Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
🧶 Crafter!
Sewing, crocheting, drawing, writing, you name it, if it's a creative pursuit, I've probably done it or thought about doing it!
✨️ Full of Whimsy!
I need to be more bright and colorful and insane and unhinged and whimsical and wonderful. I’m doing it all already but I wanna turn it up. If anyone has any ideas for how I can be MORE, feel free to lmk!
👻 Silly!
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https://artfight.net/~Notanotherusername
An art gifting game
My silly podcast where I and my friends and siblings say a bunch of silly nonsense. Only available on Spotify because this is for fun and trying to put it on all the platforms would be too overwhelming.
#fishie's posting
My original posts, or posts I have contributed to
#sibling shenanigans
For when I talk about the silly things I and my family say and do
Now, when I started reading Thrawn (2017) and got introduced to the wonderful little math nerd that is Eli Vanto, I found it important to periodically examine the fact that he, as a person, sucks. He is a lovable POV character who also works for a fascist regime and wakes up every morning and continues to work for a fascist regime. That is a very significant part of the book, in fact. I'd like to unpack the ways in which Eli's character, ethics, and politics work in the narrative to directly support the rise of the Galactic Empire.
Eli Vanto is a very, very good imperial soldier because his primary reaction is inaction.
In our introductory scene to Eli, one of the very first things we see him do is him biting back a retort.
This is a man who is very used to being spoken down to. Eli is smarter than almost every one of his commanding officers, and he knows it, but he never speaks out of turn. The other thing we get introduced to right off the bat is that his treatment by those people, and his long practiced reaction to it, is a product of his perceived lower class status as someone from Wild Space.
We very quickly are shown the picture that this is something Eli has been dealing with his entire life. Both society in general, and the imperial military in specific, have strict consequences for those who speak out of turn, so Eli has long since adopted a stance of keeping his head down and his mouth shut. It's simply safer, and as we are shown in the story, it is tacitly rewarded as the only way Eli can secure the upward momentum he craves. Because of the way he has been treated by those in power, Eli Vanto simply isn't a fighter.
Which means, when the Empire started piecing itself together and taking over the galaxy, the Vanto family, and Eli himself, had no qualms about it.
The social instinct has transformed from resignation to apathy. Why resist? It doesn't really matter. It's all the same result, in the end. Eli has learned that the way to get ahead in this world is through doing nothing. That's why, when Thrawn is attacked at the academy, Eli's gut reaction is to do exactly that: nothing.
Now, we all know that having gruesome and cruel thoughts does not make one a bad person. In fact, Eli almost immediately dismisses it and takes action instead. But it is suggestive of Eli's basic instincts. Also, unlike the passive and quiet expansion of imperial power, this is direct harm happening in front of him, to a living being he can see. And Eli fights back.
It's practically the only time in the book he does so.
This is the scene. Up until now, Eli's passivity have been a faraway thing, background radiation to his actions, or lack thereof. His choices to support the Empire have been personal ones, centered on things like his continued employment and comfort. But this is when Eli looks in the face of the suffering he is helping to perpetuate. And he looks away.
That is what Thrawn (2017) is about. The dangers of everyday, self-serving people supporting the rise of fascism because it is helps them. It's a book about the dangers of looking away. Whether it's for some broader ideal:
Or simple and human selfishness:
All of them skirt their gaze over the atrocities of the present. Eli, Thrawn, and Arihnda are a three-legged beast whose personal motives all contribute to the war machine. And they do that through inaction. Because that's what the empire thrives off of. As much as it is fueled by its military and its power, it is equally powered by the apathy of its own citizens. And its why Nightswan, the real hero of the novel, is presented as the direct antithesis of Eli Vanto.
Nightswan is someone who sees people. He contributed to the empire, but the second he saw the damage he was unknowingly building, he left. He turned down comfort or safety for a chance to fight a losing battle, simply because he couldn't abandon the people he saw. All his lines drip with the themes of the rebellion, of the original trilogy. And through all of it, he speaks of all the off-ramps Eli has failed to take over the course of this story.
Nightswan is Eli's foil, and he is the final nail in his narrative coffin that he is here by his own choices. Eli is not some helpless autistic nerd who is batted about with no agency. His apathy, his inaction, is what has placed him here. Supporting a fascist regime. And how dangerously easy is is for other people to end up doing the same.
under US law, it's illegal for anyone who's not a member of a recognised native tribe to own an eagle feather. the penalty is a $100,000 fine.
14 years ago when I had recently moved to Alaska, I went hiking with an Aleut friend, and she pointed to a feather lying on the ground and said "hey that's a bald eagle tail feather, you should grab it!" and I was like "uhh I'm very white and that's very illegal" and she went "they're fuckin everywhere up here man. I have 20." so she grabs it off the ground and hands it to me and says "there, now it's a ceremonial gift from an indigenous person."
and I'm like, okay, cool, I guess this is how we do things in Alaska. nice.
so I keep this bald eagle tail feather around for years. display it in my home among other cherished memorabilia from places I've lived and visited, etc.
on a whim, I have just now looked it up. there is no exemption to that law for a ceremonial gift from an indigenous person. the last 7 years I lived in the US, I was technically a bald eagle poacher.
probably a good thing I don't intend to move back there anytime soon. I wonder what the statute of limitations is on bird crimes.
@freedomisscaryshit I'm fucking dying I think you forgot the word "feathers" in your tags?? or do you just wish you could grab whole ass eagles that land in your yard??
As an Indigenous person, it continues to astound me that there are such strict laws (written by White people) in our name, laws against...picking up things just found on the ground. Like, stop pretending this is "for" us. We don't want this.
so, for clarity, that's not what this is. the law against possessing feathers is an anti-poaching measure, derived from a North American treaty protecting certain migratory bird species from hunting. that treaty has an exemption for indigenous people to allow tribes that use eagle feathers in ceremonial or religious practices to continue doing so.
i used to collect feathers (illegally) as a teenager and the thing is that it's incredibly important for feathers from wild birds to be illegal to possess because it ensures that they never become fashionable to wear. the reason we passed the migratory bird act was because the american and european fashion industry was driving species to extinction in a timespan of years. not just decades. the ecological devastation of exporting birds for hats was absolutely insane and people were watching wetlands and forests and meadows just empty out in realtime. look at the wikipedia article for the plume trade.
the law against 'picking feathers up off the ground' means that you can't go shoot an eagle then sell the feathers on etsy by saying you 'just found them'. you can't own them no matter where they came from, which makes sure that they're not going to come from any birds killed and then secretly disposed of.
these laws, as harsh and ridiculous as they seem, saved flamingos, spoonbills, egrets, and all kinds of hawks and eagles from extinction. the minute these laws weaken and people can make money off killing them again, they're fucked.
this is one of those "no actually this regulation exists for a reason" laws much like work place safety and building fire codes (that Republicans keep trying to roll back) and is written in blood just like them as well. it's just not human blood this time, and the fact that people actually cared enough about long term future over short term profit to get it put in place is nothing short of astonishing. That it didn't get put in place in time to save several species is heart breaking.
Do you think Jesus ever got many carpenter requests after he started preaching? Like did anyone ever go up to him and be like; "My Lord! My Lord!" And the disciples are all: "The Master won't do anymore miracles today." But obviously Jesus is like; "Yes, my child?" And they just ask what his basic rate is to fix their door.
its honestly bananas to me that so many on this website seem to assume that someone's tumblr output is an accurate reflection of their real life priorities and activism and all of their beliefs in order of how hard they believe them. like. idk about you guys but i'm reblogging things that i want to reblog not keeping a minute by minute record of my deepest held beliefs. for one thing my deepest held beliefs are mostly not about star wars
i dont agree with outdoor cats but i gotta admit the fact me and my roommate can fondly talk about local cats like theyre our beloved neighbours is pretty cool. do i know any of the humans who live in my neighborhood? not particularly. do i know the little tuxedo cat with the pink collar who recognises the ice cream truck music and comes out to get pets from all the kids? of course they're a local celebrity to me.
i think being proud of where you come from is one of those things that becomes fun the more specific you get. like "proud to be english" bad rancid vibes. makes you sound like the kind of person who rants about immigrants. "proud to be from yorkshire" better vibes. i cannot deny the yorkshire cultural heritage. "proud to be from pocklington" absolutely fucking hilarious please never let anybody kill your pocklington pride.
lately my kids have been playing Baby Knife, which consists of somebody acting as a baby with knife hands chasing people while going "baby knife baby knife" over and over. is this a thing or are they just insane
we have a new teacher this year who has never had kindergarten before & she rounded em all up & told em No Baby Knife and No Zombies and idk how to tell her that 1. all kindergarten recess games boil down to Give Birth And Kill Each Other and 2. the absurd vaguely inappropriate games they make up are usually better than when they try to play an Actual game like soccer
Baby Knife is straightforward. theres a baby knife. baby knife chases you. thats about it. when they try to play Real Sports every single child is playing by a different set of rules unbeknownst to the others and none of them are playing by the Actual rules. everybody is mad at everybody else and running up to tell on their colleagues for cheating every 3 minutes. this doesnt happen when they play Baby Knife
if no one's said it, it's normal. It's just Tag with flavor. Tag is boring so you gotta add imagination.
Our baby knife as kids was Raptor Tag. Raptors hunt in packs so the person who was "it" had to run around pretending to be a velociraptor and to tag people they had to actually tackle them and "eat" them for 5 full seconds (others could come to the rescue and save them in that time, but risked getting eaten too or instead if the raptor switched targets). Eaten players then became raptors, until the whole pack was teamwork-hunting the last wily or lucky kid. There were no winning survivors- the game was won as a group once everyone was a raptor.
My kindergarten played "wolves" where a pack of 4-12 children, usually all the girls, would try to chase down and "kill" the deer (usually me)
I was bulled extensively in elementary school, but 1. Mostly by my teachers and 2. Not during this, because we ALL had PBS Nature and as Deer, I was allowed to gouge, kick, bite, keep running even after being grabbed, or body-check the larger children into the picnic tables and other architecture.
You know, for realism.
In point of fact, I was usually The Deer because I was the best at evading/ not going down without a fight, whereas most boys would just start crying or tattle, which is no fun at all.
We were incredibly boring. We played "murder ball" which was just Capture the Flag over the whole school grounds (outdoors only) and violence was permitted using the ball.
#We played Leeches (people run past you and you grab their legs and make them fall)#And Roadkill (body-slam your friends to the ground)#The teachers did not like these games
we had British Bulldogs which was where one line of kids had to get past another line of kids (and vice versa) and violence was expected, much like we imagine dodgeball to be
A bit "last minute" I decided I wanted to model, print, and paint a bunch of pebble Rockies and take them with me to a convention. They are very small, fit in a closed fist, and brought joy to 10 Grace cosplayers, 2 Rocky cosplayers, and 2 vendors selling PHM-themed merch. It was fun hunting down PHM cosplayers with a bunch of Rockies in my bag waiting to be gifted away! Even if I don't think I got to them all
Queen Fishie’s Magnificent Madness @queenfishiethemagnificent - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
