in mental purgatory brb

they/she/any || adult || Ukrainian🇺🇦 || all my posts are queued unless proven otherwise

[qqueenofhades]

What is the best way to financially help Ukraine? Is it better to go through organizations or gofundmes or something else I'm not aware of?

Thanks for asking, nonnie. That's very kind of you. If you or anyone else has some spare change and wants to give, here are a few ideas:

United24 is the official fundraising platform established by President Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian governmental members and directs money to all areas of the country.

The Olena Zelenska Foundation is primarily focused on medical, humanitarian, and educational aid across the country and was founded by the First Lady.

Stand for Ukraine gives you a range of charity options, depending on whether you want to donate directly to the military, or you would prefer to fund non-lethal or humanitarian aid, etc.

Come Back Alive is the main fundraising platform for the Ukrainian military. You can choose to donate to air defense, heavy weapons, demining, medical aid, overall combat equipment, etc.

Donate to Ukraine's Defenders also offers various (carefully vetted) links and options to donate to rebuilding projects, private medical assistance programs, initiatives for democracy, and others.

[redjaybathood]

What is Ukrainian cultural view on revenge?

apropos of nothing, huh?

Revenge isn't really a thing in Ukrainian culture. We don't have, like, Count of Monte Cristo type of stories/myths. We don't have a proverb about revenge like Chinese do, about sitting on a river bank and waiting for your enemy body to flow downwards. Who has time for that when there's land to be worked, songs to be written, all this stuff you can do if you're alive and free.

There's only one culturally significant myth/story about revenge. And that's the story about Olha of Kyiv.

Kniahynia Olha was the only female ruler of Kyiv princedom. Her husband, Ihor, was horrifically killed by drevlyans for taxing them twice. Which, like, we get it, nobody wants to be taxed, much more overtaxed. But then, before her late husband's body got cold, his killers send a proposal to marry her (and take the power from Ihor's heir, her son, into their hands). So like, we call it revenge, but it was more like. Saving herself, and her son. Because young heirs in such position do tend to die young, right. And widows/wives do not overstay them much either.

So she kills the people sent to offer her the marriage. And the second batch of these guys. Then she gathered soldiers - druzhyna - and killed five thousands of those guys. And later got their city, Iskorosten, into a siege. Then she asked drevlyans to give her birds as a tribute. They gave it to her. She tied burning ropes to the birds and let them fly free (back to their homes, so the city burned).

That's the myth at least, four great revenges of Kniahynia Olha. We love to reference it, but it didn't, like, influence us to think that revenge is this holy important thing. She did what she had to do to survive, framing it as revenge is just more poetic.

The best revenge is a good life. The best revenge is survival when they're trying to kill you. And if you didn't survive? Best revenge is, three decades +/- after your death, someone going to dig up archives and case materials, and publish a book that exposes the guy who's to blame for you being imprisoned and dying in the first place. I mean, it's not really revenge as Hollywood action films would make it - Medvedchuk is alive and well, but he hated that book, oh he hated it. I hope Stus got a good laugh out of it, up there in heaven.

[wordswithoutaworld]

I really loved the last part in particular — because in a way, it can be seen not even as revenge itself, but rather as a kind of justice finally prevailing.

Revenge, after all, is often perceived and portrayed as something that completely destroys an already hurt person, and is usually shown as not the best way to deal with pain at all. It also usually has a very self-centered motivation.

That’s why even telling other people’s life stories — with the goal of letting them be heard — can’t really be described as something done purely for oneself, I think.

That said, it’s not like Ukrainian literature doesn’t include elements of betrayal (and after all, revenge is most often born from betrayal), but the act of revenge itself is actually quite rare. Mostly because betrayal tends to either:

– provoke an immediate response — either from the character themselves or from society. There’s very little of that “I’ll get back at them someday” mindset, where someone spends years planning revenge.

– or be tied to a kind of fatalistic thinking, where punishment still comes, but through fate, nature, or God. We even have a phrase: “May God return to you threefold everything you wish upon me” which really reflects this worldview lol.

And also what you mentioned — that living your own happy life is more important than spending it on someone you feel the need to take revenge on.

[snakefashion]

the thing is depression was never destigmatized the narrative just switched from “no one has depression you’re just using it as an excuse” to “everyone has depression you’re just using it as an excuse”

[t1r3dr3pt1l3z]

This is true for many things!! ADHD, Autism, OCD. It used to be “that’s not a real thing” and now it’s “we’re all a little [insert thing here]”

[cannibalcaprine]

big fan of rose quartz. i think we should have more rocks with just a bit of iron in them that makes them bright pink

[cannibalcaprine]

what the hell are you people on about

[cannibalcaprine]

drama in the rocks with boobs fandom

[cannibalcaprine]

peace and love in the rocks with boobs fandom

[kurhanchyk]

eurasian magpie. so cute

[catsbeaversandducks]

[duckbunny]

"biblical angels" you do realise there are angels in the old testament that are literally just regular looking guys, right? you do know that the hallucinogenic incoherent descriptions are in like. two books. and the rest of the time angels are just guys. you know that, right?

and I'm not saying don't have fun with weird angels. I'm saying, either the eldritch forms are for special occasions, or the society of the angels is Many-Eyed-Many-Winged-Interlocking-Circles, Four-Faces-Six-Wings, and Mike.

[witches-ofcolor]

Literally Raphael is just a normal person!

[rubensmuse]

this is what the heavenly breakroom is like

[callmebliss]

Oh no now I love the water cooler angel

[a-sentient-cup]

[deepfrieddeltarunememes]

[larval-tear]

elf sex: 3 to 12 effeminate twinks coo and giggle in a sensual pile in the woods. sometimes the elf queen joins and pretends they’re her baby birds

dwarf sex: a pair of strong able bodied warriors tacitly agree to mate as equals under a binding contract of tomelike thickness, with consent from the council

gnome sex: married couple of 200 years finally gives in to temptation and call upon the stork to deliver their child, then sleep in separate beds completely satisfied

[bisquitt]

[magicalmrmephistopheles]

or maybe the orcs can be soft? maybe the orcs can be shy and sweet to each other? maybe they also can be something other than the token violent race? maybe they can have intricate cultural practices around love?

sorry ik i’m completely derailing this, i have a lot of complicated feelings about orcs and how they’re often coded, and how they often just shorthand for violent or ‘savage’

[megasweetbones]

I remember this one and comic thing an artist did. It was several "sheets" of culture in their fantasy world.

The orcs had culture and were soft and braided each others hair as symbols of friendship or love that they could show everyone. Liked perfumes. Were very clean and well groomed. And the artists said that the violence isn't a myth but a stereotype, much like real world Vikings. That they were slandered because so many women of different races found orcs/Vikings more attractive.

[writingdose]

[temporarysins69]

5 songs I've got on repeat

thank you @brokenphoenix99 for the tag 🥺

right now, i don't have individual songs on repeat so much as an entire playlist on repeat. been working on tbobt a lot and so most of my listening has been my tbobt playlist. it is, however, 53 songs long, so i shall choose the five that i'm vibing with the most.

Broken Crown by Mumford & Sons

Daylight by David Kushner

Wolves by Down Like Silver

The War by SYML

Babylon by Barns Courtney

bonus, the song i was listening to on endless repeat a few days ago

Dog Prophecies by Josie Edwards

some no pressure tags! @clearbluewaters @kcrabb88 @starcatboy @bucketofdeltav @paleoleigh <3

[bucketofdeltav]

Oh hai thank you!

I have theme tunes for specific work so right now I have:

Velveteen's See You Bruise for the next chapter of that one fic I'm keeping on anon

Florence + The Machine's Cosmic Love for the prologue to Fragments of a Life

Leonard Cohen's Who By Fire for planning the rest of Fragments of a Life

Fazerdaze's Misread for the last chapter of that fic

And uh, switching between the tbobt playlist, which is a banger, and Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense album, for doing my actual job!

Aaaaaaaand you already got her so double tags for @paleoleigh and no-pressure tags also to @moltengoldveins @moonsstarsandscience @jediqueen95 and @thatlittleegyptologist if she’s feeling like it.

[thatlittleegyptologist]

Bold of people to believe I remember what I'm listening to (I do not 90% of the time) and usually for writing it's either silence or an ocean sounds with lofi playlist! But I've kicked my brain into gear for this:

Kygo's remix of Whitney Huston's Higher Love

Sabrina Carpenter's Manchild

Farruko's Pepas

The Spinner's Working My Way Back to You

Gipsy King's A Mi Manera

Yes, my music is a tonal whiplash near constantly and I like it that way!

uhh tags @rudjedet, @ritterum, @the-navistar-carol, @23-tiny-wishes (it won't tag you for some reason), and @en-theos

(finally, apologies to OP because I can guarantee this will get reblogged far from me)

[ritterum]

oh boy. um well i dont listen to songs so much as... stuff... and only when im in specific moods. which i happen to be in at the moment! so without further adieuxeghes:

Mahler: Symphony No. 2 (Gielen/SWR Symphonieorchester)

Mahler: Symphony No. 3 (Bernstein/Vienna Philharmonic)

Mozart: Der Hölle Rache ("Queen of the Night" aria) from The Magic Flute (Marriner/Acad. of St. Martin in the Fields; soprano: Cheryl Studer)

Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony (Haitink/London Philharmonic)

Da Vinci's Notebook: Enormous Penis

i am tagging! the following people: @togglesbloggle, @whereisthedamnlostandfound, @bubobubosibericus, @erkhyan, @mutantenfisch

[bubobubosibericus]

I could do WAY more than five but

Austin wintory -I was born for this

Enya - on my way home

Sturgill simpson - a good look

Glen Gabriel - Rán

Florence + the machine - Free

Now to bop some peeps on the head with a prototaxites: @eclipsedrawsthings @cosmic-tuna @hykedike @shacklesburst @idesin @thatmintleaf

[eclipsedrawsthings]

I’ve got a few songs on loop lately, yeah!!

Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart- Elton John and Kiki Dee

Rasputin - Boney M

Lay All Your Love On Me - ABBA

That’s How You Know - Enchanted

(The Ballad Of) Sharknado - Quint

In my defense on the last one—YES I listened to it 88 times last month, but I had it on loop while redrawing a screencap from one of the Sharknado movies as a friend’s ttrpg character. Actually I don’t know if that’s better or worse XD

Let’s see whatcha got @snazzy-hats-and-adhd @theunicorncomic-blog @terriwriting @unashamedly-enthusiastic @mokhovynnya!!

[mokhovynnya]

Offf, lately I've had these on repeat

- Sneakernight - Vanessa Hudgens

- He Said, She Said - Ashley Tisdale

- check and gigolo - bbno$

- Man In the Mirror - Michael Jackson

Though I don't think I'll be listening to gigolo on repeat again, im getting kinda tired off it and i miss Closer to Fine by Indigo Girls

@khvylovy @kihratsu @darimarchin

[darimarchin]

ty for tagging!

been listening comparatively less to music lately, but i got some on repeat, sure

Butch 4 Butch - Rio Romeo

Remember My Name - Mitski

Touch-Tone Telephone - Lemon Demon

Oleander - Mother Mother

Attack of the Killer Queen - Toby Fox

i usually listen to more ukrainian rock/folk but this week the oc-focused part of the brain took over,,, and the toby fox music is good for exam prep

@vtomleni @azural83 @floating-hasselblad @cawareyoudoin if anyone wants to

[evilcyclopsxmen]

“modern au” “highschool au” human/non-powered au"

Why don’t you just watch glee then.

[evilcyclopsxmen]

I use this to torture my victims:

[luciencation-deactivated2026032]

they throw regular rats at eachother

[charlataninred]

Character duo where one *remembers I don’t like fitting characters into trope boxes* is a completely fleshed out and realised person *remembers treating characters as real people and not story devices written with intent is bad* who is written by the author and *remembers death of the author* uh. And *fumbles and drops my pile of queue cards* ah fuck wait no *the menacing horse* what was that.

[wordswithoutaworld]

“You can’t use 🍉 — this emoji is only for Palestine.”

One of the peak cringe moments of internet activism for me was when, on a Ukrainian page about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there was a post marking the anniversary of the liberation of Kherson from occupation. Somewhere in the text, the 🍉 emoji was used.

Among the many foreigners who, as usual, rushed in with “what about Palestine” (on a Ukrainian page talking about its own attempts to survive), there was one girl who started a whole argument claiming that Ukrainians were shamelessly trying to steal the 🍉 emoji from Palestinians.

I explained that Ukrainians have been using the watermelon symbol since 2022 in the context of Kherson, because the city is known across Ukraine precisely for its watermelons — it’s a symbol of the city.

To that I got the reply: “but you know that this symbol is only for Palestine now, so you could have given it up.”

At that point, I realized there was nothing to prove, especially because she doubled down on her stance regardless of my words. I feel like people like this are focused on being the most “correct” activists, even when they end up harming both groups of people in the process.

So in this context, for additional awareness, alongside the photo from the flash mob by our defenders near the destroyed Kherson monument, I want to add the stamp issued by Ukraine’s state postal service.

The stamp depicts all the horrors of the occupation that the people of Kherson went through — not only the destruction of their homes, but also the torture and abuse inflicted by Russian soldiers.

The redesign of emblems and icons of state institutions:

A bit of general artwork around the theme “Kherson is finally home” or "Kherson is Ukraine":

And even a teen art challenge created to raise funds for support. (by kat.rina_art studio on insta) — sadly, I can only include a limited number of images in the post:

1. Kherson is gazing at a bright sky.

2. Kherson is the sounds of nature.

3. Kherson is when you are special simply because you exist.

[politijohn]

Source

Happy Pride Month!

[reasonsforhope]

Holy shit!!!!!!! HUNGARY DID IT!!!!

-via the Los Angeles Blade, June 1, 2026

[animentality]

[altschmerzes]

more people should write alloromantic characters in qprs tbh. i mean more people should write qprs in general in all circumstances but my particular hill to die on tonight is more alloromantic characters in qprs. in qprs with aromantic partners, in qprs with another alloromantic partner, in qprs with other characters where they could technically have compatible orientations romantically but that's not what kind of relationship they have or want anyway.

there's just a lot of fun stuff there.

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

i NEED people to realise foreshadowing is. in fact. a literary device. and not a Bad Thing. the audience picking up on your hints is a Good Thing. because. it makes the story and it’s conclusion make sense. and some people will not see those but enjoy seeing them on a second read through. red herrings are one thing but if your novel consists of nothing but red herrings it’s not a coherent story it’s just a collection of paragraphs that don’t actually plausibly link to one another. you're not fighting with the audience you don’t look clever you look like you don’t know how basic fiction works. be vulnerable for once in your goddamn life and don't treat writing like a game to be won where the audience losing is a good thing.