No Other Refuge For My Soul

Rants, rambles, & writings of home and family, nerds and fandoms, crafts and cooking, and everything else that strikes my fancy.

[shubbabang]

small overly dressed child found laying in leaf pile for hours 

[overpricedvodka]

Today in white people: Gentrification is coming for Black churches now.

This won’t be cute because I’m mad as fuck.  Thought I should put that disclaimer upfront before you keep scrolling and get your feelings hurt.

If you are a white 20something from Elsewhere, USA moving into a densely populated metropolitan area where the rent is cheaper in an “up and coming” neighborhood, and you decide to take the larger apartment on the brown side of town so you can have more space for your bike and your art projects at the expense of displacing Black and brown people, the least you can do is respect the fact that these people were there for decades before you and have their own customs and way of life.  If you feel the need to start calling the cops every five goddamn minutes as soon as you move into your Victorian in Oakland or your Brownstone in Bed-Stuy you are actual fucking garbage.

Y'all, these assholes are calling the cops ON BLACK CHURCHES for making too much noise during choir practice and hosting parties at night ON THE WEEKEND when you’re supposed to have a party anyway.  I’m so sick of reading about white people in brown spaces who don’t give a fuck about the neighborhoods they’re invading like a plague of locusts.

Keep reading

[no-other-refuge]

Yes.

[toooceanblue]

The thing I think I love most about the Harry Potter Fandom is that we all disagree.

Books vs. Movies, of course.

But some of us Sympathize with Draco Malfoy and think he deserved redemption, and others believe he was past this point.

Some of us love Snape, some of us hate him.

There are people who agree with Dumbledore’s actions, and there are people who think he was too manipulative.

Some of us love to look back to the time of the marauders, some of us can’t wait for the next generation, and others are still the most in love with the era of our main heroes.

People ship Drarry or Hinny or Dramione.

We argue over headcanons and spells, plot points and houses.

But all of us have one common ground, one idea that binds us through thick and thin, no matter what else may cause us to fight.

We all fucking hate Umbridge, and I think that’s beautiful.

[no-other-refuge]

Saying that Umbridge is pondscum is an insult to pondscum everywhere

[kodabomb]

I drew Twelve vov

[erroneoussyntax]

Alright sit your butts down, ladies, gentlemen, and all other configurations of being. I’m about to tell you why this latest episode of Steven Universe turned Pearl from probably my least favorite character in the show to one of my favorite characters of anything.

So now that we know that Pearls are mass produced on Homeworld, we know that Pearls are also seen as nothing more than servants. And this fact has made me go from hating Pearl to loving her,

We don’t know how long Pearl was on homeworld, I assume a few thousand years. And she was in this demographic that was seen as inferior. And you know how that happens in the real world. She was looked down on. She wasn’t allowed to excel at anything. She was nothing more than a tool and if she DARES to be anything more than that, she’s a defective threat. This was her LIFE. 

And then she comes to earth, and serves under Rose Quartz. A woman who lets her be more than “just a pearl”. She learns sword fighting. She learns spear fighting. She learns all these things and does all these things that she previously wasn’t allowed to back on homeworld. And for once, she actually feels like she’s worth something. Like she’s proving to all those people who called her “just a pearl” that she’s MORE than a pearl.

And then it all goes to her head. 

She wins the war. She’s proven herself. And now she’s so high on self esteem, something she usually doesn’t have, that she becomes the very person who looked down on her.

She becomes the person who look down on others. 

“You’re a human. You’re a novelty. At best.”

“Humans just lead insignificant lives until their ultimate demise.” 

She’s so used to being looked down on that she absolutely MUST be on top. And thats why she learns so many things and does everything she can to better herself. So she can continue being “more than a pearl.”

And whenever she’s proven wrong, whenever she’s beaten, or threatened, thats when her defenses kick in. That feeling of being “just a pearl” starts flowing, and she’s so desperate to be “more than a pearl” that she gets mean. Rude. Condescending. 

Thats why she hated Greg so much at first. He was taking the one person who believed in her and hogging her all to himself. He was being more to Rose than Pearl was. And she was feeling like “just a pearl” again. So she does whatever she can to fix that. 

She instead comes off as an egotistical bitch.

Then Steven happens. He’s sure of something. He just KNOWS he saw something in the warps. But Pearl knows better. He was seeing things. And than he suddenly says those magic words.

“You’re wrong.”

Whats this?! Pearl thinks. This LITTLE BOY think he knows more than ME?! This is UNNACCEPTABLE.

And she does it again. She refuses to be looked down upon so much that she starts looking down on others herself, and she ABSOLUTELY needs to be right. She desperately tries to prove to Steven that she is “more than a pearl”.

Again. She come off as an egotistical bitch.

Then. Sardonyx. She finally fuses Sardonyx. And thats the breaking point for Pearl. Pearl may have done everything she can to prove she’s “more than a pearl”, but while fusing Sardonyx, she feels something else.

She feel POWERFUL.

She has POWER.

She has a thing that NO OTHER PEARL HAS.

And she gets SO addicted to that power that made her feel superior to ANYTHING, that she wants more. She wants to feel that again. She doesn’t want to feel like “just a pearl” ever again. And she thinks Sardonyx can do that.

And then. She’s caught. Garnet is mad. The one person she doesn’t look down to is outright pissed. And Pearl KNOWS it’s because she FUCKED UP. And now she feel like “just a pearl” more than she has in thousands of years. And when she finally admits it, that she’s “just a pearl”, Garnet shuts her down. Shows her that she’s more than that. She’s her own person.

And now.

Now we have the best part.

Peridot.

Peridot comes in and outright says it.

You’re “just a pearl”

And this sets her off. She’s on the defensive again, and now she’s determined to prove herself again.

But this time it’s different. 

I’m not “More than a pearl”

I’m not “just a pearl”

I am A PEARL.

SO LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT A PEARL CAN DO.

…but she lost the fight. Peridot gets her way, proved to the others that she’s “just a pearl”

And best of all, it doesn’t matter. Steven and the other still came to HER, thinking no less of her. 

And now I think she’s realized that it just doesn’t matter. 

She’s not “just a pearl”

She’s not “more than a pearl”

She’s not “a pearl.”

She’s Pearl. 

And thats all that matters.

[kikokay-k-deactivated20220521]

I’m crying because this post doesn’t have that much notes and I’m here being a Pearl-supporter like…

[jessicacapshaw]

working in retail

[no-other-refuge]

Sophie: Eliot, you're bleeding.

Eliot: Oh, that explains it.

Sophie: Explains what?

Eliot: The stabbing pain in my side.

[samstiels-deactivated20201212]

Ok so let me tell you about this.

Mark Sheppard’s autograph is the only autograph I bought because, although he’s a ridiculously talented actor and I’m a big fan (Canton and Badger just kicked ass), I admire him the most for staying sober for over 25 years. So I brought my NA step book for him to sign because six years clean or not, I still have a really hard time with steps, and I have trust issues when it comes to my sponsors, and it’s one part of my recovery that’s so important and is constantly being neglected.

Now, if you don’t know how autographs work, they’re pretty fast paced. Mark was running late from his last photo op session AND he had a flight to catch, so the staff was rushing us like crazy. I slid my step book in front of him and he started signing it without looking at it. Then he paused and actually looked at what he was signing. He asked if this was new to me and I said no, that I’d been clean for six years but I have a hard time with steps. You could actually see the Creation staff vibrating because I was taking up time that he literally didn’t have to spare. But he was still looking at me so I told him how much I admire him staying clean for over 25 years and that this is something I want. For myself. In two decades I want to be able to say that I had been clean that long too. He circled step one as a place to start. And he said: “Don’t drink, don’t use, don’t die. It can be done, just keep doing it.”

And the next thing I know I was outside the convention center sobbing like an idiot. 

[agents-of-frickle-frackle]

operation fix harold the hungry space rock 2k15

[blerdgyal]

Went to the family parade and my ovaries exploded seeing the love of Ruby and Sapphire create this spitfire Garnet #NYCC2015 #StevenUniverse #Garnet #Ruby #Sapphire #BlackCosplay #FamilyCosplay

[jewlsies]

how do straight white boys survive in the real world

[themarysue]

[thesociologicalcinema]

Ida B. Wells “Ma’am, you’ll have to leave the white car.” “I can’t believe our friends have been murdered.” “You are loud and you say uncomfortable things.”

Artist: Kate Beaton

[no-other-refuge]

THe last one though. (I'd vote for you, Ida B.)

[jacessimon-deactivated20161204]

(insp.)

[teamklingon]

Today is a good day to die! <Heghlu’meH QaQ jajvam>

[pavelandthechekovs-deactivated2]

I’m sorry

[oreilochiae]

Dammit man, I’m the Doctor. (x)

[spicyshimmy-blog]

one time bones gets kidnapped by klingons and they throw him in the brig but when they next come to see him, he starts shouting at them about how they’re clearly injured and not taking care of themselves and they need a doctor dammit and he’s so intense about it the klingons realize that the doctor is actually a fearsome warrior

so when jim and spock finally come to “rescue” him, bones is giving lollipops to good klingons and shouting fire and brimstone at the bad klingons in the medbay he established during his captivity, which he rules, the klingons aboard the ship say, with an iron fist

[no-other-refuge]

"Yes I know it's a tradition but if you keep drinking that goddam bloodwine by the barrel you're gonna end up with cirrhosis of the liver, or whatever your Klingon equivalent is."