Jess Mahler's Blog -- Take 2

[grounded-gryphon]

Jess Mahler's Tumblr Writing Masterlist

Figured it was time. Will try to update reliably, but life happens.

Where to find me off Tumblr

Dragon Symbiotes World Building Project

Original Fiction

Alexi's Transgender Fairytale -- what it says on the tin

Yishai’s New Roommate/Yishai and Little One -- box boy universe whump, sfw (unfinished)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Enemies to Divorced Parents snippet -- superhero prompt

Without Dishonor -- lovers to enemies short

100 Drabble Challenge

FanFic

Trials & Trios -- dc x dp eternal trio plus jason/jazz/dick (unfinished/updating)

I'd Die (Again) for Y'all -- dc x dp brain dead on main (unfinished/on hiatus)

I Reject Your Quỳnh and Substitute My Own -- The Old Guard (finished)

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Unnamed Dc x dp snippet -- Jason tried to avoid Replacement at these things... (might continue later)

Mister Wayne -- because Alfred wouldn't call Bruce "Master Bruce" without a reason.

Jason's Old Man (finished) -- companion piece to "Mister Wayne," intro and two scenes

If You Want My Husband... -- dead on main snippet off of prompt

Jason's Favors -- off of prompt. No one knows why Jason hates Vlad Masters. they don't really care either.

I'll Write It Someday -- Batman's a halfa

Poor Man's Batman (unfinished/on hiatus)

[kayla-denker]

Hey, you, cis girl that's very (correctly) vocal about women being allowed to talk about their periods, do you include trans women in that?

I ask because every single time I've tried to talk about it to anyone that isn't a trans woman they get fucking angry. Which has caused me to have to just suffer in silence every single month. So I really relate to cis women when they talk about literally the exact same thing; being shamed by everyone around them their whole lives for talking about their periods, so they just suffer in silence every month as it negatively impacts their work and social lives. But I don't even feel like I can voice that I am literally dealing with the same exact thing because most of y'all react like you want to throw me in front of a bus for saying it, even those of you who act like your such big great transfem allies.

[kayla-denker]

I guess I'll take this opportunity to talk about trans women periods. The first thing any tme person thinks when they hear this is always "how can trans women have periods? They don't have uteruses!"

The answer is: the uterus isn't what causes your period, it is effected by your period. What causes your period and what causes trans women's periods is the same thing: the endocrine system.

HRT changes the sex of your endocrine system. Feminizing HRT makes it a female endocrine system, giving us a 28-day hormone cycle just like cis women. At the end of that cycle, the hypothalamus floods the body with prostaglandins. Those are what cause all but one of the period symptoms, because they make muscles inflame and contract. They are what make the uterus shed its lining, they are what cause intestinal cramps, they are what cause body aches, they are what cause headaches and migraines. The only period symptom not causes by the release of prostaglandins throughout the body is depression, and that is caused by your endocrine system simply not processing as much estrogen and from simply feeling like shit.

So, the only symptoms trans women don't get every 28 days is menstrual cramps, because yes we do not menstruate since we don't have uteruses. But migraines, depression, body aches, intestinal cramps, and the infamous "period shits" don't exactly add up to us having any better of a time. Except we have to pretend that we're fine and nothing is different because no one believes that we get periods, not even cis women.

"But you can't call it a period then because that refers to MENSTRUATION!" is another one I hear all the time. This is incorrect. You use the word "period" instead of just "menstruation" because it doesn't just refer to menstruation. It refers to a period at the end of the hormone cycle where we experience a host of symptoms. And not all cis women experience all of the symptoms that encompass the period. Not all cis women get migraines, or body aches, or have severe depression. If a cis woman gets a hysterectomy she doesn't menstruate either! In that instance she experiences an identical period to what trans women experience. Yet, I doubt you'd insist that cis women who've had hysterectomies don't have periods.

[kayla-denker]

Oh, another thing that I personally discovered after bottom surgery: vaginal odor changes for trans women during our periods too. I was not expecting that because I always thought it was just from menstruation. But nope, the ph levels of a trans woman's vagina are the same of as a cis woman's vagina, and it changes during our periods just the same.

[xadeone]

I had NO IDEA about this. Holy shit give it the necessary components and the human body literaly just runs the program

[shimamitsu]

some of my favorite replies to this tweet. happy lesbian visibility week!

[wholesomepostarchive]

4/27/2024

[penpaladinjules]

Exhausted queer elder (47) reporting for duty

[headspace-hotel]

speaking of characteristics of old-growth forests, the cycles of great old trees living and dying create effects on the landscape that cannot be fully replicated once destroyed.

there are multiple ways for a tree to die, each with their own impacts on the ecosystem. Many trees die standing, becoming starkly bare pillars of standing deadwood with increasingly fewer branches and more sharply whitened surfaces as the bark falls off and the branches break, the smaller branches first and then the larger ones. Standing deadwood is vital for housing lots and lots of bird species and it also has an undeniable sexiness and charisma

Trees broken by wind, snapping off at some point up the trunk, are often hollow in the middle from heart rot fungi. I don't think the fungi actually kill the tree, since the center of the tree (the heartwood) is dead anyways, but they do structurally weaken it.

One of the most dramatic tree deaths is windthrow. This happens to large trees that are solid all the way through and not easily broken by the forces of wind; instead, the roots are wrenched violently out of the ground, creating a bowl-shaped hole in the ground with a huge mound of twisted tree roots standing 5 or 6 feet tall next to it.

The death of a tree by windthrow feels very sad, because the tree seemed to be thriving up until that point, but the effect on the ecosystem is very fascinating. The hole in the ground where the root ball was torn up creates a shaded, sheltered area, sometimes filling with water to become a small pool. The root ball itself, right next to it, becomes a tall pile of soil and decomposing wood.

When walking in the forest, I often notice strange mounds rising from the layer of leaf litter, covered in lush carpets of moss, like bustling moss metropolises rising out of lowlands that only have scattered moss towns. Elevated from the forest floor, the moss-hills do not become covered with leaf litter. In some cases, these distinctive moss-hills are still visibly connected to the fallen trunk of a windthrown tree; in other cases, the tree trunk has almost completely decayed, and only the mound created by the root ball remains.

I read once in an article that the creation of humps and valleys by the windthrown tree roots is characteristic of old growth forests. That is, the forest has existed so long, with trees living majestically and dying violently in it, that the ground is no longer a smooth plane, but humpy and bumpy and pitted and pooled from centuries of trees dying by windthrow.

My observations seem to agree that these windthrown-tree-humps have unique ecology, particularly in terms of their thriving moss colonies that remain even after the tree that originally died has rotted away. They would create a million little variations on light and moisture level, gathering leaf litter in some places and keeping it away from others. Variations create multiplying amounts of biodiversity due to the increased amount of niches to fill.

Not to mention that hills and valleys increase the total surface area of the forest floor, creating more forest per forest.

[lilylizard]

The humps and valleys are also called pits and mounds or pillows and cradles! For anybody that's interested in a pretty quick primer on the phenomenon, ecologist Tom Wessels talks about it in the first part of this 3-part series on youtube

[joy-haver]

This also leads to huge variations in forest structure depending on which tree species were present at different times in the life of that forest.

In my area, one of the first tall trees to shoot up after land is disturbed is the water oak (Quercus nigra. They get 50-70ft tall and 3 feet in diameter in about 50 years. They often have very, very shallow root systems. Because of this, they fall over faster than other trees. They are also more prone to disease, and hollow out from the center faster and more often, and are likely to have dead sections on loving trees, providing even more unique habitat.

So some of our forests that are only 50 years old have old-growth-characteristics because of these trees. And then they fall, or otherwise die, leaving room for our true old growth species to rise up. But the pits and mounds of these fallen early-risers are also shaped differently than those of more deeprooted species. They are shallower pools or valleys, and sometimes form a wall that is perpendicular to the forest floor - completely vertical to the ground.

This is just one example, but understanding it, we can see that the predominance of different species in a forest can drastically change its microclimates and topography! Different species rot in different ways, hollow in different ways, and form different shapes on the landscape. If there are lots of different tree species in your area, then the different proportions they grow in, die in, fall in, and the different timings at which they do so, offer an endless aboundment of variety.

This is why no two forests are the same, and no single wild area is ever truly replaceable, or interchangeable. Because each has developed entirely differently, with so many little factors playing in.

Photo id: 4 photos of a 6ft tall woman standing by an uprooted tree. The wall of roots completely is vertical and flat, perpendicular to the ground, and is several feet taller than her.

[analogue-dragon]

Hey op standing deadwood has an undeniable what now?

[headspace-hotel]

SEXINESS

[headspace-hotel]

There's a plentiful supply of nature and ecology writers that criticize "Anthropocentrism" and tell readers that we shouldn't consider ourselves more important than other life forms, and then they write things that are like "We evolved to live in Nature in a Natural environment...Long ago humans lived as hunter-gatherers instead of farming and domesticating animals...But when civilization was created, man unnaturally subjugated and modified plants and animals...Bringing them under human control for his own benefit...Man replaces natural ecosystems with artificially created "post-natural" environments...Now humans live in an unnatural environment that is separated from Nature...and i'm like buddy. do you even hear yourself

Since I have access to a bigger library now, I've explored "deep ecology" and "green anarchism" and "Biocentrism" a bit more and what i've seen is still kinda silly. The writers have very thoughtful theory and philosophy of diverse subjects relating to morality, society, power, and liberation, but...they just don't know very much about Nature.

I mean several things by that: first, they're not clear on the boring, practical details of things like food systems and the way construction alters ecosystems, second, they don't try to clearly define what "nature" is, and third, they act like "nature" has a clear definition anyway.

Now nature is pretty much undefinable anyway, a couple possible definitions are "all things that exist, have existed, or are possible in the universe" and "the thing that a forest has that a parking lot doesn't." You can say "biodiversity," but every space has biodiversity, and it's not clear how much biodiversity a space is "supposed" to have, we're just going on vibes. And the vibes are right, in a way; I visited an old-growth forest and it was DIFFERENT than any place i'd ever been in a way that is hard to describe. A flourishing, biodiverse ecosystem is different than a parking lot, a lawn, a monoculture field of corn. They say it's good for your health to be "in nature." What does that mean? At what point does a place become "nature?" How many trees does it have to have?

Something that is so painful to me is when people write "Human activities" as a cause of biodiversity loss. This is an act of cowardice. WHICH human activities? Name them.

A lot of nature and ecology writings treat humans like they have an anti-biodiversity force field that emanates from them. They write like lands on Earth are each contested between two inversely proportional forces, "Nature" and "Humans."

Without any more information, this is ethereal bullshit on par with crystals having energies. I am totally perplexed at the lack of curiosity about the specific causes and details of "human impacts." The division of habitats by so many roads and relentless speeding of cars with no way for wildlife to cross...the dumping of massive amounts of poison into soils and water...the wounding and disturbance of topsoil...these are the "human activities," but we can imagine a world without such destruction, and we can create that world.

Too many essays and papers talking about Nature non-specifically, an Idea of Nature, a Concept that everyone just intuitively knows. Nature is...you know...wildness! and trees! and...well, you know, NATURE!

And we do know! When we step out into the parking lot surrounded by low, squarish buildings and blaring signs and the stink of car exhaust, we know that something is very wrong with this place! Even we find these horrible un-places harsh and unwelcoming.

But it is very hard to imagine something different, because the other type of place, the place that is beautiful and soothes the spirit and is full of life, is by definition the place where humans only go to visit, the complete opposite and inverse of a place where humans work and live! Wherever humans live, shop, eat, fulfill their daily needs, that place is Not Nature.

The huge mistake, is that we believe that it is necessary to have places that are Not Nature. We believe that for humans to exist, areas must be set aside where the very concept of Nature is utterly obliterated.

From this imaginary and dismal point of view, we have to carefully confine our own lives to places that are utterly poisoned, sterilized, made into a hostile wasteland, and leave all the rest of the living biosphere to itself in pristine preserves.

And in this imaginary and dismal point of view, the one that divides Earth into Nature and Humans, it is okay to poison and to sterilize and to destroy, because humans must live SOMEWHERE, therefore Nature must be utterly excluded from at least SOME of Earth.

BUT...WHAT IF EVERYWHERE IS NATURE? What if the dandelions in the cracks of the pavement, the lichens growing on the park bench, the wildflowers on the side of the road, the sparrows in the parking lot—what if they are all Nature just as much as anything else? What if they too are sacred? What if it is our responsibility to see the connectedness of all life and to care for all ecosystems, however broken and hurt they may be?

What if Nature is not distant and abstract, untouched in some pristine place, but always reaching out, digging into the crumbled concrete and gravel and compacted ground, clawing to return to us and bring us back home?

It does not take away from the value of the old-growth forest or the unplowed prairie if we open our eyes and see even the scraggliest patch of overgrown weeds for the powerful manifestation of Nature it truly is.

Nature is not a place or a thing. Nature is the Movement, the Endless Happening, constantly alive throughout all life, the way of all things being family, the way of all things taking care of each other, the way of all life being constantly transformed through one another. You breathe the breath of the trees of your home, you drink the water of the streams of your home, you eat the sunlight that falls on your home, grown in the soil where all things go to be transformed through death into a new form of life, fed by the mycorrhizal network, pollinated by the bees, wasps, flies, and moths, nourished by the bone, blood and manure of beasts, and ultimately the fertile river valleys where agriculture first began, were replenished by the rich silt that washed down the river, which came from the forests in the mountains that shed their leaves to make a feast for a million decomposing critters, which is how the rich soil is made.

In this way they all take care of you, and in return you are asked to Live—to take care of them in return, to live as part of the great family of everything alive, to live, to live

What are human activities...? Deforestation? Mining? Spraying pesticides? Building housing developments? But is that all? Are we inherently a "bad" and "destructive" species, or is our ability to acquire and pass down knowledge, use tools and novel behaviors, alter our surroundings, shape ecosystems, adapt our lifestyles almost infinitely, and persist in almost any environment, simply incredibly powerful for good or for evil?

First of all, what better way to demonstrate a contrast to anthropocentrism...than to compare the impact of humans alone to the impact of an ENTIRE KINGDOM OF LIFE, the fungi????? Of course all of Fungi are more important than one single species??? Wtf?!?!?

But also, we should not convince ourselves of our own insignificance and worthlessness to the biosphere, because in the same way that individual self-loathing can be a way to avoid the hard work of loving oneself and advocating for the love one deserves, collective self-loathing as a species is a way of avoiding the responsibility we have to other life forms.

How can this author not think of a single role Humans play in the ecosystem?? What species plants trees, saves seeds, documents rare plants, rescues injured animals and heals them, raises orphaned chicks, manages controlled burns, digs ponds, thoughtfully harvests in anticipation of future seasons, mercifully culls in understanding of suffering that cannot be fixed? What species writes a new chapter in the genome of the American Chestnut so it can be saved from extinction? What species mends the broken kakapo egg with sticky tape? What species addresses their own habitat with that fondest name of Home?

[rederiswrites]

Just watched Adam Conover (of Adam Ruins Everything) make such a solid point that I think we should spread far and wide. Yes, having AI write your emails is lazy, sure, but people love being lazy. We need to really emphasize that sending AI emails (or using AI responses on social media, or publishing AI flyers, or or or) is rude.

It's rude. You're making someone take their time to read something you couldn't bother to write. You're telling them they were so unimportant you couldn't be bothered to actually take the time to say something yourself. And frankly, you're lying about it while you're at it.

It's rude.

[katsdom]

The above is doubly true if the content of the email is something that will be important to the person receiving - especially something that affects them negatively. They see that this thing that affected them so much didn't matter enough to you to write it yourself. I was a bystander to such a thing not long ago and it was just awful.

[grounded-gryphon]

Red Hood's King -- DCxDP prompt

Everyone does this whole 'Jason sees Ghost King!Danny and immediately feels 'this is my king' ' and it's all awesome

But I think we can agree that Jason has... a small problem with authority figures.

So Hood meets Phantom -- maybe a summoning, a Justice League thing, what ever.

And gets that 'this is my king' feeling.

Jason, who has been fighting the pits for years and now suddenly has ANOTHER 'lets magically fuck with Jason's emotions' thing, is not going to be easily overwhelmed by a need to bow down and is not going to take this calmly.

Everyone is stunned into silence when, in the middle of whatever thing they are gathered to deal with, Hood stalks up to Phantom, punches him in the face saying "I don't have a fucking king." and walks out.

Discuss

[grounded-gryphon]

@writing-wraith-thephoenix and I wrote a thing:

(Also available on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/86403071)

This equation would kill him. Fully. Possibly destroy him utterly. The kind of hypothetical engineering problem that he could, in fact, solve easily if he were allowed to include a few breaks to the accepted laws of physics. But then Professor Calthrop would dock his points and –

Danny’s head snapped up, the green glow of his eyes obvious on the boring paint of the dorm wall. Shit. A summoning? Now?? This better be fucking good. Since he wasn't feeling polite, he showed up in all his eldritch High King glory.

On the Watchtower.

With the soul-whore and the Batman.

Fan-fucking-tastic. He growled, low, rumbling, enough to unnerve even Wonder Woman. The twitch Batman tried to stifle made Danny’s lip curl up. Everyone present tensed, assuming a threat. Good.

Oh, right, blondie in a trench-coat was talking. Something about returning an artifact to the rightful owner.

Ugh...they went through the trouble of a full summoning. For a simple artifact? Once he finished yapping, the blond presented a shielded box. Danny raised a scaled, horned eyebrow and huffed out a cloudy breath that covered the British mage in a light dusting of frost. To the man’s credit, he didn’t flinch, just spoke again. "Look mate, far as we know, it’s a key. Only clue it’s yours is the magic comin’ off it."

A key. Maybe the Skeleton Key, maybe something else entirely. Something else caught Danny’s attention, though. One of his people was here. Fuck, he’d turned his regal aura up to nine thousand out of irritation. He blinked, the black holes he currently had for eyes turned to see an individual in a full face helmet. The engineering of that helmet… Damn, Danny wanted to pull it apart. The least he could do was back of with the regal aura. He didn’t want the guy to end up prostrating himself for no good reason.

The redheaded Tamaranean next to the helmeted individual glared straight into his gaze. That one clearly would take no shit. Not from him or anyone, especially when she thought she could do something about it. Danny could respect that, especially when she took a defensive stance, shifting in front of the helmeted, armored individual and the human archer next to him.

Someone cussed vehemently but Danny didn’t care. These three were interesting. He moved just a bit closer, trying to get a handle on the type of people they might be. He found out quickly, when the helmeted man, most likely Red Hood, in fact, reeled back a fist, stumbled forward despite the regal aura, and decked him straight in the nose. The growl he let out settled right in Danny’s core as the vigilante shouted, "I don't have a fucking king." Damn. That was fucking sexy. Jazz was gonna give him hell.

The Tamaranean and the archer hurried out after Red Hood, both with stunned, confused looks on their faces. As the door closed, Batman moved to stand between Danny and Hood. Even the Bat seemed thoroughly confused. If Danny were feeling at all generous or kind, he probably might’ve tried to explain. But these jackasses interrupted his homework, and he’d have to start the entire calculation over.

That being said, Danny completely lost his eldritch form, hovering in the circle simply as Phantom now. Granted, none of them would clock him for his human form, but either way, he broke down laughing. Also, he was probably blushing. Fuck. Yeah, that faint green glow to his freckles would definitely be noticeable. At least he still had the crown on.

Constantine muttered, "Bloody fucking hell." Too low for a human to hear. Not for super-hearing. And then the jerk had the audacity to keep talking. "Look mate," Constantine said, "Hoody there isn't actually part of the JL, so that whole thing is between you and him, yeah?"

Phantom managed to pull himself together, serpent tail lashing in amusement still, and he grinned, showing fang. "Why the hell would I assume the challenge was from the Justice League? Now gimme the artifact and lemme get back to my own business."

Batman growled. "Challenge?"

Oh, this would be fun. Phantom rolled his eyes. "You didn't issue the challenge, Bats. So fuck off."

"Yeah, we understand, here's the bloody artifact. Many thanks, and all that."

"Next time, text me, soul-whore." Blowing a kiss to the mage, he grinned again, this one all fang, and vanished. At least they hadn’t tried to put any kind of binding on the circle. Now to call Jazz. He glanced at the clock and huffed. Okay, call Jazz after the Aerospace Engineering midterm project was finished. Sunday evening came and with the project finished, it was time to call Jazz.

Both he and Jazz did their best to keep the call a weekly ritual. She and Tucker had stuck with him through everything. Sadly, after a short stint as a couple, he and Sam had kinda lost touch. Not only had that relationship ended with him coming out as gay, but Sam distanced herself further after he took on Ghost King duties and decided to - sin of sins - take the Wayne Enterprises scholarship to Gotham U.

No reason to dwell in the past. He and Tucker still chatted daily, though, and made time for gaming when they could. So, he video-called Jazz and she picked up immediately. Her double-major in meta psychology and interdimensional law ran her ragged, but she always picked up. "Danny! How's everything?"

Danny grimaced. "I woulda had this project done Friday, but fuckin' blond Brit in a trenchcoat had to summon me to the ultra-secret space station."

Jazz pursed her lips. "What happened?"

"Archaeological cleanup." Even with Tucker’s help encrypting their lines, the siblings never risked outing other heroes.

"Ugh. But you're okay?" She had that look that said he better be, because otherwise she’d take time off and come to Gotham.

A grin split Danny’s face, then faded quickly as he said, "Totally! But…" he sighed, "I have no idea who had the guts to deck me in full regalia."

Jazz blinked. Took a long pause. Took a breath. "Deck you? In full regalia?" She mouthed a quiet, 'who the fuck'

Danny cackled. "Well, okay, I know his non-civvie ID, but that doesn't help, ya know?? Fucker left me blushing full glow in front of the goddamn Hercules corps!"

At that, his sister raised an eyebrow. "Oh, my god. You caught feelings. Didn't you?"

"Yeah? Maybe? I dunno. Like I said, I dunno who he is behind the helmet. If he's even a he."

Jazz snorted. "Like that matters one damn bit to you."

"Only in the context of properly wooing them, okay?" Oh, shit, he should not have said that. I mean, yeah, he came out as gay right after Sam, but it took another year to realize he actually didn’t care about gender presentation. Just the connection.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Jazz just sighed. "As long as it wasn't a red helmet-"

So what if it was? "Weeeelllll… Ummmm…"

"DANNY!"

"What! Dude's got a fantastic left hook!"

"Oh. My. God. Just… Don't do anything stupid. And for the love of the game, don't involve Clockwork."

Like he’d involve the weird time-obsessed uncle. "Ugh, fine. You're no fun. But fine. Talk to you next week? I'm gonna go stalk Crime Alley."

"Danny, NO!" His thumb hit the button and he grinned at the now blank screen.

Danny, yes.

Letting Phantom’s ghostly form overtake his human side, Danny took off, invisible and undetectable as he found and stalked Crime Alley until he spotted Red Hood a few rooftops away. Excellent. Dramatic entrance, engage.

A few rooftops from Hood’s position, Danny drifted into view, a shifting shadow in the night. One that clearly did not move like a human vigilante. Then he allowed himself to settle into something a little more solid. A little more human. But still not quite.

Hood said something, the helmet muffling it, and then approached. As he did, Danny let go of suppressing his unnatural glow. He grinned, fangs showing in a friendly way as Hood landed on the next roof over, took stock of him, and said, "Haven't seen you here before."

Danny let his grin widen, just a bit too wide, as he turned to fully face the vigilante. "Yeah, I figured. But I couldn't just ignore a challenger like you." He’d made sure to accent the star-shine in his hair and had picked one of his favorite armor looks – articulated and form-fitting, the color of space reflecting off Nth metal.

Hood growled. "You." God, Danny loved that growl. The voice modulation didn’t hurt either.

That perky excitement rippled through Danny’s core and into his voice. "Me!"

"Be careful, Hood," said a muffled voice. Probably a comm unit in the helmet. "Back up is on the way."

The ghost groaned. Okay, Danny, don’t whine. Don’t. It’s fine. Maybe. "I told Bats to stay out of it!" Fuck. Now he was actually pouting. Sometimes the emotional nature of being a halfa was… Wait, Hood had moved. Twitched, really.

In fact, the man cocked his head. "What do you want?"

"Just a friendly fight. Seriously? You're the one who threw the first punch! Which, damn hot, by the way."

That silence. Uh-oh. Danny couldn’t tell if that was encouragement or what. Either way, Hood stared at him a minute. "A friendly fight. You were fucking with my head and you want a friendly fight?"

Oh. Oh, that. Yeah, that hadn’t been the best move in hindsight. On the other hand… "Sorry. The Justice League summoned me when I was in the middle of things. I didn't realize anyone that would actually feel the regal aura would be there. I promise, I wasn't doing it on purpose!" The halfa raised his hands in surrender. "Still, though, I've never seen anyone able to withstand it like you did! That's… I mean… Did I already say hot? Um…" He forced a sigh. Those were tougher than talking when he didn’t actually breathe. "I just… I thought you were just being friendly?"

Hood’s head tilted to the other side, as if he were listening to something. Probably comms, a bit quieter this time. Then his attention cemented on Danny. Okay, don’t flinch. He’s not gonna take a scalpel to you or anything. Another figure, the archer, landed on a nearby roof, bow drawn. "Hood?"

"It's okay, Arse, stand down."

"Arse?" Danny couldn’t contain the fucking giggles that trickled out. "Sorry, just…" And then he giggle-snorted. Embarrassing.

"Let's say I believe you. Why'd your 'regal aura' single me out?"

Fair question. His core whined with confusion and frustration. He hated not fully understanding things. He did know enough to attempt a partial explanation, though. "It's… I usually wouldn't. Don't want to be rude, but… You… You know you're not… You know you've died, right?"

Hood snorted, the helmet translating it into a crackling sound. "Yes, I know I died. I was kinda there for it."

"Not everyone notices. It's… I'm… There's a reason my titles alternate. High King of the Infinite Realms… Ghost King…" Danny shrugged and sighed again. "I apologize for my assumption that you knew what your actions meant in my context."

"That doesn't explain why I was the only one affected. Several folks in the League have died and come back."

That really was the question, wasn’t it? "I have no idea."

"Huh. You know, I think I actually believe you."

"Okay…" Encouraging, but not entirely to be trusted. Danny’s ear flicked in acknowledgment and confusion. "That's not common for people in your line of work."

"What can I say, I'm a trusting guy." Hood somehow managed to actually make clear that he was smirking behind the helmet.

The ghost barked a laugh. "You. The Red Hood. Trusting an unknown. Alright." He grinned. Yeah, it was feral and full of fangs. Hood had still challenged him, after all. "I'll still let you try and take your frustrations out on my hide if you like."

"I don't like this, Hood," mutters the archer.

"If it makes you feel better, archer, I'll let you two tag team me." His ears flicked rapidly and he purred from deep in his core. Please, please, please follow through on this challenge.

Hood laughed, took some kind of stance Danny didn’t recognize, and swords of fire appeared in his hands.

Delicious. But–

"Gimme half a second." Danny vanished, reappearing next to the archer. He offered the man a quiver of arrows that glowed aqua. "I'll at least know if you hit me with these." It was only fair, after all.

The archer reached out, hand trembling just a bit, and took the quiver.

Hood cackled and launched himself at Phantom as he said, "Too late, old man!"

Phantom took the attack head on, quickly adapting to the unknown style. Even so, Hood proved skilled in that style, enough that he managed to half-pin the ghost about two minutes after first blow. But Hood still hadn’t learned that legs were optional. Phantom swept his tail into Hood’s legs. The vigilante rolled with it as the halfa tossed a bow that matched the arrows to Arsenal. "Y'all are so losing."

Hood’s flaming blade flashed toward Phantom’s tail-become-legs. Planting one hand on Hood’s shoulder, he flipped over the blade and Hood’s back, only to take an arrow in the side. He hissed and grinned at the archer. "Good one!" Snapping off the arrow shaft, he left the arrowhead where it was. No bleeding that way.

A few minutes later, two solid shadows landed on another roof. Phantom hadn’t anticipated just how coordinated these two could tag team. Not to mention, those fire swords were some kind of magic that just did not behave as expected. The things sliced through his ecto-shields like butter. His purr had now become an all-out growl, enjoying the brawl way more than he had any brawl in a while. They didn’t have him cornered yet. Until a double-shot tagged him in the shoulder just as Hood landed a solid, heavy kick in his chest. Phantom landed sprawled on his back. Maybe if he got to his feet fast enough… Except there was an arrow pointed right at his chest and Hood had a perfect shot for a beheading. The grin on Danny’s face became even more feral. "Damn. I gotta fight you two more often. Pandora's gonna take it outta my hide for losing this bad."

Hood laughed as those flaming swords disappeared, and he offered Phantom a hand up. The halfa didn’t hesitate. He took the offered hand and grinned as Hood pulled him to his feet.

Arsenal snorted, releasing the arrow from where it was nocked and returning it to the quiver.

"Aw," someone cooed, "Hood made a friend!" Apparently, Nightwing had accompanied the Bat.

Phantom couldn’t conceal the blush that, once again, crept into his face.

Batman grunted, scowling. "Hood, report."

"We're fine, old man. Just a friendly spar, don't get your knickers in a twist."

"A friendly spar does not utilize live ammunition, and I see five arrow shafts in your… New friend."

Phantom scoffed. "I gave Arsenal the arrows. No fun with his little mortal world sticks."

"Hn. You are in need of medical attention."

Phantom stuck his tongue out at Batman. More experienced vigilante or not, the Bat would never be allowed to offer him medical care. "I have plenty of medical resources that actually know how to treat me. And I'm not stupid enough to bleed where you could sample it."

Nightwing laughed and actually landed on the rooftop with them. "Hi, I'm Nightwing."

Phantom grinned, studying him. "Named after the Kryptonian god?"

Nightwing smirked. "Yup." He cocked his head. "You got a name we can use?"

"Phantom." He raised an eyebrow at Hood, "And yes, I know it's cliche."

"Pleasure to meet you," Nightwing said, "I get a feeling there's some background I missed out on. What brings you to Gotham?"

Phantom feral, fanged smile widened again and he nudged Hood with his good arm. "This stubborn fucker challenged me to a friendly spar."

Hood snorted.

Arsenal approached, offering the quiver, every unused arrow accounted for. "Thanks. You're okay."

"And you are a fantastic shot. I might need some tips on my archery later, if you're down for that," Phantom said as he took the bow and quiver and they vanished.

"I could maybe do that." Excellent. Pandora had a lot of weapons, but modern archery wasn’t in her wheelhouse.

Hood somehow managed to convey rolling his eyes at Batman. "See old man, we're all good here. So buzz off."

Batman grunted. Fuck. Nope, not dealing with adult scolding shit right now. So instead of listening, Phantom cut off whatever the big bad Bat was gonna say. "I told you before, Hood challenged me, it's Hood's call. Kindly fuck off. Isn't there like actual crime you need to be stopping or something?"

Nightwing laughed again. "Come on, B. We shouldn't leave Robin alone too long."

Oh, thank fuck. At least someone in this roost had sense. After some informal farewells and a promise to spar again, Danny headed back to his dorm and crashed, core still purring happily. He slept better than he had since starting classes. Speaking of classes, Monday’s passed in a bit of a blur. It helped that the subjects came easily to him.

Tuesday morning, Danny made it to class before Jason. Excellent. He’d take this rare opportunity to prepare at least a bit for their usual debate tangle about the weekend's reading. The guy was fun to debate, fun to talk to. And if Danny was honest, he was also a bit smug about being the only one willing to take on Jason Todd-Wayne in World Heritage Literature.

Jason arrived right on time and slid into his usual seat. The professor sighed, causing Danny to look up. He caught the smirk and the nod Wayne offered him. And promptly swallowed his tongue. This could not be fucking happening.

That was Red Hood. Same ectoplasmic signature. Same shoulders, if you knew what armor did to a form. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Breathe, Fenton. It’s fine. It’s not fine. Shit, his core was starting to act up too much to keep a lid on the sounds it would make. He packed up quickly, ducked out of class, offering a mumbled apology to the professor. It took too long to find an empty spot, the lobby. The halfa drafted a quick email excuse to the professor, then tried to just breathe until his core stopped doing whatever the hell it was doing.

This really could not be happening. Jason Todd-Wayne was Red Hood was the hot Liminal that had the guts to deck him in full eldritch horror mode. Fuck. He couldn't call Jazz. Tuesday was her back-to-back class day. Tucker would be working. And no fucking way was he calling Sam about this. Elle? No, bad idea. She'd just fuck with his head. He’d barely made it to the building floor lobby when he dropped into a seat, head in his hands.

The few seconds it took the conclusions to settle in proved too damn long as the familiar voice of his usual debate partner asked, "Hey, you okay?"

Danny actually jumped slightly in his seat as his voice let out an embarrassing squeak.

"That… Does not sound like you're okay, D-man. I know we've never really talked outside of class or anything, but–"

How could he get out of this? Before Danny could stop them, words tumbled out, so fast his anxiety would be super obvious. "Stop. Just stop. For the love of the Ancients and the gods between, just stop fucking talking for half a second so I can figure out how to lie to you about this okay??" Fuck. He just admitted he was planning to lie. To the person he’d caught feels for. About important shit. He couldn’t stop the whine building in his core.

"Okay. Sorry for intruding." Jason turned away. Good, he hadn’t actually heard the whine.

But then the other student froze. Shit. Shut up. Why the hell did I let this get strong enough to be audible?? Danny wrapped his arms tightly around himself. The lichtenberg scar. It was creeping into visibility, faint, glowing green lines spider-webbing up his arm and shoulder, under the tank top. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't know. I swear, I didn't know."

Jason took a half-step. Then he said, "I think maybe this isn't the place for this conversation."

Danny looked up, desperately blinking back damning tears, and he nodded. The glow from his arm caught his attention, and somehow, he forced the scar to fade a bit. "Shit. I… Wherever you want. Whenever. Never is fine too. I-"

"D-man, stop." Thank fuck Jason had cut him off. This spiral was not getting better. "Just… Just don't say anything until we get somewhere private. Can you do that?"

Danny snapped his mouth shut, nodded, and stood. He let Jason lead the way to a parking lot where a souped-up Maserati sat in a normal student parking spot. Jason unlocked the car and motioned for Danny to get in. "I think this is about as private as we're going to manage on campus.

Danny nodded, settling into the seat. The car smelled good. Calming. "I can… Can put up a sound barrier? If that helps? It won't be visible. Blend in with the car…"

"Sure, why not."

Danny rested a hand on the inner handle of the door and let out a brief charge of ectoplasm, setting up a barrier even supers wouldn’t be able to hear through. "There. Um…" He fidgeted with his class ring. Where the hell should he start?

"Aight," Jason took a slow breath and exhaled just as slow. "You want me to make some guesses or you want to tell me what's going on?"

"Um… I'm… Not entirely sure what's going on anymore. So… Start with guesses?"

"You're obviously freaking out because something happened. Something that wasn't a problem until I walked into class. Something you were going to lie to me about."

Guilt stabbed into Danny’s heart and core. No matter how much he had to do it, lying never got easier. Especially to people he liked. He dragged a hand across his face. "Well… If we hadn't sparred Sunday, it probably still wouldn't have been a problem." Goddammit, Fenton. Why are you so stupid with words?

Jason hissed. "Fucking hell. You really are Phantom, aren't you?"

Danny winced and shrugged. "Two sides of a coin. Half alive, half dead. Gateway to the Beyond. I… Ghosts… We're a pretty damn emotional lot. It's part of the reason play-fights are basically just friendly bonding…" He trailed off, no longer bothering to hide the scarred arm. This was not going as planned. Not that there had been a plan…

"Aight."

Instead of further explanation, Danny buried his face in his hands and stuttered, "I… I told you the other night… You decking me like you did… I…" Great. Both halves were visibly blushing, and he couldn’t make words anymore.

"You don't need to say anything else if you don't want to," Jason offered, voice soft and somehow understanding. It would’ve been helpful if this whole mess hadn’t been so charged with… Ugh, sorry Jazz, guess I did do a stupid.

The frustration morphed into a small growl from his core. "Damn it, this is not how it's supposed to go. I can't fucking court you properly if I keep devolving into a wordless mess!"

Jason’s heart-rate went up and his movement stopped entirely. Had that caught the Wayne off-guard? "Court me?" Danny could barely force himself to look, but Jason’s mouth had quirked up into a small smile.

Okay, enough. Just say it, Fenton. The halfa trapped Jason’s gaze with his own fierce, glowing green stare. "Yes! You fucking decked me. In the face. While I had black holes for eyes! You damn well better believe I want to court you before anyone else tries to call dibs!"

The small smile slowly spread into a wide grin.

As that grin crept onto Jason’s face, the emotional starstorm in Danny’s core settled. The glow vanished from his eyes, and the shock hit. "You… Why are you smiling like that?"

"You want to court me."

Danny nodded, once again fidgeting with his class ring. He hadn’t even been sure which way Jason swung, and now he’d run his mouth, and now…

"And what does ghost courting look like?"

"Well… I'm only half ghost… But usually… Um… I don't actually know. That's not really something Clockwork bothered covering in his crash course on my kingship."

"Eh, you're a smart guy. You'll figure something out." Jason started the car and smoothly pulled out of the parking lot.

Danny settled deeper into the seat and took a deep breath of the scents in the car. "Well, we can start with something less… I dunno, paranormal? How's dinner sound? At whatever place you want, anywhere in the world."

"Let's keep it local for now, you ever had Giovanni's?"

Danny grinned. "Not yet. Sounds Italian." Maybe this hadn’t been stupid after all.

"Best pizza on the North Island."

"Oooh. Let's do it."

[chambaeli]

I feel like contouring is lowkey racist

[heartof-au79-deactivated2024090]

Is this a joke?

[chambaeli]

Noo lol I knew I’d regret phrasing it that way. This is tumblr, after all…

It’s not “people who contour are themselves automatically racist” but that the desired face shape created by contouring is one that, at the end of the day, pretty much reflects existing white standards of beauty. A thinner, pointier nose, smaller chin, high angled cheekbones and (on occasion) smaller lips. Also if you’re darker skinned you have to use a much lighter shade of foundation  thus ending up with an overall lighter face.

I probably could have phrased that better.

[burmeseauntie]

No, you are absolutely correct. In fact it is not even lowkey in the performance arts/entertainment world. I’ve known how to contour since I was 9, because I was in ballet. I was taught by an older Asian dancer who told me that I was already darker than everyone else, my face couldn’t look different too. So she showed me the basics, then left me with a picture of a white person as the goal to emulate. 

It’s always been explicit and intentionally racist in terms of what is considered correct contouring technique is to emulate white associated features. Which is not to say that contouring is bad, but it is good to ask ourselves why we do not contour to make our noses look wider and more distinguished. Or why we don’t shadow and highlight to make the face look perfectly round? While contouring is not bad ( and is actually very cool to literally be able to control the way people perceive your face, it’s like magic) it’s good to ask ourselves why we contour the way we do.

[kushandwizdom]

Someone said "Are you really so stupid to think that Africa has the same technological advances as us? If they did they would probably have clean water and not live in houses made of sticks and mud. Get over yourself and stop being so ignorant."..... Below is a tiny collection of images of the Africa they refuse to show you..

ches

I’m sorry you’ve been made to believe that the whole of Africa is poor, I really am..

[shez-a-b0mbshell]

Reblogging for those of you who think Africa is only what the media and movies portrays it to be

[teddybearnova]

This fucks me up because it’s scary to think that we can be showed something all our lives and not even know it’s a lie

[2ollux-double-bulge]

And that my friend is the power of propaganda, indoctrination, and media

[the-collecting-turnip-deactivat]

Are these pictures of South Africa or of Africa as a whole? 

[fgsshinyhoard]

@the-collecting-turnip From top to bottom:

1. Port Elizabeth (South Africa)

2. Unknown

3. Nairobi (Kenya)

4. Pretoria (South Africa)

5. Aburi Botanical Gardens (Ghana)

6. Cape Town (South Africa)

7. Pretoria (South Africa)

8. Harare (Zimbabwe)

9. Windhoek (Namibia)

10. Windhoek (Namibia)

To @kushandwizdom this is a rather unfair portrayal of Africa as a whole since half of these are literally just South Africa.  So Instead to add to this post and better dispel the myth of Africa as the vast wasteland of poverty most people think, I found a much more mixed collection of pics from various countries.

Luanda, Angola

Agadir, Morocco

Lagos, Nigeria

Cairo, Egypt

Port Louis, Mauritius

Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

Algiers, Algeria

Tripoli, Libya

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Tunis, Tunisia

So, there, a much better case demonstrating the various major cities around Africa showing it isn’t some technologically backwards continent, but actually pretty up-and-coming in the world of commerce.

[hockey-trash]

I once was talking to my Ethiopian manager about ignorant people asking her dumb shit about her life before she moved to the states…

the worst story she told me about was when she told a fellow student (at a fairly prestigious university) about a concert she went to back home. The other student responded with “omg you have music there!?” 🤦🏾‍♀️

[cricketcat9]

Rebloging, because we need to see these pictures. 

As for stupid questions: “do you have grocery stores in Ecuador?”

[justgot1]

These are great!

A redneck neighbor once asked my mom (in the 80s) if they had cars in Peru. Sigh.

This is the product of poor world history in school & little current affairs coverage outside Western Europe, except for catastrophes, so all we see are the war torn, poverty stricken, disaster-affected parts on the news. And racism, of course.

[lettingitoutabit-deactivated202]

I bet most Americans who think that African countries are just completely poverty stricken have no idea what the US looks like in its poorest areas, not everywhere in the US is nice suburbs or unrealistically large apartments on tv

[for-southendgirls]

Los Angeles, California

Hartford, Connecticut

New Orleans, Louisiana

Camden, New Jersey

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

McDowell County, West Virginia

Flint, Michigan

Washington, D.C.

[goingtiny]

Do you see the world as it is, or as someone told you it is?

[hogwartsconsultingtimelady]

This photoset proves you can make anywhere look great or terrible. It’s all framing and more people should know about that

[gamebird]

Worth a reblog. I don’t think the US version was on there when I first reblogged.

[holyfudgebuckets]

All of this is true, and also- those stick and mud houses are actually amazing examples of indigenous African knowledge. They are being studied for their thermal properties and sustainability.

Of course traditional African homes look different from homes in the US or Europe- they’ve started from different climates and resources. It’s such racist hubris to assume different means lesser-than.

[moniquill]

Do you still sleep in Grass thatched houses ‼️😳

Hey Fam Thank you for coming by Another video here answering why we sleep in grass thatched houses Hahahha some people clearly don’t know wh

https://share.google/MCbqIYkdTvWZ3TgTA

[aetherograph]

also also, the racism of saying “oh they build with sticks and mud” like we don’t do the same thing. Stick-built is a fucking category of Victorian house! Stucco is just mud! Plaster is just mud! Adobe is just mud! Clay is just mud! EVERYONE builds with sticks and mud! It’s very telling that people only use words like “sticks” and “mud” when they’re being insulting. Buddy I live in a house made of sticks and mud too.

[no-one-offical]

‎ ‎

[sandersstudies]

Stopping point if you find yourself on your phone doomscrolling, procrastinating, or “stuck”

You can move to scroll in another space (if you haven’t gotten out of bed yet, move to the couch; if you haven’t left the house yet, you can sit outside)

You can make your current space more pleasant to scroll in (if it’s not possible to move spaces, open a window or light a candle in your space)

You can scroll while taking care of your body (change into clean clothes, scroll while brushing your teeth or washing your face, scroll while drinking water or having a snack)

You can stay on social media but avoid depressing or mindless content (try searching for fun facts, hobbies you’re interested in, or good news)

Hard mode: try just making the switch on your phone from short-form to long-form content (from dozens of short posts to an article, a fanfic, or an ebook; from TikToks/Reels/Shorts to a interesting or fun YouTube video, podcast, audiobook, or film) — this can be the first step in transitioning out of being “stuck,” because you can, for example, go on a walk while listening to an audiobook, fold clothes while watching a video, etc.

Expert mode: Set a timer for one minute and put down your phone. Do anything else. (Take deep breaths, go get a drink, pick up a book or craft.) If you can do this, aspire to two or five minutes and keep increasing your time away from scrolling. (Use your phone to play music, a podcast, or an audiobook if this prevents you from picking it up again)

Good luck! I hope you were able to make your scrolling a touch more cheerful today!

[hylianengineer]

There is one very important thing I need people without major dietary restrictions to understand: the distress caused by allergies, celiac disease, and other food restrictions is largely not about the food.

Do I miss some foods I can't eat anymore without getting sick? Sure, but that's not what really bothers me. What bothers me is being excluded from a huge portion of human social life of which food is a crucial component. What bothers me is the stress and social stigma of trying to figure out what I can safely eat. What bothers me is the amount of extra work and cost that is required of me to identify, obtain, and prepare safe foods. What bothers me is people treating my needs like a nuisance, as though I chose to be like this - as though their brief inconvenience to check an ingredients list is unreasonable, when I deal with this every day of my life forever.

I don't miss the food that much. I miss not having to worry about what I eat. I miss freedom. I miss when trying new foods and new restaurants was fun instead of a minefield. I miss not having to plan my entire life around the need for safe foods.

Food is such a basic human need, and a lot of people don't really need to think about it. When your danger foods can be anywhere and everywhere, suddenly your entire life revolves around avoiding them, and it massively sucks. You get used to it and it's not a big deal most of the time, but then you go to a new restaurant, or your office has a potluck, or you've been invited to a party and suddenly it feels just as miserable and exhausting as it ever has.

[power-handmaiden]

Controversial opinion in some circles but I just think it doesn't fucking matter if a social media space is a bubble or an echo chamber or whatever. At the end of the day scrolling Tumblr and Bluesky is a leisure activity to me. In the course of living my life outside the internet I talk to people with different opinions on politics, AI use, healthcare, etc... I work in a whole ass country that is currently trying to dismantle the kind of work I do. I'm good on contrary opinions. I don't think I'll suffer any from having an internet space where I don't have to debate anyone.

If the Internet is the only place that some people out there have the chance to encounter opinions that challenge them..... Well, that's a problem, maybe not their fault, maybe their fault, depending on the individual and circumstances. Either way it's a problem that points to larger problems that won't be solved by arguing in soundbites of short-form video or 240 characters or less. I don't see why it's a problem that should inform how every social online space operates.

[marauders4evr]

It occurs to me that there are people who weren’t on this website in 2012 and therefore never saw the magical gif that you can actually hear:

It’s been over five years and that still impresses the hell out of me.

[sunscratched]

i think maybe everyone needs to get way more normal about irish art & media and irish people creating or even just existing in art/media cause i don't know how much longer i can see "hozier is a bog dwelling elven fae king and i don't listen to his political lyrics because i can't understand his mysterious forest king accent teehee" before i snap indefinitely. your fetishistic approach to irish art while simultaneously devaluing its messages and themes because you'd rather see it as your romanticised ideal of our culture is BORING. it happened to the banshees of inisherin on the "mental illness site" and maybe if they'd had southern england accents you'd have taken it seriously. it happened to DERRY GIRLS. derry girls. a show explicitly about irish catholicism, the troubles, life in derry in the 90s and female solidarity and you people dressed it up as some twee little mockery of itself. talk and talk about how strange the writing of finnegan's wake is and don't think critically about why james joyce, an irish man in 1939, would write a book in a confusing, dense style, with made up words with strange spellings. could this possibly be a commentary on the way the irish language has become jumbled and obscure? how it's become almost foreign to us? how for a long time it was an oral language and that didn't always translate to paper well? our art is "irish art" but simultaneously not allowed to be important art. it has to exist in that niche to marvel at but not take seriously. irish dance, trad music, celtic knots, claddagh rings, our poetry and literature and murals and paintings and our culture packed away into a neat stereotype. i see it and it irritates me endlessly.

[mysteryteacup]

On that note: stop playing Zombie by The Cranberries as a Halloween song.

It's not a fucking halloween song. It's about The Troubles. It's about the IRA. It's about kids dying horrifically to bombs. It was inspired by the deaths of a twelve (12) year old and a three (3!) year old. It's about violence done in the name of your people and freedom that you never consented to. It's not for your stupid halloween dressup parties.

[irishshauna]

[marmotini-of-the-world-unite]

Learning this was an intentional genocide changed me.

[fighterkimburgess]

I know most of those following me know this, but just to make it super clear. An Gorta Mór (The Great Hunger/the Great Famine) was a deliberate genocide of the Irish people. There was enough food grown in Ireland to make sure everyone was alive and healthy and survived. Instead it was exported, sent to England and elsewhere for profit while men, women, and children starved in the streets. While the English landlords fucked off and evicted starving families who couldn’t afford rent. While babies were too weak to cry and died at the side of the road.

They tried to kill us, but they did not succeed. And we owe so much thanks to the other oppressed peoples, in particular the Choctaw Nation and the Masai, who sent money and grain to us.

Let me repeat that. The Choctaw Nation who had just gone through the Trail of Tears sent us money to try save Irish lives. It’s led to an understanding between Irish people and Native American tribes, most recently when we donated to the Navajo and Hopi fundraisers for COVID-19 relief, because while it may be a different tribe, Irish people will never forget those who helped us and we’ll help back.

The entire population of the island is less than seven million people. We’re still a million less on this island than pre famine. And it’s not that long ago. My grandmother’s grandparents lived through it. We’ve told the stories, it literally changed the DNA of the country. We have a national fear of renting, because so many people were evicted. People joke about Irish people always offering loads of food, but it’s because there’s that cultural memory of not being able to.

They tried to kill us, but they did not succeed. We will not let them take our lives, we will not let them take our language. We lost so much, but we will not lose it all.

[saltedweather]

This is why I get so angry when people say “it was the potato famine, it was because of monoculture/microbes.”

Nope. The potatoes were the only thing Irish people were allowed to fucking eat, because as pointed out, the rest of the crops they were growing were for their landlords to ship to England. So when the one “worthless” crop they were allowed to eat rotted in the field, the English crown, empire, landlords, all shrugged and carried on. People starved to death lying next to productive fields.

[kineticpenguin]

At the risk of sounding anti-intellectual, I think that college should be free and also not a requirement for employment outside of highly specialized career fields

[kineticpenguin]

At the risk of sounding like an effete intellectual, I do actually think you should be allowed to just take college courses indefinitely

[yourunderwaterskies]

technically you can, if you don't care about degrees.

Free Harvard courses. Free Courses from Stanford. Free Courses from MIT. Free courses from Yale. Free courses from Princeton.

Free courses on Coursera.

Free Courses on EDx Free Courses on Alison

For paid, there's The Great Courses+/Wonderium. 20$ a month for unlimited courses.

When searching, the phrases you're looking for are Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), or you can do a general search of say, "free online college courses." Oh, and so you don't get surprised like I did, have an avoid: Hillsdale College is a conservative Christian site and not a valid MOOC place. Sign up with them and you will get things like THIS IS WHY THE LEFT IS TURNING YOUR KIDS TRANS AND GAY in your inbox.

[aloeverawrites]

@yourunderwaterskies I wanted to say thank you so much for adding these links, seriously, they've been life-changingly helpful to me-

And I also wanted to mention that humanitarian organisations have free courses too, like the Red Cross on international humanitarian law.

Humanity in War

Learn more about the Red Cross International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Program to train policy professionals, government officials, academics,

Kaya

Kaya is a free humanitarian learning platform which offers hundreds of training opportunities across a range of key topics, including the hu

[galaxianmothman]

Pssst!

Live in the US?

Need to call your representative or senator, but nervous about making the phone call?

Do it at 2 am!

I'm not kidding. It will go to voice mail and you don't have to talk to a human person, and your call still counts!

Signed, someone with major phone anxiety who has pushed through it to do this several times now.

You've got this!