I think the reason I struggle with putting my phone down and doing something offline that I enjoy is that I always feel guilty for not dealing with my responsibilities. There's usually always something productive I can be doing, and it's so much easier to procrastinate if im just mindlessly scrolling. Even now that summer is here and school is out, I'm just thinking about all the college stuff I'm supposed to be doing, or my disaster of a room, or the letters I need to write
Maybe the key is a better work-life balance? Idk man, all I know is that im stressed and depressed and I cant become undepressed bc it will make me more stressed, and I can't become unstressed because it'll make me more depressed
This was evidently the portion of the castle occupied by the ladies in bygone days, for the furniture had more air of comfort than any I had seen.
Jonathan finding more comfort in the ladies' room of the castle, and telling how he hates the other rooms because of Dracula's lingering presence is really a different beat; Jonathan is far more aligned with the gothic feminine than the gothic masculine. The ladies portion of the castle he found is not only a place of rest, but also it's where he can hide from Dracula's patriarchal figure.
Coincidental or not, the fact that Jonathan is now using tactics to escape from Dracula's masculine presence, and decided that a ladies room was the safest option he could find is a detail that should not be overlooked. Dracula has made it very clear that he can keep crossing the line with Jonathan's boundaries since he is his superior in any aspect of their current dynamic. Superior as his boss to employee, superior as his noble to working class, superior as his older masculine figure to younger feminine character. Jonathan cannot "win" against the Count in a traditional masculine manner since it's simply not a trait in his characterization, and he knows very well that doing something in that line of manner would end up with him dead.
Moreover, there isn't a single hint of irony or mockery towards the ladies room nor the feminity of the scene, everything that Jonathan says is truthful, and he embraces it far more. Jonathan doesn't find it shameful to identify with fair ladies of years past, nor tries to excuse his thoughts to save his "masculinity" at the eyes of the reader, it's all written in modest honesty.
My second submission for the Free Freer Free contest! This one took me a while because I got very busy the last couple months, but I'm very happy with how it turned out!
Tumblr immediately ate the quality but its fineee
There is some symbolism in the color choices and the flower choices that I may talk abt later, we'll see
ohhhh my gosh I just listened to episode 18 of redacted
Doomed sibling relationships my beloved <3 (i am actively sobbing)
I love doomed sibling relationships so much guys. And the postmortem? (The agent koska fans are rioting rn)(its me im agent koska fans)
Jacob's speech during the funeral actually killed me. Him apologizing to eli, apologizing to himself, telling himself the things he wished his brother would tell him 😭 if i think too hard about jacob giving a speech at his own funeral as his dead brother talking to himself i start crying
starting Dracula daily for the first time and also having severe magnus archives brainrot is in fact resulting in a little bit of confusion. I saw "Stoker" the other day and my first thought was "tim?" before I remembered i was in the Dracula daily tag
I think I found my new favorite rabbit hole. This voice actor does Shakespeare scenes in a southern accent and I need to see the whole damn play. Absolutely beautiful
if you're not from the us american south, there's some amazing nuances to this you may have missed. i can't really describe all of them, because i've lived here my whole life and a lot of the body language is sort of a native tongue thing. the body language is its own language, and i am not so great at teaching language. i do know i instinctively sucked on my lower teeth at the same time as he did, and when he scratched the side of his face, i was ready to take up fucking arms with him.
but y'all. the way he said "brutus is an honourable man" - each and every time it changed just a little. it was the full condemnation Shakespeare wanted it to be. it started off slightly mock sincere. barely trying to cover the sarcasm. by the end...it wasn't a threat, it was a promise.
the eliding of “you all” to “y’all” while still maintaining 2 syllables is a deliberate and brilliant act of violence. “bear with me” said exactly like i’ve heard it at every funeral. the choices of breaking and re-establishing of eye contact. the balance of rehearsed and improvised tone. A+++ get this man a hollywood contract.
time to analyze the lyrics to sparkbird's "Free Freer Free" because this song is chock full of wordplay!
The most obvious one is the double meaning of till(verb) and till(short for until), which is used a lot in the beginning
Another double meaning is sow/so in the second and third stanza, which is actually used in combination with
Weed/we'd. These two double meanings work so well together! Seeing them written down in the lyrics versus hearing them is really fun because written down its "weed grow sow / weed seed / different arrangements" but hearing it is "we'd grow so / we'd see / different arrangements"
Which actually there's a third wordplay on there which is the seed versus see-different. I love when lines overlap like that(for example, in Suffering from Epic the musical, Odysseus and the sirens lines overlap with the first and last words of their lines which is one of my favorite musical things)!
these next two I'm not entirely sure about but I'm going to give it my best guess
"Sow/so, if you will, carrot / all-encompassing / hedge anything / interesting"
I think there is some sort of double meaning with carrot and hedge here, but I'm not actually sure what it is. I think maybe carrot= care or carry maybe? And then hedge is kind of like hedge up? Translates to "hedge up anything interesting" and something like "carry an all-encompassing" or "care an all-encompassing"
I actually like the carry definition better for that one. Fully it would be "carry an / all-encompassing / hedge up anything / interesting"
If someone has a better interpretation pls tell me bc this is going to bother me until I figure it out
I'm actually pretty sure on this one: dewy= do we and dew=do
Translates to "do we do we do" and some arrangement of that during that stanza
not really an analysis for this one but I love the "how long" to "howling" bit. Same thing as the see-different, I love overlaps of words and syllables that lead to different meanings like that!
the bridge! There is definitely a lot of symbolism here that I can't quite figure out, but i have some guesses!
Some of this stanza I think is meant to be a reference to the double life series but I've never actually seen any of it so maybe someone else can explain that
For some reason, I feel like the line "double-helixed stairs for the juggled wife" is somehow a reference to "the yellow wallpaper", you know, that story where the guy keeps his wife locked in the attic?
Bole=trunk of a tree. "Another name in the trunk of a tree"
Once again, more double meanings! Buy/by, which i understand when it comes to time, but I don't actually know what that means when it comes to buy the beam
either or/ether ore as well! I googled it, Ether Ore is an album that has some space themed songs, so maybe sparkbird is referencing their previous song Space!!!(im so negative) or maybe they have something else in mind, idk
"To stake your claim / to claim your steak" is just such a cool flip of the words to make a whole new meaning i love it
That's all that I noticed, if anyone else noticed other things, or has an explanation for the things I couldn't figure out/better explanation for things I was guessing on, please add them!
(and if sparkbird wants to drop their own lyrics analysis pls do, I really want to hear your thoughts behind it!)
Sparkbird dropped song lore! Also earlglenn realized she's an idiot!
So, "ether ore" i googled a second time recently and I saw a Wikipedia article about a type of rock, which i cannot find for the life of me so maybe I genuinely just dreamed that. But it may also be a reference to Minecraft and the Aether mod, or it may be a reference to greek mythology. "In Greek mythology, it was thought to be the pure essence that the gods breathed, filling the space where they lived, analogous to the air breathed by mortals." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aether_(classical_element). It translates to pure, fesh air, or clean sky. Idk about you, but I can definitely see the connection between those translations and FFF.
Okay, the new lore drops from sparkbird! I'm mainly writing them here for my own future reference, but these were all from their video https://youtu.be/DIUynhn_HxYsi=aFJgH2gm3enBO9zI
"Free Freer Free is not an adjective comparative adjective, but imperative noun imperative. Its a command or a request."Freer=one who frees, so the speaker is asking someone to free them. Mmm giving web vibes perchance?
2. "It contains a reference to a double-helix staircase designed by Leonardo DaVinci" essentially, it was meant to allow two people to be going opposite ways and not cross paths, such as a wife entering and a mistress leaving. This new information gives me so many ideas and helps me understand the bridge so much better! I really want to use that section for one of my OCs now!
3. "It shares an allusions to Hamlet with [sparkbird's] song Paid by Weight" The allusions is the line "By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight / till our scale turn the beam!" This line is from Act 4 scene 5, said by Laertes during Ophelia's flower scene, when everyone finds out Ophelia has gone mad.
4. " It alludes to [sparkbird's] song Japanese gardens both thematically and in at least one specific line" The line in question is a line in Japanese Garden about carving names into a tree trunk, and as I mentioned before, that's exactly what a bole is in "Another name in the bole." BTW psa from sparkbird and also me: dont carve into tree trunks! That's just mean to the tree :( Seriously, dont damage trees like that
Dysphoria Hoodie is so real but can we give a round of applause to Autism Hoodie?
u were always there for my autistic ass when textures were awful, the world was too bright & loud, eye contact needed to be avoided, and i didn't know what to do with my hands. u even let me use your pullstrings as a stim toy. truest ride or die bestie i'll ever know 🫶💖🫡
The hoodie is wear in middle school and highschool because I was dysphoric also happened to be the only hoodie I could wear that day that didn't make me feel like ripping off my skin and also the only hoodie that could successfully cover my eyes to block out the florescents because they wouldn't let me wear my prescription sunglasses and when I wanted to sleep I'd just pull my arms inside and hide in it inside the library.
sorry this addition made me so ANGRY on your behalf, remembering how schools inflict such absolutely TORTURE on students with sensory issues and health issues in general. and it all ties in to lack of childhood bodily autonomy.
it is absolutely insane the extent to which school students aren't allowed to take care of their basic bodily needs such as:
controlling their water/food intake (the fact kids have to ask permission to drink water is INSANE)
hearing protection for kids with noise sensitivity
light protection for kids with light sensitivity
(seriously what the FUCK is up with controlling kids wearing hoods/hats/sunglasses during class)
removing themselves from a hostile environment (having to ask permission even on the verge of meltdown to step out of a room/situation that is actively causing them pain)
not having every minute of their day scheduled and supervised on a level akin to literal prisoners (hint: we shouldn't be doing this to people in prison either!)
having a basic level of goddamn privacy
going to the fucking bathroom!!!
it is VILE how often school systems reject the basic human agency of their students. it causes devastating harm, and disproportionately impacts vulnerable students.
So many students are forced to experience PREVENTABLE daily pain and discomfort resulting in long-term health issues and disability because their basic needs are ignored and trampled on by adult authority. There is no world where this is an acceptable norm.
I recently finished the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy series, so here is my book fully tabbed and annotated! This is the most wild I have ever gone with tabbing a book, but it was so fun!
[ID: Screenshots of a Facebook post of user Zed Potts on April 3rd, 2026 at 8:10 PM reading:
The one thing about Al that most people don't seem to get, the really critical thing, is that this whole thing isn't a "tech miracle" it's just the wal-mart scam. When wal-mart moves into town, the first thign they do is they run a bunch of sales, for years and years.
not because they care. Not because they just really wanna help. But because they really want to drive every single store that sells the same things they sell out of business. And because they don't really want to (and can't really compete) on the quality front, they do this by just leveraging deep pockets to offer really, really, really cheap prices. They do two things with this: First, they close every single other business that sells the things they sell. Second, they manage to get everyone used to shittier versions of the stuff they used to have higher standards on - it may not be as good, but hey, it's cheap, and who can complain these days?
Al art costs a LOT to make, and it costs way way way more to build the machine models that make it, and this money all goes straight to creating a bunch of waste power, heat, and pollution. It's the anti-environmentalist effect your mother told you about. But it's virtually free to you to use right now, even for the paid services. Do you know why?
Because they want you to use it. They're trying to kill off every source of news writing, picture painting, song singing, book writing, movie making, library storing, lesson teaching, code writing, information sharing, community building, thought thinking they can POSSIBLY manage to replace with worse (but cheaper) versions that can run through machines they run
and then they can charge you for it, and get BACK some money for the billions and billions and billions of dollars that they keep pouring into this stuff.
The people who build this stuff aren't your friend. This product isn't cool. It's not "no big deal" when you share an Al thought, or project, or message - it's about you willingly hopping on board with the people who want to kill everything you love so they can run a zombie robot version of it that they can rent to you later when it's all you have left. this isn't a "conspiracy". It's not secret. It's just the fucking plan and it's right out there in the open and these people even say it out loud if you'd start listening.
In Animal Farm, George Orwell explores how systems of power become corrupt, not solely because of one tyrannical leader, but because of the conditions that allow that leader to rise and remain unchallenged. Through the transformation of the farm and its animals, Orwell demonstrates that oppression is sustained by blind loyalty, manipulation of language, and the suppression of critical thinking. Although characters like Napoleon take control, their authority is only possible because others accept it, often out of fear, habit, or a desire for stability. Ultimately, Orwell suggests that tyranny thrives when individuals prioritize order and identity over truth.
Power & Removal of Opposition
One of the clearest examples of how power consolidates itself is the removal of opposition, as seen in the expulsion of Snowball. Snowball represents intelligence, innovation, and independent thought, often challenging Napoleon’s ideas and offering alternative solutions for the farm’s future. However, rather than engaging in debate, Napoleon drives Snowball out using force, eliminating any competition. This moment marks a turning point in the novel, as it removes the possibility of discussion and replaces it with unquestioned authority. Snowball’s exile demonstrates that in oppressive systems, individuals who question or challenge power are not simply disagreed with—they are treated as threats and removed entirely. Furthermore, after his expulsion, Snowball is blamed for nearly every problem on the farm, showing how those in power rewrite narratives to maintain control. This reinforces the idea that tyranny depends not only on gaining power, but on silencing and discrediting opposition.
Blind Loyalty & the Role of Followers
While Napoleon’s actions drive the corruption of the farm, his success relies heavily on the obedience of the other animals, particularly Boxer. Boxer embodies hard work, loyalty, and sincerity, yet his refusal to question authority ultimately contributes to his own downfall. His personal mottos, “I will work harder” and “Napoleon is always right,” reflect a mindset that prioritizes obedience over critical thinking. Even as conditions worsen and the pigs begin to break the commandments, Boxer continues to trust the leadership, believing that his sacrifices will eventually be rewarded. However, his fate reveals the reality of the system: once he is no longer useful, he is sent away to be slaughtered, despite his unwavering devotion. Similarly, the sheep reinforce this environment of blind loyalty by repeating simple slogans that drown out meaningful discussion. Their constant chanting prevents other animals from thinking critically or questioning authority. Through these characters, Orwell illustrates that oppression is not maintained by force alone, but by the willingness of individuals to follow without questioning, often because doing so feels safer than confronting uncertainty.
Language, Education, & the Illusion of Truth
Another key factor in the farm’s corruption is the manipulation of language and knowledge. Although the pigs initially claim to educate the other animals, this education is limited and unequal. While the pigs become literate and knowledgeable, most animals remain unable to fully understand the commandments or the changes being made. This imbalance allows the pigs to gradually alter the rules to suit their needs, creating loopholes and rewriting the commandments without significant resistance. For example, rules such as “No animal shall sleep in a bed” are subtly changed to include exceptions, making it appear as though the original principles are still intact. Over time, these small changes accumulate, transforming the farm’s entire moral structure. By controlling language and information, the pigs shape what the other animals believe to be true. This manipulation is further reinforced by repetition, as seen with the sheep’s slogans, which replace complex ideas with simple, unquestionable phrases. Orwell demonstrates that when individuals lack access to knowledge or the ability to question it, they become more susceptible to control, allowing those in power to redefine reality itself.
Transformation & the Corruption of Ideals
By the end of the novel, the pigs’ complete transformation into human-like figures symbolizes the ultimate corruption of the revolution’s ideals. Initially, the animals rebel against human oppression, seeking equality and freedom. However, as the pigs gain power, they begin to adopt the very behaviors they once condemned, including walking on two legs, drinking alcohol, and engaging in trade with humans. The final scene, in which the other animals can no longer distinguish between pigs and humans, highlights the extent of this transformation. This moment reveals that the revolution has not eliminated oppression—it has simply replaced one ruling class with another. The pigs’ actions demonstrate that power, when left unchecked, can lead individuals to abandon their original principles in favor of personal gain. Rather than creating a fair and equal society, the farm becomes a reflection of the very system it sought to escape, emphasizing Orwell’s warning about the cyclical nature of power and corruption.
Through the events of Animal Farm, George Orwell presents a powerful critique of how systems of control develop and persist. While figures like Napoleon play a central role in establishing authority, their power is sustained by the actions and inactions of others—those who follow blindly, those who suppress dissent, and those who lack the means to question what they are told. By showing how language is manipulated, opposition is removed, and loyalty is exploited, Orwell emphasizes that tyranny is not inevitable, but it becomes possible when individuals prioritize comfort, identity, or order over truth. Ultimately, the novel suggests that maintaining a just society requires not only leadership, but also the willingness of individuals to think critically, question authority, and resist systems that discourage independent thought.
Here is my first submission for the Free Freer Free showcase! I have a drawing that I've started as well, but I won't be able to finish it for a while bc this is peak exam time for me.
The blue, green, and brown bracelet is based on the cover artwork for the song, while the green, yellow, and brown bracelet is based on my own personal associations for the song
I associate FFF with the kind of freedom that comes from peace and time to relax, to connect with nature, to be free in nature. That's what I based the first bracelet off of.
Not to be a pretentious asshole but yes there is a problem with people no longer reading the classics. A lot of the YA literature romance novel crowd perpetuates the myth that the classics are inherently boring and stuffy and there’s nothing you can relate to or learn by reading them. And they’re not. These beautiful universal things we enjoy, comedy, romance, tragedy, family strife, they’re still so poignant centuries after they’re written.
Also some of them are entertaining trash. Have you ever read Tarzan of the Apes? If you can white-knuckle through the continuous racism (and I do not want to undrsell the racism, it's all through the book and every time you think you're over the racist part they find a new way to add more racism, you will have to white-knuckle through so much racism to read this) it's on par with modern mary sue isekai slop. Like switch out the forest for a fantasy world and it's a low-effort (racist) teenager's first royalroad web serial. And you have to read this stuff (not Tarzan specifically, but older literature, including some classics) if you want to engage with written fiction as a whole, because fiction is a conversation that takes far longer than a single human lifetime to have. Being a reader who never reads older works and never reads outside their favourite genre is like being a visual art enjoyer who looks exclusively at busty anime girls in 45 degree profile on Deviantart. Like what you like, but you're going to be able to like it so much more, and engage with it so much more competently, if you broaden your experience a little.
When I was a kid in about... Grade 8, I want to say, we had the Decameron in history of literature class. (For those who don't know, it's a book of short stories framed as "told by people trying to quarantine from the plague". It's mostly horror, humor and sex. Think COVID entertainment, but maybe more terrifying). We had a few stories from it selected in our reader, and the assignment was "pick a Decameron story and do an oral retelling."
At the time, me and another girl had just ceased routinely beating the shit out of each other with chairs, and instead had become friends in one of those delinquent-nerd duos. She taught me street smarts, I taught her weird intellectual shit. It was a beautiful friendship.
So of course when I saw the Decameron on the curriculum, I told her "you realize a lot of stories in that book are basically porn, right? Let me get you the unabridged version from my house."
My friend's eyes lit up. She read the whole thing in a few days.
Class time comes, and for the first and only time in our class one of the class delinquents shoots her hand up. The teacher goes, "oh wow, what just happened? All right, go ahead."
And of course my friend picked one of the pornier tales. If I recall, it was about a monk seducing a nun by telling her that men had devils, and women had hells, and occasionally one must contain a devil by sticking him into hell. The teacher has no choice but to listen because the assignment doesn't specify "pick a pre-selected story from the reader". It just says "pick a Decameron story."
The retelling was fantastic, as hilariously funny as the story itself, (she did voices and gestures!) and my friend got the class listening on the edge of their seats. My friend got her well-deserved A, the teacher got a pedagogical challenge, and it was a win-win all around. :P
Tl;dr: go read the classics, they're a lot of fun.
Also: they will really increase your tolerance for period-specific uncomfortable topics and terminology.
I don't mean they will make you think racism or sexism are okay. I mean they will get you to a point where you can read something written before the 21st century and not flinch away from it. A literary immune system, if you will. I have seen reviews of sci-fi from the 70s that dismissed entire (good) classics for a single sexist paragraph and it makes me sad. People are missing out on so much. You should be able to read things that were not written with your sensibilities, or most of human history and culture will be closed to you.
It's also just meme literacy. So, so many classics are the roots of what become memes in other books (including many classics), and there's so much good shit whooshing right over your head if you don't read them.
Shakespeare is the grand meme king of early modern English. And Shakespeare was meming on classics everyone in his time was still reading like the Iliad and Odyssey.
Ursula K. Le Guin's is fantastic in isolation, and even better if you've read the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu.
There is a lot out there where you're like "this is a neat concept/plot" and then read the classics and realize it's a rehash of something done better 200 years ago. This stuff stick around because it isn't boring. Though sometimes it does require learning some context to understand what it's actually saying in its own time.
A Controversial Opinion: Poetry Has Changed...for the Worse.
(Forgive me, poets😣🙏)
I’ve been reading a lot of poems in poetry communities on Tumblr, and there’s something that comes up a lot.
Most of the modern poems I read are easy to understand, immediate, and almost always centered on the self and one’s own feelings. They’re texts that are understood instantly, that require no pause or effort, that are simply felt.
There’s nothing wrong with writing from what one feels; in fact, it’s the most natural thing. But when it stops there, poetry starts to become predictable.
We live in an age where everything is just a click away: fast, clear, immediate. And that has also changed the way we read. I feel like we’re getting used to poetry that’s consumed quickly, just like everything else.
It feels as though we no longer want to demand anything of the reader.
And when something more symbolic or complex appears, it’s often dismissed as incoherent. Sometimes it just demands something we’re no longer used to giving: time.
I miss those poems that make you stop and think, reread, hesitate a little. The ones that don’t give you everything on a silver platter, the ones that go beyond the obvious.
Perhaps it’s not that depth has disappeared, but that we’re increasingly less willing to dwell on it.
I believe that poetry can also be a space to lose yourself a little, to think more than we’re used to.
Perhaps the problem isn't that those poems are difficult, but that we're getting too used to the easy stuff.
Sometimes I'm surprised by how some ancient fables (like Aesop's), despite being aimed at children, manage to achieve a depth that I find lacking in some contemporary poetry.
blakekathryn
andulkaphoto
tangentwithtanner
theartofmadeline
dailybridgerton
janainaart
