Feminism, Food, and Fandoms

28. Middle School Teacher. Feminist. Disney Fan. Stumbling through adulthood.

[aerostarmonk]

One time Matt Damon guest starred on Arthur and he looked horrifying.

[babyionian-deactivated20200611]

“so should we draw Matt as a human or as an aardvark?”

“yes”

[debbietrash]

the degree that parents of young children seem to think Baby Shark came out of nowhere astounds me. this is a DECADES-OLD camp song, that has spanned generations. 

[virginiaisforhaters]

i am not a parent of a young child but i worked at summer camps for years and let me tell you before it was ruined by parents of young children baby shark was the most fun camp song ever. kids went buckwild over baby shark. but then it had to be commercialized. you ruined it. yall motherfuckers stay away from the bear song or we’ll have words 

[thequantumqueer]

#part of the problem w/ commercializing camp songs#other than you know Everything#is that it canonizes a specific version#one of the best parts of baby shark was that every camp had slightly different versions#does the singer die and go to hell?#are they reincarnated as a shark?#are they left as a concsious severed head bobbing in the waves?#it was different each time it was sung and its fucking beautiful

[celtic-pyro-deactivated20230725]

Never thought I’d get this much Baby Shark deep lore but I’m here for it.

[etherealastraea]

Okay but that sudden gasp Eliza makes at the very end of Hamilton is her SEEING the audience because her last question was "When my time is up, have I done enough, will they tell your story?" and then after she passes and takes his hand she SEES the audience who has come to witness this story and realizes that it WAS told and now I'm crying all over again 😭 ❤😭

[lunah-goodbye]

growing up reading fantasy books was such a bust cause your whole life you’re left wanting more from life and like there’s something missing and you’re just waiting for that missing part to begin but it’s never gonna come

[lunah-goodbye]

[carodoodles]

A little PSA about ASL for ‘Thank you’! I’ve had all of these signed to me accidentally hahaha. And whenever I sign thank you to non signers, sometimes they thought I was blowing a kiss to them. T_T ✩ Twitter ✩ Tapastic ✩ Facebook ✩ Patreon ✩

[calligraphypage]

THANK YOU KIND OP

[yellovv]

it helps if you mouth “thank you” while you’re doing it so they know what your intent is even if maybe you fuck up the gesture a little. fkfjg

[etherealastraea]

I read a great story about a deaf mother who was teaching her daughter ASL and they were at the grocery store and the little girl kept accidentally signing fuck you/whore to all the clerks handing out free samples.

[whatareyoureallyafraidof]

  “Democratic Socialism” is a Boogeyman Republicans use to scare people into voting against their own self-interest.

[etherealastraea]

ADD/ADHD Rant/Screaming into the void

I'm struggling a lot right now with my ADD. I kinda just wanted to write this all down to vent, so I might delete later, but I thought it might be worth posting in the off chance that anyone could relate or offer advice, but it's mostly just a long scream into the void of tumblr and it is A LOT to read (ain't that the ADHD way? I can talk or write a TON but then expect others to listen or read a whole block of text when I can't do the same 😅) Anyway, if anyone does read this and can relate/commiserate/offer advice I'd appreciate it.

Alright, so... a little about me I guess. I'm 29 years old, I teach middle school, married with two fur babies. I've had undiagnosed ADD (maybe ADHD as a child) till I was 27. The problem with ADHD is the sterotypes, I did well academically and wasnt a disruptive student, so no one ever thought of it as a possibility. As a teacher with ADHD students I thought I *knew* what ADHD looked like and I knew so much about how to help students with ADHD that I never even realized I had it myself.

Long story short I managed to develop a lot of coping mechanisms throughout the years on my own, so I was pretty okay at doing life for the most part, but it did take a TON of mental/emotional energy to do so and I was left totally depleted, leading to depression and a binge eating disorder (that I recognize now was mostly impulsivity.) After therapy and medication (vyvanse) things got a lot more manageable and I would say that most of my issues with inattention and impulsivity are under control. The biggest hurdle I deal with, and what I am looking for advice on, is what I guess you might call executive dysfunction/procrastination/lack of motivation but what I call "Why can't I just do THE THING!?"

I honestly think that like 85% of my stress in life comes from my inability to do necessary but boring things unless there is an external deadline and/or consequence, and even then I will procrastinate right up to that deadline. This happened a ton in college, even in my Master's program. I knew I had weeks to do a project. I had the time. I planned it out. But then I just WOULDN'T DO IT. Cue panicking at the last minute, rushing and cramming to get it done, crying and stressed and sometimes STILL not making the deadline and lying about crashed computers or illness or a death in the family to get an extension ( I have a "Uncle Joe" who died and was resurrected many times during my undergrad and master's program)

With all the years I've struggled with it, I just can't seem to find a way to manage this specific aspect. Working as a teacher, especially in middle school, is actually great because if the schedule. First period ends and my second period students arrive and I have no control over that schedule. They're coming whether I'm ready or not so I have no choice but to be ready. I honestly don't know how I would manage a job that is more unstructured and self directed, I'd never finish anything. The issue with teaching is that the bulk of the grading and prep has to be done at home. I have to decide what to grade, and when, and how much (and there is A LOT because I have 125 students) and this is where things fall apart. I drag my feet, I take FOREVER to grade anything. I can go a good while before there a consequences...parents or students ask about their grade (and then I will usually just grade things for THAT student) and there has been more than one time that my grades for the semester weren't finished and submitted on time and I had to pull the "computer error" card. Not to mention that this always leads to a huge pile up of work to grade in a mad rush, crying about it and staying up all night to finish.

I try to break things into small manageable chunks, but I won't do that either! On 12/18 I KNEW I would have a mountain of grading to do over break and that I would resent it. I broke it all up over a week. It would take no more than 1-2 hours a night, broken up in to half hour stints, and I would be done by Christmas eve and free to enjoy the rest of break without it looming over my head. Needless to say, I did NONE OF IT. Now I only have 3 days. I feel stressed, anxious, annoyed at myself. It will likely take more than 3 days and I will have to just hope no one questions it during our 2 day school week and that I can rush to finish it over the next week, but even now I don't know that I'll manage it.

The problem is, I do this with EVERYTHING. Meal planning, exercise, house cleaning etc. I know these are nessecary things and I know they are difficult and not always fun and I KNOW I hate the feeling of being completely overwhelmed and giving up or only being able to work under pressure. I try to set deadlines and consequences for myself...but let's be honest, I don't listen to that bitch and she never follows through anyway (haha). I try to motivate myself with rewards or fun activities ( I have no problem doing things I like. I love painting, crocheting, sewing, playing music..but I will also use those things to proCRAFTinate, haha...get it?) I try to break things up in to small manageable chunks so that I don't become overwhelmed by it all (if I clean for 20 minutes each day, or only focus on 1 rooms day, or quickly set a 10 minute timer and some music and clean SOMETHING it won't snowball into chaos and I won't cry about spending my entire weekend cleaning or that I have literally nothing to wear because I haven't put away laundry in 3 weeks.) But I don't ever follow those baby steps (when it comes to food it looks like "just plan and prep tomorrow's breakfast and lunch...a whole week is too much, okay, just tomorrow.." and then I DON'T and I have nothing to eat so I waste money on fast food and get fat. Exercise just.....doesn't happen).

TLDR( though thanks if you did read my entire rant): How do you motivate yourself to do necessary but not fun things when you procrastinate all the time, won't follow your own schedule or rules, and can't find motivation even when you try to make things more fun or more manageable?

[gynandromorph]

ADHD is only motivated by 5 things: -urgency -challenge -novelty and play -interest -being a contrarian little bitch

[jumpingjacktrash]

i’m also very food motivated

[smooththegoofyshark]

We’re cats.

[usuallyherdragon]

I’ve always said that.

[adhd-community]

I have zero argument with this post.

[awwsfordays]

Lucky Clover Cat

[sleepysnowglobe]

I love when people say “Most kids with ADHD grow out of it by the time they make it to college.”

No, no they don’t. 

Most people with ADHD get to college and everyone instantly stops caring about them. And after college? It gets worse.  Because they consider ADHD a learning disability, and learning disabilities don’t matter if you’re not in school anymore, right? 

I said this to a teacher and she goes, “No, if you look at the statistics, most people stop taking ADHD meds once they get to college.” 

That doesn’t mean jackshit. 

Kids with ADHD get to college and they graduate from college and their parents aren’t paying for their prescription anymore, or the prescription just runs out and you can’t get an adult doctor to prescribe it to you for various different reasons, so you’re either spending your time suffering and not being able to handle it, or you’re self medicating with booze and weed and cigarettes because that’s the best you’ve got to keep your mind at least a little bit level. 

It’s not that most people grow out of their ADHD by the time they get to college, it’s that as soon as you turn eighteen, no one cares about your problems anymore, and you’re left to your own devices. 

[hachama]

Hi

I’m 37

And without my medication, I would not be able to focus well enough in an office environment to do my job.

[etherealastraea]

29. I am a teacher. My ADD was undiagnosed until I was 27, mostly because of the stereotypes of what ADD/ADHD looks like. Sterotypes that I, as a teacher, unfourtunatly really bought in to. Meds and therapy have helped immensely. A lot of the depression and anxiety I had when I was younger was really just undiagnosed ADD and without my meds I'd still be struggling as an adult, probably even more so.

[gyarados]

You’re welcome

[lady-gorthaur]

This is the most useful thing I’ve ever reblogged.

[danwasonfireonce]

i used to think when people said my cousin twice removed that their cousin must’ve did some fucked up shit to get kicked out of the family twice

[etherealastraea]

So your cousin's children are your first cousins once removed...but your parents cousins are also your first cousins once removed?....

[typhlonectes]

AOC.

[that-one-nerd-over-yonder]

And THIS is what I want people to understand at this point

[macgregor13mathers-deactivated2]

How is that renowned Republican brand working for you? The pictures above are a reminder of past and ongoing Republican actions and inaction so that people will remember them when they get ready to vote.

[geekandmisandry]

Teachers should let kids eat and drink in class, I have no idea why high school teachers act like tiny dictators of their pathetic kingdoms. Like, let them go to the bathroom, if they are hungry let them eat, if they are thirsty let them drink.

It shouldn’t really be so difficult.

[geekandmisandry]

Anyway, children are people, so maybe stop adding onto this post trying to justify why it is ok to treat them and train like animals in a 1920’s zoo.

[purple-cheeseburger]

As a teacher, the reason kids at my school (high school in Australia) aren’t allowed to eat and drink in class is because:

1. They leave food scraps and wrappers all over the desks and floor and refuse to clean it up

2. They throw food

3. They spend half the lesson sharing around gum/lollies/drinks instead of doing the work

If they’re allowed to eat and drink, it makes teaching 50% more difficult to do. There’s a reason they have recess and lunch breaks

[geekandmisandry]

Cool, I’m from Australia.

If they refuse to clean it up then they can’t eat in class and enjoy detention. Same goes for 2. The same things that would happen when students blatantly and purposefully flouted any other set of rules.

3 is not a real thing, like, it might happen in the rare occasion kids have lollies in class because they have to be covert about it and because it is so rare. If being able to eat whenever you wanted was a granted they wouldn’t be smuggling contraband around the class.

There was always gum under my fucking table because we weren’t supposed to eat it so people would just put it under the desk.

Had a teacher who said he only cared about gum being put under the desk and so if we chewed gum then just put it in the bin and he didn’t care.

There stopped being gum shoved under the table by his students.

I don’t know how teachers have not figured out how resentful students clearly are in high school and how much better they respond to mutual respect. Students would go to war for teachers that showed them respect and even students deemed as “troubled” would give so much more effort, time and respect to a teacher who approached them on equal footing.

[darkwolflink1]

Cool I’m in Australia to, I work at a school and totally agree with I-lov-stuff

There is a time and place to eat in class. You don’t go to work and eat when you should be focusing on doing work, infact you get a ½ hr lunch break often at a certain time to break and eat your lunch

Why should the kids eat in class when out of the times they do they then:

Leave a mess of food and wrappers and garbage often bringing in mice, rats and insects

Make a mess of themselves, I’ve see kids throw food at each other, or juice, or pegging fruit at teachers

Already don’t pay enough attention in class or respect the teacher when they are only trying to do their job, I’ve hear classes outright ignore teachers, teens throw fits because they were brought up on bad behaviour, I’ve see student fling chemicals at each other and already leave classrooms a mess because they don’t have any respect or ownership of other people, equipment etc

The teachers do not get to eat in class unless they have been so busy they were not given or could not take a break to eat something

Why should the kids get to eat in class when they already miss handle equipment, they break keyboard and computers, they tear aprons and lab coats, draw on chair and tables

I’ve been repeating text books for the last year and the student have torn pages and ripped out spines and drawn over pages, some of these cost $100s of dollars to order in the first place

Why should they get to eat in class when they bully other people

If the parents stint going to step up and raise the kids right, if the parents don’t back up the school, if the kids use this hate between parents and school, did their little fingers into the cracks to get away with a lot of bad behaviour

If the kids are misbehaving badly enough they are bulling each other, breaking equipment, verbally abusing and even at times threatening staff, mishandling text books to the point they break

Why should they be given the reward of been able to eat in class (especially when the teachers can’ t) when all most of them do is misbehave and break stuff? Why are the parents not pulling this behaviour up at home to back up school staff.

The kids get two lunches spaced through out the day which is more then us workers already get, if they can’t be bothered to eat at these times that is there issue

The only kids that are even allowed to eat in class are the ones with servear medical con dictions that need to have that privilege and often they are the most well behaved

Instead of going “OMG the kids are starving they need to eat during class time!” Why don’t you all go “why is my kid not eating during lunch” and two “I better back up the school on behaviour and make sure my kid will behave respectfully in society”

It is up to YOU as a PARENT to make sure your kid behaves. And then maybe when 99% of the kids can once again behave respectfully other things will change to

I don’t care if your kids hates going to school so breaks stuff, I have to go to bloody work there and as well as handling kids, I have to handle entitled parents, other staff and most of all make sure my boss is happy at work

You don’t see ME breaking shit cause I’m unhappy. The schools struggle with the little funding they get all ready, don’t make it harder for them then what it already is

And hey if your still set on “my kid should eat in class” show up to the class yourself and make sure the kid is studying at the same time your feeding them and be prepared to do this right up until grade 12

Or home school them, then you can be in charge of what they get to do 24/7

But don’t you Dare put this onto school workers who are trying to help, teach and understand your child

Protest to the government to give schools way more funding then what they get now, it should be at least three times as much as what it is

[geekandmisandry]

You shouldn’t be in charge of children, you have a toxic attitude towards them, you are not a good teacher, you have a terrible attitude, are a bad example and seem to dislike children and want to punish them for your real and imagined grievances.

That was one twisted rant.

[em-jcontrol]

UK teacher here - has no-one considered the possibility that kids aren’t allowed to eat in class because of severe allergies? What if someone in that class is severely allergic to something and can’t even be around it - should their education be put at risk because someone else really wants to eat during a lesson?

Also, a more serious and plausible reason for kids not being allowed to eat in lessons is that it poses a health and safety risk if the kid chokes. If all kids are allowed to eat in the lesson and one kid chokes, then the teacher will have to administer first aid (most like the Heimlich maneuver). If done incorrectly, this maneuver can cause broken ribs and serious internal injury.

So look at it from a Senior Leadership Team (SLT) point of view. SLT can either:

- Train all staff to deliver the Heimlich maneuver correctly = this costs the school serious amounts of money that they don’t have because the government is cutting funding to education CONSTANTLY

- Not train all staff to deliver the Heimlich maneuver correctly = it’s then delivered incorrectly, the kid is injured as a result (doesn’t matter that their life is saved though), the parents kicks off at the school, the school then has to work through a PR disaster, the teacher who delivered the maneuver is sacked and shamed out of teaching

OR

- the school just doesn’t allow kids to eat in their lessons, therefore avoiding all these incidents

Personally, I couldn’t give a flying monkeys arse about kids drinking in my lessons, whatevs, I have my coffee in a travel cup and sip it throughout the lesson - as long as the kid cleans up the drink if they spill it, then I don’t care. If a kid is still eating their lunch by the time my lesson starts, they stand in the door and finish it while I teach the start of the lesson, making sure they’re following it as well.

Apart from the allergy thing, I don’t really see why kids shouldn’t be allowed to eat, but it comes down to a ‘My boss will reprimand me and my job will come under threat if I don’t do what they say and don’t follow their rules’ kinda thing.

So back off saying teachers shouldn’t be around kids. We do what we can to survive and we look after our kids as best as we can. If you want someone to attack, go after the government that cuts the funding and the leadership teams that run the schools like a prison.

[geekandmisandry]

Literally shut the fuck up and stop defending the shitty teacher I said who shouldn’t be sound kids because of the disgusting things they said about kids that shows that they don’t give have an ounce of respect for children and, in fact, seems to reveal a deep fucking disdain for children.

If you don’t see a teacher who talks about kids like that as a problem you can fuck right off. And yeah, all your points have been made, dealt with and rebutted. You could read the comments instead of rushing to the aid of someone who should not be around children with the toxic attitude they hold about them.

Like it or not honey your job has the possibility of deeply negatively impacting someone’s life. Every day you go to work is a day you could damage a human being as they are developing. If someone doesn’t respect children they need another job before they do harm.

End of.

[etherealastraea]

Whoa, these reblogs are a trip. I teach 7th grade, kids have a designated snack at 3rd period because they have the last lunch and we understand that it's rough. Healthy snacks are encouraged and peanut products are not allowed. Expectations are taught at the start of the year and kids know to clean up after themselves and not be a nuisance. Some teachers stick only to 3rd period snack but myself and many others honestly don't care if kids eat. They're still growing and like...I don't know, they're people? So...yeah. Personally I even have a stash of crackers and granola bars that all my students know they can ask for if they're hungry and they've always been respectful about it. Aside from a few times where a kid was pushing the limit , because, ya know, they're kids (A student once had a entire family sized KFC Bucket, another brought an industrial bulk sized barrel of cheese balls from Costco, another ate a lemon like it was an orange every day which wiggs me out but whatever) most kids have zero problem with snacking appropriately. Also, I want to be able to eat whenever I want especially when I have endless meetings and miss my damn lunch. I don't think there needs to be a difference in who is able to eat just because I'm big and they're small.

[etherealastraea]

Weird moment of the day: My 7th graders were teasing eachother about having cooties, but apparently NONE of them have ever heard of a cootie shot. I showed them 'circle, circle, dot, dot...) and they looked at me like I had 3 heads. This antivaxx thing has gone too far...

[im-pretty-bored]

Don't feel ashamed of doing "CHILDISH" things

•buy toys/dolls/crayons •play with Legos •play old videogames/dress up games •weave friendship bracelets •watch cartoons •use stickers •draw pics of your favorite characters

If it makes you feel nice, do it. Don’t even worry about what other people think, because it doesn’t matter–if it brings you happiness, it’s not “ridiculous”, or “immature”.

You deserve to enjoy yourself.

[blackbearmagic]

Let me share with you what I consider to be the most important less I’ve learned in my adult life:

“Growing up doesn’t mean you can’t have Zebra Cakes. Growing up simply means that, if you want to have Zebra Cakes, you buy them for yourself.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Bear?” Well, let me explain. For those of you who live outside of the US, this is a Zebra Cake:

It’s a little pre-packaged snack cake that is horribly cheap and junky and really not that great, but it is like manna from heaven to me. I fucking love these things. When I was a little kid growing up, my mom bought Zebra Cakes but once in a blue moon. They were intended to be put in mine and my siblings’ school lunches, but my brother and I would eat them whenever we wanted, so Mom just didn’t see the point. (They also used to be kind of expensive, at least for our family’s budget.) Needless to say, the coveted Zebra Cakes were a luxury for me, and were one of the tastes of my childhood.

Fast forward to my college years. I was living in an apartment with three other people, doing my own shopping and cooking. I was in the grocery store, picking up some stuff, and I happened to walk past a display of snack cakes. Among them were several boxes of Zebra Cakes.

I paused at this, chuckling to myself. Oh man. Zebra Cakes. I haven’t had those in years. I loved those when I was a kid. I reminisced happily and thought about how much I missed the taste of Zebra Cakes, then started to walk away.

And then I stopped dead.

Because I had realized that there was literally nothing stopping me from buying a box of Zebra Cakes. There was nothing stopping me from buying ten boxes of Zebra Cakes. If I wanted Zebra Cakes, I could have goddamn Zebra Cakes, because it was my money and my decision to make.

I put two boxes in my cart (they were 2 for $5) and never looked back.

Here’s the secret I learned that day: The idea of something being “just for kids” is, by and large, bullshit. What you do on your own adult free time with your own adult money is, by its very nature, adult stuff. It’s like comedian Eddie Izzard (who frequently performed his routines in drag) once said when someone asked about him wearing ‘women’s clothes’: “They’re not women’s clothes. They’re my clothes. I bought them.”

I am 25 years old, and yesterday I bought myself a shark lunchbox. Look at it. Look at how awesome my lunchbox is.

Was this lunchbox intended to by bought for and used by a child? Yes. The tag said it was for ages 3 and up. But it was bought by and will be used by an adult, and anyone who thinks that’s wrong is probably just jealous that they don’t have the self-confidence to rock a shark lunchbox at 25.

So like. Being “mature” and “an adult” doesn’t mean you have to completely abandon the things that made you happy when you were younger. It just means that you may have to approach them in a different way. 

[tpfaulkner]

Pay attention, there’s a lesson here

[thecreach]

I hesitated reblogging this, and I am not entirely sure why.

[bitemebat]

LEGO. I just turned 42 and I have LEGO sets allllll over my house. Why? Because I wanted them, and because it is my money and I will spend it how I like, MOTHER.

As long as you aren’t bankrupting yourself, buy the things you *want* to buy, the things that bring you JOY.

[hotdogsngiggles]

you are missing out on so much if you just stick to “adult things”

[magicallygrimmwiccan]

I still sleep with plushies

[petrichoravellichor]

My Very Adult™ office in my apartment is decorated with Funko Pop figurines and Titans vinyls from my favorite fandoms. 💙

[holisticfansstuff]

[animation-is-my-life]

Be the kid your parents wouldn’t let you be, watch cartoons that make you laugh, eat the zebra cakes, read what you want (even if it’s Harry Potter again), pull your stuffed animals out of storage, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

And remember: they bribe ADULTS to vote with STICKERS

[viostormcaller]

I have a winnie the pooh pillow pet, a few children’s books, and some squishy stickers in my future….

Also I wear onesies all the time, I sleep with two stuffed animals (soon to be three once I get my hands on that giant teddy), I watch cartoons and own quite a few pusheen stuff (including a backpack and a water bottle). And I play kids’ games ALL THE TIME. And I think my favoritest thing I bought aside from my teddy Waffles was my bed set, which is light purple with colorful butterflies all over it.

Growing up is boring. Separating myself from fun things is boring and stupid. If I wanna act like a kid, I’m gonna act like a kid and buy kid things with my money and no one can stop me from living my life filled with pastel colors, sweets, and squishy stickers, and that’s FACTS

[hopiekinz-deactivated20250120]

I’m 21 and I have a cartoon dinosaur shower curtain because why not?

[midnight-spectrum-again]

I needed this was I was 12 and my parents said I was too old to watch winx club

[the-hope-that-sleeps-inside-you]

I’ve heard that “Steven Universe is for babies” and had people poke fun at me for being obsessed with it and this really helps

[midnight-spectrum-again]

Who said this? I wanna …. talk

@3-ducks-in-a-trenchcoat let’s talk to to this person

[crittizen]

Currently polishing my big gay sword

[etherealastraea]

Recently, we had an exterminator come to our house. He was standing in the living room and looked around. "Ok, so I'm going to go out an spray the outside first, then I'll do the inside. Are there certain rooms you want me to avoid spraying? I see you have small children." I had to explain to him that no, in fact, I don't have any children and yes, the frozen plate and mug on the coffee table, the sloth blanket draped over the couch, and the turquoise and flower painted ukelele were all mine. He was literally in disbelief. Years ago I would have been mortified, but at 29 I just chuckled at his confusion and said "Yep, I like fun and colorful things :)" The best part about adulthood is being able to enjoy whatever the eff you like.

[etherealastraea]

Frozen 2 Spoliers without context