the stars are bright tonight

avid reader | tea lover | studyblr

[maureen2musings]

neyofilm

[kawaii-foodie]

machaxxmy

[kawaii-foodie]

machaxxmy

[camilicy]

Its me and the rats running my life 🐭

[nofilter-cory]

Cat

[itsdappleagain]

[itsdappleagain]

people in my replies arguing for their fav white guy???

[itsdappleagain]

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS:

1. Do you think a post pointing out an issue with fandom racism and misogyny is an appropriate place to bring up your favorite white male character? Why or why not?

2. Did this post call you racist for relating to a white male character? If you thought or think so, consider why you got defensive.

3. Think about the disproportionate amount of art and writing about white male characters in fandom spaces. Do you think this is, across all boards, due to them being written better or more relatably than the POC protagonist?

a. If so, consider why you notice the writing of white male characters more often. Are white male characters written "better" than the POC protagonist, or do you have an internalized fear of relating to non-white characters that you need to work through?

b. If not, consider what ingrained biases might lead to this phenomenon in fandom spaces.

c. If you read a. and thought that white male characters literally just are usually or always written better than the POC and/or female protagonist, accept you are wrong and consider some self reflection.

4. Have you researched how to write and draw characters that are non-white and/or non-male? If not, does this limitation lead you to gravitate towards characters you feel "qualified" to make content about, therefore inflating the issue?

5. If people are telling you to reconsider your point of view in my replies section, did you stop to consider what they said apart from your human instinct to be defensive? Have you considered that arguing against those trying to educate you about fandom racism and misogyny, which can be difficult to see in yourself, in the notes of a post talking about fandom racism and misogyny, might be short-sighted and counterproductive?

6. If you are inclined to defend your favorite white male character, pause. Are all of your other favorite characters also majority white? Are they majority male? Are they either of these and NOT the main character of the show, movie, or game they originate from?

a. If not, this comic is not for you. Please move on and give it a reblog if you're feeling generous.

b. If so, consider this pattern. If you want to break it, ask someone for a reccomendation for characters or media similar to your favorites. Expand your horizons, and engage with your community rather than fighting against them.

[fireflyclub]

100% yes

[sorrrowfull]

[evenlyevi]

Dandelions

[the-psudo]

Trump got absolutely dumpstered in court in the last few days.

His and Elon's program to pay people to retire early has been halted by a temporary restraining order issued by District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. of the US District Court, District of Massachusetts in American Federation of Government Employees et al v. Charles Ezell (acting Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management). This temporary order only lasts until they have a hearing on Monday to determine whether this program is constitutional.

13 state attorneys general sued to prevent Elon from accessing personal data about government employees and citizen clients of their agencies, leading to Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in the case Alliance for Retired Americans v. Scott Bessent (Trump's Secretary of the Treasury) ordering the Department of Justice to ensure no unauthorized persons, including Elon and his team, have access to the Labor Department's database of information on tax filings, employment, and the like.

Two separate judges have ruled that Trump's executive order trying to eliminate birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour of the western Washington district, a REAGAN appointee (!), said, "It has become ever more apparent that to our president the rule of law is but an impediment to his policy goals. The rule of law is, according to him, something to navigate around or simply ignore, whether that be for political or personal gain." The other judge, US District Judge Deborah Boardman of Maryland, ruled that the executive order cannot be implemented until she has had a chance to rule on the merits of the case.

US District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth in DC paused Trump’s restrictions on transgender women being incarcerated in women’s prisons and federal prisons providing gender-affirming medical treatment, after inmates (!) sued to block the policy.

US District Judge Loren L. Alikhan of DC broadly blocked the Trump administration’s memo halting almost all federal assistance.

That's six rulings scrapping five of Trump's major policy operations in the past four days (Feb 3rd through the 6th, 2025).

That's news worth celebrating!

[splendentgoddess]

FOR PARENTS OF YOUNG KIDS IN THE US!

Someone over on bluesky posted this and I figured I'd better repost it here. It's the pre-RFK 2025 vaccination schedule for babies and young children, ya know, just in case it mysteriously disappears. Save this and give it to your child's pediatrician; tell them this is the schedule you want your child on.

[lilsillustration]

I’ve not been well over the holidays so decided to mock up how i’d illustrate PJO instead lol - all in lorem ipsum so I don’t get in trouble with the big mouse!

[klimtsonian]

.🎠✨.

[schoollifeandstuff]

Favourite stationery stores in Amsterdam

Since I live in the Netherlands and pretty close to Amsterdam, I thought it might be fun to share some of my favourite (dutch) stationery stores in Amsterdam :)

1. De Bijenkorf

Dam 1, 1012 JS Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Where do I even start? De Bijenkorf is the biggest department store of the Netherlands and is located in the heart of Amsterdam: De dam. The building is really pretty and old. On the 4th floor is their stationery located. It has got famous brands like Moleskine, Stabilo, Paperchase but during the back to school period dutch brands like Blond Amsterdam and Pip studio as well. 

2. HEMA

Nieuwendijk 174-176, 1012 MT Amsterdam , The Netherlands

A real typical dutch store. It is located in almost every dutch town. You should take a look at the food court because there is much Dutch food and candy. But the stationery department is definitely the best part of the shop. Many dutch people have stationery from the HEMA because HEMA’s stationery is inexpensive and cute.

3. Vlieger

Amstel 34, 1017 AB Amsterdam, the Netherlands

This store is located inside an old canal house along one of Amsterdam’s canals. It is foundend in 1869 and still has this old atmosphere. It focuses mainly on paper and art stuff but sells some nice stationey too. 

3. V&D (Vroom & Dreesman)

Kalverstraat 203, Amsterdam , the Netherlands

A real dutch department store with a great ‘’back to school’’ department. It sells many,many pens (stabilo, papermate, sharpie etc.) notebooks, binders, backpacks, planners and more school related stuff. Once again, you should take a look at the blond amsterdam and Pip studio.

4. Sissy Boy (homeland)

KNSM-Laan 19, 1019 LA Amsterdam, the Netherlands

A concept store comparable to urban outfitters. It owns more vintage themed stationery noticeable due to french titles, brown paper etc. 

5. The museum shop

Museumplein, Amsterdam

This shop is located on “Museum plein’’ between the museums: ‘’Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh museum and Stedelijk museum and the ‘’I am amsterdam sign’’. Although this shop doesn’t sell much stationery, it does sell fun stationery. Mostly art themed and related to the paintings of the museums. Quite expensive unfortunately.

I hope you liked this post and thought it was handy.

 If you are planning to go to Amsterdam, Have Fun!

[clottedblog]

pancake sunday

blueberry whole wheat pancakes, greek yogurt, raspberries, maple syrup, fried egg, glass of milk

[reemillustrated]

in the clerb, we all fam

[reemillustrated]

sniffy<3

[starspaces]

sniffy<3!!!

[kendallroy-deactivated20210425]

people on this website be like “it’s actually school’s fault that i don’t know how to read because i wanted to write my essay on the divergent trilogy and that BITCH mrs. clarkson made us study 1984 instead. anyway here’s a 10 tweet thread of easily disproven misinformation about a 3 year old news story and btw, who is toni morrison?”

[kendallroy-deactivated20210425]

i KNOW most of y’all are lying about being in the gifted program as children because none of you could pass the basic reading comprehension assessment they give third graders today

[themself]

this post is mean and I never read divergent or whatever the fuck but 1984 sucks and is rape apologism so if somebody wanted to write about divergent or whatever good for them

[westenra]

this reply is like literally exactly what op is talking about lol. like firstly ops point isn’t “1984 is good”, ops point is that analysing complex stories teaches you how to form opinions and think for yourself. and like secondly in 1984 you’re supposed to think damn it’s fucked up that he’s thinking that way about her, i wonder if this ties in with the central theme of “a society like this will fuck you in the head”? (this is the thinking for yourself part). like do you think orwell just put that in for fun? do you think that just because winston is the protagonist you’re supposed to agree with everything he does?

[lunaescribe]

You know I feel like this post just gave me an epiphany for what is wrong with how Tumblr Fandom/Internet Fandom responds to media-or not *wrong* but makes it very hard to respond to anything but a morally correct, and heroic protagonist. 

When an English teacher, or reader, taught or picked up 1984, it wasn’t with the intention they were going to love the protagonist. They picked it up with the intention of reading a whole story and trying to grasp the theme or catharsis from the story. If the protagonist was a *shitty* person it played into the the themes or the story, because it wasn’t about morally judging the book or *liking* or feeling attachment to the protagonist. Sometimes and often times, books were just about gaining another perspective. 

No one read Lolita expecting to endear, or like, or be inspired by Humbert. You are supposed to be upset by his behavior, you don’t read Lolita with the intention of being inspired. You read it to learn more about what the fuck is going on inside someone’s head when they behave like that. How children get sucked into abusive situations. Or read “The Great Gatsby” not because they want to fall in love with Gatsby or Nick, but to better understand and analyze the experience of the 1920s or destitution of the American Dream. 

A lot of internet and fandom culture has changed that though. When we say something like “I love the Great Gatsby” it comes with the idea or association that means you must *love* or relate to one of the characters. And maybe you do, but the first assumption is not longer about the quality of the work or themes, or cathartic impact-it’s about character admiration. And with that character admiration, in tumblr stan culture, or kin culture, or exalting characters with fanart/romance/so on you don’t just ‘admire’ or find that character ‘compelling’ it now translates to ‘you LOVE that character’ or you ‘DIRECTLY relate to that character.’ 

You can’t say “I love how Humbert is written, it’s so fascinating and dark”, without it directly translating you somehow relate to a child abuser or condone his actions. Taking in media has become an act of worship and connection. We no longer watch meant to just see the story as a whole, we watch expecting to connect to a character and if we offer them our “worship” as it’s become, as opposed to just attention or interest study as it traditionally was, it means we are condoning the character or saying we directly empathize with all their actions. 

I think that’s why there is often now so much fuss over *toxic* characters or not. Or whether that classical novel is showing good or bad things anymore. We’re treating the characters as people we should love or want to draw or write about. Sometimes a story is just about getting the the theme or catharsis or learning another perspective. We don’t NEED to like the character. Or we don’t HAVE to like a character to be impressed by how they’re written or intrigued by their behavior. 

I think if internet culture could learn to view stories as small insights into other lives or single takes of one perspective instead of purposeful moral inspirations we’d be a lot less worried about how toxic or not toxic they are.