker in public library and they will tell you that they have at least (1) regular male patron (usually older and white) who they regularly have to remove for watching pornography on public computers. they may also attempt to “discretely” wank whilst doing so, or drop trou in public spaces.

the best thing about working in children’s exclusively is that you have to deal with so many less creepy old dudes. downside, you have to clean up urine, feces and vomit more regularly. so 🤷🏻‍♀️

#margaret babbles #library stuff #text #also we usually don't have to deal with the people who smoke or do drugs in the bathrooms #or the people who deal drugs in the bathrooms #because at my library children's has a whole floor to ourselves #all the ATS stuff is on floor two and three at our branch #so floor 2 which is ATS fiction & movies & cds & public use computers is the wild wild west of our library #like floor 2 is analogous to the 3rd floor of pawnee city hall from parks and rec i shit you not #why was i thinking about this at 12:19 AM you ask??? #well you see i was on reddit and something tangentially related to this came up on my reddit dash #and i had a moment of gratitude for this #also gratitude for not having to deal with our library's resident bitchy lady who needs tax prep help #every library also somehow has that patron #like 3/3 libraries that ive worked at have that patron #anyways people who think the library is nice and sedate and peaceful and who think that librarians just get to read books all day #and be reclusive and introverted or w/e clearly have not been to a public library in DECADES #we do it all: social services research entertainment hang out space early childhood education teacher aid children's play place tax help #art programs lecture halls tech help take home devices and internet hotspots homeless folks barbershop coat and hat drives #tutoring hosting home school groups etc etc #it is loud and messy and chaotic and everyone and anyone is at the library #a church group that does not have their own church literally rents one of our lecture halls EVERY sunday to have their church services #we all kinda can't stand them though because they have tried to preach about their christianity to other rando patrons #and because they let their kids run loose and unattended in the adult and teen spaces on floor two #and because they block the front door to our library starting 30 whole f**king minutes before we open #all the gossipy library staff bitching about these people on the regular lmaoooooooo

[benjiwyatt]

do you have any ben/leslie headcanons! i love your posts abt them so much it's great to see someone get as emotional abt them as i am asjdkajhjd

i got this message and i was like "god, i dont really know if i have any headcanons" and then i opened my notes app and started typing and didn't stop for over an hour

i'm literally putting this under a break and organizing it into categories bc it's absurdly long

here it is

A COLLECTION OF BEN AND LESLIE HEADCANONS

PRE-RELATIONSHIP/S3

basically canon but leslie definitely had a crush on a young benji wyatt and followed the story religiously for the first couple months before she started college

ben is only slightly jealous leslie had ann go out with chris to try and get more money for the parks budget rather than leslie asking him out with the same goal. he knows it’s insane, unethical, and illogical but he’s still excited that he gets to spend the night with her on a date plus two other people even if it is to accuse her of bribery.

ann realizes early on that leslie was attracted to ben and teases her mercilessly about it. she thinks it’s absolutely hilarious that leslie wants to make out with "mean ben.” after april and andy’s wedding, she realizes it's more than just attraction and she lays off.

before ben can even think rationally about what he’s doing, he’s in line at bed, bath, and beyond with a crock pot in his arms, calling stephanie to ask her to send him their family’s chicken soup recipe

ann knew ben liked her from the beginning and was totally positive when she ran into him in the hospital asking for leslie’s room number while holding jj’s waffles and a tub of homemade soup.

ben realizes he’s falling in love with leslie when he is at city hall with her until 3am one night trying to budget for the amount of cotton candy machines she wants for the harvest festival. in his exhaustion, he naively believes her when she tells him she’ll go home in a bit so he leaves. he never gets a text from saying she made it home so he stops at jj’s the next morning and brings a takeout container of waffles and a coffee complete with an outlandish amount of whipped cream and sugar to the parks department. he finds her asleep in the conference room. he starts trying to convince sweetums to donate more cotton candy machines that afternoon.

chris had to have known ben liked leslie. he’s not an idiot. in the deleted scene from their wedding, they read out emails from their “tumultuous first week in pawnee” and chris writes to ben saying, “why are you so focused on leslie knope?” ben replies saying, “i’m not. whatever. shut up.” there’s no way chris is this oblivious. ben takes her out for a beer. ben pays out of pocket for a children’s performer to help her out. ben shows up on chris and ann’s date just because he thinks leslie might be there. chris can’t be this dumb. but when they take the city manager jobs in pawnee, he knows it can’t happen so he cuts ben off when he starts to ask about dating someone in city hall. he cracks down on the rule in front of leslie after the tom incident to hammer it in. he starts setting ben up on a bunch of dates to try and head it off. he sends them to indianapolis for the little league pitch because, realistically, he knows they’re the best bet for success but makes sure to interrupt their dinner and invites them to his apartment to continue to run interference the rest of the night. after their fights in 4.06-4.08, he hopes he won’t have to worry anymore. the next work day, they come into his office looking nervous and happy and he knows he’s about to lose the partner and best friend that’s been by his side for the past decade.

april and andy knew they were secretly dating. it went unspoken aside from a few implicit teasing remarks from april and a few suggestive attempted high fives from andy but leslie assured ben they wouldn’t tell anyone despite their ostensible behavior.

BREAK UP

ben had commissioned the li’l sebastian plush for leslie after he had died but the toy shop didn’t finish it until after they broke up. he felt bad not going to pick it up so he did despite not being able to give it to her. he kept it for all those months and sometimes thought about getting rid of it but could never bring himself to do it.

when leslie made personalized copies her books for her friends with individualized annotations and notes in the bylines, she had two copies for ben. there was one that she gave him during their breakup that was very simplified and watered down where the note basically just said “i’m really glad you decided to stay in pawnee.” then there was a second copy that she kept while they were split up that was totally covered in notes and random thoughts she couldn’t say during their time apart. she gives him that copy when they get back together and it may or may not be the best gift he’s ever received.

april was much less abrasive with them during the break up because she’s a sweetheart and wants her friends to be happy.

the first time leslie admitted she was in love with him was during a long night of drinking and crying at ann’s house

ben craved the taste of sugar during their breakup because he got used to tasting the sweetness when he kissed her

ben found himself unable to sleep at night without the sound of leslie talking in her sleep to comfort him

april texted leslie the night of the halloween party to let her know that ben and andy were at the hospital after a fight and everything was fine and she didn’t need to worry. leslie was mad at andy for a few days after and he couldn’t figure out why.

the only photo in ben’s bedroom was of himself, leslie, and li’l sebastian at the harvest festival. if he got caught staring at it and crying, he would just say he missed li’l sebastian so much.

april and andy started having star wars and star trek movie nights to try and cheer ben up

DOMESTIC

ben and leslie got in the habit of having weekly game nights with april and andy during the campaign since they were all basically living together. it became a tradition that kept going as often as they could make it happen, even after the kids were born. they try to have game night at least once a month. april pretends to hate it.

one of my absolute favorite ideas about them is that she sleeps much better when he’s around to keep her grounded. after they get together for good, she starts getting closer to 5 hours of sleep a night.

another favorite involving leslie’s sleeping: ben is typically accustomed to tuning out incoherent nonsense that she babbles in her sleep but she also has some of her best ideas when she’s not busy trying to focus on a million different things. when he hears her coming up with legitimately good ideas or making speeches or having solid debate arguments, he takes out the notebook he keeps in his nightstand to record her thoughts and quotes. he revisits and revises the notes to strengthen her statements and make them more professional and less rambling but makes sure to keep her distinct voice apparent in them.

ben prefers pancakes to waffles but he will go to the grave with that secret

this isn’t a headcanon because nbc posted it but one of ben’s holidays on leslie’s calendar is watch synchronization day which is the day they celebrate syncing their watches to, as leslie puts it, “always be in harmony, like our hearts” which is just one of the sweetest fucking things in the world

leslie makes ben read and watch all the harry potters because he didn’t get into them when he first tried. ben is much more of a success than ann. she buys him a ravenclaw scarf for christmas.

their first fight as a couple was a historical debate gone awry

since ben clearly has some affinity for custom stuffed animals, he has some made for the triplets.

they’re both dog people but they adopt a cat because sonia and stephen beg for one and it does fit their busy lifestyle much better. they love the cat. they get a dog when the kids are older and life is slightly less hectic.

they both love striped shirts and sweaters so much that they have to make a conscious effort to avoid wearing them on the same day and matching

leslie makes sweets and bakes desserts while ben typically handles cooking the actual meals

BASED ON EPISODES, QUOTES, AND THROWAWAY LINES

i always loved the ann/ben dynamic in bus tour because there’s been such an obvious shift in ann’s attitude towards him in this episode. maybe it’s because she and tom just broke up and she just turned chris down again and she’s frustrated with relationships but i think it’s her realizing ben isn’t going anywhere. since the campaign is winding down, she realizes that things aren’t gonna go back to the way they were because ben is now part of this and he’s clearly in it for the long haul. ann’s definitely jealous that ben is just as important to leslie as she is and she now knows she’s never gonna get that full attention back. ann sits ben down to have a real “don’t you dare hurt her” speech after this ep and before win, lose, or draw. this is when he tells ann he wants to marry her.

they discover they both adore the princess bride after ben says “as you wish” to her one night and after that it becomes their movie.

the wildflower mural becomes a thing between them when ben says he considered that to be their first date, prompting leslie to tell him what the mural means to her.

ben puts banjo boogie bonanza on one of the mix cds he gives leslie at the beginning of their relationship

harrison ford movie nights start after they both reveal they had a crush on him as a kid. ben was obsessed with han solo and leslie was into indiana jones’ whole history teacher vibe.

they basically hate each other’s taste in music and stop exchanging mix cds once that becomes apparent that they aren’t gonna find much common ground. they both love tom petty, al green, and etta james and music in that vein though.

ben makes leslie watch game of thrones just to try to explain why he’s called her khaleesi. she gets into it, not so much because of the show itself, but because of how passionate her boyfriend is about it.

they start learning basic french during the s4 campaign because they think it will be useful to have a basic multilingual vocabulary for their political careers and because leslie confesses she has always dreamed of seeing paris. they study spanish next.

ben makes leslie watch the star wars prequels just so he can complain to her during them. he doesn’t think she’s paying attention and then he reads about midichlorians in the paper.

ann is also in on ben’s plan to sneak vegetables into leslie’s waffles.

they will sometimes jokingly refer to themselves as the “dream team” or “dynamic duo” because, despite chris’s absurdity, it’s true

i’m open to literally any origin of this because no matter what it’s perfect but i like to think that “i love you and i like you” started at some point in season 4 when, at some point, leslie went “i like you” and ben replied “you like me?” “mhm” “hm just like me?” “yes i like you. i love you and i like you. both.” “mmm i love you and i like you too”

i barely even register some of these things as headcanons since they just live so solidly in my brain

this might be my favorite ask ever thank you for loving benslie enough to ask me this and be genuinely interested

if anyone read all of this, i love you

#most of me loves you for sending this ask but i just procrastinated so much work while writing this #ben x leslie #otp: deeply ridiculously #cherubsona #mail #this is truly absurdly long no one is gonna read this

[docholligay]

So I missed the livestream but I'd love to hear what you thought of the first chunk of Detective Pony. Are you going to be watching the rest at some point?

PLEASE REMEMBER I HAVE NOT SEEN THE SECOND HALF AND DON’T SPOIL ME. 

Whether I watch the rest depends on our sponsor @coolerthancats and if she’s happy with my work in the first half! 

I feel kinda bad, because I was relatively quiet in the first half, but in fairness to human beings named Doc who are me, once you get past the first two episodes it is, in a lot of places, a fairly dense work and needs to be carefully watched. 

If I were going to make a serious pull apart study of it, I’d use the written version. 

I HAVE NO IDEA IF I THINK IT IS GOOD OR NOT. 

I don’t like it, but that’s irrelevant--as someone who loves to study stories and lit and such, LIKING something is such a useless measure of its value or what it has to say that it’s hardly worth mentioning. But I don’t know if I think it’s GOOD.

It actually reminds me a TON of House of Leaves, which, let me tell you fucking what, was not something I expected from a webseries called Detective Pony. A lot of the way the characterization is  revealed in the overwriting of the original text, the sidebars that are only tangentially related at best, at least on first glance, all of that, very much reminds me of House of Leaves, and as with House of Leaves, I can’t decide if it’s brilliant or pretentious. 

One thing I can tell you I DO NOT like, and that I think takes away from the larger part of whatever the story is trying to do, is all the edgelordy, family guy esque humor. Every fucking time they talk about the cat shitting I roll my goddamn eyes, it’s such a stupid thing to put in and I loathe it actively. Same with the joke about Pawnee having a drinking problem, it’s not funny and it takes away from the depth of whatever the story is trying to do elsewise. 

I’m very intrigued with the idea, that really just came in at the end of the half, about sin and the nature of sin, and the Christian question of predestiny. If we are “written” to sin, than is it truly fair to hold us responsible for said sins? Is that not the sin of the author themselves? I don’t know if it’s going to really go there, but it certainly asked the question, and in quite a direct way, as to this, by having Dirk comment on the fact that in reading Acron’s sins, he was also writing them. That’s a strange call out if they intend not to continue to comment on it. 

I have no idea how they’re going to use the idea of the writers themselves, if it’s going to be a commentary on stories (doubt--this doesn’t seem interested in that) or a commentary on idea of God and creation, God’ responsibility for creation, and the physical world. 

I find Dirk endlessly annoying, and he reminds me desperately of those guys in your college CR class that have to explain to you how learned they are in fucking monologue form at every opportunity. But it’s also interesting for me! Because *I* am fairly learned. The classical references do NOT go over my fucking head in the slightest, I am right there with you, and to an extent it makes me wonder, “Wow do I fucking sound like this?” Some of the elements of style really do remind me of parts of my own writing and ways of talking, and while I hope I’m not as insufferable as Dirk, it does bring me to a question I ALSO wonder if the work isn’t asking. 

It’s clearly casting this idea of “smart,” and I can’t decide if it’s taking it on its face, or if its actually asking you to call into question the idea of being classically learned as a smokescreen for actual cleverness and intelligence. And you know me, I’m the last to hate on classical learning, and I in no way support the idea that all y’all need to know is fuckin anime and video games and YA, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not ALSO true that name-dropping a bunch of classical Greek references is no substitute for having actual cleverness of mind, and wit, which are things that, to some extent, cannot be taught. At least not in the same way that classical learning can be. So I don’t know if the work is asking us to see Dirk’s references (The terza rima was VERY impressive, though) and maybe look at the wizard behind the curtain. Is it all so much puffery, where really everything he’s saying about Acorn is sound and fury, signifying nothing? Maybe? 

ANYWAY, that’s where I’m at with it--how I end up feeling about it will depend wildly on how it comes down, and how it answers, if it chooses to, some of the questions I’ve asked here. 

DETECTIVE PONY EVERYONE

PLEASE REMEMBER I HAVE NOT SEEN THE SECOND HALF AND DON’T SPOIL ME

#Anonymous

[why-is-it-always-autumn]

I love Detective Pony so much.  NakedBee’s video adaptation is now complete on YouTube and everyone should go watch it.

An incomplete lists of parts that made me lose my mind:

When Dirk is trying to be sincere and it switches from barbies to live action but he still can’t bring himself to show his face

When they cross the threshold into Hell and everything from the dolls to the hands puppeteering them switches

When the mural falls off Pawnee’s face

Pretty much all of Chapter 11, especially the bits where Jeanne is paralleled to the AR (the “I’m still talking about the book” exchange happening during a 2001: A Space Odyssey homage with Jeanne’s voice coming directly from Hal 9000!  Jeanne dressed as Dirk 4 in the Theater of Coolty segment!)

Pam and Pawnee having a snowball fight while Anna explains her plan

The bits in Anna’s plan where flashes of the original book show through

The text colors directly associating each of the girls with one of Dirk’s friends (cyan for Anna/Jane, pink for Pawnee/Roxy, green for Pam/Jake)

The fact that it’s a dialogue-heavy text and all the actors are barbie dolls with extremely limited movement, but it’s still dynamic and fun

When Barbie!Jeanne’s face fades into a photo of the real human woman

All of it

#detective pony #homestuck

[pauline-lewis]

Just take it easy, we're going home

J'attends quelque chose mais je ne sais pas quoi, ni pour quand. On s'habitue à tout paraît-il. Je pense à cette cicatrice dans mon œil que j'ai arrêté de voir. Je fais confiance à mes oreilles et espère qu'elles vont arrêter d'entendre les bruits fantômes de mon chat et le poids léger de ses coussinets qui faisaient grincer le parquet. Mes yeux, qui ont déjà effacé la cicatrice par le passé, arrêteront peut-être de le voir dans chaque plaid roulé en boule.

Le mois de janvier a toujours été pour moi le plus glauque de l'année. J'ai abandonné l'idée de me projeter alors je repense aux petites joies des temps passés, même si elles semblent minuscules : chanter Rocket Man au karaoké, boire un chocolat chaud sur une terrasse froide, sortir du cinéma et voir Notre-Dame, acheter un livre que je n'aurai pas le temps de lire.

Allongée dans mon lit la nuit, aux moments où la présence de mon chat me manque le plus, car je sais qu'il venait toujours me voir pendant mes angoisses, je voyage dans mes souvenirs et je marche dans le sable, je rebois un cocktail sans alcool sur une plage en Normandie, je dessine des Moomin avec mes neveux, le vent me claque au visage et j'écoute le bruit de la mer siffler dans mes oreilles. En janvier dernier, je ne dormais plus. Cette année, je dors plus que de raison. Je crois que mon corps entier veut hiberner.

Je vois des films et des séries, et j'ai beaucoup de gratitude quand un plan, une scène, un élément scénaristique minuscule arrive à remuer mon cerveau qui est, la plupart du temps, au calme plat.

Mon cerveau a pourtant ressorti de ses tréfonds la chanson de Morning Star Going Home que j'écoutais beaucoup dans mes jeunes années. Cette chanson dit que tout irait mieux si l'on rentrait à la maison. It's so hard to keep on fighting, when it could be so easy to go home J'aimais bien cette pop sautillante en 2007. À l'époque où j'écoutais ce groupe je sentais, comme aujourd'hui, que je tournais une page et j'avais un peu peur. Je réfléchis(sais) aux contours de ce qu'on appelle "la maison". There's no place like home.

J'avais emprunté My place in the dust à la médiathèque de Brest et écouté mille fois la chanson Hereafter, qui semble pleine de larmes et qui ne pouvait bien évidemment que me plaire. Elle a été, à l'époque, de toutes mes playlist et de toutes mes séances d'écriture. Et c'est un peu une chanson de janvier d'ailleurs : So many shades of grey — and you and me

Au hasard d'un roman de la rentrée littéraire j'ai eu envie de réécouter un de mes disques préférés, Blood on the Tracks de Bob Dylan. Je crois que le texte de la première chanson de l’album (Tangled up in blue) est l'un de ceux qui me touchent le plus au monde, je l'ai dit mille fois mais ce sont des mots qui, enchaînés les uns aux autres, sont d'un incroyable réconfort et qui semblent m'ouvrir les portes d'un autre monde. À chaque fois que je l'écoute, je suis fascinée par le rythme des phrases, par la force absolue de tout ce qu'elle raconte, par cette poésie qui irradie. J'ai beau avoir entendu mille fois cette chanson, elle me bouleverse toujours

Pouring of every page like it was written in my soul, from me to you

Je regarde par la fenêtre en entendant les couplets se fondre les uns dans les autres.

J'essaie de trier les bons des mauvais souvenirs, mais les mauvais reviennent et forcent la porte.

Alors je chante, je rechante et je rerechante

When it all came crashing down, I became withdrawn

The only thing I knew how to do was to keep on keepin on like a bird that flew

Ministry of Fear, Fritz Lang, 1944

J'ai regardé une série de films qui n'a rien éveillé en moi qu'une forme d'indifférence molle (les 6/10 sur SensCritique, franchement quoi de pire) et puis il y a eu Ministry of Fear de Fritz Lang qui est venu s'aligner un peu à mon humeur générale. C'est un film sur la paranoïa, l'angoisse du nazisme, la confiance et la culpabilité. Un vrai bon petit bingo de début d'année, donc.

J'ai vraiment aimé la manière dont le personnage principal est une sorte de anti-héros, qui essaie de se racheter d'une culpabilité passée en se lançant dans une enquête qui le dépasse totalement. Chaque personnage qui croise sa route est ambigu et complexe, et comme le spectateur ne peut pas faire confiance au héros indécis un du film, il joue un rôle actif pour débusquer le vrai du faux.

Il y a surtout une scène de spiritisme qui est 100% la raison pour laquelle je regarde des films : pour ces teintes de gris, ces visages fantomatiques, ce suspense intenable, surtout pour ce mystère qui se niche dans les images. Cette scène appuie sur le sentiment de culpabilité du personnage principal, elle joue sur la dualité entre ce que nous savons et ce que nous ne faisons que deviner. Et plus tard, elle sera complètement retournée. Vraiment sublime.

Un papillon, un scarabée, une rose (Aimee Bender). Éditions de l'Olivier, traduit par Céline Leroy

En décembre j'ai commencé à m'atteler à la lecture de la rentrée littéraire. J'ai choisi d'entamer ce cheminement par Un papillon, un scarabée, une rose d'Aimee Bender, parce que le titre m'intriguait. Le roman raconte l'histoire de Francie, une jeune fille de huit ans qui voit sa vie changer du jour au lendemain quand sa mère doit être internée. Elle part vivre avec son oncle, sa tante, et leur bébé. Nous la suivons tandis qu'elle grandit et que la peur de perdre pied comme sa mère la hante chaque jour.

L'écriture d'Aimee Bender est toujours sur le fil. Elle pourrait basculer d'un côté, le récit de la santé mentale de la mère, ou de l'autre, une histoire de reconstruction, mais elle trouve un terrain entre les deux. Où le symbole n'est jamais là où on l'attend. Où la profondeur est toujours de mise. J'ai été sans cesse déroutée par ce récit qui ne m'emmenait jamais où je le pensais. Et en laissant assez de non-dits dans l'état psychologique de la narratrice, assez de place pour l'interprétation, j'ai trouvé qu'Aimee Bender trouvait une voie passionnante pour parler du passage à l'âge adulte et du rapport d'une jeune fille à sa santé mentale.

C'est un livre que j'ai vraiment ressenti, au plus profondément de mon être, surtout aux moments où je ne le comprenais plus et où j'essayais de faire corps avec la narratrice sans succès, ces pages où elle m’échappait. Aimee Bender raconte les cabanes, mentales et physiques, que l'on se construit pour survivre. Le rapport d'une fille à sa mère malade. Les mensonges que l'on se raconte. Les espoirs. Et elle témoigne aussi d’une guérison partielle, sans imposer de leçon de vie, en acceptant la singularité absolue de son personnage. C'est le récit d'une obsession, d'une idée fixe, l'ode à tous ces détails auxquels on s'accroche. Aimee Bender explore les multiples manières dont l'impalpable, la métaphore, la fiction même infusent dans nos existences.

Ce récit m'a habitée pendant toute la semaine où je l'ai lu. Il se trouve que j'étais moi-même sur le fil, que j'allais basculer. Que ce récit prophétique me préparait aux détails auxquels j'allais moi-même me raccrocher. Un superbe roman.

Parks and Recreation

Ce mois de janvier est donc encore plus glauque que les autres mais nous revoyons Parks and Recreation et je trouve, dans ces 22 minutes de la vie de tout ce petit monde, une petite dose de réconfort qui ne me semble pas un luxe en ces temps franchement merdiques. Les fictions sont devenues un peu étranges (l'autre jour je regardais un épisode de Sex and the City et je me suis surprise à m'étonner de les voir s'étreindre, comme s'il s'agissait du rite d'une ancienne civilisation)(il faut souligner que ce n'est pas la seule chose qui m'étonne dans SATC) mais certaines font tout de même du bien.

J'avais oublié que Parks and Recreation faisait émerger autant de sentiments positifs. Elle me donne envie de sortir de mon "funk" comme je l'appelle, de ma "marée noire" comme l'a définie quelqu'un d'autre, pour retrouver ces microscopiques joies du quotidien et ces petites interactions avec des êtres aimés.

Si en ce mois de janvier vous avez une louse toute particulière, je ne peux que vous conseiller un visionnage ou revisionnage, les petits problèmes de Pawnee et les grands idéaux de Leslie Knope (et les multiples histoires d'amour, moi j'aime ça personnellement, mais vous vous faites ce que vous voulez) sont un baume au cœur particulièrement bienvenus.

Et tandis que je finis ce texte, Bob Dylan a avancé jusqu'à You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go, je me sens comme Jack Black dans High Fidelity qui tendait Blonde on Blonde à un client qui ne possédait pas encore ce classique en lui disant "It's gonna be okay".

Bob me chante sa remontrance ultime : "You're going to make me give myself a good talking to"

Yup Bob, it's gonna be okay.

[hotrod2007]

🥺❤

KAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hi kat i love u! kat you remind me of the feeling of summer as a kid when you’d get a popsicle from an ice cream truck and it’d melt on your hand before you could eat it. like your vibes are so warm and bright. i love that i can text u out of the blue like “hey u know what i just noticed with that 70s show” and youll go “no tell me”. you make talking easy and i always look forward to see u on my dash. you’re fun to watch things with and you lose your mind over the little things i do and i dont feel so alone. you’re a comfort to have in life like you just. you feel Comfy. im rlly bummed i cant see u on halloween this year bc the concept of horror night WITH you made me even more excited for halloween somehow. you simply add zest to everything and that makes u one of the most fun people i know!! and you’re also very kind to people. like i rmr being excited to get on discord bc youd go “alex!!” and id be like “kat!!” and go a bit insane. you also just make things fun like ik i said it a bit before but now im thinking abt ur citizens of pawnee and laughing like. other people would go “this is boring i hate it here” and u might! but u also go “these ppl are batshit i must document this”. anyway kat, all in all i truly think you’re swell and i love you

#kat #cottagecorekaspbrak #i also miss u heaps kat #letters!!!

[girlglassestheotherone]

Pawnee 2026

“Thank you for meeting with me, I know you both have a busy schedule,” the triplet’s teacher said, pointing Ben and Leslie to take a seat in the two chairs in front of his desk.

“I’ve got time,” Ben said, not looking up from his phone. 

“Aren’t you running for Congress?” the teacher asked, looking at Leslie for confirmation, but she was busy texting on her own phone. 

“I’ve won this dumb seat like four times already, I think I’ve got this, buddy” Ben said, laughing at something on the screen.

“I’m so glad I live in your district,” the teacher muttered, before coughing loudly to get their attention. “Phones” He reached over and grabbed each phone from their hands, putting them in a box on a nearby shelf that was labeled “Mr. Samson’s Electronics Jail.”

“As I was saying,” Mr. Samson said, distracted by accidentally seeing the texts on their phone screens. He paused, confused by the frequent employment of the eggplant emoji and for some reason the waffle emoji. 

“Now, as to why you called,” Leslie said, making a point of looking at Mr. Samson directly. 

“Yes, exactly” Ben said, crossing his legs and staring at the ceiling. 

“I wanted to share with you the triplets book reports,” Mr. Samson said, opening a blue folder and pulling out a stack of papers. “Westley’s was quite excellent.” He handed the two single spaced pages Westley had typed on the family’s computer. 

“A plus, great job, Wes,” Ben beamed as he took the report from the teacher’s hand.

“Do you write all your grades in pencil?” Leslie asked.

“Usually no. That’s one of the issues. I wanted to make sure Westley wrote this by himself. It’s, well, sometimes when parents help they help too much.”

“Mr. Samson, I assure you, Westley read the book by himself and typed this by himself and he wrote it by himself, so why don’t we just take this pen,” Leslie grabbed for a pen on the desk, briefly arm wrestling with the teacher over it.

“Fine! Ok,” Mr. Samson sighed and marked Westley’s A plus with a pen. “Obviously Mr. Wyatt couldn’t have written this, but I’m sorry i suspected you, Ms. Knope.”

“What’s that now?” Ben asked.

“Well you know Westley is very smart,” Leslie said.

“He is one of our brightest,” Mr. Samson agreed.

“The brightest, yes,” Leslie said.

“Speaking of your very bright children, who are some of my very bright students, all very bright. Everyone thinks their children are. And of course I do as well,” Mr. Samson muttered some more and  produced another shorter paper from the folder.

“Stephen Knope Wyatt,” Ben said, “Now his we definitely did not write.” Mr. Samson looked at Ben and back at Westley’s paper. 

“And we didn’t write Westley’s,” Ben laughed nervously, glancing at the paper, “I don’t even know what Actinopterygii even means,” he began reading the paper, “Damn, Westley is really smart.”

“Dollar,” Mr. Samson said, “We don’t allow swears and every time,” he lifted up a jar and Ben reached for his wallet. “You might want to keep that out, Stephen’s paper, well, see for yourselves.”

“I think it’s a great book report,” Leslie said, “It’s actually on the book he read and he didn’t even get the book from the library. C-minus?”

“I’m being generous for the amount of profanity, Ms. Knope,” the teacher began reading from a section in Stephen’s paper, “Where the Red Fern fucking grows is powerful as shit.”

“It is!” Leslie said, “But we will pay for his swearing if you reconsider his actual report. How many times?”

“34 dollars.”

Leslie shook her head and stood up to find her purse, muttering “My mother is not allowed to babysit Stephen again.”

“And I’m guessing Sonia got a B, because that’s the average,” Ben said, laughing to himself. “Math joke.”

“Right,” Mr. Samson pulled out the last report from the file. “I wasn’t able to grade her report, as it just says ‘this book is dumb, Robert Louis Stevenson can suck it.’ Now this is the one that concerns me the most.” He looked up and noticed Ben and Leslie were once again texting each other from the phones Leslie had snuck out of the electronics jail. 

#parks and recreation #future drabble #it doesn't have an ending but it's just a drabble

[artbookdap]

In celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Day, here are a few works from 'Action Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s to 1970s,' the first appraisal of modern Native American abstraction—merging abstract expressionism, color field and hard-edge painting with Native American art. ⁠ ⁠ Artists include: Ray Aguilar, Ralph Aragon, Sammy Begay, Larry (Littlebird) Bird, Earl Biss, Bennet Brien, Bennie Buffalo, George Burdeau, T.C. Cannon, Art Chischilly, Joseph L. Concha, Larry Desjarlais, Joe Dudley, Earl Eder, Mary Eder, Kirby Feathers, Anita (Luttrell) Fields, Phyllis Fife, Herman Fragua, Henry (Hank) Gobin, John Gritts, Harvey Herman, Patrick Swazo Hinds, John Hoover, Michael Jenkins, Peter B. Jones, Ralph Robert Kniffen, Delores Lee, Alice Loiselle, Linda Lomaheftawa, Linda Lucero, Edna Massey and more.⁠ ⁠ Pictured here: ⁠ Lloyd Kiva New, (Cherokee), Untitled, 1968⁠ Fritz Scholder, (Mission/Luiseno), New Mexico Number 1, 1965⁠ George Morrison, (Wahwahtehgonagabo) (Chippewa), White Painting #1, 1965⁠ George Morrison, (Wahwahtehgonagabo/Chippewa), White Environ VI, ca. 1967⁠ Henry "Hank" Delano Gobin, (Tulalip/Snohomish) Northwest Design, 1966⁠ Mike Medicine Horse Zillioux, (Akimel O’odham/Cheyenne/Pawnee), The Day Jackson Pollack Became Christian, 1974⁠ ⁠ Published by @iaiamocna⁠ ⁠ Text by Lara Evans, Ryan S. Flahive, Shanna Ketchum-Heap of Birds, Tatiana Lomahaftewa-Singer, Stephen Wall & @manuelawelloffman⁠ ⁠ Read more via linkinbio.⁠ ⁠ #actionabstractionredefinied #nativeamericanheritage #nativeamericanart #modernnativeart #nativeart @instituteofamericanindianarts #lloydkivanew #fritzscholder #georgemorrison #mikemedicinehorsezillioux #indiginouspeoplesday #indiginousart #indiginous https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjf3pzAuKpA/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#1 #actionabstractionredefinied #nativeamericanheritage #nativeamericanart #modernnativeart #nativeart #lloydkivanew #fritzscholder #georgemorrison #mikemedicinehorsezillioux #indiginouspeoplesday #indiginousart #indiginous

[imronfuckingswanson]

Early Days

Ron Swanson sat in his new 2002 Buick Park Avenue Ultra that was the same in every way to his car in Indiana aside from being that car, hands on the steering wheel, frowning at the building in front of him. It was big--bad--and fancy--worse. Government had no business spending so much money on a building. Pawnee’s City Hall, with its murals and many offices, was bad enough. This was ridiculous.

He took out his cell phone--also new, Leslie wouldn’t let him move to Hawaii without one (which was funny, since she was the one who forced him to do so in the first place), and sent a text--another thing he’d promised Leslie, and another thing he hated.

[To: Leslie Knope, Deputy Director of Operations, Department of Interior] This building is stupid.

Before he even had the chance to put his phone down, it beeped with a return text.

[From: Leslie Knope, Deputy Director of Operations, Department of Interior] You can do it!!!!!!!! I believe in you!!!!!!!! You are a pillar of strength and integrity and you’re going to whip that task force into shape!!!!!!! GO RON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ron stifled a smile, put his phone and keys into his pocket, and walked inside. He immediately frowned at the large, open space and two curving staircases--opulent, and unnecessary. Also, there were no signs that he could see, so he approached the first person he saw: a short, blond man who appeared to be having an argument with his phone. Ron sympathized.

“Excuse me, I’m looking for the Five Zero Task Force. Are you equipped to direct me to their office?”

#officerxwilliams #early days #// lowkey can't believe i'm doing this #// highkey excited

[pawneecityschool]

Teaching in a Whole New Way!

By Mrs. Veleba

Photos provided by the Pawnee City Faculty

Little did the faculty know that on Tuesday, March 17, we would be seeing our students for the LAST time this school year!  Since that day, teachers have been working to organize materials for students to work on at home.  At first, packets were sent with papers and worksheets, but now, everything is being done online.

Most teachers are working from their homes in the new teaching spaces in spare rooms or right in their kitchens! It is there that they record lessons or make worksheets for students to do.  For me, life continues to happen in the band room where I am working on recording songs for my elementary and junior high kids to practice or working on the yearbook, communicating with my staff only through email or text messages.  Still other teachers are working primarily from home, but they come in occasionally to record their new lessons for the week.

Needless to say, this time is a struggle for everyone involved: students, parents, teachers, staff, and administration.  Nothing has prepared us to deal with a crisis like this, but I believe we are ALL handling the situation well.  “It takes a village to raise a child,” and we are all truly doing our part!

Until we meet again!!  AV