God Forbid We Become Friendly @didyousayfandom - Tumblr Blog

There’s got to be a term to describe that like. Extremely specific era of children’s literature where all the books were novellas printed on low quality paper, pumped out on a near monthly basis, and made for series that sometimes stretched into hundreds of books

Animorphs. Goosebumps. Bailey School Kids. Babysitter’s Club. Magic Treehouse. Series that plague public libraries and second hand book stores to this day. A genre that was nearly wiped out overnight by the success of Harry Potter, and the newfound desire for kids to read long form literature

It was like pulp fiction for kids

onion-souls

The Scholastic Age

victoriathevampireslayer

i wrote my MS in book publishing thesis on this, so like for anyone actually interested i have the real answer. it actually wasnt wiped out by harry potter. this era is referred to in the publishing world as the near death of ya/childrens lit. that’s WHY it was on such low quality paper and why they had series with so many freaking books every single month. it was the final stage of cash grabbing before publishers p much accepted the genre was dead. that also contributed to why hp was rejected so many times, not bc jk is some underdog, but because literally no houses were picking up ya books. and it wasnt a newfound desire for long form. kids/teens had been yelling for years for more long form literature that actually reflected their struggles but the old assholes didnt wanna listen as always. arthur lavine, that old fuck who edited hp, wasnt gonna pick hp up either but his daughter or granddaughter literally begged him.

ps. it also was literally pulp fiction bc pulp fiction it gets its name FROM that low quality paper you were talking about. its got more wood bits and other less desirable stuff in it so its processed less which saves money and less desirable which also saves money. thats also why it has the best smell bc its the most tree and the least bleach

speakswords

I can SMELL this post

zanabism-deactivated20200529

Indigenous people in the Arctic: *cause virtually no harm to the environment with their hunting practices / have been sustainably hunting animals forever / have to suffer the consequences of food deserts and sky-high prices no white vegan will ever have to deal with*

White vegans: you know what’s really bothering me…seal hunting…let’s stop that somehow…

woman-shaped-battering-ram

According to the ministry of natural resources in Nunavut, the hunters in Nunavut could hunt a ringed seal for each person who lives in Canada every year and there would still be a net INCREASE in the seal population. Traditional Inuit methods of hunting help maintain the environment, because an overpopulation of seals would be a disaster for fish stocks in the territory.

Also, the shit about clubbing baby seals is a racist myth based on the assumption that the Inuit are “savage”, so we white folks could stop repeating that myth

zanabism-deactivated20200529

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

olcarcajou

People still use hakapiks in the seal hunt, what ayaciyiniw think of as a “club,” there’s codified regulations in their use.

What isn’t true is the hunting of white coats (or blue coats, what baby ringed seals are called). That has been illegal since 1987. Nobody hunts baby seals at all anymore, and even when they did, it was to satisfy -foreign markets-

valtsv

where are my museum gift shop memes

valtsv

i have to do everything myself around here don’t i

kristalknobb

Illustration for Cosmopolitan, June 1974 Detail

pharahsgf

it always makes me sad to see the cropped image on my dash cuz like

the original specifically centers bi women’s sexuality & that context just gets cropped out 😔

gahdamnpunk

American Girl stories were the best tbh

that-catholic-shinobi

Dude, read the books, she and her mom freed themselves in Book 1. We don’t disrespect American Girl in this house

allthefandomss

Don’t you dare disrespect Addy, or any of my girls for that matter. American Girl used to be legit. Good stories, good dolls, good movies.

smugkoalas

Felicity’s story was set in the beginnings of the American Revolution, and addressed the conflict that she faced when her loved ones were split between patriots and loyalists. It also covered the effects of animal abuse, and forgiving those who are unforgivable.

Samantha’s stories centered around the growth of industrial America, women’s suffrage, child abuse, and corruption in places of power. Also, it emphasises how dramatically adoption into a caring family can turn a life around.

Kit’s story is one of my favorites. Her family is hit hard by the Great Depression, and they begin taking in boarders and raise chickens to help make ends meet. Her books include themes of poverty, police brutality, homelessness, prejudice, and the importance of unity in difficult times.

Molly’s father, a doctor, is drafted during the Second World War. Throughout her story, friends of hers suffer the loss of their husbands, sons, and brothers overseas. Her mother leaves the traditional housewife position and works full-time to help with the war effort. They also take in an English refugee child, who learns to open up after a life of traumatic experience.

American Girl stories have always featured the very harsh realities of America through the years. But they’re always presented honestly, yet in ways that kids can understand. They just go to show that you don’t have to live in a perfect time to be a real American girl.

chaos-in-the-making

Dont you fucking dare disrespect the American Girls in my house. ESPECIALLY Addy!! That was my first REAL contact with the horrors of slavery, as I read about her father being whipped and sold and her mother escaping with her to freedom, but also how freedom was still a struggle.

A slave doll. Please. Read the books.

ironwoman359

Don’t forget Kirsten, the Swedish immigrant who had to deal with balancing her own culture and learning the english language and customs of her classmates, or Kaya (full name Kaya'aton'my, or She Who Arranges Rocks) , the brave but careless girl from the Nez Perce tribe, or Josefina, the Mexican girl learning to be a healer.

And then there are the later dolls, that kids younger than me would have grown up with (I was just outgrowing American Girl as these came out), like Rebecca, the Jewish girl who dreams of becoming an actress in the budding film industry, or Julie, who fights against her school’s gender policy surrounding sports in the 70s, or Nanea, the Hawaiian girl whose father worked at Pearl Harbor.

These books, these characters, are fantastic pictures into life for girls in America throughout the years, they pull no punches with the horrors that these girls had to face in their different time periods, and in many cases I learned more history from these series than social studies at school. And that’s without even mentioning the “girl of the year” series where characters are created in the modern world to help girls deal with issues like friend problems, moving, or bullying. We do NOT disrespect American Girl in this house.

razzleberryjam

American Girl is probably going to be the only exposure young girls are going to get to history from a female perspective. This is actually kind of important considering that in history classes we dont really get that exposure. We dont hear about what women felt and endured during these time periods cause schools are too busy teaching us about what happened from the male perspective, which is not unimportant, but we need both. Girls need both.

star-linedsoul

These books were such a crucial part of my childhood and shaped my love of history, which still ensures today. These books can be a young girl’s first lessons in diversity and cultural awareness (hopefully burying that insensitive “we’re all Americans” tripe) and looking at history from more perspectives than just that taught in school. They also are an example of how women have ALWAYS been part of history, which some people would rather us not believe.

I think Kit and Kaya were the newest American Girls when I started “aging out” of the books, but hearing about some of these kinda makes me want to revisit them!

breezeinmonochromenight

I wasn’t gonna say anything, but you know what?

Nah.

OP (of the tweet thread) was either a actively trying to start shit or is just a huge fucking moron. Probably both.

I’d like to point out that the company that makes American Girl dolls actually doesn’t skimp when doing their research and they don’t make the dolls with the intent to be offensive in any way:

magicmoon65

I didn’t know that about Kaya! That’s AWESOME.

eversleepingriv

As someone who worked in the American Girl section of Chapters in Canada, these stories are so very deep and thorough, and the research they do is incredible. They actually had several people work on the design of Addy’s hair to be more accurate to the texture of natural hair. And while they have other dolls in the other branches of their brand, Addy’s hair still remains unique to her alone.

Josefina’s story is about the loss of her mother while she dealt with foreigners and learning to become a healer. She was never in the store I worked at, so I don’t remember much of her story, but I remember a coworker being incredibly happy that it existed!!

Cecile was sold alongside Marie-Grace as a pair, and their story revolves around self confidence, having friends, and learning to pursue your passions in life. They were both retired before I began working there, so I also did not learn their stories as well as I’d have liked to.

The Truly Me line has a variety of dolls with different face moods, eye colours, skin colours, hair colours & textures. You can get them hearing aids, there are bald dolls. There are sets like the diabetes care kit, crutches, arm crutches, wheelchairs, and probably so many more since I left my position in 2017. The Girl of the Year line features many different stories about girls in our present world, featuring girls in STEM, finding passion in arts, dealing with bullying, overcoming adversity and odds stacked against you. There are now boy dolls that has started allowing young boys to grow their interest when they may not have prior to their existence.

This brand means so much to me and to so many others, both young and old. They have given the world its history from a girl’s point of view, and its empowering young minds around the globe, and trust me when I say that. I’ve met collectors from Australia, England, and India, and that’s only a short list off the top of my head.

We do not disrespect American Girl in this household

rocktheholygrail

jaubaius

Vampire and werewolf dating

runcibility

OP I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DIDN’T CREDIT THIS, BECAUSE THERE IS SO MUCH MORE!

This is an ongoing series by @sarahseeandersen called “Fangs” - it’s absolutely worth following and keeping up with!

https://tapas.io/episode/1559785

cottoncandyinsides

Sharing the credited version!

inficetegodwottery

phuntasm

twenty-one-fnaf-phans

sindri42

particular

order

pisswallet

really cool. so its a goth and a hippie

fenris-calls

Me and whatever goth gf I’m given

gunnarsvard

@teknicat

delightfully-deranged-dagur

So why is no one talking about how brutal Eeyore was in the original books?

Just look

This Donkey is holding no punches

delightfully-deranged-dagur

I just realized that all these qoutes are basically Eeyore being done with Piglet

wtfisgoingonews

“sat out” You mean young people who work shit jobs with shit hours and shit benefits couldn’t get out of work to go vote in the same numbers as the retired crowd? 6 hours to vote at colleges in Texas yesterday in the middle of midterms yeah shocking…

solarpunkcast

Before you go around blaming your peers or “the youth” you better ask yourself why low voter turnout might be, in a country with a history predicated on voter suppression

jamesjory

Spread this!

Eat. The. Rich.

ai-yo

Hours to vote?! What the fuck is going on in there?

But it makes sense when polling stations have been closed and heaps of people gather at one location and I heard that in America you need to bring photo ID too which longs things out even more because they probably have to do some verification shit.

Nah that takes the piss

strangestorys

Native Houstonian here, and what the above image neglects to mention is that TSU (Texas Southern University) is a Historically Black College in a majority black neighborhood (the 3rd Ward - which you may know as Beyoncé’s childhood home).

This is targeted disenfranchisement of black youth.

We had voting delays all over the city (it took me an hour and a half in a predominately white neighborhood) but the voting precincts that made the news for insanely long delays were all in predominantly black neighborhoods. This is FAR from a coincidence.

prokopetz

I’ve seen this panel going around a fair bit, and each time, somebody in the notes expresses concern about whether He-Man should be holding that hand.

If you’re one of those people, allow me to assure you that there’s no cause for alarm: the hand He-Man’s holding is not the fist with which Fisto fists.

This is the fist.

whitepeopletwitter

gaysemiotics

seoscribbles

zetabrarian

Sure wish I was seeing this one circulating more than the other ones without the information literacy component.

So here I am, circulating it.

lloerwyn-deactivated20201104

Medievalists of Tumblr: what inaccuracies annoy you the most in movies set in the Middle Ages?

Mine is probably the 'everyone was constantly caked in mud and only wore grey and brown' aesthetic.

mediaeval-muse

Same. Also the idea that “women were property so they did nothing but sew and have babies and the time was inherently backwards and violent”

oidheadh-con-culainn

the complete absence of christianity from pop culture perceptions of the medieval period really bugs me (or it being relegated to the fringes and a few monks somewhere)

like... this was a major part of most people’s daily lives even if it didn’t necessarily look like christianity as we know it. also medieval theology is fucking wild! where are all the debates about cannibal babies in pop culture medieval stuff? WHERE is the twelfth century werewolf renaissance? the fuckign infancy gospels?? give me weird medieval theology you cowards

cukibola-deactivated20200917

A lot of them had already been mentioned, so may I add

"The dishes were only bland soups and maybe some moldy bread"

I'm studying English language and literature, not History, but like... Pork vs Pig... Deer vs Venison... Cow vs Beef... May give you the idea THEY FUCKING ATE MEAT AT LEAST GODDAMIT

And not even like we do

Where's the feast with venison? The ridiculous amount of salmon and other fishes? The little gardens full of spices? Or the trade of exotic foods? Slaughtering season was celebrated in some places not that much ago (like... I saw one when little), why not portray one?

And more importantly

WHERE'S THE CHICKEN WITH HELMET???

GIVE ME CHICKEN WITH HELMET OR GIVE ME DEATH

lloerwyn-deactivated20201104

Yeah, and for better or for worse they were much less picky about which animals they ate than we are. Porpoise, anyone?

Medieval people loved their spices; The Forme of Cury has a lot of flavours I'd associate more with Indian food than anything else. Even if you weren't a wealthy seasoning-loving king like Richard II, you could still have garlic, onions, and herbs.

Also please link me a picture of the chicken with helmet if you can, I need to see this.

cukibola-deactivated20200917

Here it is

Here's a link with more info. Apparently the dish is called Singing Chicken... But that's a chicken with a helmet

In Medieval times, food was medicine, religion and status. And in Medieval feasts, an art-form The Medieval poor mostly ate pottage - basic

lloerwyn-deactivated20201104

This is the best thing I've ever seen.

elfwreck

Hollywood has a tendency to portray the past as “just like today, minus whatever of today’s things we know they didn’t have.” There’s no concept that the past had things that today doesn’t.

Like bawdy medicinal tips.

akashic-gleek

@candiceirae

candiceirae

The idea that people used spices to cover spoiled meat is similarly stupid and utterly infuriating.

And yes, the gaping absence of religion from depictions of the Middle Ages is jarring.

sca-nerd

All of this, but mostly that they existed in a sepia toned world with no color, pattern, or texture.

crows-n-cats

Going off the colors of textiles, the assumption that their textiles were always crude and rough compared to today's. Think of the twills and brocades! The cloth of gold! The silks, and the wool so gauzy you could see through it! The soft wool clothing! The quality and variety of fabric we have available has plummetted since the industrial revolution.

brunhiddensmusings

beyond conventional spices the medieval cook and especially the resourceful housewife would have been exploiting herbs by the fistfull on a level we today cannot comprehend, like we dont even know what some of the names of herbs they used even mean anymore and they grew them like suburban homeowners today grow ugly border hedges. whatever soups they had access to had a decent chance of being something that would be 100% locally grown and every bit as flavorful as any regonal dish today withiout having to resort to saying ‘well they could possibly have been eating curry’ instead of giving them a flavor identity of their own. just because ‘spice’ isnt readily available dont assume ‘flavor’ is out of reach, the aromatics they used would be on par with the modern french concept of mirepoix but, moving past the kitchen the two things that irk me are that everyone toiled miserably and everything was grey stone, rudely carved buildings, shoddy construction unadorned well yeah, if you went to a decrepit ruin thats been abandoned for centuries it would look like that, but not when people lived there! you see the shows and movies and sweet baby cheese the kings residence looks like a dank basement and sometimes he doesnt even have a change of clothes when castles were in use they were prominent displays of power and wealth, whitewashed so that even small amounts of light reflected well inside them so that they illuminated well, paintings and murals in a riot of colors and displaying personal tastes, tapestries that may be the local lords wife, aunt, or grandmothers gift to them as tappestry making was a popular hobby at court where women gathered to gossip and giggle while making vibrantly colored decorations that are usually dismissed because the only ones that survive had endured about 500 years of sun damage, smoke damage, and uncertain cleaning history

that clearly showed the people of the time valued color, had style, and only occasionally made horses look like a dog made out of play-doh. even people who didnt live in a castle still had access to paint to liven up the plaster walls of their homes, brightly dyed fabrics and flowers were as available to them as and they sang, constantly. what we assume was a life of toiling in the mud from dusk till dawn the whole year was typically a relaxed paced life of 10 hour a night sleep in a comfortable bed where work didnt start untill you had your flagon of ale and a song with your buddies as you walked to the field, you sang as you worked, took three ale breaks from work while singing, and then you sang as you walked to the tavern so you could sing while you played nine mens morris or cheated at mancala because you thought the miller was too soused to notice. we barely know any of the songs they sang and humanity is less for it, a scant handfull of them do remain and its just beautiful to hear what a table of tavern patrons would break into song about to prove they werent too drunk for another round song and story were all day every day, theres a reason the most well known middle english text was canterbury tales- whose narrative was that a selection of travelers on the way to the same location had an ongoing bar-bet about who could tell the better story, asking bartenders to judge the complexity of these stories, all of which were absolutely valid as just shit you would say to another drunk in a tavern, would give modern soap operas a swift kick in the pants and its sad that it takes a historian to tell you just how crass and lowbrow humor they were on a similar vein to how so many people somehow forgot that shakespear was lowbrow humor for the commoner and not somehow too sophisticated for rubes it wasnt just bards who would own an instrument, instruments are wood, leather, string, bone/horn, or even clay... those are all commonly available and affordable if not straight up FREE items to someone in the medieval world so a hefty chunk of the population would have an instrument and know how to use it, anything from a wood flute to a simple drum to an ocarina. many designs were even specifically for travel so you could always have it at the ready

how about this- in all the versions of robin hood i have -EVER- seen the most historically accurate any of them got was the scene in kevin costner ‘king of theves’ where friar tuck was singing to himself while on the road ‘women wine and whoring’. not just because its one of the only times in any medieval period movie ive seen someone singing to pass the time in the mind-numbing hours of traveling before the invention of the car radio, but ALSO because they based the tune he sings off the classic ‘ Bache Benne Venies’, the oldest known drinking song we still know the words and tune of and let me tell you that song slaps talk to me about historical accuracy in movies and ill tell you that tolkein writing hobbit songs for walking, drinking, or describing what an elephant was was more historically accurate then all of GOT passed through a sieve to collect every grain of stray element of medievalness gaily dressed hobbits full of pie, sitting in a well decorated room full of beautiful hand carved furniture, on their fifth ale, and singing about the man in the moon getting shitfaced is about ten times historically accurate as most anything else i can think of if you ignored the historical accuracy of them being hobbits

the-gayest-dovah

There were also lots of non-white people in the middle ages but you don't ever see it in pop culture

nellygwyn

I've already seen discourse on Twitter about Keanu Reeves and his girlfriend bc apparently, 46 ISN'T age appropriate for a 55 year old man or something and I'm starting to think some people don't understand the discussion about age gap relationships....it's not about age gaps themselves, it's about adults dating people who aren't adults (usually teenagers). But also, 46 and 55 is age appropriate jfc

queenlokibeth

Yeah bruh it's not the actual gap ffs people, it's the age gap RELATIVE TO THE PEOPLE'S AGES

Let's see some examples:

3 year gap between a 15 and 18 year old: BAD. ILLEGAL. FUCKED UP.

3 year gap between a 30 and 33 year old: they're practically the same age

10 year gap between a 25 and 35 year old: hmm kinda weird, might let it slide, but no.

10 year gap between a 60 and 70 year old: yeah trust me you're good.

9 year gap between a 20 and a 29 year old: let me put this into perspective, person A could be in their second year of college and person b graduated 7 years before. That's weird and they're at INFINITELY different stages in life.

9 year gap between a 46 year old and a 55 year old: they're both middle aged, they're both at the same stage in life, they've probably both have had some sense of stability for a while now and probably no wildly violent life changes like high school/college/first job/first partner have happened in a while. It's FINE.