just random thoughts and things

24 || they/them || "If it means interfering in an ensconced, outdated system to help just one woman, man, or child? I'm willing to accept the consequences." --Wonder Woman

[snark-and-magic]

Queer Rhetorical Framing in Two Diverging Fandom Responses to a Canon Creator's Transphobia

Queer Rhetorical Framing in Two Diverging Fandom Responses to a Canon Creator's Transphobia

English Department, Texas Tech University

I am looking for current or former active fandom participants, who are 18+, from the fandoms of Danny Phantom and/or Harry Potter to participate in a research study. Participants should be or have been in the fandom for at least 3 years and self-identify as queer (understood expansively to include lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, genderqueer, and any other gender or sexual minorities).

This study investigates fandom participants' navigation of ethical considerations following an original creator releasing public transphobic comments and how this raises questions around what authorship means. Participants are invited to join a 30–60-minute audio-recorded one-on-one videocall on Zoom to discuss their fandom engagement before, during, and after their awareness of the original author's transphobia.

Please fill out the attached Microsoft Form [https://forms.office.com/r/PjPkAC8YAF] if you are interested in participating in this study.

This study has been approved by the TTU Institutional Review Board.

[wifegideonnav]

“bits to use in everyday conversations”

[justrandomthoughtsandthings]

riddle me this, tumblr.

if you work in a residential setting that's at half occupancy, and you have two residents with only one door between them -- who are constantly at odds, constantly causing disruption for the rest of the facility -- would you keep their rooms next to each other for a week longer than necessary? or would you move one of them into any of the other rooms because, again, IT IS AT HALF OCCUPANCY meaning there are FIVE MORE ROOMS TO CHOOSE FROM.

me, if i was making decisions, i would move em. but that's just me.

[justrandomthoughtsandthings]

I've got another one for ya.

if you have a resident with chronic heart failure, wouldn't it make sense to have someone trained on assisting with their machine (that keeps their heart beating cause their heart can't do it on its own) on shift at all times? someone like, say, a nurse?

but instead, you hire another janitor 😑

[justrandomthoughtsandthings]

y'all, they got me on this adhd med, and i've been up for 28hrs now after a 3hr nap and i haven't even broken out the energy drink. this wild

[justrandomthoughtsandthings]

riddle me this, tumblr.

if you work in a residential setting that's at half occupancy, and you have two residents with only one door between them -- who are constantly at odds, constantly causing disruption for the rest of the facility -- would you keep their rooms next to each other for a week longer than necessary? or would you move one of them into any of the other rooms because, again, IT IS AT HALF OCCUPANCY meaning there are FIVE MORE ROOMS TO CHOOSE FROM.

me, if i was making decisions, i would move em. but that's just me.

[theprofessional-amateur]

Link to original post with all the links

Some very helpful tools, ideas, and ways keep going or get involved

I will add the resource Big Beautiful Boycott as a way of checking businesses to avoid that is not an app

The Big Beautiful Boycott stops funding to those funding fascism. Every dollar is a choice

[justrandomthoughtsandthings]

this is why i stick to 3rd shift. there's so much drama during the day. now i have to monitor their interactions because two residents are bullying the 76yr old

[justrandomthoughtsandthings]

we have one guy who refuses to admit that he's lactose intolerant at the shelter, and as a result messes up the toilets every time he goes. they want us, Resident Support Associates, to cut his shit up.

that is nowhere in my job description, to put my health on the line by handling human waste, actually 🙃

[justrandomthoughtsandthings]

you know what's bullshit? having chronic exhaustion and insomnia. like yeah, sleep wasn't gonna fix anything anyways but it sure would be nice

[eddieintheocean]

Introductions to academic papers will be like "everyone knows that the sea is cold (citation), as well as salty (5 different citations). Things live in there (citation) and the environment is important to that (2 citations)"

[disorganisedautodidact]

these tags gave me thesis writing flashbacks

[saltedweather]

the thing about writing history. Is that you get used to this. And sometimes, some of us get too comfortable and so we're writing shit like

"Murder is bad. In the time period discussed, people sometimes committed murders (2 citations). And most people agreed that murder was bad, but it was widely known that murders still happened."

And your advisor goes, "Did most people agree, though? Was it widely known?"

And you go (sigh.). Okay. And do twelve hours of going back through your readings. And rewrite.

"Murder is bad (4 citations). In this time, people sometimes committed murders (6 citations). People did not all agree that it was bad (2 citations). There was disagreement about exactly how bad (3 citations)."

And you look at your draft. And you go. But. But we all — I mean, the archival sources from the time are in fact QUITE CLEAR about how widely known it was! Like–! I've read hundreds of letters and a third of them mention murder! I've talked to so many historians of this time and place and we ALL talk about the murder thing!

And you look at the twelve goddamned hours of searching you did. And you write several increadingly desperate emails to colleagues. And after another few days, you come to the agonizing realization that, in fact, there are no citations of published work establishing that people knew murders occurred despite them being bad and against the law. And then you spend another week looking up those archival sources. And you rewrite again.

"Murder is bad (6 citations). In this time, people sometimes committed murders (6 citations). People did not all agree that it was bad (2 citations). There was disagreement about exactly how bad (3 citations). While no conclusive study has been done, from communications in this time, we can say that at least a significant number of people knew that murders still occurred (18 citations)."

[bucketofdeltav]

I currently have exactly this problem.

"Everyone knows that [reaction A] works like this and [reaction B] works like that". Very common way to start a paper or thesis in this field. Everybody knows this, we can carry on with the more interesting stuff about [reaction C].

Huh. These 73 citations all cite each other in a ouroboros and the only original source in the lot is a popular science book which is indeed worth citing, but it's a memoir, which I have read repeatedly, and the author of the memoir just threw this out there as another example of "things everyone just knew in those days".

...I am now doing a PhD on "Hang on just one second, we have no concrete evidence for how [reaction A] or [reaction B] work and even whether they're different at all."

[cruux]

BARBIE 2023 | dir. Greta Gerwig

[justrandomthoughtsandthings]

idea: bad news bear (unrelated to the underdog sports movie series Bad News Bears).

teddy bear with detachable heart (broken, obviously) and velcro card, only instead of a cutesy card, it's bad news.

[breanimator]

✨Indie Animation Black Magical Girls ✨

⭐☀️🌹♦️

Aika - "Pretty Please I Don't Want to Be a Magical girl" - @kianamaiart

Tammy - "The Three Tomes" - @thethreetomes / @breanimator

Sahara - "Wheels and Roses " - @fumichun

Ami - "Towards Galaxy's End" - @towardsgalaxysend / @kenzyxluv

What happens when you get 4 Black Animation Industry femmes/folks that love magical girls ? You get 4 BLACK magical girls with 4 different spins on the genre. Black girls belong in every genre, Black girls can go on adventures. Black girls can be loved. Black girls are silly, whimsical, witches , skaters , space vampires , and magical.

✨Black. Girl. Magic. ✨

(A celebration of the work of my friends/industry peers as we tell our stories the way we want because we deserve to be seen in all ways. You can watch all of these magical girls on youtube)

[indigosfindings]

every episode of riverdale has a scene where a teen with too much hairstyle confronts a diabolical adult like "listen up bozo, i know you think youre all tough and comfortable running the show & calling the shots. but here's a newsflash for you, you goddamn monster: we're sick and tired of you using our town as your personal junk pool. i will hunt you down and stomp on your world. arrivederci, you bastard" & all throughout this the adult looks completely disarmed, scared shitless, terrified for their life, then two scenes later the adult will walk up to the teen & shoot them in the head point blank with a pump action shotgun. that's the cliffhanger, & the next episode opens with the teen in the hospital recovering from a mild contusion

[indigosfindings]

why did somebody tag this as #contusion. is that for like an injury-based filing system or

[justrandomthoughtsandthings]

it's a thing™, where you hashtag the last word of a post. like #post or #mypost. for funsies

[caffeinewitchcraft]

Caffeine Challenge #6

Whoo, good job everyone! That was a fun challenge :) You can read all past challenges and today’s HERE on this doc! It also has other’s who participated.

Here’s also mine below!

[END TIME lol I actually finished a contained short story for once!]

You sign the contract in crayon and pray that you haven’t already made a mess of things. The demon in front of you doesn’t see anything amiss, doesn’t question your choice of writing implements, doesn’t do anything but what she’s been doing for the past hour; smiling.

“There we go,” she coos and pets your hair like a mother would. “Easy, easy and so much time life, darling. You made a good deal.”

“…Thanks,” you say, trying not to lean into her touch. It’s been weeks since anyone but a nurse has touched you, even longer since anyone has touched you with something approaching the amount of affection this demon is showing you.

It’s a lie, you think, staring down at your hands. They’re thin and brushed with purple and blue, your skin nearly translucent under the weight of your medications. Your fingers knot in your flimsy hospital gown.

“Take care, kid,” the demon says and brings the contract to her lips. She kisses the crackling paper and smiles wickedly at you. “I’ll be seeing you soon enough.”

She disappears in smoke and fire, a vortex of light and sound in the sterile hospital room that sends all the machines hooked up to you shrieking. She takes with her the sense of peace she’d brought, probably something artificial too.

You sigh and begin to pull the IVs and patches from your body.

“Stop!” Nurse Blanchett rushes into your room, eyes wide. She’s wearing pastel pink scrubs today, the brightest color in the hospital. She grabs your wrist as you go for the heart monitor, pinning it to your side. “Lavina, you can’t pull the–”

She breaks off as, slowly, you lift your arms, forcing hers up. You’re strong, so much stronger than her, and she loses the concern in her eyes to fear.

“I’m checking out,” you say and she lets go, stepping back from you. You swing your legs over the side of the bed, your bare feet still thin, still sickly, but filled with so much strength that your knees don’t buckle when you stand. “Goodbye, Nurse Blanchett.”

You don’t have any normal clothes at the hospital, but that’s fine. You need to go shopping before your final destination anyway.

Keep reading

[prokopetz]

I have to admit, “I’m a monarchist because I want a woman wearing a crown and mantle to step on me” is one of the more coherent defences of monarchism I’ve run into.

[caffeinewitchcraft]

“Step on me,” you plead. Your knees are shaking with the need to kneel in front of the absolute goddess in front of you. “Please.”

Her lipstick stops short of her lips and she meets your eyes in the mirror. Backstage is empty except for the two of you, the evil queen and the lady knight meant to defeat her. “That’s not in the script.”

“No,” you say. You’d meant to do this in a more normal way, like, after the show’s full run in a Denny’s parking lot sort of normal, but that was before you saw her in full costume. You pull at the stiff collar of your own costume. “It isn’t.”

She steps towards you, no emotion on her face. The crown on her head is real metal and glitters gold under the track lights in the dressing area. The mantle around her shoulders is the deep purple of royalty, so dark it appears black except for where the velvet is stroked by light and shines. There are chains of authority around her neck, fake shining gems meant to represent her character’s evil and impure heart.

You have a lot of impure thoughts looking at the way those chains lay against her neck. You say, “You don’t even have to step on me, a light shove into a wall would–”

She lays one finger against your lips. It’s warm and her long, acrylic nail taps against the tip of your nose. “I don’t step on people–”

Reality comes crashing back and you realize you’ve just asked your crush to step on you before asking her out. “I–”

“–especially not cute little knights like you,” she purrs, dragging her finger down your lips, letting the tip of her nail gently catch on your lower lip before dropping her hand completely.

Hooooolyyyy shiiiiit. You swallow, hard. “Yeah.”

“Yeah,” she says. She spreads her arms, hands turning to catch the edge of her mantle so it spreads out behind her like wings. “They get hugs.”

“Oh,” you say dumbly. Then, before you know you’re going to do it, you’re stepping into her space, arms locking around the small of her back. She’s taller than you, but not by much. You find yourself looking into her beautiful brown eyes. “Really?”

Her arms fold around you, her mantle settling around the both of you. Her head cocks to one side, one brow arched. “It’s a show night. Hugs is where it stops.”

You flush. “No! No, I didn’t mean–” unless… “–no! I just mean, you, uh, feel the same way? As me? Or is this a friend hug or…”

“This is decidedly not a friend hug,” she says and, to prove it, her hands stroke down your back. Her smile grows when you jerk in surprise. “Though I was going to wait until we go to Denny’s after the last show.”

“Oh, same,” you say. Your back feels like it’s still tingling from her touch. “But then, the crown–”

The prop handler’s voice cuts you off. “Five minutes to curtain!”

“Thank you five!” you shout back by instinct. 

“No,” she whispers in your ear, “thank you.”

Then she walks away to get on her mark and leaves you wishing this wasn’t the biggest night on stage of your life, but instead a Denny’s parking lot at 2 in the morning with her by your side.

[writing-prompt-s]

The biggest warmongering race of Aliens declare war on the local Galaxy cluster. The opposing group of peace-loving Aliens, who had befriended most Alien races, are finally forced to reveal their secret weapon, a ‘classified’ species called Humans, and their tenacity as persistence predators.

[caffeinewitchcraft]

“Ma’am. The V’afinog leader has sent a message.”

Rahn closes all six of her eyes, heart sinking into her thorax. A fine tremor starts in her vestigial wings. “So it’s true. They’ve returned to their bloodthirsty crusade.”

Undan nods miserably. The holo-pad in his hands shows the details of the crisis; six ships already attached to the planet holding their Boundary Station. A thousand V’afinog are holding the planet hostage. It’s only a matter of time before they assume complete control of the Boundary Station and can open the relay of shields between their galaxy and Rahn’s.

Rahn doesn’t bother with denial. Yes, there’s supposed to be a treaty between their Galaxies. Yes, the V’afinog are breaking that treaty and risking every trade agreement that keeps them alive in their barren corner of the universe. Yes, it’s beyond imagination, beyond comprehension.

But it’s happening. 

She makes a conscious effort to hold her wings still. “The Station?”

“Still unbreached,” Undan reports. He twists the pad around so she can see the glowing red dots that mark the V’afinog troops. “However, they’re making short work of our shields. Ma’am, I don’t think we have a choice. They’re too fast.”

“On my grandmother’s wings,” Rahn whispers. This is the worst possible scenario, a scenario so awful that there is only one course of action left. “All these years holding them back wasted because those bloodthirsty lizards can’t keep a single promise.”

Undan’s wings flutter uncomfortably. He doesn’t need to ask who this new they are. “Our relations with them are quite good, ma’am. I don’t think there’s too much cause for alarm. They’ll help us.”

Rahn stares at him in horror. “Undan, you befriended one, didn’t you?”

“That’s not– I’m just saying they’ll help–”

Keep reading

[traveler-of-realms]

Well, when you put humans like that, it’s little wonder we’ve come out on top. You did a fantastic job portraying humans as the little persistance predator demons we really are.

Not sure if we would dominate other species effortlessly. I think they’d have to have evolved as persistance predators or as something equally dangerous. Just my own thoughts, though.

[justrandomthoughtsandthings]

I wonder how the lizard people looked. if they believe stamina should only last minutes or hours, and they're susceptible to the elements, a basic infantry could defeat them. not all battles will be as decisive, i do agree.