the more haphazard, the more true

mei. 20+ | an assembly space for my various inconsistent interests

[carriesthewind]

This the report that JK Rowing doesn't want you to see. This report scares her so much that she is trying to destroy Amnesty International, a human rights organization, to stop you reading it:

Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net)

Amnesty International put out a major report documenting the influence of UK based anti trans gender critical organizations and their fundin

(Amnesty already pulled the report because of JKR's threats. Of course that didn't and won't stop her - capitulating to fascists and bigots is never the answer. Alejandra captured the report and posted it, so you can read what JKR doesn't want you to know.)

[yesornopolls]

When ur home alone and you use the bathroom, do you still lock the door?

When your home alone and you use the bathroom, do you still lock the door?

Yes

No

Remaining time: 1 day 21 hours

[tomato-greens]

btw I am not blaming anyone for this but do you know how bad at teaching most TAs are, and how little support they get at becoming better teachers? sooo much writing instruction is outsourced to people who have never been in front of a classroom before, and to people in the humanities who consider teaching in writing programs to be beneath them, btw. and some of them have been my colleagues and friends, and everyone has to start somewhere, but yeesh. everything’s tight right now but if some minor amount of money could be diverted from [various projects that make universities look good to donors but don’t contribute to teaching], so much could be done !

[tomato-greens]

it’s cheaper: faculty, even very low-level adjunct faculty, are entitled to more money and better benefits than TAs are. meanwhile, humanities PhD students don’t receive the same amount of grant, government/armed forces, and industry funding the way many STEM PhD students do; humanities research has also been extremely devalued in the public eye, which means almost nothing in the humanities leads to increased donor interest or increased university brand recognition (with some exceptions). thus, many humanities PhD students fund their degrees by teaching alongside doing their research, which is why it takes on average 1-2 years longer for humanities students to complete their degrees (though anecdotally everyone I know who has completed their humanities PhD since the pandemic started has taken 8 or 9 years, which is to say 3-4 years longer than the old 5-year standard). that said, yes, this is mostly happening in larger universities with a pool of grad students whose labor they can easily access/exploit. smaller universities often rely on higher tuition, among other things.

[meikuree]

[tumblr tags: #why is it like this! #see prev tags #..I say. as someone whose current university doesn't really have TAs in my [undergrad student] area (no grad program)]

[ouevreofmaite]

♱ Carmilla & Laura ♱ illustrated by me

[your-favourite-hatchling]

This is incredibly irrelevant to the (gorgeous) artwork but I'm sort of curious why everyone always uses Carmilla for her name rather than the other one.

[mantis-lizbian]

coz it's the one she goes by primarily throughout the book, and more importantly, it's the title of the book. she never actually goes by what's (strongly) implied to be her birth name within the story, so like... fair enough/trans queen

[zemestoun]

imran qureshi, blessings upon the land of my love, 2011

[bowlinggwithmargo]

this has probably been said before but I keep thinking about how much of the violence in Sharp Objects is predicated on the legacy of slavery. The south as a society was/is founded and defined by intense brutality. It's a society where white women weren't the lowest rung on the oppression totem pole because there was always a class below them to torture...a society made up of white women that, in the decades after the end of slavery, have been forced to externalize this desire to control, manipulate, dominate, and torure slaves onto each other. This legacy of pain had to go somewhere or else the teeth of being seen as less than, or property of, their white male counter parts would be harshly felt. That's why Joya tortures Adora who tortures Marian, Camille, and Amma. Amma goes onto to torture other little girls to reaffirm her self worth but Camille seemingly breaks the cycle by redirecting that pain onto herself. Camille is the liberal of the show for doing so (I don't think it's an accident that the only person who notices her self-harm is the black woman who knew her in high school.) But she is just that, a liberal, who understands this legacy of pain but is dismissive of it (making fun of Calhoun day for one thing) and thus is unable to truly reconcile with it to truly move forward (much like how America refused to deal with/reconcile with slavery and the evils it wrought.) I think that's why Sharp Objects ends the way that it does. Camille writes her little article on the events of the show but, because of this lack of reconciliation, is shocked to see the cycle of violence repeat in Amma and can do nothing to truly end it.

[geyfrog]

Referring to someone as your “partner” sounds as if you are deliberately obscuring their gender and may subtly out you. “My ex”, however, is entirely unobtrusively gender-neutral. #breakupallrelationships

[orinthered]

not being attracted to men in fandom is really isolating sometimes

[orinthered]

its just so obviously different when someone is engaging in a convo about a female character because it's the polite thing to do and not because they have any investment in it. and normally that would be fine except this is something you have to deal with literally everywhere you go, no matter who the other people you're conversing with are. and you can feel the switch in interest so potently when women are the focus of the conversation versus men.

and again it's not really any one person's fault. but it's just so lonely sometimes ahahh

[yesornopolls]

If you found out a friend cheated on a partner a while ago (but the relationship was still serious at that point), but they haven’t cheated since and the couple is happy but not like engaged or anything, would you tell the partner?

If you found out a friend cheated on a partner a while ago (but the relationship was still serious at that point), but they haven’t cheated since and the couple is happy but not like engaged or anything, would you tell the partner?

Yes

No

Remaining time: 6 days 2 hours

[meikuree]

fragrance sampling redux, let's go! these are all by Tada Parfumer or Mith (thai fragrance houses).

Emishiki Sensation Blue: a chilled fruity sake EDP. I wanted to like this but the 1st spray smelled synthetic, like the plastic you get wandering into a sports shoe shop... the sake accord comes off ozonic, and radiating outwards the rest of the EDPs smells soapy and post-shower-esque? I think the 'plastic' note I get is exactly meant to help it evoke icy chilled sake, but it doesn't come off like that. I also wish I could detect the lychee more!

Another Tea by Mith: this is my Jasmin Des Anges goldfish replacement. I'm in love. super realistic jasmine tea note, smells exactly like drinking bottled jasmine green tea.

Shirayuki: runner up favourite. I don't get that much apple, only the faintest sour profile of just-oxidising apples, but the standout here are the green tea notes, which smell like longjingcha or sencha to me. calm and earthy, very meditative.

Nocturnal Noir: the opening was offputting, but this develops into a sweet yet woody velvet and evening-study-esque smell... it's like wandering into a room while a grandparent's working and smoking the biggest tobacco pipe ever. I don't find this that introspective.

Lost in a Fluffy Nest: the original bottle looks like this btw, which is so ridiculous and yet kind of charming at the same time. Tada Archawong is either a stealth furry or animeboo or both. quite nice that the brand doesn’t take itself too seriously though.

not much to say here - it's light and airy, very easy to wear. no cloying sweetness, more an innocent wafty scent. I don't get much of the cotton candy note, which is good tbvh.

Radiant Memories: I liked this, but I'm not a fanatic for gourmand perfumes so it doesn't compel me as much as some others.

[meikuree]

going to do a 2nd round post soon, focusing loosely on colognes and leathery/spicy/woody (what are stereotypically called ‘masculine’ EDPs) fragrances among others.

but first, a comment on Safran Secret by Maison Crivelli - holy shit, I went in knowing very little about what it was going to be like and I love it! same for Cuir InfraRouge. my samples so far have told me I really do not like spicy or ‘oriental’ fragrances but I like how both come off and they’re the exceptions. they’re atmospheric without being cloying. Safran Secret was released as a competitor to Ganymede from Marc-Antoine Barrois, and I’m getting a sample of that soon-ish too so I’ll compare notes when it comes. but the metallic notes are - the first image I got was a techno nightclub, but a review (on Fragrantica, sorry) called it quite industrial, like ferrous or wrought iron that’s been freshly processed. and that’s an intriguing contradiction/contrast between past and future, but I can see why: the metallic notes have this cool ‘warmth’ to them without verging on singeing, like heat slicing through them, and an overall down to earth tone. with the techno nightclub vibes, it’s the heat of bodies vibing or dancing together, and with the industrial comparison it’s heat that’s been molded. it does remind me a little of when I helped out my father with circuit soldering & other metalwork tasks in his workshop as a kid.

[graceebooks]

i’m just having fun. hatred is involved but i’m just having fun

[haverst]

Asif Mian, Family Tree, Poisoned Roots (2023) Afghan tribal wool rug, polypropylene carpet, alcohol ink, 85 × 74".

source

[subnitida]

Merab Abramishvili, ‘Semiramis.’ Tempera on plywood, 42,5 x 52 cm. 1997

[collapsedsquid]

“For nearly half a century, the outdated 'duration of status' system has compromised national security and created an environment ripe for immigration fraud,” said DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. “For decades, foreign students have been admitted into the U.S. indefinitely, allowing thousands to abuse our immigration system by perpetually enrolling in courses to avoid having to leave the U.S. By implementing clear, finite limits on these visas, the United States is reclaiming its ability to properly screen, vet, and monitor individuals within our borders. This final rule ensures that foreign students remain focused on their primary purpose: completing their studies and returning home.”

jDPON's strongest soldier.

[dntlz]

I will grind your bones to dust...

[dykemd]

[mousidy]

continuing from here, because transmascvoicesproject turned off reblogs

the mod has now turned off asks completely and is posting screenshots of old reddit posts about sexually abusive transfems with the usernames cropped out. how exactly does this further the "mission" of helping survivors tell their stories and heal? what kind of "peer support" project is made up of screenshots that the organizer dug through reddit to find? is it possible that the goal of this project is not actually peer support or helping survivors? 🤔

[mousidy]

several of the survivors who have had their stories used by this project discuss in their stories that they have complex feelings about coming forward because they don't want to contribute to the stereotype that all trans women are predators. they discuss not wanting others to use their stories to justify discrimination against trans women

that is to say, the stereotyping of trans women as predators makes it harder for survivors to come forward. a number of them discuss wanting their abuser to be understood as an individual who harmed them, not as a representative of their entire demographic

what do we think? will a project dedicated to documenting exclusively abuse by transfems help change the problem that makes these survivors hesitant to come forward?

[mousidy]

one survivor shared her story only as part of a criticism of what this blog is doing, and the mod posted it as part of the "project"

in the replies the survivor says that the mod is speaking over her and is the type of person who made her healing more difficult. do we think that the mod cares about survivors? do we think that the mod thinks of them as anything besides props to harvest stories from to further their dangerous, bigoted, transmisogynistic project?

[mousidy]

I decided with my therapist that I really really need a break from all of this--activism in general. I am going to try my best to step away for some time

but please, if you can spare some time or energy to, keep the pressure on. do not let this "project" get anywhere off the ground

even more importantly, please listen to the transfem survivors in your life. please do what you can to support transfem survivors. transfem voices project will return, but please remember that it was never about me. anyone can support transfem survivors of sexual abuse

lots of love 🫶💖