#who would make fun of a culture by making up ridiculous fake names rooted in caricatures of a proud nation

[praphit]

WandaVision: When you can’t let go of that robo-lovin.

So, I just finished watching "WandaVision", and I must say, right off the bat 

- I LOVED IT!

Disney Plus is finally paying off. I'm in the group of peeps who got DP, not for the mouse, but for the ones whom the mouse is in bed with, and most recently on Mickey's playtime Marvel List - Wanda Maximoff and her robo-boy toy VISION... or is that “THE Vision”? - that seems kinda ostentatious, but whatever.

When I first heard that Wanda was getting a series, I said "Who cares?" I don't care bout no Wanda! What has she been other than a weird pest?

Let's review:

She tried to kill the Avengers, she accidentally injures and kills innocent people, she was getting in the way, so Tony Stark had to get his CPU (Vision) to babysit her, she falls in love with the CPU - can we talk about how strange this is? I didn't say wrong, just different, cuz honestly, we may be headed there soon. That movie "Her" might be a reality with how tech is going these days.

But, imagine I come to your home and fall in love with your laptop (which messes everything up for you with all your devices and your social media), THEN (as Wanda did with Vision), I run off on some romantic journey with all of your devices. Imagine how Tony would have felt, if he was still with us.

She had one job when it came to Thanos, and it ended up not mattering.

Then, went full rage on the wrong Thanos.

Idk if that’s a look (Thanos) pain, release, of he’s listening to his jam. Kinda looks like he’s saying “JESUS”. But, Wanda is pissed.

Wanda: "You took everything from me!"

Thanos: "Lady, I don't even know you!"

I didn't care about Wanda. But, damn, Marvel is so good that in one episode they made me care; one trailer, really.

If you had not seen the trailer for this series, you might be confused by the first episode. 

You might even ask yourself - "What the bleep is this nonsense?!" We want heroes vs villains. We want super-powered explosions. We want capes, ridiculously tight clothes, bulky armor, and anything else that makes no sense to fight in.

You're giving me "Bewitched"?

I DID see the trailer, so I knew going in that it would be a slow burn with some nostalgia, some quirks, and some eeriness; right up my alley.

The change in Tv decade styles btw *chef kiss*

I figured that they'd be trapped in some mysterious, magical world - which they are...

Unless you're super geeky with the funny books, there's no way you'll see what's coming in this mystery.

And it IS a mystery, not only to the audience, but for the characters involved in this show. Don't nobody know what the hell is going on.

But, LaWanda and Vishawn 

(sorry, I just wanted to use this pic - Ha! Y'all are crazy.)had help figuring things out:

Rambo

Yeah, it's actually Monica Rambeau, 

but... admit it, some of you kept thinking about Rambo too, right?? No offense to this actress, but I'd rather see old man Sly play Rambo, and HIM be in this mysterious WandaVision town. Let's get Disney a lil bloody. Wishful thinking, I suppose.

Marvel WILL BE venturing into multiple universes soon, so perhaps Rambo finds his way to team up with The Punisher? Huh?? YEAH!

But, no... Rambeau (meh No personality, but whatever).

Randall Park - 

He's that person we all know who has made us laugh so much in life, that they don't even need to say anything anymore; you look at them and laugh. I love this dude!

Kat Dennings - 

I remember liking her more in the Thor movies.  I found her annoying, this time around.   She joins the mystery to figure tech stuff out, and she's a doctor or something (don't you forget it!). She also asks the team she just meets to get her some coffee, and acts like they're disrespecting HER, by their lack of response. I know she's a doctor and all, but damn! Imagine some electrician comes to your place to serve YOU, they're condescending to you, and then  they ask you for some coffee. Get the hell outta here!

Oh, and there's a dude named “Director Dick”. That's my name for him, but the name fits.

The people in this town are acting out as if they've been scripted for some show. And all of these characters, AND US, get to figure it out together - through antics from different times in Tv culture. 

Times sure were different back in the day:

No social justice issues implanted or cursing or sex or drugs... now, I'm not saying it was a better time, just a different one :) A time when dad jokes ruled! Simple times! Ignorance was bliss. But, it kinda wasn't - not really.

It's like having an animal die on your property somewhere, and it starts to stink. You COULD find the truth of the stench... or light candles everywhere. Some really strong candles - maybe some of those Gwyneth Paltrow candles.

Though the stench might get covered up, the problem is still there. At some point, your kids could find the dead rotting animal... maybe start playing with it... you get the point.

In this show, the townspeople's minds have been taken over by someone or something, and it's torturous for them. So... bliss on the surface, but... not so much, going deeper. I tell you all of this, plus great production in each epi, a good slow-burn mystery, and fun with comic characters in a way we haven't seen before on screen, and hell yeah - Grade: A series.

Now... spoilers.

You might want to leave now.

People, Wanda is the villain here. I'm not sure if that's the message the writers are trying to convey or not, but I don't care; she is the clear villain here.

Here’s Wanda reading some Hell book, conjuring some dark spirits - nbd.

We are rooting for her throughout this show; even after we find out that she has been (even if not maliciously) controlling every one, we still root for her.

I'm not saying that's bad, but we can't forget about what she has done! Remember, I said that the mind control was torturous for the townspeople.

There's a very emotional moment at the end of this series between Wanda and Vision, and between them and their kids (yeah, they have kids... that's a whole other thing). This moment is well done and touching. There's even a bad ass fight between Wanda and the "true... villain"? - of this story. I'll get to her in a sec (There’s a badass Vision fight scene as well).

I loved all of that! But, at the end of the day...

I know Wanda is grieving and all, we all grieve, but we all don't, in our grief, take a whole town hostage, torture the people, all while playing house with our family. That's kinda sick, no??

Are we doing a girl-power thing? or a “witches are people too” thing? or “but she’s doing it all for her family” thing (yeah, they’re not actually real, but whatever)? I don’t know.

I'm not sure that we know what a villain is anymore. It used to be clear - the guy with the beard was the bad guy, or the guy wearing the black outfit was the bad guy, or the people who aren't Americans are the bad guys :)

But, movies like "Joker" and "Deadpool" and Harley's joint have confused some.

Who else would be the villain? There's a character, the villain (i guess), a witch named Agatha Harkness, played by Kathryn Hahn

Here she is saying “I’m the villain? Really? What about her?!!”

   - she's excellent btw; def the highlight of this show; her and Paul Bettany's hair game.

But, let's compare:

Agatha: 

betrays her coven back in the day, sure, but why you bringing up old shit? 

She allows Wanda to play out this fantasy for a while, and even played along. She could have just killed her when she was ignorant; that's what I would have done. She eventually shows Wanda the truth (granted, she then wants Wanda's power, but hey, everything has a price. And for all we know, she would have used all of that power to... cure the worlds diseases or something... though prob not:). Annnd maybe she killed an imaginary puppy. Convo for another time: if you kill something that's not real, does it matter??

That's it!

She didn't (like Wanda): abduct a town, torture its people, bring Vision back from the dead (kinda), endanger soldiers who were just doing their jobs, create weird fantasies (And did she have sexy time with previously dead, fake Vision? This thing gets even weirder if she did. But, let's not go down that path.) Oh, and she magically punted a black woman (Rambo) the length of a football field just for her asking Wanda some questions.

When the townspeople finally regain their minds (Lord knows how long it's been), they look at her with disdain, and I don't blame them.  And what does Wanda do?? - shrug, put on a hoodie, and fly off - to break into somebody's home and read some devil book.

Where’s cancel culture in this universe? 

I know she made us feel, but I ask again, who's the villain here?

Still Grade A stuff for me (again, I loved this!), but c'mon, people.

We get a glimpse of Captain Marvel 2 as well. My fingers are crossed. I actually liked the first movie. But, many others did not, and one of the reasons - Captain Marvel doesn't have much of a personality, and another - she's too powerful (no risk).

So, to answer the critics, we have Monica Rambeau - another ridiculously super-powered hero, with no personality. So, two unrelatable characters flying around in space, as Sam L Jackson tries not to curse. But, if Marvel can make me care about evil ass Wanda, I'll still hold out hope for Capt Marvel 2.

#wandavision #john praphit #praphitproductions.com #wanda maximoff #elizabeth olsen #paul bettany #praphit #bewitched #disney #Marvel Comics #Movie Reviews #comicbooks #cancel culture #witchcraft #kathryn hahn #rambo #captain marvel 2 #action #mystery

[metalandmagi]

Fall 2019 Anime Worth Watching

Wondering what anime to watch now that the jam packed summer season is over? Never fear, we’re into the fall, and there’s even more great shows this season! It’s my last rec list of the year so we’re in the home stretch now!

Full disclaimer, this season is packed with great shows, but a lot of these are not available on Crunchyroll...so here’s a link to a list of where you can watch everything legally on streaming! And I’ll but an (*) by everything that IS on Crunchyroll.

And here’s my recs for every season this year:

Summer 2019

Spring 2019

Winter 2019

And here’s my master list for 2020

New shows!

Chuubyou Gekihatsu-Boy (Outburst Dreamer Boy): A comedy in which a normal girl just wants a peaceful high school life, but finds herself surrounded by a group of ridiculous, overly dramatic boys who are all part of the “hero club” who try to make her school life better by helping her make friends. This is all well and good, but all the boys are delusional in one way or another. For example, one thinks he and his friends are basically Power Rangers, and another is obsessed with fabricating dramatic fake anime backstories for himself. It’s Ouran High School Host Club without the hosting. It’s absolutely hilarious, but it’s really flying under the radar because it’s not on Crunchyroll.

Kabukichou Sherlock: A surprisingly comedic modern version of Sherlock Holmes that takes place in the seedier portions of Japan in which a bunch of the city’s quirky detectives try and hunt down Jack the Ripper. I was not expecting this to be nearly as good as it was. The characters are great, Mrs. Hudson is a transvestite cabaret singer, the soundtrack is bomb, it’s an original anime by Production I.G. AND SHERLOCK EXPLAINS HIS DETECTIVE PROCESS THROUGH MYSTERY SOLVING RAKUGO!!!! 

Babylon: NO, NOT FATE BABYLONIA! This is a mystery/thriller involving a case of illegal clinical research for a pharmaceutical company that leads down a rabbit hole full of murder, suicide, and political intrigue. IT’S LIKE DEATH NOTE AND MONSTER HAD A BABY AND IT’S FREAKING AMAZING! I haven’t been this interested in a mystery/crime anime since Erased. The first episode will definitely leave you...hanging…. The only problem is it’s not on Crunchyroll, so I have a feeling most people won’t know about it because it’s on freaking Amazon Prime!

Hoshiai no Sora (Stars Align): A coming of age sports anime in which a boys soft tennis team sucks so bad that the school will disband them if they don’t win a tournament. And the team captain is so desperate for serious members, he literally pays his childhood friend who recently moved back into town to play on the team. And said childhood friend has an incredibly interesting backstory and struggling family life that ropes you in right away. How is soft tennis different from regular tennis? No clue, but this show is awesome! You can tell by the first episode it is going to be a great coming of age story, with more mature themes of abuse and class difference.

And it’s not the only sports anime with Sora in the title...

*Ahiru no Sora (Sora the Duck): Another sports anime, in which a short, spikey haired boy wants to play basketball (yeah yeah very original) but discovers that his high school basketball team is full of punks! It’s basically what would happen if Izuku Midoriya wanted to be a basketball player. The first few minutes are basically every sports anime you’ve ever seen, BUT it really lives up to its potential by the end of the first episode. It has a likable protagonist, good animation, and the female characters all wear realistic clothes to play basketball in! If you’re a piece of sports anime trash like me, this is definitely the show for you!

No Gun Life: In a detective noir world where everyone has basically become a cyborg, a guy with a gun for a head works to uncover the plans of an evil organization.  That’s it, that’s the whole thing. It’s made by Madhouse AND IT’S A CYBORG WITH A GUN FOR A HEAD! What else do you need?!

Beastars: IT’S JUST ANIME ZOOTOPIA! I’m not even kidding. It’s a school based mystery involving anthropomorphic animals who are faced with the murder of one of their classmates and the disruption of the peaceful coexistence of all types of animals in the school. It involves the whole predator vs prey dynamic and how appearances are deceiving, all with a jarringly serious tone considering everyone’s an animal. The only thing that doesn’t sit right with me is the use of 3D animation...which I notoriously despise no matter how great the show is. But even I am willing to put aside my hatred to keep watching this anime. The characters are interesting, it’s shot really creatively, and I love how ridiculously seriously it takes itself. Apparently it’s going to be on Netflix at some point.

*Shin Chuuka Ichiban (True Cooking Master Boy): It’s Food Wars’ less porny sibling that takes place in 19th century China, where a young boy named Mao is a master chef who travels around spreading his love for cooking! This is a reboot/continuation of an anime based on a manga from the 90s so there’s a really fun retro art style that’s nice to see updated. Apparently it picks up in the middle of the original story, but I haven’t felt like it’s necessary to see the source material to enjoy it or understand it. Also the soundtrack is bomb! It’s a great shounen to watch if you want more cross-cultural cooking anime that’s not straight up porn in your life, and it will definitely make you hungry!

Next seasons and Continuations!

 And don’t forget the summer leftovers, and some shows are getting continuations!

*Chihayafuru season 3: This is an incredibly fantastic underrated sports/club anime about a girl named Chihaya who struggles to find members for her karuta club after her best friend who made her fall in love with the game moves away. Never heard of “karuta”? It’s a physically and mentally challenging traditional Japanese game involving 100 poems written on cards that the players must memorize and locate before their opponent….it makes more sense when you see it I promise. This show is goddamn amazing, with incredibly realistic characters, an amazing game that most people don’t know about, gorgeous animation. It’s hilarious, it’s dramatic, it’s sad, and it’s uplifting all at once. 

This doesn’t premier until October 23, (so you’ve got time to binge the first 2 seasons!) but this is by far my most anticipated show of the season and quite possibly the entire year! I’VE BEEN WAITING SO MANY YEARS FOR ANOTHER SEASON, AND I’M SO PSYCHED!

Kono Oto Tomare (Stop this Sound) season 2: Speaking of club related anime, in case you missed the first season earlier this year, this is an anime about a boy who tries to recruit members for his high school koto club after all his senpais graduate. What’s a koto club you ask? It’s a large Japanese string instrument that no one cares about or plays anymore of course! Their club is endearingly terrible, with literally only one competent person on the team, but they’re aiming for nationals anyway, because...of course they are. This show seems pretty textbook at first, but it really grows on you the further you get. There are great character dynamics, it’s fun, it’s sweet, and there’s cool music that people don’t hear a lot of! If you like sports or club focused anime, give this one a chance!

*Dr. Stone: An action adventure in which all of humanity is mysteriously turned to stone one day. When a genius high school boy named Senku and his….not so genius friend Taiju awaken 3,700 years in the future, the two must rebuild civilization and turn the world back to normal with the power of science! I know pretty much everyone is watching this already, but I just want to reiterate how amazing it is. It is mysterious, educational, hilarious, and it really makes you think about civilization as we know it today. It was one of the best (if not the best) new show of the summer, and I’m so glad it’s getting a full run!

Vinland Saga: THE VIKING ANIME IS GETTING A FULL RUN!!!!!!!! In case you missed this gem in the summer, it’s a historical drama about a young boy named Thorfinn and his journey to avenge his father’s death and become a great warrior. And it’s all while traveling with his enemies through Northern Europe. It’s a fantastic dark, realistic story in a historical setting that filled the void left by Dororo. Plus it’s animated by Wit, so it looks beautiful. The music is great, the characters are intriguing, the story is interesting, AND IT HAS AN AMAZING ANTAGONIST! It has hype written all over it, so I’m pumped for the rest of the season! Unfortunately, you can only find it legally on Amazon Prime, so that’s why no one’s watching it.

*Fire Force: The (unfortunately timed) action/drama where fire fighters with super powers must protect Tokyo from people who are spontaneously combusting and uncover the evil rooted within their own organization. It’s made by the same person who created Soul Eater, and it definitely shows. The animation is high flying and out of this world. It’s worth watching for the action alone. But be warned, the plot and characters are it’s biggest weakness. It will jump between gratuitous fanservice and hijinks and then rocket into moral dilemmas and disturbing situations with no warning. BUT I still like watching it for the action, and in these later episodes the plot has steered itself back on track a lot more, and I’m way more interested in where the story is going now. I’m hoping that means the second half will give us a better sense of the characters. It also has a top tier muscular waifu! 

*My Hero Academia season 4: I’m sure everyone’s already going to be watching MHA, but I guess I’d have my anime fan badge revoked if I didn’t at least mention this one. I may not read the manga, but I know this arc is going to be a good one! I firmly believe this will be a modern classic, so if you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s really worth watching.

And that’s it for this season. I’ll probably do a list at the end of the year of my top shows of 2019, but otherwise, see you in the winter of 2020!

#long post #anime recommendations #fall 2019 anime #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #fire force #dr stone #vinland saga #Chihayafuru #kono oto tomare #stop this sound #shin chuuka ichiban! #beastars #true cooking master boy #no gun life #babylon #ahiru no sora #sora the duck #stars align #hoshiai no sora #kabukichō sherlock #chuubyou gekihatsu boy #UNEDITED BECAUSE THIS WEBSITES A BITCH AND DELETED MY FINAL DRAFT

[edivupage]

The Lasting Impact of Mispronouncing Students’ Names

It is essential that a teacher pronounces students‘ names correctly. Though this may often be ignored or not taken seriously by some educators, a student’s name is tied to his or her identity. So, it is important to get it right.

While it may be difficult to get the pronunciation of every child’s name right, the attitude of a teacher and effort he or she makes towards learning how to pronounce the child’s name correctly matters so much to the child.

Our names convey powerful messages about our existence. Your identity as an individual is centered around your name. Most names reflect the family culture and belief system. The naming tradition makes up the core part of every culture. A child’s name is one of the first things they learn while growing up.

Some parents and cultures give a name to a child relative to the story surrounding their birth or to honor a family value, but when a child is forced to adopt “Americanized” names or nicknames, the child gradually loses grip with his or her identity, origin, and existence.

Besides the child’s home, one of the places where a child is identified with his or her name is in the school system. Mispronouncing a child’s name repeatedly can have a lasting impact on them. It can make the child lose his or her identity, affect their confidence and negatively impact the child’s academic performance.

Frequent mispronunciation of a students’ name may make them become socially withdrawn and try to hide or fake their identity to fit in, which in the end can cause such students to lose a connection with their family roots.

A 2012 study conducted by Kohli and Solórzano showed that students with unfamiliar names had to deal with their teachers mispronouncing their names constantly. The worst aspect of it is when the teacher laughs at or makes a mockery of the students’ name instead of making a real effort to learn how to pronounce their names correctly.

Negative impacts of mispronouncing a students’ name:

1. Loss of identity

Students of ethnic minorities, immigrants and African-Americans are those mainly affected by the mispronunciation of names. Names hold ancestral and historical significance for many minorities and immigrants. Names bring stories, which students are often forced to adapt to an “Americanized” context.

To avoid constant embarrassment, many of these student’s adopt an  American name which has no true connection with their original name. A good illustration of this is a seventeen-year-old immigrant, Yee Wan from China, who changed her name to “Winnie” to make it easy for her educators to pronounce her name. This suggestion was made by her ESL teacher.

That experience spurred Wan the present president of the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE)  to launch a campaign to promote the correct pronunciation of a child’s name in school irrespective of his or her cultural background.

Yee Wan, the president of NABE, launched the My Name, My Identity  Campaign in collaboration with the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) to educate people about the lasting negative impact mispronouncing a child’s name can have on them and make propositions on how such issues can be remedied in schools and communities.

Again, the brother of Kohli dropped his native South Asian name, Sharad (‘shu-rudth’) and changed it to Sharub when he was in his ninth grade. But then, his teachers and classmates felt it was easier to call him Shrub, and that was the name they called him all through his high school forcing him to drop his original name and identity.

Michelle-Thuy Ngoc also dropped the second half of her Vietnamese name to make it more comfortable for others and only answered to Michelle. She eventually went back to her full name.

2. Loss of self-confidence

According to PBS News report, mispronouncing a child’s name can have a lifelong negative impact on them. Rita Kohli, an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Riverside reiterates that when a child experiences constant mispronunciation of his or her name by their teachers, they start to build a wall around themselves.

Over time, it’ll start to affect the child’s self-confidence, making them feel like they don’t belong, especially when their teachers make fun of their names and they are laughed at by their fellow students.

The PBS report also recounted an anecdote from a student at a school in Portland, Oregon who skipped her graduation and failed to receive her award because her principal “murdered” her Chinese name on the stage. The student was traumatized because the principal not only mispronounced her name but made a joke of it and attracted the laughter of the audience.

Although it can be difficult to pronounce the name of every student correctly, the teacher should make an effort t. A child may fail to answer the roll call because their name was mispronounced. Such an experience can make a child enter their shell, and become socially withdrawn.

3. Low academic performance

A child’s self-confidence affects their performance in school. A child that lacks self-confidence and feels shamed in the presence of their peers probably won’t perform well academically. Teachers should work hard to promote an inclusive culture in their classroom and the entire school. No child should be ridiculed or made to feel ashamed of their name, their identity or culture.

Santa Clara County Superintendent,  Jon Gundry, was a teacher of middle and high school  English as a second language students for more than a decade. When he was a teacher, he formed a culture of respect by learning the correct pronunciation of all his new students the first day they appeared in the class.

Learning how to pronounce your students’ name correctly is a huge step towards their acculturation. It makes it easy for them to cope in their new school environment.

4. Renders the student implicitly invisible

Carmen Fariña, a native-Spanish speaker during her kindergarten days in Brooklyn, was marked as absent for weeks for failing to respond to her name during roll calls. She didn’t respond because her teacher incorrectly pronounced her name. While the teacher thought that she was being obstinate, the poor child didn’t hear her name being called by the teacher.

As a present chancellor of New York City schools, Fariña drawing from her experience noted in her keynote address to the National Association for Bilingual Education, that mispronouncing a child’s name basically makes the child feel invisible in class.

5. Has a negative emotional and social  impact

Many immigrant students and students from ethnic minorities already must deal with not having a teacher that looks like them in their school. Also, they would rarely find a teacher who speaks the same language as them, and they struggle to learn a curriculum that is entirely different from what they are used to in their native land.

A 2012 study by Rita Kohli and Daniel Solórzano found that mispronouncing a student’s name is one of the hurtful microaggressions that the students can suffer. The study, “Teachers Please Learn Our Names! Racial Microaggressions and the K-12 Classroom,” found many instances of students who were shamed, anxious, or embarrassed because their names were constantly mispronounced in class. This makes them begin to gradually withdraw from their language, cultural origin, and family background.

The case of the native Chinese student in Portland, Oregon-area illustrates it all. As we discussed earlier in this article, the student failed to rise during an honors ceremony because their principal mispronounced their name and laughed over it, making the audience chuckle.

What teachers and fellow students can do to help

 When teachers overlook or downplay the necessity of correctly pronouncing a student’s name, they make the situation worse A teacher may not pronounce a student’s name correctly the first time, but he or she must make a sincere effort to get it right rather than making a joke of it and laughing about the mistake.

Teachers should work to promote an inclusive culture where all students from different cultural background feel like they belong.

Making a mockery of a child’s name affects their self-confidence. Mollie Robertson a math teacher at Iroquois High School in Jefferson County, KY believes it is the responsibility of every educator to encourage fair play and foster respect for all students in their class. She advocates for a safe learning environment for all by starting with the correct pronunciation of her students’ name.

A teacher can help by not laughing when they mispronounce a child’s name. And the students can show they respect their peers by learning to pronounce their names correctly and not laughing when someone gets it wrong.  Instead of laughing, they should help their classmates learn the correct pronunciation.

When teachers take the time to learn how to pronounce their students’ name correctly, they are helping them connect with their origin and helping them to form their true identity.

The post The Lasting Impact of Mispronouncing Students’ Names appeared first on The Edvocate.

The Lasting Impact of Mispronouncing Students’ Names published first on https://sapsnkra.tumblr.com

[thesundayread]

The mind of Taylor Swift

By Douglas Hardman

There is truly nothing quite as special or unique as the presence of Taylor Swift in 2018. She is the smartest business woman in the game and the most polarizing pop artist of our generation. Yet, she continuously gets berated, shamed, and ridiculed by the mass public, and it has been going on for years. Ever since the infamous Kanye West “Imma let you finish” speech interruption, Taylor Swift has been on the brain of everyone close enough to a computer or television, both in a good and bad way.

Taylor Swift started out as a country artist, writing melancholy ballads about heartbreak and growing up in the big scary world. As she shifted into more mature songwriting and delved deeper into the aspect of intimate and romantic relationships, the ugly head of slut shaming comes around, as it does. “All she does is sing about boys;” “How many boyfriends has she had;” “She just broke up with another one, here comes another album.” And then she released a straight up masterpiece of a pop album: 1989.

This was a huge turning point for Swift. With the critically acclaimed album breaking all previous records, Taylor Swift was a household name, but also a public “shame.” Accused of abandoning her roots to sell albums, accused of cultural appropriation, and accused of losing her songwriting prowess, Taylor Swift stayed strong, head held high. With poignant songs, such as “Blank Space,” “Out of the Woods,” and “New Romantics,” Swift had not missed a beat when switching genres, proving she could incorporate meaningful and thought-provoking lyrics into pop bangers.

Then the ugly got uglier. Without too many details (there are a TON), Kanye West and Kim Kardashian-West sought to take down the cultural icon. After seemingly burying the hatchet years after the speech fiasco, Swift and West seemed to be friends and were supposedly planning on going to the studio together. However, West had recorded a song in which he sings, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex…I made that bitch famous.” Kanye says Taylor approved the lyrics, Taylor said she didn’t, Kim released a video of Swift and West on the phone talking about it, Taylor is “outed” as a fake and a snake. The ridicule and humiliation led Swift to leave the public eye for nearly two years, only to come back bigger and stronger than ever, but we will get to that later.

In Swift’s defense, it is never seen in the video that Kanye plays her the lyrics, “I made that bitch famous,” which was the more upsetting part; Kanye also never mentioned those lyrics, and they were to be added to the song post-phone call. After Swift made a public statement about wanting to be excluded from a narrative she had no control of, and no interest in, people immediately did what they do best: attacked. Flooded with snake emoji’s on Twitter and bombarded with hate comments, Swift felt defeated and retreated. But, in August of 2017, a good 1.5 years after the incident, Swift released a “bait-and-switch” song entitled “Look What You Made Me Do,” with a video that poked fun at her new snake persona, took jabs at the Wests, as well as her ex-boyfriend Calvin Harris (a whole other can of worms), and rebranded herself as the Snake Queen. Talk about a rebirth.

Now that I’ve flooded you with all this information, what is it I’m trying to get at? Very good question, curious reader. Taylor Swift is a smart and powerful business woman. Every move she makes is calculated and with purpose. “Blank Space” was a pop song that was a satire on the media’s portrayal of her as a serial dater. She produced 1989 as a sonically cohesive album (many complaints were that the songs sounded too alike) due to her previous album, Red, being snubbed Album of the Year at the Grammy’s due to its lack of sonic cohesiveness. “Look What You Made Me Do” was yet another satirical song tackling her tattered image while also playing into the “feuds” in her career. The first half off her latest album, reputation, is meant to represent the “reputation” she garnered over the years, while the second half is a representation of her true self. She knows the game she is playing, she plays it well, and she has always come out a winner.

The most recent, and most iconic thing, Swift has accomplished is so monumental. Ever since the 2016 Presidential Election, Swift was accused of being a Trump supporter by one small factor: she remained quiet about politics. Yes, the mere fact that she wasn’t vocal (which is false) about her political beliefs led everyone to believe she was a Neo-Nazi, white supremacist, Trump girl. And, boy, does everyone feel foolish now. On Sunday, October 7, 2018, Swift took to Instagram, after her final US tour date for reputation, to encourage her fans to register to vote. She does call out Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican candidate, and says that she will not be voting for her since she does not contain the same values as Swift. A fairly simple statement, but a very effective one.

Now the tides have turned. Everyone, minus Republicans, LOVE Taylor Swift now that she has broken the silence and taken a stand. As I stated earlier, Taylor Swift has always been vocal about her BELIEFS. She was always a strong advocate for gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, and mental health awareness, as well as race equality. So what’s different? She finally put in a statement that is clear as crystal and cannot be compromised. She wants people to vote and she is not voting Republican in Tennessee. Since this, over 165,000 new voter registrations were recorded across the US. This is not a coincidence. It is also not a coincidence in timing.

After Swift was deemed pro-Trump, many people assumed that her tour would be funded by a primarily Republican demographic. Why didn’t Swift say something sooner? Because she wanted a message to be sent. Some would argue that she “needed” that audience to fund her tour, but she would have sold out regardless, in my opinion. But, it’s a bigger stab in the back when this group of people willingly, and blindly, gave her their money, then she turns around and makes a statement like that, and the checks are already cashed. The tour is over, her sold-out stadiums, and she held true to her beliefs. She didn’t need the money of Republican fans, but it’s just calculated and petty, which makes it even more fantastic. Following up with this, Swift performed at the American Music Awards that Tuesday, her first award show performance in years, and she sang the stadium tour version of “I Did Something Bad.” In the song, the standout lyrics are: “If a man talks shit, then I owe him nothing,” “I never trust a narcissist, but they love me, so I play them like a violin and I make it look oh, so easy,” “They say I did something bad, then why’s it feel so good,” and “They’re burning all the witches even if you aren’t one.” This is the most iconic moment in Swift’s career.

The Internet will say Swift single handedly took down the Republican party, or that she did it for the attention. Needless to say, the power of Taylor Swift cannot be denied. She is a strong and successful woman who refuses to give up the fight. She is a pop star yes, but she is also a business woman, a crafty one at that, and a human being. All these “controversies” around her just fuel her fire and she will continue to rise above the flames. Go ahead and light her up, because she’s taken flight and she’s not stopping any time soon.

(Photo | Google)

#sunday read #vwu #virginia wesleyan #taylor swift #business woman #republican party #trump #republican party takedown #beliefs #taylor swift is a smart business woman

[prinzenhasserin]

Yuletide!

Dear Yule Goat/Creator/Person I Will Love Forever,

I am very excited for anything you write for these fandoms. Please feel free to take my prompts and likes any way you wish, as long as you stick to my dislikes. Don’t feel like you have to stick to the prompts! I’m always open for other characters. Generally, I will be delighted with any rating from gen to explicit. I hope you have fun creating!

My AO3 name is Prinzenhasserin, here. If you want to browse more of my letters, here are some at my exchange letter tag. 

Likes:

fake/pretend relationships, arranged marriages

loyalty

odd couples

found family, dysfunctional families that nevertheless love each other

historical stories for same-sex pairings that aren’t unhappy but that fit with the society of the time (so like, spinster ladies living together; bachelors-for-life)

cultural differences, age differences, height differences

heists, rescue missions, case fic

dragons, fairy tales, magical realism, urban fantasy

competent characters

people not realising they’re the most competent at their job/hobby

people failing their way to success

happy endings, earning your happy ending, open yet hopeful endings

cynical humour

mutual pining

suits, corsetry, fancy dresses

Identity shenanigans (secret identities, mistaken identities)

Blatant Lies

Enemies finding common ground and becoming friends/lovers; rivalry

outsider POV, 1st person narrator

epistolary, fictional non-fiction, worldbuilding, interactive fiction, poetry

orange/blue morality (that is, not entirely human morality); grey/grey morality

people not usually found in law enforcement solving crimes

non-verbal expressions of affection

contradictions: that is, I like my fantasy with the mundane (doing taxes in a mythical land of dragons, or space pirates!) and I like my mundane fiction with outrageous happenings.

Kinks:

wall sex! overcome with sudden desire! sex with clothes on! 

shifting power dynamics (outside the bedroom, and inside the bedroom), actions on both sides, basically

stiff characters letting go of their iron control inside the bedroom; characters feeling guilty of their desire but not guilty enough to stop; coming to terms with the guilt

lots of foreplay, drawn out orgasms, edging

desperate sex, drunk sex, we-just-can’t-help-it!sex, sex for life-affirming; sex pollen

sex toys

Dislikes (Do-Not-Want):

rape played for laughs, or as backstory

sexuality, or gender as the focus of plot or used for drama

suicide

tragic endings (ambiguous endings are fine, though!)

RED (Movies)

(Characters: Victoria, Sarah Ross)

This movie, goddamn it. It’s so silly, and so! much! shit! explodes, but I can’t help but find it charming and adorable.

If you want to write me Victoria teaching Sarah how to handle her weapons and shoot shit up, I am absolutely here for that. I would also love secret spy shenanigans, or a situation where only the secret skills of the customer service person Sarah or the filling skills of a bored bureaucrat (also: Sarah) save the day in a spectacular manner.

Or Victoria taking Sarah under her wing and teaching her everything she knows about life, men, and how to end both. Or trying to protect her from the fucked-up shit in her life, and then maybe realising that maybe Sarah doesn’t need to be protected.

I am a fan of the age difference, too, and I do ship them together, if you rather want to write that. Give me all the fucked up femslash! Going on murderous rampages together, and having sex amid the slain corpses of their enemies, yes, that. Bedsharing because circumstances have them hiding out in the Siberian Tundra. Victoria dressing up Sarah and taking her as a trophy wife to diplomatic functions? Seducing Sarah so Victoria can rub their togetherness into Frank’s face. Taking people of guard, because the expected a toy boy, and not -- whatever Sarah is.

DNW: mommy kink

Gokusen (Manga)

(Characters: any -- Fujiyama Shizuka, Kuroda Ryuuichirou, Sawada Shin, Yamaguchi Kumiko)

How do I love this manga so much? I have no idea. I’m not even near high school age anymore, and yet the plot (and tbh, sometimes its ridiculous nature) always gets to me. I’d read more about any aspect of this canon, and if you want to bring in any other characters, and leave others out, feel entirely free to.

Post-canon would be great, but anything goes really. Focusing on just one character would be terrific. Having all of them would be great!

Kumiko has adventures with another class, or her minions! Does she continue with being a school teacher? Maybe she starts leading the Yakuza group, and still goes to school to teach her kids manners, and morals, and how to fight the system?

Shin goes to law school/Africa/some place, but gets lost on the way there! Will he come back to Yankumi? Will he eventually lead the Yakuza group?

Fujiyama Shizuka doesn’t get why she’s the one without the beautiful student toy-boy, and tries to find one herself, and instead falls in love with, idk, the new female teacher? one of Yankumi’s brothers? the new janitor? Or she watches and cackles a lot as Yankumi and Shin date, and then maybe found a Yakuza orphanage, and/or marry.

Kuroda Ryuuchiro and his quest for the rightful heir to his Yakuza group! How does he feel about his granddaughter running around with the police chief’s son — does that bother him more than the whole student thing? Does Shin really inherit the Kuroda family group? Does he become a Yakuza lawyer? Or does Yankumi make him stay away, or maybe Kuroda makes them stay away?

I ship Shin/Yankumi but gen is delightful also.

How does Shin convince Yankumi to have sex with him? Is he getting kidnapped left and right before they actually get together because all and sundry already think they’ve been doing each other for years?

If they are already in an established relationship, how does Shin deal with Yankumi’s students (especially when one of them develops a crush)?

I have no problems about depicting violence, or graphic criminal activities, but please keep the violence perpetrated by the nominated characters within the spirit of the manga? I like to root for morally ambiguous characters, but not if they are truly evil.

Roundtable Rival - Lindsey Stirling (Music Video)

(Characters: Durango Black, The Violinist (Roundtable Rival))

I love this music video! It’s so silly and fun! It is here, if you want to watch it yourself, but basically, people are fighting each other with music instruments to a jaunty tune, set in the Wild Wild West.

Basically, fighting with music! Foiling dastardly plans! I want to read more about this! And anything goes, really. If you want to focus more on one character, or want to show this from an outside perspective, either would be great.

Lowkey, I’m really a fan of rival-dynamics, and love to ship enemies, so bringing a lovestory between Durango Black and the Violinist would make my day. Or if there’s a dynamic like "You are the only one allowed to catch me"? —Perfection

Maybe they know each other from before? Maybe there’s epic discussion about different ways to fight each other with music (I’d be into reading about that!).

Would also be into PWP where the Violinist dominates Durango Black. Some Bootlicking, maybe? Or creative uses of the music instruments. Or clothing porn!

Or case fic where The Violinist tours around the country, catching criminals; or just a glimpse into how music developed its own fighting style — or performing tricks like shooting an apple out of the air, just with music instruments!

(Additional question for worldbuilding: What is that clear liquid they serve in beer humps?)

DNW: rape (dubcon is fine, though!)

British Romantic Writers RPF 

Characters: John Keats (British Romantic Writers RPF), Lord Byron (British Romantic Writers RPF), Percy Shelley (British Romantic Writers RPF)

Okay, I’m not even vaguely sorry. Here’s my confession: I ship all of these with each other, as pairs, or as threesome. I’d read them writing spite!fic, or rather spite!poetry, about each other, though! Or a zombie!AU, in which they are all stumbling incompetently around the dead suddenly among the living. Or maybe they turn out to be surprisingly competent at killing/evading zombies! (I’d expect nothing less from Percy Shelley who seduced people on graveyards, tbh)

Hey — at least they knew of each other! I am into the really very dysfunctional relationships with each other, here. Who is to say they wouldn’t have been very happy with each other in various constellations? Lord Byron seemed to have detested Keats — or at least thought his poetry as "mental masturbation" — I’d dig them in a rival relationship, that suddenly develops into a sexual relationship. Maybe even romantic? (Definitely romantic in the original sense)

And I can definitely see Lord Byron condescending down on Keats for his poor upbringing, without being aware that this is what he is doing, and Keats so not having that. And Percy Shelley with his continued efforts into giving all his money to charity while having the luxury to seduce women and traipse around the continent!

How about an AU in which Keats doesn’t die and joins Percy Shelley in Pisa (and for some reason Lord Byron is there, too — I will not read this for the historical accuracy, believe me)

Basically! Literature! Orgies! Seducing people in graveyards, and skinny-dipping in French rivers, that’s all I really want. I’m not saying no if you do decide to go down the historical accurate road, but I’ll also read all sorts of wild AUs.

Or adventures in Greece during the revolution in an Everybody-Lives!AU?

Percy Shelley wrote an elegy about Keats, and said this when he invited him to Pisa: "I am aware indeed that I am nourishing a rival who will far surpass me and this is an additional motive & will be an added pleasure." Added pleasure? (He means fucking! says me) I am just very into rival relationships that turn sexual or more.

Look, I’m just here for Lord Byron and Percy Shelley seducing a reluctant Keats — and Keats maybe anchoring them a bit down to earth. Or various combinations.

I am not into the long-term effects of drug use and the suffering thereof, but if you want to mention it, that is totally fine. I wouldn’t want it glorified.

DNW: contemplation of suicide, vore

Miss Marple - Agatha Christie

Characters: Jane Marple

I am a fan of Miss Marple. I, too, have lived in a quiet town where you can see into the abysses of the human condition :D

I’d love to read something that lead her to the person we know her as, maybe when she went to the girl school in Switzerland? Maybe during her time in the cypher division, during the war — maybe the cypher division was really a cover for Miss Marple’s spy activities for the war office?

I’d also love fic about her as we know her: spending time in St. Mary Mead’s and solving crimes, quietly knitting her nephew another sweater. Holiday themed fic! Somebody keeps stealing the geese for the holiday celebrations!

Honestly, I’d also really like to read about her in a relationship, especially one that people wouldn’t expect of an elderly woman. Did she have a youthful indiscretion with the prime minister, and now that he is widowed, he visits her again, and Jane’s nephew is entirely shocked by the whole thing?

Was she maybe in love with a woman the whole time? Did she quietly retire into a cottage with her best friend, and they have a romantic relationship with each other?

(Or crossovers! It would be super interesting if Miss Marple knew a wizard from the Harry Potter universe, or maybe she’s a squib or a with herself? Or maybe she knows Phryne Fisher, or Lord Peter Wimsey!)

Island of the Aunts | Monster Mission - Eva Ibbotson

Characters: Dorothy (Island of the Aunts)

Look. This is one of my favourite books. I would read absolutely anything about every single character— I choose Dorothy, simply because she’s my most favourite, but if you want to write a story where she’s not the focus, I’d still be ecstatic.

That said, omg, Dorothy. I love her (and her wok!) and I would read countless stories on adventures she had while going off of the island in a rage to be angry at polluters, or hunters of endangered species, or both. I like that she seems to be the most competent in dealing with outsiders, even though usually she rather likes to resort to violence.

So! Pre-Canon, or Post-Canon, whatever; either would be great!

How is the work on the island? How is Dorothy dealing with her piranha farm? Maybe she decided to pursue some other, even stranger, protection against various and sundry? Does the Kraken return to the island?

How does Dorothy deal with the mermaids? Is she tolerant of their foibles, or is it a similar relationship to the one she has with her sister Betty, that is: polite bewilderment?

How does Dorothy feel to be suddenly the responsible one, who didn’t kidnap children and make them work with her? How’s her relationship with Etta, and does Dorothy milk it for all that it is worth?

Did Dorothy ever fall in love? Was it someone off the island, campaigning for more environmental protection? A mythical creature of her very own?

Who did she meet in prison? (Was Archie someone Dorothy pulled in?) How did she deal with prison in Hong-kong? Is Dorothy the reason there are now forest cities in China (— this is maybe a bit of a reach, since Hong Kong isn’t really mainland China and all, but I’d love if the Aunts have a bit of an influence on the world, even though Fabio is probably never going to be Brasilians prime minister. Though I would read a story about that.)

(Burning questions I have that aren’t relevant to Dorothy as a character: Is Herbert ever going to return? Is the younger Kraken?)

DNW: unhappy endings

If there’s something confusing, please don’t hesitate to ask! (Anon happens to be open, too.) And I hope you have a fun Yuletide!

#exchange letter #yuletide 2017