Laney, She/Her, mid-30s Southern American tumblrite. Nurse, Public Mental Health Policy. Adult fandom member. Loves her job, books, TTRPG, and female characters that get shit on by shitty fans. Paladin of Sharon Carter. Officially adopting Chrissy Cunningham and Vickie even though I'm only a casual watcher of Stranger Things on principle. You can't bully actresses and expect me not to stan their characters. Trying to watch The Pitt inspite of being a Pediatric ICU burn out. Ask box is always open. "When in doubt, arm veins out." - Court
After 3 months of my internet being cut off by IRGC, 2 days ago I finally came online and I've been crying since for my people, for them having their simplest of rights being taken away from them.
These past 3 months so many innocent people got executed for the reason of them being against this Islamic regim (IRGC), and in any case you haven't heard, more than 43,000 people got killed in only 2 days :) and rarely anybody talked about them. And since those days more people have been killed, raped and tortured for speaking up about the truth of IRGC. No, the majority of Iranians don't want this regim, we are barely surviving under this dictatorship as human beings (you can't imagine how hard it is for people in the minority groups). Also about the tragedy of Minab's school, even the cause of that was this regim for we, Iranians, are grieving their death. Death to this regim.
It is so cruel that my people get to live like this. When I came online and I saw so many updates from my favorite games and fandoms I felt like I couldn't breath, for I wanted to live a normal life, my people want the same but here we are trying out different VPNs to see which one works.
Even with our internet back, we won't stop talking about the evil actions (and evil existence) of Iran's Islamic regim.
every other note on this post is someone going "am i allowed to use paper maps?" yes. obviously. i did not say "without a map", i said without your electronics. And to the like, 20% of people saying "of course, i would simply take the train" that is definitionally not a road trip. i love trains too, but that is a rail trip. a road trip requires taking a trip on the road.
hello my followers and mutuals, im posting again about the situation in iran as there is very little reporting on actual iranian lives during these times. i am including links to the information provided and i hope you will help me spreading awareness for iranians who’s voices are being silenced.
iran has passed 80 days of an internet blackout imposed by the islamic regime
the blackout was originally imposed in response to anti government protests. it is a method of oppression and suppression of iranian people.
this is the longest government imposed internet blackout in history
and their economy is severely impacted
people outside of iran have limited to no contact with their families inside iran
and phone calls and text messages within iran are heavily monitored by the regime
the regime has stated they do not intend to restore iranians access to internet.
as the regime carries out executions of protestors - including teenagers -
this is a human rights violation
with so much reporting on trump’s nonsense, on deals of war and ceasefires - it’s so important that we do not forget the actual human lives that have to live under the threat of war and the threat of their own government
i hope you will help me spreading awareness for iranians who are being silenced. and in conversation when people bring up the war, do not forget to also talk about the blackout and ongoing executions.
another thing fantasy writers should keep track of is how much of their worldbuilding is aesthetic-based. it's not unlike the sci-fi hardness scale, which measures how closely a story holds to known, real principles of science. The Martian is extremely hard sci-fi, with nearly every detail being grounded in realistic fact as we know it; Star Trek is extremely soft sci-fi, with a vaguely plausible "space travel and no resource scarcity" premise used as a foundation for the wildest ideas the writers' room could come up with. and much as Star Trek fuckin rules, there's nothing wrong with aesthetic-based fantasy worldbuilding!
(sidenote we're not calling this 'soft fantasy' bc there's already a hard/soft divide in fantasy: hard magic follows consistent rules, like "earthbenders can always and only bend earth", and soft magic follows vague rules that often just ~feel right~, like the Force. this frankly kinda maps, but I'm not talking about just the magic, I'm talking about the worldbuilding as a whole.
actually for the purposes of this post we're calling it grounded vs airy fantasy, bc that's succinct and sounds cool.)
a great example of grounded fantasy is Dungeon Meshi: the dungeon ecosystem is meticulously thought out, the plot is driven by the very realistic need to eat well while adventuring, the story touches on both social and psychological effects of the whole 'no one dies forever down here' situation, the list goes on. the worldbuilding wants to be engaged with on a mechanical level and it rewards that engagement.
deliberately airy fantasy is less common, because in a funny way it's much harder to do. people tend to like explanations. it takes skill to pull off "the world is this way because I said so." Narnia manages: these kids fall into a magic world through the back of a wardrobe, befriend talking beavers who drink tea, get weapons from Santa Claus, dance with Bacchus and his maenads, and sail to the edge of the world, without ever breaking suspension of disbelief. it works because every new thing that happens fits the vibes. it's all just vibes! engaging with the worldbuilding on a mechanical level wouldn't just be futile, it'd be missing the point entirely.
the reason I started off calling this aesthetic-based is that an airy story will usually lean hard on an existing aesthetic, ideally one that's widely known by the target audience. Lewis was drawing on fables, fairy tales, myths, children's stories, and the vague idea of ~medieval europe~ that is to this day our most generic fantasy setting. when a prince falls in love with a fallen star, when there are giants who welcome lost children warmly and fatten them up for the feast, it all fits because these are things we'd expect to find in this story. none of this jars against what we've already seen.
and the point of it is to be wondrous and whimsical, to set the tone for the story Lewis wants to tell. and it does a great job! the airy worldbuilding serves the purposes of the story, and it's no less elegant than Ryōko Kui's elaborately grounded dungeon. neither kind of worldbuilding is better than the other.
however.
you do have to know which one you're doing.
the whole reason I'm writing this is that I saw yet another long, entertaining post dragging GRRM for absolute filth. asoiaf is a fun one because on some axes it's pretty grounded (political fuck-around-and-find-out, rumors spread farther than fact, fastest way to lose a war is to let your people starve, etc), but on others it's entirely airy (some people have magic Just Cause, the various peoples are each based on an aesthetic/stereotype/cliché with no real thought to how they influence each other as neighbors, the super-long seasons have no effect on ecology, etc).
and again! none of this is actually bad! (well ok some of those stereotypes are quite bigoted. but other than that this isn't bad.) there's nothing wrong with the season thing being there to highlight how the nobles are focused on short-sighted wars for power instead of storing up resources for the extremely dangerous and inevitable winter, that's a nice allegory, and the looming threat of many harsh years set the narrative tone. and you can always mix and match airy and grounded worldbuilding – everyone does it, frankly it's a necessity, because sooner or later the answer to every worldbuilding question is "because the author wanted it to be that way." the only completely grounded writing is nonfiction.
the problem is when you pretend that your entirely airy worldbuilding is actually super duper grounded. like, for instance, claiming that your vibes-based depiction of Medieval Europe (Gritty Edition) is completely historical, and then never even showing anyone spinning. or sniffing dismissively at Tolkien for not detailing Aragorn's tax policy, and then never addressing how a pre-industrial grain-based agricultural society is going years without harvesting any crops. (stored grain goes bad! you can't even mouse-proof your silos, how are you going to deal with mold?) and the list goes on.
the man went up on national television and invited us to engage with his worldbuilding mechanically, and then if you actually do that, it shatters like spun sugar under the pressure. doesn't he realize that's not the part of the story that's load-bearing! he should've directed our focus to the political machinations and extensive trope deconstruction, not the handwavey bit.
point is, as a fantasy writer there will always be some amount of your worldbuilding that boils down to 'because I said so,' and there's nothing wrong with that. nor is there anything wrong with making that your whole thing – airy worldbuilding can be beautiful and inspiring. but you have to be aware of what you're doing, because if you ask your readers to engage with the worldbuilding in gritty mechanical detail, you had better have some actual mechanics to show them.
WARMINGTON: Tearing down posters for missing girl new low in Toronto
Esther, 14, was last seen May 15 at Earl Bales Park in North York
It takes a special kind of evil to destroy posters that have been distributed to help locate a missing child.
But Toronto has seen this kind of evil before. Back after Oct. 7, 2023, hostage posters of Jewish children kidnapped by Hamas were also ripped down or defaced.
Now, as many in the city are searching for the teen girl who is on the autism spectrum and disappeared May 15, posters taped to poles around town featuring a picture of 14-year-old Esther are being physically removed.
Antisemitism is a reality in Toronto.
“A missing 14-year-old girl’s posters are being ripped down,” said Matthew Taub of Unapologetically Jewish. “Let that sink in.”
It’s despicable. But this is a city where criminals would shoot at Jewish people at synagogues so we can’t pretend it’s all rosy here.
I am not surprised it has escalated since antisemitism was not pushed back against strong enough post-Oct. 7, and then became widespread. So much was let go. For two years, antisemites got away with most of what they did.
Just last week, I also witnessed Toronto’s parking enforcement running off two women trying to tape these posters in Earl Bales Park on Victoria Day — citing parking restrictions.
It was clear right there how much is wrong with Toronto. The priority was not the missing girl, but the power and authority of the parking officers. It was all about them. Their rules and their fines, their superior position. It was heartless abuse of power and bullying that also further set the tone that was already in place.
Turning a blind eye on antisemitism. None of this would be tolerated against any other Toronto community.
Toronto Police have not yet commented on the posters being taken down. But in the past, charges have been laid for damaging hostage posters.
What Toronto Police have done is release a new picture of the girl her family calls ‘Esti.’ (According to Shomrin Toronto, she might also be going by Sylvia.) The picture is believed to depict what she was wearing when she was last seen early May 16 in the Bathurst St. and Hwy. 401 area.
The girl’s mom said she left home while not wearing shoes, and without a cellphone.
Taub also tells us that there may have been a sighting of Esti getting on a city bus early in the morning of May 16. Her mom Shira and dad Joseph have urged her to come home if she is able to hear the message.
“I worry that she is going to be too trusting, that somebody will have ill intentions,” Shira told reporters.
People taking down the posters of a missing child have ill intentions as well.
“This is not politics,” Taub said. “This is not activism. This is a child on the spectrum who is still missing.”
He added, “If you see someone tearing down Esti’s signs, call it out. Stand up to it. This is not who Canadians are supposed to be. Bring back decency. Bring back integrity. Bring Esti home.”
For Jewish community activist and well-respected journalist Marty York, this was personal.
“I know Jew haters and antisemites are driven by a systemic sickness, but this is beyond belief,” he said. “I grew up in this neighbourhood without fear because the people who lived here were decent and trustworthy. Sadly, Esti has gone missing but so has common sense and decency. This is not the same North York that it used to be, just as this isn’t the same Canada.”
Meir Weinstein of Israel Now said “this is a new level of Jew Hatred.”
Journalist Sue-Ann Levy passed along a message from the Everything Jewish Facebook site, which said, “Ester’s posters have been ripped off all over midtown — Yonge and Lawrence, Avenue and Wilson, Bathurst and Sheppard,” adding “their hatred has no end.”
As bad as that is, there are many people dedicated to try to find her.
“Volunteers throughout the city will be canvassing neighbourhoods and replacing outdated flyers,” Taub said. “Esti was last seen wearing a green long-sleeved shirt, grey sweatpants with two lines down each side.”
If someone tears down a poster, the best thing to do it just put a new one back up.
The family of a 14-year-old girl who went missing a week ago in North York is speaking out and urging anyone with information to reach out.
The parents of a missing 14-year-old Toronto girl are stepping up to help search for their daughter, one week after she disappeared.
Toronto police first announced on Sunday, May 17, that the teen, identified only as Esther, had last been seen on Friday, May 15, and that authorities were concerned for her safety.
Police said that she was seen in the Canadian city's Earl Bales Park area at Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West, and that she was wearing gray sweatpants, a green shirt, and no shoes. Esther is 5'2", has a medium build and brown hair.
By late Thursday, May 21, police shared that they had learned the teen was last spotted just after midnight on Saturday, May 16, near Toronto's Bathurst Street and Hotspur Road, about 2 miles south of the park, according to CityNews Toronto and CBC News.
Esther has been described as 5'2", has a medium build and has brown hair.
Police said that it is currently unclear what Esther — who has been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum — was doing at the park. She has not been heard from since her disappearance.
Since she vanished, Esther's parents, Shira and Joseph, have helped to search for their daughter and have been outspoken about wanting to get her home as soon as possible.
“I've been pretty much a detective and making phone calls and trying to review footage from any possible place, knocking on doors,” Joseph told CTV News Toronto on Thursday, adding that he has gone “full sleuth” mode trying to find his daughter.
“I'm trying to just be the detective she needs me to be,” he told the outlet through tears. “I'll worry about the emotions later.”
Police have shared that they have initiated a Level 1 search for the teen, the highest search level possible.
“Level 1 is the most serious situation that opens up a lot of resources to us, like the marine unit, police dog services, and the mounted unit,” Duty Inspector Jon Rose said Thursday, according to the outlet.
Authorities have not shared why exactly they upgraded the level in this case. According to CBC News, only five of last year's 3,100 missing person reports were categorized as Level 1.
Speaking with CTV News, Esther's parents shared that they hoped not to have to disclose their daughter's autism diagnosis for her privacy.
“It's her medical information that she should have the right to disclose when she chooses to,” Shira said. “The only reason that we're OK saying it now [is] because she's still missing, and it's super scary to think that she's been gone for a week.”
Shira also told local media that her daughter is someone who would go "above and beyond" to help others, CBC News reported.
“I worry that she is going to be too trusting, that somebody will have ill intentions,” she said.
The night that she went missing, her parents said they followed her to Earl Bales Park but could not find her.
“We love her and we care about her, and we want her to come home to us, and we miss her, so we miss her greatly, and that's the most important thing for us,” Shira added.
When asked if they had a message for their daughter, Esther's parents said, “Esti, please come home. Everybody misses you. They just want you to come home. We're worried about you.”
“We love you,” Joseph added. “We miss Esti, and everybody in the whole community loves you. You can see, all you have to do is look around, thousands and thousands of people care about you. So, just come home safe.”
“If you're scared to come home, just be brave, be strong, and come home,” Shira added, saying that no one would be angry.
Toronto police have set up a dedicated phone line to collect tips from the public, which can be reached at (647) 355-4148. The public can also upload any tips — including video footage or photos — to a dedicated QR code link.
“We deeply appreciate how concerning this is to the community and to the family when a young person goes missing, especially for this length of time,” Duty Inspector Rose added, according to CTV News. “We would very much like to find Esther to get her home safely to her family.”
With fourteen year old Esther missing since last Friday, volunteers continued to man a Shomrim hotline and a search operations headquarters
You know what’s the kicker? It’s that there really is no justice. The professor who told me “we don’t need a Jewish perspective” every time I opened my mouth in a class about the fucking Holocaust is still employed but the only Jewish professor in my entire major is on the verge of being fired because he spoke out about Bondi. The students who called me slurs and screamed globalize the intifada and threw rocks at me all graduated. The self hating misogynist Jewish guy who said I must be lying about my rape because ‘all Jewish bitches do is lie about rape’ just graduated with honors. The girl who wore a keffiyeh and asked me how many Palestinians my family “kills in a year” (I am not Israeli and have never been) walked right in front of me at graduation. The roommate who told me Jews all have greed in their blood and I’m just different because I’m slightly mixed race (lol) is my school journal’s darling newscaster who just went to the White House. There is no justice. All of these people get to feel like they did a good thing by beating up on some random fucking Jewish girl because it alleviates some strange white guilt in their smooth little leftist brains. They get to feel like victims and heroes at the same time while Jews around them are fucking murdered and they stay silent. One of the most left wing sapphire blue college in the United fucking States. Leftism is a fucking joke.
Reblogging again now that Russell Brand's ugly mug is back in the news to remind everyone that in the 2023 Times expose on his abusive behaviour, Daniel Sloss was the only male comedian willing to be named and quoted like "yeah that dude's a scumbag and women have been warning each other about him for years."
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