Hi! I originally made this blog out of wantin somewhere I can be actually out, n unapologetically me. I mostly lurk now, but sometimes post, once in a blue moon.
I'm Aster - but u can call me anythin. Devi is still ok if u knew me as that. This blog is primarily mine, but anyone else who wants to put something here will tag.
yeah I'm a Gardevoir. what about it <- so uh.
Important disclaimers below:
Bodily adult, if that matters to you.
I don’t have interest in writing a DNI out - I block freely. Be nice, and don’t be a bigot.
If a system says they're a system, they are, regardless of origin, as far as we're concerned. Do not come on this blog to argue this.
Sexual jokes about my species (including, and especially reducing us to ‘haha the one people get horny about’) will get you blocked. You’re not funny.
[dividers by @\animatedglittergraphics-n-more and @\strangergraphics respectively]
it's crazy 2 me that every time i'm like "the existence of bugs is vital to the very fabric of reality as we know it. if we do not prioritize protect & value bugs, if we lose bugs, the entire world goes with them"
people in the comments will be like "okay but we could at least get rid of ticks and mosquitos because those spread disease."
we actually CANNOT get rid of ticks and mosquitos. not only do we plain lack the technology to lead a pointed extermination effort against them specifically without taking a score of other species down with them, but if we developed that technology and did eradicate mosquitos and ticks, it would be the catalyst of utter ecological collapse the likes of which i think people are not quite comprehending.
the problem is not the existence of bugs. the problem is that our current global systems ensure that specific Peoples in specific places are disproportionately impacted by zoonoses (illness spread between animals and humans).
those same populations also disproportionately lack access to preventative tools & PPE (down to things many of us take for granted so simply as effective bug spray), and crucially access to medical treatment.
the goal should not be an eradicating effort against bugs which would quite literally collapse entire ecosystems, but equitable access to healthcare, investment in medical research to improve preventative and acute treatment for zoonoses, and the destruction of systems which are currently rapidly increasing the threat of zoonoses worldwide (climate change!)
i am not defending the existence of bugs because i think they're cute and because i don't care about the devastating suffering zoonoses cause millions and millions of people.
the point is that the eradication of these species would likewise cause devastation and suffering, but the tools, the money, the minds, the research, the science ALL exist to actually change the world for the better through global public health systems, but it's all being strangulated by imperial fucking systems which have been and continue to destroy everything!
love how when i get a new interest, i’m like “oh god it’s happening again” and i’m stuck like that for about a week until everything explodes and any interest i’ve had prior is completely dwarfed for an unknown amount of time
shoutout to everyone who’s sharing the interest that has caused their category 7 autism event. we are all whirling around in our autism events together
some thoughts and experiences . advice is not bad to share , but definitely start to fall short once reach certain point , or even at smaller sizes if structure differently .
I'm sorry that your existance is boiled down to a stance. You are more than a topic of debate, theres more to you than just your system origins. It's disgusting that so much of the community, sometimes even on the pro endo side boils your entire existance down to if you're real or not.
You are real beings, with real lives. You are more than just "non traumagenic." I wish more people could see that
what's been gnawing at us lately, besides the everything that is our life, is that i do feel there's a weird "default" that you just ... gotta ... be aesthetic as fuck in the system community.
you gotta have pretty bios, you need icon masks and entirely filled out info with 49735345 fucking symbols screen readers can't read and/or don't work on all devices.
this is purely a me thing. there's no system god pointing their gun at my head to make our shit aesthetic and nice looking but i feel like if we don't we'll die or something.
shout out to the systems that just...cannot... do aesthetics. you're either too big, can't decide, disabled in any form, and/or just don't want to. i get it. you aren't alone.
also extra shout out to systems that will never be satisfied with what they've got documented. we'll never be finished with ours i'm convinced. we're too polyfragmented and caught up in our own thoughts about it all. ugh.
use overdrive, libby, hoopla, cloudlibrary, and kanopy instead of amazon and audible.
use firefox or librewolf (open-source fork of firefox) instead of chrome or opera (both are made with chromium, which blocks functionality for ad-blockers. firefox isn't based on chromium).
use mega instead of google drive
get rid of bloatware
use libreoffice instead of microsoft office suite
get free stuff with the help of r/FREEMEDIAHECKYEAH, r/piracy and r/roms
use trakt (for shows and movies), letterboxd (just movies), or TMB instead of IMDB (owned by amazon).
use storygraph instead of goodreads (owned by amazon).
use darkpatterns to find mobile game with no ads or microtransactions
use mediahuman or cobalt to download music, or support your favorite artists directly through bandcamp
make youtube bearable by using mtube, newpipe, or the unhook extension on chrome, firefox, or microsoft edge
use search for a cause, ecosia, or ocean hero to support the environment instead of google
use thriftbooks to buy new or used books (they also have manga, textbooks, home goods, CDs, DVDs, and blurays)
use flashpoint to play archived online flash games
find books, movies, games, etc. on the internet archive! for starters, here's a bunch of David Attenborough documentaries and all of the Animorphs books
burn your music onto cds
use pdf24 (available online or as a desktop app) instead of adobe
use thunderbird, mailfence, countermail, edison mail, or tuta instead of gmail
remove bloatware on windows PC, macOS, and iOS X
remove bloatware on samsung X
use pixelfed instead of instagram or meta
use project gutenberg for free public domain books, and librivox for public domain books and audiobooks
use the seal app (android only) to download video and audio
use ellipsus instead of microsoft word or google docs
use mastodon instead of twitter
use peertube to create a network of small video hosting providers (disclaimer: not a 1:1 alternative to youtube)
use threema and signal for encrypted communication, on mobile and desktop
use qwant and startpage for secure internet browsers
use syncthing to securely transfer files between devices
learn how to jailbreak your kindle/ereader if you have one (wiki and video walkthrough)
use riseup’s email and VPN for secure communication (aimed towards activists)
use cryptpad and collabora instead of the microsoft office suite
use google takeout to export the data on your google account
use library extension to look for books on online stores and find them at your library
remove paywalls with removepaywalls
install the open-source adblocker ublock origin
install sponsorblock to skip sponsored segments on youtube videos
use bookfinder to look for the cheapest available listings of books, including textbooks
learn a language through mango (duolingo laid off some of its employees and now relies on AI translations) for free with a library card or through your school
edit photos with photopea
edit pdfs with foxit and sumatrapdf
download music with doubledouble
take notes offline and collaborate securely with obsidian
for android tv, use smarttube and cloudstream (ad-free, open-source)
change your OS to linux
changelog:
removed ground news (uses AI to summarize articles)
removed unroll.me (sells your data)
removed proton mail and drive (AI assistant feature, claims of CEO Andy Yen supporting Trump, please DM if you have proof I can add here)
removed NCH suite (only has very basic free features, puts watermark on anything saved)
notes:
this post blew up while I wasn’t looking (the end of my semester was hellish, and i recently came back from a 3-week family vacation). thanks so much for all the suggestions! <3
i included Ecosia because of their financial transparency. It’s physically impossible that they plant a tree for every search, but their profits still go towards projects including reforestation and solar energy. i view their actions as a net-positive
feel free to add more alternatives, resources or advice in the reblogs or replies, and i'll add them to the main post <3
I DELETE ASKS THAT DO NOT CAPITALIZE THE IDENTITY OF "BLACK" ☺️
SENSITIVITY/BETA READERS LINK 👍🏾
No-go fandoms
Causes
"Your posts are too long"- Teacher's Note
Feedback Rules
FAQs!
Please take the time to review the one relevant to your questions! They are long- some longer than others- but they likely have a link contained within that can better guide your research!
📝Syllabus📝
Lesson 1: "White Man Painted Black"?
Lesson 1.5: "Hair for Thought"- how visualizing affects your writing
Lesson 2: “That One Hairstyle? RETIRE IT!” Black Hair is an Art (pt.1)
Lesson 2.1: Addendum to Hair pt 1
Lesson 2: "It Takes HOW LONG?" Black Hair is an Art (pt.2)
Application! Examples of Protective Hair Coverings
Application! Ice's Lazy Loc Wash Routine
Application! How to: Simplified Braid
Application! Daisy E's Simplified Hair Drawing
Lesson 3: "Defying the Default"- Skin Tones and the Presence of Black Characters
Application! What are Black fans looking for in Commissions?
Lesson 4: "Do Black People Blush?" Bringing brown complexions to life
Application! Humanæ- Resource for Skin Palettes!
Lesson 5: "The Same Place As the Music" Lighting & Color
Lesson 6: "Let's Have A Talk, First" Stereotypes, pt 1
Lesson 6: “Why’s she so rude?” (She’s Not)- Stereotypes, pt 2
Lesson 6: "Is He the Threat (Or Are You?)"- Stereotypes, pt 3
Application! How to Spot a Stereotype: An Example
Lesson 7: "That's the Black one!"- Imagery and "Black-Coded" Characters
Lesson 8: “Across cultures, darker people suffer most. Why?” Multiethnic and Multicultural Blackness
Lesson 9: “Romance Will Not Solve Racism”- Interracial/Biracial/Blended Black and White Relationships and Families
Application! "Not Black Enough"
Lesson 10: “The Ambiguously Brown Character™”- The Attachment to Eurocentric Beauty Standards
Lesson 11: “No, That’s Not ‘How Color Works’.” - Whitewashing
Lesson 12: “The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth” - Violence, Violent Imagery & Black Horror
Lesson 13: “It’s Giving” AAVE, and the Denied Yet Undeniable Impact of Black Culture
Lesson 14: “On Human Dignity.” Blackness, Gender & Sexuality
Lesson 15: How To Guide Your Research
Lesson 16: "Make Your Peace With The Chaos..." Childhood While Black
Lesson 17: "D.N.A."- Blackness and Health/Medical Antiblackness
Application! Where do I find books by Black authors?
Application! @carmahnart 's Afro Index for Black Hairstyles!
Lesson 18: "The Advantages of Being Quiet"- The Policing of Black Emotions
Also while we're all talking about anti-racism, here's a helpful tip:
Performative self-flagellation over being white is not a substitute for doing serious introspection about the ways you have been complicit in or rewarded by a white-supremacist society, nor doing the work to dismantle white supremacy.
A white person chiming in to a conversation about racism to say "I'm sorry for being white" or "white people suck, I say this as a white person" is just a masturbatory way to try to assuage your own feelings of shame without actually doing anything. It doesn't make you look like "one of the good ones." It makes you look like someone who centers your own feelings about it.
