āItās easy to see medieval people as characters rather than humans,ā Professor Smith is saying as he points up to a slide with Charles Ernest Butlerās painting of King Arthur.
āSee here: Arthur has holy light shining down on him. His features are sharp, the crown seems made for himā¦this moment depicts the fulfilment of destiny. But King Arthur was a man like any other.ā
āBut Professor,ā a boy interrupts, hand half-raised in the universal position of douchebagery, āKing Arthur was, quite literally, a character. Are you certain heās the best example of medieval humanity?ā
āHeās also a king,ā a girl pipes up. āSo heās not a man like any other. We should be focusing on his subjects to find medieval humanity.ā
Professor Smith smiles. He runs his hand through his black hair and steps out from behind the lecturing podium.
āBoth excellent points,ā he says. āKing Arthur, real or notāā
Some confused muttering from the classā
āāis not an accurate representation of the average medieval peasantās life. At the same time, it is important to consider why he may have been out of touch with his people, and in what ways. TH White implied that what made Arthur a better king was his mistreatment as a child by the name of Wart. He engaged in Arthur as a human being in a way Sir Thomas Mallory, perhaps, did notāat least by modern standards. Now.ā
Professor Smith gestures to himself.
āIām Irish.ā
Scattered laughter.
āāI rarely, if ever, have interest in sympathising with an English kingāand I certainly didnāt back then.ā
The laughter takes on a puzzled note.
āBut.ā Professor Smith holds up a finger. āIf we donāt humanise our oppressors, we run the risk of treating their actions like Doctor Doomās attack of the weekārather than something they actively choose to inflict on others. Do you understand my point?ā
Around the lecture hall, students hum and nod in agreement.
āAt the same time, one cannot forget that a king is a king. Arthur was obligated to execute Gwenāer, Guinevereāor else run the risk of showing weakness and shaming himself in front of his people. Yes, he knew Lancelot would save her. It was a decision informed by trust in his friend and his position in power. Arthur was a man with a job to do; an obligation to his people and his predecessors. And with those duties come human emotion: fear of letting down his country and his father, of disrespecting Camelotās history. Gwen and Lancelot stuck by him despite that fear, because they believed in him and they knew he would be a great king.ā
Professor Smith sighs and clasps his hands behind his back.
āBut destiny did not come to pass in the way they expected it. Perhaps they wished they had listened to other perspectives. Perhaps they wished they had taken the chance to live freely together. They wished they had not put so much faith in one man and done themselves and their people a disservice in the process.ā
Thereās a long silence.
Students look fearfully at each other, passing discreet notesāfor the professor looks like he may cry.
āBut they were human too,ā the girl from earlier pipes up. āWe talk a lot about Guinevere and Lancelotās love for Arthur and the way their relationship is depicted as almost ethically non-monogamous, by modern standards. Yes, they may have made a mistake by not living for themselves, but they were living for the love and hope they had in Arthur. Itās, like, proper Shakespearean, when you think about it.ā
āAnd,ā the boy adds, āArthur became a symbol we can all look up to. Heās still very much relevant in the cultural consciousnessāotherwise we wouldnāt be here. Yes, he died prematurely, but he is still the greatest king Albion has ever seen, if only because he has remained a constant ideal which we can look up to. Arthuriana gave TH White comfort after the events of World War II, after all. We cannot underestimate his importance as a symbol.ā
āTrue, especially when we canāt rely on current politicians,ā the girl agrees. āRebellions are built on hope.ā
āA Star Wars reference is fairly gauche in this context, do you not think?ā The boy sneers.
āI donāt think something has to be highbrow to have academic relevance, Charles, no,ā she hisses back.
āI never said anything about it not being highbrow, I just donāt believe Star Wars to be a worthwhile comparisonāā
āReally? Really? Luke Skywalker, the Jedi Knight training to save the galaxy from his evil father? You think that has no relevance, you prat?ā
Merlin smiles and steps behind the podium, dabbing at his eyes with the cuff of his corduroy blazer.
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.
Was driving with my grandmother and in broken English she says āno eyesā¦ no noseā¦ no face. Donāt trust.ā To which I looked around wildly in search of this omen of ill portend.
Here's a quick au idea that just came to me today:
In a modern au where Merlin is still waiting on Arthur, historians recently discovered a whole batch of legal documents from Arthur's reign. These documents detail many changes he made to the laws of Camelot, including the repeal of the magic ban (which the historians assumed was just a halt on witch hunts).
However, one thing that the historians note as strange were the large number of laws that only applied to the king's personal manservant, who was never mentioned by name in the documents. These laws range from oddly specific, such as 'the king's manservant shall not accompany knights to the tavern', to downright bizarre decrees that make no sense, like 'the king's manservant is hereby forbidden from pointing out stew in the king's hair.'
The historians' first guess was that perhaps King Arthur was going a bit mad in his later years, but they didn't find any other ludicrous laws besides the ones pertaining to his manservant, which then led the historians to question the identity of this manservant and his relationship to the king.
All of this culminates in a historical exhibit showcasing the documents and postulating on this mysterious manservant of king Arthur. Many scholars flock to the exhibit, eager to examine the documents and debate their meaning and impact within a historical context.
Which then leads to a very tired Dr. Merlin Emrys, a medieval history professor, being dragged by his colleagues to see the exhibit and having to stifle is laughter as these world-renowned scholars tear their hair out trying to understand what was essentially a prank war between him and Arthur.
how insane must it have felt to be an actor table reading for bbc merlin. alright anthony this week, you are driven mad by memories of the children you killed in your genocide. next week? bald.
med people are so annoying "This family's 8 year old child who was about to go through a major surgery and kept crying that she was hungry so they pitied her and gave her food, she then had a heart attack in the surgery. They're so stupid š" girl they didn't know that could happen or why it happens. it takes so little time to explain to them that will happen instead of telling them "no food" with no explanation 10 times
"Before surgery, your bodyās reflexes that protect your airway are relaxed by anesthesia. If thereās food or liquid in your stomach, it will near certainly come back up and go into your lungs, which can cause choking, a severe lung / heart infection or even a heart attack. Thatās called aspiration, and it is life-threatening. It's hard, but it's only a single day to prevent near certain death. Not eating or drinking beforehand massively lowers the risk and helps prevent these life threatening situations under anesthesia." <- TIP: patients have brains which allows them to receive information just like you
I have four kids. Iāve had one or another of them need some kind of surgical procedure that requires anesthesia four or five times over the past 15 years.
This Tumblr post is the first time someone has explained to me *why* I couldnāt feed them before those instances.
Iām not stupid. I understood that just fine. Hell, my kids would have understood that just fine. But no one bothered to tell us.
i did know this before having kids (i have six). we have a kid that's needed multiple procedures requiring anesthesia. and every single time, i am asked multiple times if i'm sure he was not given any food or water after a certain point.
every single time i have had to say, "i understand that if he had food or water, he could aspirate it into his lungs under anesthesia. i am not lying to you." THEN someone would make a little note and i would stop being repeatedly asked.
not a single time was that risk explained to me. the only reason it came up was because i already knew. i still don't understand why it isn't standard pre-op counseling or pre-op check information, when me as a parent acknowledging the actual risk also put THE MEDICAL STAFF at ease because i conveyed that i had informed understanding as reason to not lie about giving my kid food.
"maybe some people will get nervous and refuse surgery" okay so they need more counseling about risks and anxiety, not less information in a way that actually does endanger their child or themselves!
Every day I handle more money than I will ever make. Every day.
At the start of my employment, my boss showed me videos of people stealing, and we both had a chuckle about it. How silly they were! There was a camera overhead, and itās not to watch the shoppers. See, we canāt actually stop shoplifters. They get away with it maybe nine out of ten times. But we, who are watched and tallied and witnessed? We are always caught.
At first it was hard to hold one hundred dollars bills. An amount I had never seen before. An amount that didnāt exist in my household. Itās normal now. Here is something that is not for me.
āWhat the hell, Iāll take another,ā says the man, pondering our 200 dollar watches. What the hell. Total comes to 580 and not even a flinch in his face. I have been working for 11 hours today and made only 110 dollars. It will go to my rent. Today I work for free, it feels. When I get my check, I will have 35 dollars left for food and saving.
The six hundreds he hands me go into the cash register. For a moment, I imagine having money. Then I put it away, counting out his change.
I know for a fact we sell our products for double what they are worth. That I could be making commission. That they could hand me those 580 dollars and change my life and not even mark the difference in their checkbooks. Heās not the only sale they make today, but I am the reason they made it. Heās not the only one spending 600 dollars, but if I hadnāt spent two hours with him telling me about his life, he wouldnāt have spent any. I go home. I donāt own a watch.
I have watched and rewatched a video on how to make salmon four ways. My shopping list is always the same. Pasta. Rice. Tuna. If I can afford butter it was a good week. I dream of the world I will never walk in, where I can throw the best fish fillet in the cart with a shrug. I hold hundreds in my hand and look up at the camera. I put them under the cash drawer.
I go to work. I scrap together my savings. I eat my bowl of rice slowly. My manager takes a paid week off from work just for his birthday. He owns a yacht.Ā
i wrote this while i was working at orlandoās walt disney world parks.
i was part of their college program. i moved to the state for it. they legally owned the building i was living in and still charged me rent. i ostensibly was being charged to work for them. it was a 2 bedroom apartment and they placed 6 adult women in it in forced triples.
as many as one in ten disney employees have experienced homelessness while working for the company. despite huge efforts to unionize, strike, or otherwise demand fair treatment; disney has refused to increase employee quality of life.
disney admits publicly that a good portion of their success is because the employees (ācast membersā) are dedicated, passionate, and selfless. this is never reflected in pay. even āfaceā characters (ie those that are princesses etc) make barely above a minimum wage.
at the time that i worked there, i made $8.50 an hour. at one point i was asked to create a human shield around a bag because a bomb dog had alerted to it. for eight fucking dollars an hour.
i now work a very cushy office job. i have bought the salmon and cooked it all four ways.
i go to the store. i am nice to the person behind the counter. she looks up at the camera while she counts out my change. there is nothing fundamentally different about her and i.
the commissioner of the nhl saying that the nhl needs to do work before season 2 of heated rivalry comes out and saying he/the nhl wouldnāt react the way the commissioner does in the books is actually so funny to me because not only does no one believe that, just the idea of the nhl realizing they need to do last minute pr because of heated rivalry s2. before when s1 blew up they were able to reap the benefits of the goodwill of the show and have people be like āhmm hockey sure is interestingā and the nhl gave flat, surface level supportive statements of the show/gay people. now they have to deal with the years of issues of homophobia in the nhl coming back to bite them in the ass this next season and really have to pretend like they care about gay people my chesthdkdjcnf hockey is the most spotlighted this year that its ever been and everyone is seeing the dark underbelly immediately. they spent years capitulating to homophobes so they wouldnāt alienate part of their audience (and homophobic players) by banning themed jerseys, and now they are going to scramble to pretend that they support the gays.
Although not going by the term "asexual" yet, asexuality was spoken about alongside homosexuality as far back as the 1890s. Asexual history is just as vital to queer history as any other term and I'm so tired of watching us being treated like a new thing
i feel. like on a fundamental level. i do not understand x reader fic. i am not exactly opposed to it because let a thousand blossoms bloom etc. but like. i genuinely donāt get it. it seems like the exact opposite of how i engage with fiction. like the whole point is that iām not in there. i donāt wanna be in there. if iām in there itās going to be very stressful.
Give me Shane awkwardly trying "queer culture" things that Ilya and Harris try to introduce him to and hating it.
Give me Shane "hates clubbing and bars" Hollander not minding Kingfisher in the afternoon but refusing to go at night. Give me Shane never understanding the slang (he's never online) and being overstimulated by drag brunch (it's so LOUD and nothing fits his diet even once he loosens it a little and brunch as a concept throws off his entire routine) and utterly bored by any TV show that isn't the latest game replay (is this reality TV? Is it a drama? He can't remember and he can't tell the difference but honestly he'd rather be watching hockey) and unable to remember the difference between Lady Gaga and Cher (he never listens to music anyway) and completely disinterested in changing his wardrobe (for fancy events he wears whatever his stylist tells him to but not anything adventurous, because he just wants to look acceptable not make a statement).
Give me Shane feeling alienated from gay culture the way he sometimes feels alienated from Japanese culture and being so frustrated that being himself, exactly as he is, still isn't good enough for anyone.
Give me a Shane Hollander who doesn't want to be "the gay hockey player" the same way he doesn't want to be "the Asian hockey player" but he'll suck it up because he's such an inspiration, don't you know how many kids look up to you? Don't you know how much it matters to them to see you out there loud and proud?
Give me Shane finally snapping at Ilya that clearly he's not "super gay" if he's so bad at it, because he's sick and tired of everyone being disappointed that he's not up on whatever the latest queer culture trend is and he does not want to be a "gay icon," he just wants to play hockey and love his husband, and he's not magically a different person now that everyone knows he's gay.
Give me Ilya reckoning with how coming out has only put more expectations on Shane's shoulders and noticing the roles Shane is always forced into - the Asian player, the gay player - and understanding a bit more why privacy seemed like a better guarantee of freedom to Shane than openness.
Give me Ilya promising Shane that he loves him exactly as he is, jocky and offline and dedicated to hockey, that he never has to change anything about himself to seem more palatable to anyone, and fuck anyone who thinks Shane isn't *anything* enough, because he's always been perfect for Ilya.
Guys I read a fic along these lines I can't remember the name of but basically Shane hollander might not vibe with gay culture but he FUCKS with lesbian culture. Lesbians love him. He loves lesbians. They're talking carpentry and home renovations and their partners elaborate hair care routines (because ilya does not wake up with those curls) and he realizes he does have a place in the queer community.
you ever think about how Merlin, in modern day with modern medicine and understanding of the human body and its ailments, would YEARN for death 1000x over upon realizing the trek to the lake probably sealed the deal for Arthur's injuries? like that man had internal bleeding, torn organs clearly, and 100% had a spinal injury.
And he had that man on horseback.
he did what he could at the time but so you ever think about Merlin thinking about what he did wrong medically, in those final days?
you have to stay alive. you're going to be such a beautiful middle aged freak. young freaks will see you in the street and know that things can be okay.
I was 22 when I got my first bookstore job, and at the time my entire experience of "old people" was my grandparents, none of whom had been particularly healthy, and none of whom I was close with. To my young eyes, all they did was sit around and be old. That was life after 60.
The owner of the bookstore was this grand old dame of 76 who had been in the business for 40 years. She'd had three kids with a husband who was extremely gay, and as soon as those were old enough, they split up. She read on an epic scale, was an avid follower of the opera, sang in several choirs, and scheduled arts programming for a private club. She had gentleman callers (so they styled themselves) at the store continuously the entire fifteen years I worked there--yah, into her NINETIES. She never took up seriously with any of them, because they couldn't keep up. She was impeccably dressed and put together every single day of her life, drank regularly, and said they would pry her estrogen supplements out of her cold, dead hands. She had a gang of elderly single lady friends, though, and they went out every night of the week. They knew everything and everyone, collectively. She got her first smart phone in her mid-80s and became extremely Online. I bet she's on Tumblr now. She is 96.
This blew my mind. Life didn't have to be over...ever.
We worship youth in our culture. Only the young have futures, and the aged exist to enable the lives of the young. We act as if by the time you hit forty, you've had your chance. You are now expected to step aside and scede life to others.
FUCK THAT. I have a lot of life ahead of me. I have places to go and books to read and people to fuck and food to eat and music to dance to and emotions to feel and nazis to punch and stories to tell and hearts to break and ventures to capitalize and empires to conquer. I am going to be doing this for the next fifty years, minimum.
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