Here there be dragons

Hi, y'all. I'm Jae, from the lovely area of this world known as North Carolina, where biscuits and butterbeans and casual racism are all things you might find at a school lunch. -------------------------------------------------------------------- what even is gender and sexuality anyway, ze/zir pronouns, and pretty gosh-darn neurodivergent!!!!!!!

[gospelofthekingdom]

“Liberation theology begins with the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized, the outcast, and the disenfranchised.  To do liberation theology is to do it with and from the perspective of those whom society considers as nobodies.  Incarnating theological thought among those who are dispossessed roots liberation theology in the material as opposed to simply the metaphysical.  Within the Eurocentric context, the primary religious question concerns the existence of God.  Among most liberationists, the struggle is not with God’s existence per se, but with God’s character.  Who is this God whom we say exists?  What is the character of God?  Whoever God is, God imparts and sustains life while opposing death.  Wherever lives are threatened with poverty and oppression, God is presente–present.  The God of the Gospels is offended by the dehumanizing conditions in which the marginalized find themselves.

Through Jesus, this God knows what it means to suffer under religious and politically unjust structures.  Because Jesus–in the ultimate act of solidarity with all who continue to be persecuted today–carries the wounds upon his feet, hands, and side, God knows what it means to exist in solidarity with all who are being crucified on the crosses of sexism, racism, ethnic discrimination, classism, and heterosexism.  Those who suffer under oppression have a God who understands their suffering.  Because Jesus suffered oppression on the cross, a divine commitment to stand against injustices exists, a stance believers are called to emulte.  In short, to know God is to do justice.  To stand by while oppression occurs is to profess nonbelief, regardless of any confession given privately or publicly.”

— Miguel A. De La Torre, Liberation Theology for Armchair Theologians, Pg. 49-51

[thorsbaratitty-blog]

remember that time the mcu had a complex, multi-faceted, morally ambiguous poc character steeped in social allegory and the fandom reduced him to ‘motherfucker’ jokes and pulp fiction references

[sonofbrundlefly]

#between this and the ‘do you want to see my lease’ line I was pleased they actually let him he a black dude instead of just a dude who incidentally happens to be black (x)

[bookriot]

Rowling cobbled together random bits of found folklore and woo-woo like a New Age practitioner trying for a fresh identity after their third divorce. This isn’t worldbuilding, this isn’t a fresh and new spin on well-known tropes for a deeper message. This is a literal laundry list of stereotypes about Native Americans that required no thought or deeper examination. It’s hurtful to Native Americans and harmful, spreading problematic tropes, but it’s also insulting to the fans who have spent their money and time on the franchise. The Harry Potter Fandom should expect more.

from North American Magic: The Worst Thing To Happen to Harry Potter Since Voldemort (via bookriot)

[d-archive1948-deactivated202303]

*Switches languages in mid-sentence while talking to myself*

[official-german-translationen]

Salvete, Gaius Iuli'us Caesar sum et pilorum album quam nivem habeo et aureos, sed interdum virides lauros et imperium Romanum construxi et eius eram quasi primus Caesar (sic merui nomen meum) et multi indicant mihi me Marcus Crassus similem esse (si non scitis Marcus Crassus, vobis opus est pecunia). Brutus non est filius meus quod est bonum nam ET TU, MI FILI???!?. Iamia sum sed dentes albos et rectos habeo. Pallidam cutem habeo. Etiam, maga sum magicum ludum, nomine Pigverruca, visitans quod desinam (ego sum MMCXIV), veni, vidi, vici. Classicus sum (si vos id non suspexistis) et multas togas emptas in Basilica Iulia habeo. Ratio amo et bellum Gallicum gero. Veluti, hodie omnia Gallia occupata. Omnia Gallia? Certe! Non est vicus parvus inter Aquarium, Babaorum, Laudanum et Brevisbonum. Ambulabam foris Pigverruca. Ninxit et pluvit et Gallia divisa erat in partes tres, quod me fecit felix. Marcus Porcius Cato me observavit. Digitum medium illo monstravi.

[diehellasrache]

#I hate that I know what this is

[englishable]

Old English just has some wonderful words and kennings. I mean, really:

Their word for sea? It was often swan-rad or “road of the swan.” Spider was gangelwaefre, literally “the walking weaver.” They had the simple and now-obsolete word uht, which describes that time just before sunrise when mist still hangs heavy over all the fields and lakes and the last few stars are still out.

…Also, they didn’t say body. They said ban-cofan, which means “bone-cave,” and if you don’t think that’s some hardcore shit right there then you need to get out of my face before I turn your skull into a mead-cup.

[prokopetz]

I love the phrase “what the entire fuck” because it implies that there exists some scenario that warrants only a “what the partial fuck”.

[morkaischosen]

Similarly “what the actual fuck,” implying “what the figurative fuck” or “what the imaginary fuck”.

[prokopetz]

“What the actual fuck” is an interesting one because “actual” has so many distinct shades of meaning.

“Entire” generally means “whole” or “complete”, but depending on the particular context, “actual” can denote any or all of “real”, “literal”, “concrete”, “truthful”, “grounded” or “factual”.

Thus, when deriving the contrastive phrase, in addition to “what the imaginary fuck” and “what the figurative fuck”, we could also reasonably arrive at “what the hypothetical fuck”, “what the fraudulent fuck”, “what the fanciful fuck” or “what the counterfactual fuck”.

Language is fun!

[ellenfromnowon]

Image description: screenshot of a Tweet saying -

“High functioning” is used to deny support.

Low functioning is used to deny agency.

[skelenabones]

a reminder that theories of eugenics were mainstream in the biological, health, and statistical sciences pretty much right up until the Nazis made them unfashionable to agree with. academics pointing out the wrongheadedness of eugenics were largely anthropologists and others of the kind of “soft social science” that STEM dweebs love to sneer at today

[steveandbucky-deactivated201702]

when I find myself in times of trouble my fave superhero comes to me speaking words of wisdom..

[botanize]

[caravanslost]

An itemized list of things I love about “Wait For It”

Or, more accurately, the song where Lin completely changed everyone’s minds about Aaron Burr in three short minutes.

In the same way that “My Shot” is a perfect exposition of Ham’s character, “Wait For It” is a perfect exposition of Burr. And the two songs are polar opposites in every way. Ham starts “My Shot” with his foot on the gas and pushes down harder, rapping at a hundred words a minute. Burr starts “Wait For It” soberly, accompanied by a simple piano, and he gives a hushed delivery.  Ham starts “My Shot” talking about himself and his strengths and his ambitions, because he’s starting from the bottom and there’s nothing to hold him back. Burr starts “Wait For It” by talking about his secret affair, and his parents’ legacy, and all the external factors that cause him to slow down and take stock.

This song, by the way, is one of the ensemble’s greatest contributions to the album. In the first half of the song, they repeat a few words very quietly behind Burr (“preacher, preacher, preacher”; “teach ya, teach ya, teach ya”, etc). The quiet repetition of the final words of each line makes the song feel like an echo chamber. It’s like you’re inside Burr’s head. Which you kind of are, I guess.

“Love doesn’t discriminate / between the sinners and the saints / it takes and it takes and it takes / and we keep loving anyway / we laugh and we cry and we break and we make our mistakes.”

And then, goddamn, the song hits 1:30, and Burr finally howls, and it gives me life.

“I AM THE ONE THING IN LIFE I CAN CONTROL / I AM INIMITABLE / I AM AN ORIGINAL.”

It works because Burr’s hesitation is more immediately relatable that Ham’s ambition. I can’t speak for y’all, but “I’m not falling behind or running late. I’m not standing still, I am lying in wait” speaks to me much more personally than “I’m young, scrappy and hungry and I’m not throwing away my shot.”

But then! As soon Burr explodes, he reins it all back in again. The instrumentation dies down, the ensemble goes quiet, and we’re left with Burr and a piano, and “Hamilton doesn’t hesitate, he exhibits no restraint …”

“Then goddamn it I’m willing to wait for it …”

The way the song just explodes at 2:40 has got to be one of the most beautiful, life-affirming musical moments ever committed to record.

But again! Just as Burr has let loose, he freezes the action and the song finishes off quietly. And it is so important that the song finishes off quietly. If Hamilton was singing it, this song would build, explode, block out the sun momentarily, trigger Armageddon, and then it would end. Think back to the way My Shot ends, with “RISE UP!” and “WOAH, WOAH WOAAAAH!”s and “TIME TO TAKE A SHOT”, and twenty different others layers falling over each other, scrambling to be heard. But Burr’s singing. So it goes out with a whisper.

So, tl;dr, you know how in Kingsman, Harry Hart says that a story is only as good as its villain? One of the reasons why Hamilton is a masterpiece is because Burr is characterized so well. 

And it’s all done in the space of this one haunting, achingly beautiful song.

[maryefimovaone]

[ape-of-naples]

#freshly peeled sheeps

[mage-pie]

reblogging solely for that deeply unnerving caption

[jitterbugjive]

@theosartisticthematics

[doctorsiggy]

FRESHLY PEELED SHEEPS

[phoenix-ace]

I think we need to move away from “young voters are failing us” and look at how to protect them so that they actually can vote. 

A lot of people forget that in 2008 we were very concerned with getting people to the polls and making sure their right to vote was protected. 

So we were giving people rides to the polls in states where they were strategically closing polling places, 

we were all about educating new voters, etc. 

It was not just about making lofty promises and expecting them to do the rest 

and then throwing them under the bus when we don’t get the outcome we want. 

I don’t want another Prop 8 where we turn on the most disenfranchised groups and blame them for our own failure to get out there and actually earn and protect their vote.

[readableposts]

[spaces added for accessibility]

[roartowrecks]

she’s cool

[earl-greys]

because like data wouldn’t be knowledgeable about human self care out of at least curiosity

[insp.]

[shellcollector]

Honestly I think one of the things that I find so heartening about Les Mis is the idea that you can be useful to The Cause even if your skillset is not ostensibly one that lends itself to fighting. Often when you have a ragtag team they all have complementary useful skills, whereas Les Mis encourages me to believe that you can be a helpful political activist even if you:

- would really like to do everything gradually and peacefully and are not sure if this is even the right way to be fighting this fight but can’t bear to sit around and do nothing

- are a stammering gentle willothewisp who keeps pot plants and can’t always talk to people

- have to fit your activism around actually working for a living, unlike seemingly everyone else

- are embarrassingly posh and give people the impression you just want to fuck around and have fun

- have poor impulse control and can’t even make a budget

- just have the worst luck in the world and can barely manage your own life and would be homeless if it weren’t for your friends

- are extremely anxious and frequently distracted by your own health concerns

- are a colossal fuckup and human disaster whose mental health problems have led them to let people down again and again

- are the Pontmercy friend, even, and can’t help Pontmercying around and embarrassing everyone

Not everyone has to be Enjolras. You just have to turn up and do your actual best. That’s a really good message to internalise. I think it’s actually helping me to think about doing more activisty stuff, even though I almost never feel like The Best Person for the job.