"The Trifecta" is very misleading. It sounds so cool, like some kind of award, or maybe a cool super power. "Oh, you have an EGOT, well I have the Trifecta 😎" But no, instead it's The Worst Thing To Ever Happen To You (hopefully 😬) like congratulations pretty much every conceivable part of your body is functioning improperly in some way and also you're allergic to being alive so your body will now be doing everything in its power to stop being alive--for your own protection of course. Good luck!
I think we should at least get a cool "Trifecta" t-shirt with our diagnosis or something. Heaven knows it took us long enough to get one.
Alchemised is just a story about two people being equally deranged about each other, and in fact they spend most of the book competing to see who can be the most deranged.
About the Disability Pride Flag
(its design & meaning)
Because:
A) I see it around the Internet where the proportions are off, and I think people are copy/pasting from different thumbnail images that come up in search results, and not clicking through to get the original. It's not a big deal, but it causes a hiccup in my brain whenever I see it.
and
B) There's been some discussion in the Disability Community here on Tumblr on what the precise symbolism should be, and it's changed a bit and gotten complicated. So I want to simplify and broaden it, so it can be explained to curious Normate folk -- without going into a 15 minute explanation of social constructs.
So I'm making a fresh post right now to put all that stuff together.
I'm gonna leave the detailed description of the flag design's proportions just in the alt text (so that people with screen readers know what they are, without having to listen to it twice)
The width of each colored stripe is proportional to the overall width of the flag, but I decided to leave the general proportions of the flag flexible (so it's easier for people to make one based on what materials they can find -- just in case there's a need for a protest sign for a pop-up rally).
The Meaning (Short Version -- what to tell someone who asks while you're waiting for the elevator)
6 colors represent how the Disability Community is Global
The 5 colors in the middle represent how diverse that community is
The black is inspired by pirate flags: rage at injustice, fighting back
The stripes are diagonal to represent cutting through barriers.
The in-depth reasons behind the meaning (Long Version -- If you actually want a 15+ minute discussion of social constructs and history)
The flag has all 6 'standard' colors recognized in international flags, to represent how the Disability Community is bound together by their varied, but shared, experiences, rather than geographical or political affiliation (borrowing that symbolism from Olympic Flag, which represents the global community of athletes -- also bound together by their shared experiences and aspirations).
The five colors cutting across the center of the flag represent the diversity of the Disabled Community, both in terms of physical conditions and in terms of the social-political-economic ways by which disability is understood in society. (No longer trying to assign a specific meaning to any of the individual colors)
The stripes begin centered in the top corner because that's where the "canton" of a flag is, and in flag code, that's the place of highest honor; this is where the stars are in the U.S flag, and also the stars in the flag for the People's Republic of China, and the Union Jack in Australia's flag. It cuts all the way to the end that flies in the wind to show our striving for freedom.
The field is black because Pirates!, yes. But it's also in recognition of the Black Triangle Badge (link goes to Wikipedia), which the Nazis used to mark out a wide range of people in their concentration camps, including the Disabled, that they considered "asocial." And it's in solidarity with the UK-based Black Triangle Campaign (link goes to deathbywelfare.org, from 2010), protesting cuts to disability benefits, and reclassifying disabled people "fit for work."
Reblogging the poll for more visibility, and also to reply to these Quoted tags:
#I am of the opinion that *all* disabilities don't get enough recognition as-is
[...]
#I say this as a person who can be fully able-passing (for short amounts of time)
@strangestructures made similar points in (excellent) replies to this post, especially how any disability can be made "invisible" depending on what resources a person has access to, or the context of what they're doing and when.
Back when I was still in the first stages of designing a disability pride flag (when I was still focused on the cursed zigzag design), and I was still thinking of representation in terms of different medical conditions, I only had four stripes, and someone asked me to add a fifth, for invisible disabilities.
At first, I just stuck that stripe (originally a unique purple, which was hard even for me to reproduce consistently) on top of the other stripes. But after changing it to white, and mucking around with the design, I decided to move it to the center of the design, because Invisibility is at the Center of all Disability.
10/10 Cinderella is my favorite story of all time, so this is absolutely a biased rating, but she really did such a good job! I love how she balanced giving her "Cinderella" (in this case Cendrillion) more fire and agency without sacrificing what, to me, is the entire point and appeal of this story, which is that Cinderella absolutely could not save herself, but she didn't let her circumstances break her.
The Boys
Auguste: 10/10 my only complaint about Auguste is that we don't get to see more of him (though I do understand why the story was structured the way that it was). We first meet Auguste when he defends Cendrillion against His Spoiled Highness, Auguste's old brother. They then become besties when he shows up in her etiquette class and the two share a laugh over the pretentiousness of it all. By the end of the book, Auguste literally saves Cendrillion's life and willingly offers to be exiled for her.
Louis: 7/10 starts out as a spoiled brat, but genuinely becomes a pretty decent guy, if still a little spoiled. Very theatrical and attention-seeking in his behavior and mannerisms, but what can you expect after growing up in the public eye like he did? Bore no hard feelings towards his brother after finding out he'd won the heart of the girl he himself had proposed to, at least none that were depicted.
10/10 (can you really give Jane Austin any less?) absolutely hilarious book with a few surprise moments of suspense I'm not used to seeing in her work.
The Boys
Henry Tilney: 10/10 would absolutely marry. Currently my favorite Jane Austin hero. The perfect balance of sarcastic and sensitive AND he knows about dresses!
James Morland: 6/10 not much is shown of his characters, but he seems like a fairly decent guy, except for that time he tried to pressure his sister into canceling plans with the Tilneys to impress a girl.
John Thorpe: 4/10 a conceited idiot, though technically not a complete rake in the traditional Jane Austin sense. Excellent company if you'd like to hear how great his horse is for hours on end.
Captain Frederick Tilney: 3/10 shamelessly and openly flirted with a woman he knew to be engaged resulting in the disillusionment of said engagement even though he had no intention of marrying her himself. The only points in his favor are his brother and sister's good opinion of him prior to these events, and the fact that he actually did the man a favor by breaking up the engagement.
Going to a doctor who has actually heard of and acknowledges the existence of (and the fact that you have) every single one of your health conditions is an absolutely insane experience!! Is this what being healthy/abled feels like? Because I'm starting to see the appeal
I have to be honest, I did not actually believe that adding salt to my diet would make that much (any) difference in my POTS symptoms, but Oh. My. Word!!! I've only been doing this for 3 days and I can actually sit upright without my heartrate spiking over 100??? I've actually been able to sit up long enough to use my sewing machine again! What is this witchcraft???
For anyone curious I'm supposed to drink 1 gram of either Celtic or Himalayan pink salt (table salt won't work the same) in 1 liter of water when I get up every morning (I also add a copious amount of lemon juice because salt tastes nasty😝), do 5 mins of light exercise (I literally do stretches/floor exercises laying in bed) and then drink another gram of salt in another liter of water.
When you reach the point of downplaying your symptoms where you all but convince yourself you don't have a disorder because your symptoms aren't severe enough only for a doctor to hear a brief synopsis of your medical history and tell you it's very unlikely that you have that same condition because your symptoms are TOO severe... 😳
Medical gaslighting really is the gift that keeps on giving 🙄
Having curly hair is so fun because you can painstakingly micromanage every last detail of your hair routine trying to get it perfect only for your hair to end up looking like limp, frizzy noodles, and then the next time you do the BARE MINIMUM and it looks like you spent 2 hours and 5 zillion dollars getting it professionally styled. The only thing you can count on is that the same routine will not produce the same results twice.
The problem with writing is that it takes approximately 527 years to "finish" writing a book to the point it's ready to be sent to agents and editors, but only about 30 seconds to come up with 3 new fully fleshed-out plot ideas.
Cinderella is my absolute favorite story of all time and I've made it my life's mission to watch/read every version I can get my grubby little hands on.
My absolute FAVORITE Cinderella movie, favorite Disney movie, and quite possibly favorite movie of all time is Cinderella III A Twist in Time (I have that thing memorized!) This is followed VERY closely by the live-action Cinderella 2015 and Ever After (not necessarily in that order)
Beyond that they get a bit harder to rate.
I love all the Cinderella Story movies, my favorites being Another Cinderella Story (the only adaptation I can think of where the "prince" actually helps her do the chores!) and A Cinderella Story Christmas
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is also a classic. I love how every production I've seen is slightly different. As far as movies go there's the Julie Andrews version and the Brandy version. I also highly recommend trying to watch a stage production, whether on YouTube or live.
The Slipper and the Rose is an absolutely hilarious British musical comedy version.
There's a modern day adaptation called Not Cinderella's Type. The production quality is a bit lower but I personally love the way they handled the story.
A Cinderella Christmas gives the story a more Hallmark-y vibe. (I don't remember if it's actually a Hallmark movie or not. There definitely are Hallmark movies that are at least loosely Cinderella though)
There's a French version called Three Wishes for Cinderella that takes a different approach to the story, as well as a 2011 mini series titled Cenerentola.
I also have to admit I didn't hate the more recent Amazon Prime adaptation.
There's a Nickelodeon movie called Rags that gender bends the story. I definitely think the concept was a lot better than the execution on that one, but it might be worth the watch.
If you wanna get REALLY niche there's even a VeggieTales version called Snoodlerella.
A couple of honorable mentions are Ella Enchanted (not exactly Cinderella, but kind of in that same vein) and Into the Woods (includes Cinderella and several other fairytales. Highly recommend the stage version over the movie)
Bonus! Book Recs
I know you didn't ask, but here are a few of my favs.
Cinder and Glass (really stays true to the original story while adding it's own take and plenty of depth)
Stepsister (this actually starts with the Prince arriving with the slipper and follows the stepsisters' story in the aftermath of Cinderella leaving.)
So This Is Love (Disney Twisted Tale)
The Lunar Chronicles (Cinderella + 3 other fairytales rolled up into an action-packed si-fantasy. What's not to love?)
