carmens cartoon eyes

pinene:

Sometimes I feel we do a disservice to trans people by framing their journey as some esoteric battle to escape their gender assigned at birth, rather than a very profound story of self-love and self-actualization. Many people feel they can’t relate to the desire to “become another gender” and thus don’t really “get” transgenderism.. but almost everyone can relate to the thrill and fulfillment of letting yourself be true.

(via sleepynightshade)

motherkatereloyshipper:

atlinmerrick:

traycakes:

sinnahsaint:

enki2:

Which is why it’s important to not be mean.

Their cult teaches them that the world is full of scary monster people who hate them for being so good and loved by god. If you swear at them and call them names or get in their face you’re just doing the cults work for it.

I’m not saying you have to listen to their presentation or try to debate them (and really getting into a debate without thoroughly understanding what they’re being taught will just make things worse)… I am just saying to be polite and say no thank you like if they were trying to hand you a flyer for something you don’t care about.

It’s easier for them to see the world outside their bubble as less scary if they see everyday people just going about their business and being as nice to them as you are to everyone else. This goes doubly for anyone who happens to dress modestly, not swear, and not drink or smoke because whatever you believe, they’ll see you as a “good” person who happens to strangely have no interest in their “message”, and that might be enough to get some curious about the possibility of themselves living in the real world.

It’s sometimes hard to be nice to people who seem to represent something you dislike. Just remember these “elders” are sheltered young men, some of which are getting their first real contact with people of other/no faiths.

They are not your enemy. They are victims.

They aren’t being sent out to actually convert people, they are being sent out hoping that they will be harassed and treated poorly so they view those outside the cult as dangerous and evil and stick to the safety of the familiar group.

You being mean to some teenager isn’t sticking it to anyone, you’re doing exactly what their church elders want to happen.

PLEASE READ THIS.

Please read this.

Don’t do the church’s work for them.

If you’re kind to enough of them, they put you on a block list.

They were such sweet kids, they’d turn up at my door with the thatch of raspberries out front and try to share their word with me, and I’m me, so, I fed them.

Then it was one of the wee ‘elder’s’ birthday, so I made him a cake, and all the little lads came, and they asked about my books and board games and CCGs, I was just a nice frumpy middle aged Jewish lady, I was no threat, so I fed them and made them cakes and took them to the local gaming store and listened when they talked.

One loved yu-gi-oh cards, and it turns out, one of the other wee lads, we’ll he loved him back, so I got them in touch with some resources so they had support and a different way to pay for college, they’re still together 15 years later, they have dogs, they send me ecards on their birthday. No-one figured out I’d.helped them, I was just the nice lady who made them tea and listened when people were slamming doors.

The next one really wanted to be an artist, so I left out art books and resources, my eldest shared their coptic markers, they draw comic books now, no idea why his folks were insisting he needed to be a dentist, but, he’s not a Mormon anymore, (not a Jew either before anyone makes any counter conversion claims).

The first 2 lads were the only dramatic ones, the rest went back into the network but, like Hugh of Borg, they spread the word, sometimes I’d get Mormons from other cities come and make the journey to break bread at my Sabbath table and be seen.

I still think very fondly of that time.

Many of those boys still email me now and then.

Most of them aren’t Mormons anymore.

Someone higher up spotted the pattern and suddenly no more Mormons at my door.

I was blacklisted, for kindness.

So there you go, if you don’t want Mormons at your door, just love those kids for a couple of years, feed them, help them, and eventually, no more will be allowed to visit

(via charlesoberonn)

brightlotusmoon:

brightlotusmoon:

pretentioussongtitle:

boatsaplenty:

ardwynna:

codenamecesare:

I saw some #discourse go by about how adults shouldn’t be in fandom writing about younger characters because it’s uncomfortable and gross to younger people to have adults ‘thinking about them’ in romantic/sexual terms.

1, This is not a restriction that any writers in any other venue have to deal with, wtf, or the entire YA genre would be banished; 2, Excuse you, children of Tumblr, no one is thinking about you.

If other people in fandom are older than you, by definition, they have been your age. When fans write about younger characters, we’re not peering through a keyhole at young people now and creeping on them.

We are drawing on our own experiences, thoughts, feelings and memories of what it was like when we were that age.

No one has the right to ask older writers to cut themselves off from their own past just because young’uns don’t want to acknowledge that people in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, all of them, were also young once. I’m 41, but I remember vividly what it was like to be 14. If I write a high school AU, it’s about my high school experience, even if I were to set it in the present day and decorate it with some (probably comically out of touch) Stuff The Kids Are Into Now. If I write a high school AU with sex, it’s because I remember that too! I’m not thinking about kids today, why would I– I have my own experiences to draw on. And honestly, sometimes there are things about being young that you don’t really understand until you’re much older and have some perspective– and that’s worth writing about.

If someone is genuinely a creeper, you’ll know, because they’ll ask you questions about you. But people who aren’t even directly interacting with you, who are just expressing themselves in fiction, are not a threat to you, and it’s not creepy for them to draw on their own experiences and their own past to write about younger characters.

Some responses from younger people here, and in other similar discussions:

1) We’re making them uncomfortable by writing teen characters

2) there are all these adult characters we should be writing about instead

3) they’re here for escapism and don’t like being reminded of ‘things like that’

To which it must be said:

1) if you’re uncomfortable, stop reading it. It’s not our job to babyproof fandom for you. It’s your job to recognize personal boundaries and protect yourself. Fandom is a shared space. Get used to it.

2) we write about the characters we find interesting, same way you do. Age has very little to do with that. I know you don’t believe me now, but I also know you’ll understand when you’re older.

3) We’re here for escapism too, buddy, and if that means imaginary harking back to a time before cholesterol tests and taxes, so be it. Not our problem you can’t handle reminders that older people had young lives just like yours, and that you too will be one of us soon enough.

Plucking any one memory from high school out of my past just makes it sound so funny to hear teenagers rallying against sexual content. 

“You can’t write about your own life before 30 because it makes me uncomfortable.”

Then don’t read it. I didn’t write it for you.

Then don’t read it. I didn’t write it for you.

That’s it, that’s the thing that gets me the most.

Here’s one small example that I recall from years ago: someone barely out of their teens raided an adult artist’s private account after gaining their trust, deliberately found adult erotica of animal characters, and shared it with other teenagers claiming it was to protect them and that the artist was dangerous. Then a bunch of these teens fabricated accusations, doxxed the artist, nearly got them fired, and began harassing, bullying, and threatening similar artists. The private art had been properly tagged. It would have had to have been a deliberate act with malicious intent to hack them, steal the art, and then expose it to minors. The bullies backpedaled when caught and decided to double down in the name of “it’s gross and making us uncomfortable so the artists deserve to die.”

That seems to be a trend: Threatening death and cartoonish physical harm to anyone who writes, reads, and even doesn’t mind sexual content, particularly if the characters are attractive to the antis themselves. “If I can’t have these fictional characters, nobody can” taken to a new level. They don’t seem to want to redirect their energy toward reporting actual predators, many of whom are in their own community.

These kids are obviously allowed to feel uncomfortable and grossed out when seeing art they don’t like. But the real world actions they take against artists have consequences that can be far more damning than adults writing and drawing fiction that wasn’t meant for them in the first place.

Oh yes, and then there was the anti who dove into my private messages to say “I see it as my job to purge fandom of people like you.” Because the fics I like to read involve themes that drive antis up the wall.

(via narwhalsarefalling)

grimeclown:

grimeclown:

the fucked up thing is how “Creep” by Radiohead will really get your ass if you hear it at the wrong time. that shit can be stupid and overdramatic or it can have the weight of an atomic bomb dropped on your heart it just depends

It’s actually a song about self loathing and grief over perceiving oneself as undeserving of the love they desire. While this has much in common with the core of incel ideology, the key component it that incels blame this perceived inadequacy and poor self esteem on the women they feel entitled to, whereas Thom Yorke in “Creep” is saying “I hate myself for not being deserving of your love.” Hope this helps.

(via high-pot-in-noose)

headlockbetty:

You know, I feel like the writers and actors strikes have done a lot to help people understand not just what the industry labor issues are and how they are the same general issues as every other industry, but how labor issues play out on a technical level. This makes sense, writers and actors are professional communicators.

Something I’d love to see - after watching Ron Perlman drive entertainment executives screaming from their homes - is people from the entertainment industry explaining how other issues play out on a technical level.

In 2020 I ran for State Assembly, not because I was ever going to win, but because I was trying to make a documentary about what it entails for an average-ish person with a job and no prior knowledge to run for political office. Because it turns out the process is opaque, inaccessible, and very. expensive.

Given what it means if a person can successfully navigate that process (not even win, navigate the process), we really need to consider the implications of to what level we are “represented” by our elected officials. And that leads to further questions about self-determination by the people and how small-d democratic our system actually is.

And literally dude, that’s just running for office. Let’s get popular communicators explaining how to get welfare. Surely there are actors and writers on SNAP, right? Let’s get popular communicators explaining how federal civil rights legislation is supposed to be enforced in schools and other places that receive federal funding.

We desperately need a civic revival, and Hollywood folks are incredibly well-positioned to help people who aren’t familiar with the inner workings of these systems understand.

astrangergivingthestrangewelcome:

Jonathan Harker, 17, dressed in black to commemorate the life and death of beloved detective Sherlock Holmes: The world is a cruel uncaring place. This is true suffering. Things could not get any worse for me.

(via draculadailytracker)

podencos:

I do believe in the power of sitting in your car just a little longer before heading inside, lying upside down on the couch, cloud gazing well into adulthood, taking the time to learn something new, humility, recollecting your dreams, pressing something warm against your belly, small talk w strangers, odes to romance, a lit candle on your countertop while you cook, having a sense of humor about life

(via spcecowboyyy)

jv:

Have you seen that Bluey episode where, at the end, it breaks the 4th wall as in “the show turns into a drawing board and you see the hand of the animator actually making the first scene of the episode ”? This one:

So my kid just watched that episode for the first time today. And just after dinner, she asked me “dad… Am I real or is someone drawing me? I’m real real, right?”

Look, Ada, you are five, so first, what the actual fuck??? And second, it’s a little bit too soon to tell you about David Hume, but I’m sure you are going to have very interesting conversations on the subject in ten years or so.

ace-bestos:

joe many anarchs does it take to change a log by bolb????? None , their to busy ???? Their gender 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

(via sapphicsylvari)

feral-ballad:

June Gehringer, “EARTH IS AN ANAGRAM FOR HEART, U FUCKING IDIOTS”

[Text ID: “I don’t want to talk about it. / I want to lie in what little grass remains / and try to fit your heart inside of mine.”]

(via strong-femalecharacters)

infp-obsessing-over-everything:

cryptid-corpse:

Occupation: internet vampire

(via sapphicsylvari)

guerrillatech:

(via pandaskywalker)

dazzlinghahn asked:

Every day my mind realises just how seriously and deeply devastating that final episode of good omens was. I don’t even mean devastating in the bad way, but in the way where it makes you feel REAL feelings, when you can feel your heart sink with frustration and compassion. Idk i might just be an overly emotional gal but this is my thank you and well done note to you. Not many people have the ability to create a story so fictional yet SO real. Thank you <3

neil-gaiman:

You are so welcome. That was what we were all going for: to make people feel real feelings.

I’m glad that people are responding to it like this, too.